- Joined
- Sep 8, 2008
- Messages
- 817
Introduction
What is a rate calculator? It's a nice little program that gives you the optimal rates for you judging by your internet speed and your average FPS and by doing that, you get minimum ping possible. It can be found here: http://spideyworks.com/rates/
And the speed test can be found here: http://www.speedtest.net/
And the best thing about it is, it works for all source games
Speed test and understanding it's results
For the speed test you simply left click on the server closest to you. Please note that little pyramids contain only one server while the stars contain multiple servers, and when you move the cursor over them you will be presented with a list. The closest pyramid/star to you will be highlighted.
All you have to do is enter your download and upload speed and your average FPS in the boxes on the right side. Please note that most speed test results are in megabits per second. We need kilobytes per second. You can easily convert megabits to megabytes by dividing the number of megabits by 8 and then you can convert that to kilobytes by multiplying the number of megabytes by 1024.
Entering data into the calculator and finding out your avg. FPS
Enter your upload and download speed in kilobytes per second in the boxes to the right. You can find out your avg. FPS by entering "cl_showfps 1" into the console and then you can limit your max fps by typing "cl_maxfps <value>" into the console accordingly, and enter that value into the calculator. Alternatively you can set Fraps (if you have it) to show average FPS instead of real time FPS count. Also, for the best results you should enter the server values (tickrate and sv_maxrate) in the boxes on the left side, tickrate is 66 and sv_maxrate is 25000 (highschool server is 30000 due to some testing) for most of our servers so those values should be entered in the boxes to the left (THESE ARE EGO SERVER VALUES).
Once you enter everything just click calculate. At the top of the page you'll be presented with some commands and values for each one (cl_updaterate, rate, cl_cmdrate and cl_interp).
Where do they go, the autoexec.cfg file and it's creation
You must copy those command and values and paste them into your autoexec.cfg file. That file is located in (hard drive letter)\Program files\Steam\steamapps\(yourloginname)\game(day of defeat source/team fortress 2/counter strike source/insurgency etc.)\(dod/tf2/css/insurgency) depends on the game\cfg. If you do not have an autoexec.cfg file you should create it using a simple text editor such as notepad. Please note that the file extension must be .cfg, and that it must be in the cfg folder (path described). You can edit file extensions by going to the tools menu at the top of my computer window, then click folder options, then go to the view tab and uncheck "hide file extensions for all known file types", ok and exit. Then create a new notepad document and name it autoexec.txt, save the file, exit notepad and right click on it and select rename. Rename it from autoexec.txt to autoexec.cfg. Once you're done with this step you should hide all the file extensions by checking "hide file extensions for all known file types" as described previously. In autoexec.cfg there can be only one command per line. Copy/paste the commands into the autoexec.cfg file and make sure that each value is in quotes, format: command "value", save the file and exit. The commands in this file will be executed every time you enter the game and you can edit the file at any time by using notepad.
And after all this has been done your autoexec.cfg should look like this:
(any other command/s you might have)
cl_updaterate "value"
cl_cmdrate "value"
rate "value"
cl_interp "value"
Enjoy your new, lower ping.
What are they for?
The command cl_interp is used to time the delay between you firing and the projectile leaving the barrel.
In order to better understand what are the rest of the commands for, please visit this site: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Source_Multiplayer_Networking
Additional useful commands
In addition to setting cl_interp 0.01 (default value is 0.1) you might also try setting cl_interp_ratio 1 if it isn't already (default value is 2 in TF2)... you can see the effect in net_graph 3.
Cl_lagcomp_errorcheck 1 (default value is 0). It's meant to correct positioning errors in source engine's lag compensation, so if you're experiencing poor shot registration it can help, no guarantees though as with most things.
Credits
Spidey: for finding the original site and making a replacement
Mostly Harmless: for server values
Adilor: for the Ins path
Kunai: suggestions on improving the guide
Beaverking: additional useful commands
Me: for putting all the data together and starting the thread
Feel free to ask questions about anything you don't understand, rate, comment etc.
Thanks for reading
CheeseW01f
UPDATE: the original website is down but Spidey made a website that will replace the original one. Thanks Spidey!
