software and tricks

CS Source: Dictionary

With the World's Cup around the corner, there will be plenty of live Counter Strike matches to see on DirecTV 101. While we realize most of you are experts when it comes to Counter Strike terminology, maybe there are a few of you out there who are not completely clear on what the shoutcasters mean when they refer to the Muck in de_contra or praise Moe for his noscopes. Vinny “temptation” Prunotto extended his Source Break Down series with everything you ever needed to know about Counter Strike terms from A to Z.



#:


1 Deag - Getting a headshot with a deagle resulting in the player's death. (submitted by Gprime)


1 Shot - Headshoting a player on your first shot resulting in death. (submitted by fawny)


20 Bomb - The act of getting 20 frags in a single half of a counter strike match. (submitted by Gprime)


30 Bomb - The act of getting 30 frags in a single half of a counter strike match. (submitted by Gprime)


Note: The terms 2 bomb, 3 bomb etc were coined back in the days of 1.5 by #sopug, an old pug channel where professional CS players often idled. A bomb would be 10 kills, so 2 bomb = 20, etc etc. Might as well just say you got 20 kills if you are gonna call it a 20 bomb. While a bomb = 10 kills, it is mostly only used when it is a 2 bomb or higher, unless meant in a joking way. (submitted by Volcano)


A:


A Bombsite – One of two bombsites that exist on each and every DE map.


Ace – The term used when a player single handedly kills all five members of the opposing team.


Aggressive – Used to describe a player or team who likes to push their way quickly into an area on a map.


Alt Mid – Short for alternate middle, it is the route that runs parallel the regular middle on de_inferno.


Apartments – The name given to pathways inside of the house leading to the B bombsite on de_inferno.


Arches – The word commonly used when talking about the left side of middle connecting the Counter Terrorist spawn to the middle of the map on de_inferno.


B:


B Bombsite – The second bombsite of the two that exist on each and every DE map.


B Bridge – A small bridge that players cross over to enter the B bombsite on de_contra.


B Ramp – The ramp that leads from Terrorist spawn into the B bombsite on de_russka.


B Tunnels – The one direct route into the B bombsite as well as access to middle on de_dust2.


Back Hall – Describes the rear entry connecting the two yellow doors and the rear vent at the B bombsite on de_nuke.


Back Stairs – A set of stairs outside on de_nuke that lead underground to the B bombsite.


Bait - Yhe act of following your teammate into enemy fire to get an easy frag. The player that rushes first rarely gets the kill, but allows the next player to get the kill. (submitted by Gprime)


Banana – Another name for the pathway that leads to the A bombsite on de_inferno.


Barrels – Sometimes referred to as toxic barrels, these are the barrels in ivy on de_train that players can hide behind as a Counter Terrorist to stop a Terrorist side attack.


Big Garage – The larger of the two garages in the map de_nuke.


Blue Door – One two common names for the door next to hut on de_nuke that leads into the A bombsite.


Boiler Room – A small room at the bottom of the stairs leading out to right middle from apartments on de_inferno.


Bombsite – The designated area where Terrorists must plant the bomb.


Boost - A technique used where 2 or more members stack up on top of eachother to reach a spot otherwise deemed unreachable. (submitted by fawny)


Box Room – A corridor that is the main point of entry into the B bombsite on de_contra.


Bunny Hop - A physics exploit used in source to travel at a faster rate from place to place by hopping back and forth. (submitted by palooka)


C:


Carry - To play well regardless of how bad your team is doing; to be the biggest factor in your team's sucess. (submitted by fawny)


Cat – Short for catwalk, which is a small pathway that leads to a bombsite or overlooks a particular choke point in a map.


Cathedral – The name given to the area that connect middle to B sand/plank on de_contra.


Choke Point – An area in a map where a lot of action takes place.
Closet – A small nook close the B tunnels on de_dust2 which is a commonly used hiding spot.


Clutch – The term used to define the situation in which an out numbered player single handedly wins the round.


Connector – A word that simply means a spot which connects one part of a map to another.


Construction – One of the most common names to describe the area in the back of the A bombsite that is a frequently used hiding spot.


Control Room – The room directly next to the radio room on de_nuke.


Crack – A spot at middle on de_contra and banana on de_inferno where players will AWP from.


Crouch Walking - The act of moving while crouched. (submitted by w^_-LF)


CT Ramp – A ramp that the Counter Terrorist can use to enter the A bombsite or take a position on the ramp to cover the bombsite itself.


CT Spawn – In full, the Counter Terrorist spawn is the starting point for the Counter Terrorists on a map.


D:


Dead Man’s Valley – Or more commonly known as valley. This is one of the routes into the A bombsite on de_russka.


Deag - The short form of Desert Eagle, the most powerful pistol in the game.


Deco - An eco round where the team buys Deagles. (submitted by palooka)


Dink - Hitting a player in the head, but not resulting in death. (submitted by fawny)


Double Door – A simply term that defines the two adjacent doors in several spots on de_dust2.


E:


E Box – Short for Electric Box, the e box is an electric circuit breaker that provides a small bit of protection from gun fire on de_train.


Eco - A round where a team short on money uses pistols so they can buy better weapons in the upcoming rounds. Also used to describe winning on a save round. Example 1 - This will be an eco round for for the team, they are using their pistols.
Example 2 - We just eco'd them third round after losing the first two. (submitted by palooka)


Even - When a player has an equal number of kills and deaths by the end of a game.


F:


Fake Defuse – When a Counter Terrorist will begin to defuse the bomb and let off of it to draw out a lurking enemy.


Fire Fight – This word simply means when two or more players exchange shots at each other.


Five Train – The first train underneath the awning in the middle train set at the A bombsite on de_train.


Flank – When an enemy sneaks up on an opponent without them knowing.


Flash – Short for flashbang which is a type of grenade that causes an enemy to be completely blind and deaf for a short period of time.


Flick Shot: With an awp, moving your crosshairs across the screen onto the opposing enemy and clicking on him at high speed. (submitted by w^_-LF)


Forklift – A spot that provides cover for Counter Terrorist when trying to hold the A bombsite on de_nuke.


Fountain – A water fountain in the middle of the A bombsite. Terrorists can plant next to the fountain, but not inside of the fountain due to a defusal bug.


G:


Gamesense - A word encompassing a player's ability to interpret their surroundings and ability to make decisions in-game. "That guy rushed bombsite B by himself, he has no gamesense." (submitted by Gprime)


Garden – A small hiding spot on de_inferno at the B bombsite where players can watch several spots in the site.


Generator – A tiny hiding spot adjacent to the A bombsite on de_inferno.


Granny awp - To play as far back with an awp as possible from the opposing team's rush in order to hit some easy shots. "That kid only gets such a high score because he granny awps all the time" (submitted by Gprime)


Grill – A common bomb plant spot that leaves the bomb completely in the open which can then be seen from several different spots by the Terrorists.


H:


Headshot - The act of firing upon an a enemy and killing them with a shot to the head. ( submitted by w^_-LF)


Heaven – The term used to describe an area suspended in the air that can be accessed by the use of a ladder, commonly seen on maps such as de_nuke and de_train.


Hell – The term used to describe the spot below heaven on specifically the map de_train.


Hut – A small tin shack that connects the Terrorist lobby to the A bombsite on de_nuke.








I:


Inner: Used to define the B bombsite of de_train because it is located inside of a building that harbors a train yard.


Interp'ed - Dieing from enemy fire when the enemy peeked you and saw your model on his client before you could see him on your client. "Oh man I got interped, I didn't even see that guy shoot at me and I died" (submitted by Gprime)


Ivy: The hallway that leads the Terrorists to the A bombsite on de_train.


J:


Janitor Closet: Another name for the boiler room on de_inferno.


K:


Kevlar – Another name for body armor.


Kit - Short for defusal kit, referring to equipment that allows a CT to defuse the bomb in a shorter time period. (submitted by palooka)




Kitchen – A spot in the Terrorist side of apartments. This spot is used as a hiding spot if a Terrorist finds that they are out of time and must hide to save their weapon.


L:


Ladder Train – The train that is directly next to the ladder leading from inside to outside of de_train.


Leg - Hitting a player in the leg with the AWP which normally kills in 1 shot anywhere on the body except the legs. (submitted by fawny)


Library – The room that connects the Counter Terrorist spawn to the B bombsite.


Lobby – The spot that provides several options for Terrorists when choosing which bombsite to hit on de_nuke.


Locker Room – The room below heaven on de_nuke.


Long A – The long stretch on de_dust2 from the Terrorist spawn to the platform at the A bombsite.


Lower B - The area in de_dust2 that stretches from Terrorist side of Mid-Double doors to upper B Tunnel. (submitted by K4C)


M:


Maze – The corridor that provides access to both lower and upper A on de_contra.


Middle – Simply put, the middle of the map.


Mini Garage – The smaller of the two garages that connects the A bombsite to the outside of the power plant on de_nuke.


MM1 - Short for message mode 1, which means that a user/team is speaking in public chat rather than private/team (mm2) chat.