What is a rate calculator? It's a nice little program that gives you the optimal rates for you judging by your internet speed and your average FPS and by doing that, you get minimum ping possible. It can be found here: http://spideyworks.com/rates/
And the speed test can be found here: http://www.speedtest.net/
And the best thing about it is, it works for all source games
Speed test and understanding it's results
For the speed test you simply left click on the server closest to you. Please note that little pyramids contain only one server while the stars contain multiple servers, and when you move the cursor over them you will be presented with a list. The closest pyramid/star to you will be highlighted.
All you have to do is enter your download and upload speed and your average FPS in the boxes on the right side. Please note that most speed test results are in megabits per second. We need kilobytes per second. You can easily convert megabits to megabytes by dividing the number of megabits by 8 and then you can convert that to kilobytes by multiplying the number of megabytes by 1024.
Entering data into the calculator and finding out your avg. FPS
Enter your upload and download speed in kilobytes per second in the boxes to the right. You can find out your avg. FPS by entering "cl_showfps 1" into the console and then you can limit your max fps by typing "cl_maxfps <value>" into the console accordingly, and enter that value into the calculator. Alternatively you can set Fraps (if you have it) to show average FPS instead of real time FPS count. Also, for the best results you should enter the server values (tickrate and sv_maxrate) in the boxes on the left side, tickrate is 66 and sv_maxrate is 25000 (highschool server is 30000 due to some testing) for most of our servers so those values should be entered in the boxes to the left (THESE ARE EGO SERVER VALUES).
Once you enter everything just click calculate. At the top of the page you'll be presented with some commands and values for each one (cl_updaterate, rate, cl_cmdrate and cl_interp).
Where do they go, the autoexec.cfg file and it's creation
You must copy those command and values and paste them into your autoexec.cfg file. That file is located in (hard drive letter)\Program files\Steam\steamapps\(yourloginname)\game(day of defeat source/team fortress 2/counter strike source/insurgency etc.)\(dod/tf2/css/insurgency) depends on the game\cfg. If you do not have an autoexec.cfg file you should create it using a simple text editor such as notepad. Please note that the file extension must be .cfg, and that it must be in the cfg folder (path described). You can edit file extensions by going to the tools menu at the top of my computer window, then click folder options, then go to the view tab and uncheck "hide file extensions for all known file types", ok and exit. Then create a new notepad document and name it autoexec.txt, save the file, exit notepad and right click on it and select rename. Rename it from autoexec.txt to autoexec.cfg. Once you're done with this step you should hide all the file extensions by checking "hide file extensions for all known file types" as described previously. In autoexec.cfg there can be only one command per line. Copy/paste the commands into the autoexec.cfg file and make sure that each value is in quotes, format: command "value", save the file and exit. The commands in this file will be executed every time you enter the game and you can edit the file at any time by using notepad.
And after all this has been done your autoexec.cfg should look like this:
(any other command/s you might have)
cl_updaterate "value"
cl_cmdrate "value"
rate "value"
cl_interp "value"
Enjoy your new, lower ping.
What are they for?
The command cl_interp is used to time the delay between you firing and the projectile leaving the barrel.
In order to better understand what are the rest of the commands for, please visit this site: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Source_Multiplayer_Networking
Additional useful commands
In addition to setting cl_interp 0.01 (default value is 0.1) you might also try setting cl_interp_ratio 1 if it isn't already (default value is 2 in TF2)... you can see the effect in net_graph 3.
Cl_lagcomp_errorcheck 1 (default value is 0). It's meant to correct positioning errors in source engine's lag compensation, so if you're experiencing poor shot registration it can help, no guarantees though as with most things.
Credits
Spidey: for finding the original site and making a replacement
Mostly Harmless: for server values
Adilor: for the Ins path
Kunai: suggestions on improving the guide
Beaverking: additional useful commands
Me: for putting all the data together and starting the thread
Feel free to ask questions about anything you don't understand, rate, comment etc.
Thanks for reading
CheeseW01f
UPDATE: the original website is down but Spidey made a website that will replace the original one. Thanks Spidey!
Last edited:
Thanks dude!
Avg Ping, 300-500 at times luckily I only get 200 ping