MM2 - Short for message mode 2, meaning to only use team chat. (submitted by fawny)


Muck – The term used to define the mushy mud that is located in spots such as upper A and the water access point near B bridge on de_contra.


N:


Nade – Short form for HE grenade. Can also be used to define the use of a flashbang, HE grenade, or smoke.


Negative - When a player has more deaths then kills. (submitted by fawny)


Noscope – Defines the ability of a player to eliminate an enemy without zooming in with an AWP.


O:


Oranges – The term used to define a spot at the A bombsite on de_inferno that is behind crates full of oranges.


Outter – Used to define the A bombsite on de_train since it is out in the open.


P:


Pit – The large area next to garden that can observe the exit of apartments as well as right mid on de_inferno. This is also the name of the hole toward the end of long A on de_dust2.


Plank – The two pieces of wood that connect cathedral to water on de_contra.


Platform – Plat for short, is a concrete floor area that harbors items ranging from boxes and barrels to hide behind, to the plat actually being the bombsite itself seen on de_dust2.


Popdog - Another name for the train that is adjacent to the ladder room on de_train. This term originates from the original Counter-Strike, which had graffiti on the side of this train that had a dog with bubbles coming out of his mouth, harboring the phrase "Popdog". (submitted by Hoit)


Positive - When a player has more kills then deaths. (submitted by fawny)


Pre-Nade/Pre-Flash: The concept of throwing a HE or flashbang grenade without knowing for sure if there will be opponents going through that particular route. Pre-nading and pre-flashing are usually used to stop rushes, or to trick the other team into believing that the players in question are pushing a particular pathway."Ok, You and I are gonna pre-flash Long A doors, then fall back and play passive." (submitted by r3b0und)


Q:


Quick Scope – The term used to describe the event that occurs when an AWPer barely has the time to zoom in and instantly shoots as the scope zooms.


R:


Radio Room – The room that leads Terrorists from lobby to the ramp on de_nuke.


Rafter – The walkway that is suspended in the air on de_nuke.


Ramp – The passage that leads to the B bombsite on de_nuke.


Randy - A player who gets incredibly lucky shots, but does not amass very many frags. (submitted by Gprime)


Red Room – The read lighted room that connects the B corridor to the middle of the map on de_russka.


Rock – A small rock on the Counter Terrorist side of de_dust2 that allow a CT to see over smokes at middle and eliminate players going cat with an AWP.


Roo Shootin - Shooting a player that is jumping. (submitted by K4C)


Rotation – When players shift from one side of the map to another.


S:


Sand – The dried out river bed that provides access to the A bombsite as well as the B bombsite on de_contra. You can rotate in between sites by using this route as well.


Silo – The yellow tank that the Terrorists can boost on to gain a height advantage as well as sneak up on enemies outside on de_nuke.


Smoke - Action of using a smoke grenade to conceal a area. (submitted by fawny)


Spools – The large cable wrapped wooden holders that players will commonly stand on to gain a height advantage on an enemy at the A bombsite on de_inferno.


Spraying - When a player holds down their fire button, increasing their firepower but decreasing accuracy. Recoil of a spray can be controlled by skilled players by pulling crosshairs down. Spraying is more effective on close range targets and through objects such as doors or boxes. (submitted by palooka)


Squeaky – Another word for blue door on de_nuke.


T:


T Spawn - In full, the Terrorist spawn is the starting point for the Terrorists on a map.


U:


Underground – Used to define the route from Terrorist spawn to the A bombsite on de_season.


V:


Vent – Describes any point of entry that players must shoot out a vent cover to gain access to a new point on a map. Maps such as de_nuke and de_season have a vent.


W:


White Halls – The long stretch that connects Terrorist spawn and the B bombsite on de_train.


Whiff - Another word for missing a shot. "Dude, I totally whiffed that shot" (submitted by Gprime)


Y:


Yellow – A tank that Counter Terrorists use as a hiding spot at ramp on de_nuke. Some players also call silo, yellow as well.


Z:


Z Connector – The zigzag connector that joins the B bombsite to the outside train yard of de_train.

Counter Strike Demo Recording And Screen Shots Tutorials

How can I record a demo / take a screenshot?

To record a demo in Counter-Strike, press your console key, this is usually above your TAB key and looks like , once you have the console up, type "record " (without quotes), this will start recording a demo. To stop recording, bring up the console again and type "stop". The demo will now be complete and is saved in your Steam\SteamApps\\counter-strike\cstrike folder named .dem.

To record a demo in Counter-Strike: Source, it is exactly the same as in Counter-Strike, except that after you have stopped recording, it is stored in your Steam\SteamApps\\counter-strike source\cstrike folder.

To play back your demo, make sure it is in the correct folder (see above), and in your console, type: playdemo . In Counter-Strike, you have the option of typing viewdemo instead, this includes a toolbar where you can change speed, pause, and skip time. This function is not included with Counter-Strike: Source at this time.

To take a screenshot in Counter-Strike, you can bind a key to "screenshot", by default it is bound to your F5 key. If you want to take a screenshot of your console, the best way it to type "screenshot" (without quotes) in your console, both these commands save it as a bitmap (.bmp) file named "map name xxxx.bmp" in your Steam\SteamApps\\counter-strike\cstrike folder, where xxxx is an auto-incremental value depending on how many screenshots you have taken of that particular map. In Counter-Strike: Source, you should bind a key to "jpeg" (without quotes), this will save it as a JPEG (.jpg) "named map name xxxx.jpg" in your Steam\SteamApps\\counter-strike source\cstrike\screenshots folder.

counter strike CS 1.6 and CS:S script making

1. Setup
2. Entering Commands
3. Weapon Bind Names
4. Radio Bind Names
5. Key Bind Names
6. Important Notes
7. Sample Autoexec

 Setup 

First, we'll need to make an autoexec file for your binds to go in...

- Open up the:

C:\Valve\Steam\Steamapps\youremail\counter-strike source\cstrike\cfg

folder.

- Right-Click anywhere in the folder, from the pop-up list go to New >>> Text
Document.

Use Notepad for creating / editing your configs to prevent any possible
problems 

- Once you open up the new text file, go to File >>> Save As...

- For the File name: "autoexec.cfg"

- For the Save as type: "All Files (*.*)"

- For the Encoding: ANSI

- Once it's saved it will create a NEW document called an autoexec.cfg, this is
where you will enter in your commands.

Entering Commands 

- Now, here's how the buy scripting works in Source. First type which key that
you want to bind (for this example we will use f1):

bind f1

- Now, decide which weapon you would like f1 to buy, we'll use the AK-47:

bind f1 "buy ak47"

- And that's it...of course there's more things you can add such as buying
Primary Ammo, Kevlar, Grenades, etc. So we'll do one so that we buy an
AK-47, Primary Ammo, Kevlar, and a HE grenade:

bind f1 "buy ak47; buy primammo; buy vest; buy hegrenade"

- You can also combine 2 different team specific weapons into the same binds.
Like the AK-47 and M4A1:

bind f1 "buy ak47; buy m4a1; buy primammo; buy vest; buy hegrenade"

- The following formats can be used and your scripts will still function
properly:

bind f1 "buy ak47; buy primammo; buy vest; buy hegrenade"
bind "f1" "buy ak47; buy primammo; buy vest; buy hegrenade"
bind F1 "buy ak47; buy primammo; buy vest; buy hegrenade"
bind f1 "buy AK47; buy PRIMAMMO; buy VEST; buy HEGRENADE"
bind f1 "buy ak47;buy primammo;buy vest;buy hegrenade"

- You can also add text headers in your autoexec in order to keep different
types of binds separated and labeled. Just add "//" to the beginning to make
sure that the game doesn't try to read it as a command. The following is an
example:

//Weapon Binds
bind f1 "buy ak47; buy m4a1; buy primammo; buy vest; buy hegrenade"
bind f2 "buy sg552; buy aug; buy primammo; buy vest; buy hegrenade"

//Game Configs
cl_showfps 1
cl_smooth 0

Weapon Bind Names 

Here is the list of the weapons and equipment you can buy and their proper
bind name...also note that these are the real weapon names and not the fake
VGUI weapon names just in case you're wondering why they're listed differently
here.

- Pistols:

"Glock18 Select Fire" - glock
"H&K USP .45 Tactical" - usp
"SIG P228" - p228
"Desert Eagle" - deagle
"FN Five-Seven" - fiveseven
"Dual Beretta 96G Elite" - elite

- Shotguns:

"Benelli M3 Super90" - m3
"Benelli XM1014" - xm1014

- Submachine Guns:

"Steyr Tactical Machine Pistol" - tmp
"Ingram MAC-10" - mac10
"H&K MP5-Navy" - mp5navy
"H&K UMP45" - ump45
"FN P90" - p90

- Assault Rifles:

"Galil" - galil
"Famas" - famas
"AK-47" - ak47
"Colt M4A1 Carbine" - m4a1
"SIG SG-552 Commando" - sg552
"Steyr Aug" - aug

- Sniper Rifles:

"Steyr Scout" - scout
"SIG SG-550 Sniper" - sg550
"AI Arctic Warfare/Magnum" - awp
"H&K G3/SG-1 Sniper Rifle" - g3sg1

- Machine Gun:

"FN M249 Para" - m249

- Ammunition:

"Primary Ammo" - primammo
"Secondary Ammo" - secammo

- Equipment:

"Kevlar Vest" - vest
"Kevlar Vest & Helmet" - vesthelm
"Flashbang" - flashbang
"HE Grenade" - hegrenade
"Smoke Grenade" - smokegrenade
"Defuse Kit" - defuser
"NightVision Goggles" - nvgs

Radio Bind Names 

You can also bind radio commands now, here is the list of the radio messages
and their proper bind name...

- Radio A:

"Cover Me" - coverme
"You Take the Point" - takepoint
"Hold This Position" - holdpos
"Regroup Team" - regroup
"Follow Me" - followme
"Taking Fire, Need Assistance" - takingfire

- Radio B:

"Go" - go
"Fall Back" - fallback
"Stick Together Team" - sticktog
"Get in Position" - getinpos
"Storm the Front" - stormfront
"Report In" - report

- Radio C:

"Affirmative/Roger" - roger
"Enemy Spotted" - enemyspot
"Need Backup" - needbackup
"Sector Clear" - sectorclear
"I'm in Position" - inposition
"Reporting In" - reportingin
"She's gonna Blow!" - getout
"Negative" - negative
"Enemy Down" - enemydown

 Key Bind Names 

Here is the list of the keyboard keys you can bind and their proper bind
name...


[Esc ] [F1] [F2] [F3] [F4] [F5] [F6] [F7] [F8] [F9] [F10] [F11] [F12]


[`] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [0] [-] [=] [Backspace]


[ Tab ] [Q] [W] [E] [R] [T] [Y] [U] [I] [O] [P] [{] [}] [ \ ]


[ CAPS ] [A] [S] [D] [F] [G] [H] [J] [K] [L] [;] ['] [ Enter ]


[ Shift ] [Z] [X] [C] [V] [B] [N] [M] [,] [.] [/] [ Shift ]


[Ctrl] [N/A] [Alt] [ Space Bar ] [Alt] [N/A] [N/A] [Ctrl]


Keyboard Key Key Bind Name
------------ -------------
Space Bar - space
Caps Lock - capslock
Escape - escape
F1 - f1
F2 - f2
F3 - f3
F4 - f4
F5 - f5
F6 - f6
F7 - f7
F8 - f8
F9 - f9
F10 - f10
F11 - f11
F12 - f12
Pause - pause
Left Quote - `
Hyphen - -
Equals Sign - =
Backspace - backspace
Tab Key - tab
Left Bracket - ]
Right Bracket - [
Forward Slash - /
Semicolon - semicolon
Right Quote - '
Back Slash - \
Shift Key - shift
Enter - enter
Comma - ,
Control - ctrl
Alt - alt
One - 1
Two - 2
Three - 3
Four - 4
Five - 5
Six - 6
Seven - 7
Eight - 8
Nine - 9
Zero - 0
A - a
B - b
C - c
D - d
E - e
F - f
G - g
H - h
I - i
J - j
K - k
L - l
M - m
N - n
O - o
P - p
Q - q
R - r
S - s
T - t
U - u
V - v
W - w
X - x
Y - y
Z - z
Up Arrow - uparrow
Down Arrow - downarrow
Right Arrow - rightarrow
Left Arrow - leftarrow
Insert - ins
Home - home
Page Up - pgup
Page Down - pgdn
Delete - del
End - end
Mouse Button 1 - mouse1
Mouse Button 2 - mouse2
Mouse Button 3 - mouse3
Mouse Button 4 - mouse4
Mouse Button 5 - mouse5
Mouse Wheel Up - mwheelup
Mouse Wheel Down - mwheeldown


Keypad Key Key Bind Name
------------------------------
1 - kp_end
2 - kp_downarrow
3 - kp_pgdn
4 - kp_leftarrow
5 - kp_5
6 - kp_rightarrow
7 - kp_home
8 - kp_uparrow
9 - kp_pgup
0 - kp_ins
+ - kp_plus
- - kp_minus
/ - kp_slash
. - kp_del
* - *
Enter - kp_enter

 Important Notes 

- Buy scripting in source is a lot more lenient when it comes to format. You
can use capital letters for the weapon names and keys, also you can remove
the spaces between different items (buy vest;buy primammo) and your script
will still work properly. Although mistakes can still happen...

- If your scripts don't seem to be working, first make sure that you've setup
your autoexec properly, then check spelling, and then format. Most errors
are caused by misspelling.

- If you don't have enough money to buy all the items, the game will buy in the
order that you have the weapons/equipment listed in your script.

- If you just want to buy single clips of ammo use either buyammo1 for primary
ammo, or buyammo2 for secondary ammo, very useful for it you just want to buy
one or two magazines of AWP ammo or pistol ammo.

- You can bind a key to use a certain weapon if you would like, which is very
helpful with grenades, the following is an example:

bind mouse4 "use weapon_hegrenade"



 Sample Autoexec 

The following is an example of an autoexec that has buy scripts, toggle scripts
and game configs in it so you can see an example of how it all looks when used
together.

//Walk Toggle Script
alias walk "+speed; bind q run"
alias run "-speed; bind q walk"
bind q "walk"

//Net_Graph Script
alias +netgraph "net_graph 3"
alias -netgraph "net_graph 0"
bind ctrl "+netgraph"

//Buy Menu Scripts
bind kp_home "buy deagle; buyammo2; buyammo2"
bind kp_uparrow "buy scout; buyammo1"
bind kp_pgup "buy mp5navy; buy primammo"
bind kp_leftarrow "buy galil; buy famas; buy primammo"
bind kp_5 "buy ak47; buy m4a1; buy primammo"
bind kp_rightarrow "buy sg552; buy aug; buy primammo"
bind kp_end "buy hegrenade; buy flashbang; buy smokegrenade"
bind kp_downarrow "buy primammo; buy secammo"
bind kp_pgdn "buy vest; buy vesthelm"

//Game Configs
cl_showfps 1
hud_drawhistory_time 1
hud_deathnotice_time 3
hud_saytext_time 5
cl_smooth 0
cl_ragdoll_collide 1
bind mouse5 "use weapon_hegrenade"
bind mouse4 "use weapon_flashbang"
bind mouse3 "use weapon_smokegrenade"

Source Multiplayer Networking

Multiplayer games based on the Source Engine use a Client-Servernetworking architecture. Usually a server is a dedicated host that runs the game and is authoritative about world simulation, game rules, and player input processing. A client is a player's computer connected to a game server. The client and server communicate with each other by sending small data packets at a high frequency (usually 20 to 30 packets per second). A client receives the current world state from the server and generates video and audio output based on these updates. The client also samples data from input devices (keyboard, mouse, microphone, etc.) and sends these input samples back to the server for further processing. Clients only communicate with the game server and not between each other (like in a peer-to-peer application). In contrast with a single player game, a multiplayer game has to deal with a variety of new problems caused by packet-based communication.
Network bandwidth is limited, so the server can't send a new update packet to all clients for every single world change. Instead, the server takes snapshots of the current world state at a constant rate and broadcasts these snapshots to the clients. Network packets take a certain amount of time to travel between the client and the server (i.e. the ping time). This means that the client time is always a little bit behind the server time. Furthermore, client input packets are also delayed on their way back, so the server is processing temporally delayed user commands. In addition, each client has a different network delay which varies over time due to other background traffic and the client's framerate. These time differences between server and client causes logical problems, becoming worse with increasing network latencies. In fast-paced action games, even a delay of a few milliseconds can cause a laggy gameplay feeling and make it hard to hit other players or interact with moving objects. Besides bandwidth limitations and network latencies, information can get lost due to network packet loss.

To cope with all these issues introduced by network communication, the Source engine uses multiple techniques to solve these problems, or at least make them less visible to the player. These techniques include data compression, interpolation, prediction, and lag compensation. These techniques are tightly coupled, and changes made within one system may affect other systems. This document describes the general functionality of these systems and how they work together.

Basic networking

The server simulates the game in discrete time steps called ticks. By default, 66 ticks per second are simulated, but mods can specify their own tickrate. For example Counter-Strike: Source uses a lower tickrate of 33 ticks/second to reduce the server CPU load. During each tick, the server processes incoming user commands, runs a physical simulation step, checks the game rules, and updates all object states. After simulating a tick, the server decides if any client needs a world update and takes a snapshot of the current world state if necessary. A higher tickrate increases the simulation precision, but also requires more CPU power and available bandwidth on both server and client. The server admin may override the default tickrate with the -tickrate command line parameter, though tickrate changes done this way are not recommended because the mod may not work as designed if its tickrate is changed.
Clients usually have only a limited amount of available bandwidth. In the worst case, players with a modem connection can't receive more than 5 to 7 KB/sec. If the server tried to send them updates with a higher data rate, packet loss would be unavoidable. Therefore, the client has to tell the server its incoming bandwidth capacity by setting the console variable rate (in bytes/second). This is the most important network variable for clients and it has to be set correctly for an optimal gameplay experience. The client can request a certain snapshot rate by changing cl_updaterate (default 20), but the server will never send more updates than simulated ticks or exceed the requested client rate limit. Server admins can limit data rate values requested by clients with sv_minrate and sv_maxrate (both in bytes/second). Also the snapshot rate can be restricted with sv_minupdaterate and sv_maxupdaterate (both in snapshots/second).
The client creates user commands from sampling input devices with the same tick rate that the server is running with. A user command is basically a snapshot of the current keyboard and mouse state. But instead of sending a new packet to the server for each user command, the client sends command packets at a certain rate of packets per second (usually 30). This means two or more user commands are transmitted within the same packet. Clients can increase the command rate with cl_cmdrate. This will increase responsiveness but requires more outgoing bandwidth, too.
Game data is compressed using delta compression to reduce network load. That means the server doesn't send a full world snapshot each time, but rather only changes (a delta snapshot) that happened since the last acknowledged update. With each packet sent between the client and server, acknowledge numbers are attached to keep track of their data flow. Usually full (non-delta) snapshots are only sent when a game starts or a client suffers from heavy packet loss for a couple of seconds. Clients can request a full snapshot manually with the cl_fullupdate command.
Responsiveness, or the time between user input and its visible feedback in the game world, are determined by lots of factors, including the server/client CPU load, simulation tickrate, data rate and snapshot update settings, but mostly by the network packet traveling time. The time between the client sending a user command, the server responding to it, and the client receiving the server's response is called the latency or ping (or round trip time). Low latency is a significant advantage when playing a multiplayer online game. Techniques like prediction and lag compensation try to minimize that advantage and allow a fair game for players with slower connections. Tweaking networking setting can help to gain a better experience if the necessary bandwidth and CPU power is available. We recommend keeping the default settings, since improper changes may cause more negative side effects than actual benefits.

Entity interpolation

By default, the client receives about 20 snapshot per second. If the objects (entities) in the world were only rendered at the positions received by the server, moving objects and animation would look choppy and jittery. Dropped packets would also cause noticeable glitches. The trick to solve this problem is to go back in time for rendering, so positions and animations can be continuously interpolated between two recently received snapshot. With 20 snapshots per second, a new update arrives about every 50 milliseconds. If the client render time is shifted back by 50 milliseconds, entities can be always interpolated between the last received snapshot and the snapshot before that.
Source defaults to an interpolation period ('lerp') of 100-milliseconds (cl_interp 0.1); this way, even if one snapshot is lost, there are always two valid snapshots to interpolate between. Take a look at the following figure showing the arrival times of incoming world snapshots:

The last snapshot received on the client was at tick 344 or 10.30 seconds. The client time continues to increase based on this snapshot and the client frame rate. If a new video frame is rendered, the rendering time is the current client time 10.32 minus the view interpolation delay of 0.1 seconds. This would be 10.22 in our example and all entities and their animations are interpolated using the correct fraction between snapshot 340 and 342.
Since we have an interpolation delay of 100 milliseconds, the interpolation would even work if snapshot 342 were missing due to packet loss. Then the interpolation could use snapshots 340 and 344. If more than one snapshot in a row is dropped, interpolation can't work perfectly because it runs out of snapshots in the history buffer. In that case the renderer uses extrapolation (cl_extrapolate 1) and tries a simple linear extrapolation of entities based on their known history so far. The extrapolation is done only for 0.25 seconds of packet loss (cl_extrapolate_amount), since the prediction errors would become too big after that.
Entity interpolation causes a constant view "lag" of 100 milliseconds by default (cl_interp 0.1), even if you're playing on a listenserver(server and client on the same machine). This doesn't mean you have to lead your aiming when shooting at other players since the server-side lag compensation knows about client entity interpolation and corrects this error.


Tip: More recent Source games have the cl_interp_ratio cvar. With this you can easily and safely decrease the interpolation period by setting cl_interp to 0, then increasing the value of cl_updaterate (the useful limit of which depends on server tickrate). You can check your final lerp with net_graph 1.




Note: If you turn on sv_showhitboxes (not available in Source 2009) you will see player hitboxes drawn in server time, meaning they are ahead of the rendered player model by the lerp period. This is perfectly normal!

Input prediction

Lets assume a player has a network latency of 150 milliseconds and starts to move forward. The information that the +FORWARD key is pressed is stored in a user command and send to the server. There the user command is processed by the movement code and the player's character is moved forward in the game world. This world state change is transmitted to all clients with the next snapshot update. So the player would see his own change of movement with a 150 milliseconds delay after he started walking. This delay applies to all players actions like movement, shooting weapons, etc. and becomes worse with higher latencies.
A delay between player input and corresponding visual feedback creates a strange, unnatural feeling and makes it hard to move or aim precisely. Client-side input prediction (cl_predict 1) is a way to remove this delay and let the player's actions feel more instant. Instead of waiting for the server to update your own position, the local client just predicts the results of its own user commands. Therefore, the client runs exactly the same code and rules the server will use to process the user commands. After the prediction is finished, the local player will move instantly to the new location while the server still sees him at the old place.
After 150 milliseconds, the client will receive the server snapshot that contains the changes based on the user command he predicted earlier. Then the client compares the server position with his predicted position. If they are different, a prediction error has occurred. This indicates that the client didn't have the correct information about other entities and the environment when it processed the user command. Then the client has to correct its own position, since the server has final authority over client-side prediction. If cl_showerror 1 is turned on, clients can see when prediction errors happen. Prediction error correction can be quite noticeable and may cause the client's view to jump erratically. By gradually correcting this error over a short amount of time (cl_smoothtime), errors can be smoothly corrected. Prediction error smoothing can be turned off with cl_smooth 0.
Predicting an object's behavior only works if the clients knows the same rules and state of the object as the server. That's usually not the case since the server knows more internal information about objects than the clients do. Clients see only a small part of the world and just get enough information to render objects. Therefore, prediction works only for your own player, and the weapons controlled by you. Proper prediction of other players or interactive objects is not possible on the client at this point.

Lag compensation

All source code for lag compensation and view interpolation is available in the Source SDK.

Let's say a player shoots at a target at client time 10.5. The firing information is packed into a user command and sent to the server. While the packet is on its way through the network, the server continues to simulate the world, and the target might have moved to a different position. The user command arrives at server time 10.6 and the server wouldn't detect the hit, even though the player has aimed exactly at the target. This error is corrected by the server-side lag compensation)
The lag compensation system keeps a history of all recent player positions for one second. If a user command is executed, the server estimates at what time the command was created as follows:

Command Execution Time = Current Server Time - Packet Round-Trip-Time - Client View Interpolation

Then the server moves all other players - only players - back to where they were at the command execution time. The user command is executed and the hit is detected correctly. After the user command has been processed, the players revert to their original positions.

Note:
Since entity interpolation is included in the equation, failing to have it on can cause undesired results.


On a listen server you can enable sv_showimpacts 1 to see the different server and client hitboxes:

This screenshot was taken on a listen server with 200 milliseconds of lag (using net_fakelag), right after the server confirmed the hit. The red hitbox shows the target position on the client where it was 100 milliseconds ago. Since then, the target continued to move to the left while the user command was travelling to the server. After the user command arrived, the server restored the target position (blue hitbox) based on the estimated command execution time. The server traces the shot and confirms the hit (the client sees blood effects).
Client and server hitboxes don't exactly match because of small precision errors in time measurement. Even a small difference of a few milliseconds can cause an error of several inches for fast-moving objects. Multiplayer hit detection is not pixel perfect and has known precision limitations based on the tickrate and the speed of moving objects. Increasing the tickrate does improve the precision of hit detection, but also requires more CPU, memory, and bandwidth capacity for server and clients.
The question arises, why is hit detection so complicated on the server? Doing the back tracking of player positions and dealing with precision errors while hit detection could be done client-side way easier and with pixel precision. The client would just tell the server with a "hit" message what player has been hit and where. We can't allow that simply because a game server can't trust the clients on such important decisions. Even if the client is "clean" and protected by Valve Anti-Cheat, the packets could be still modified on a 3rd machine while routed to the game server. These "cheat proxies" could inject "hit" messages into the network packet without being detected by VAC (a "man-in-the-middle" attack).
Network latencies and lag compensation can create paradoxes that seem illogical compared to the real world. For example, you can be hit by an attacker you can't even see anymore because you already took cover. What happened is that the server moved your player hitboxes back in time, where you were still exposed to your attacker. This inconsistency problem can't be solved in general because of the relatively slow packet speeds. In the real world, you don't notice this problem because light (the packets) travels so fast and you and everybody around you sees the same world as it is right now.

Net Graph

The Source engine offers a couple of tools to check your client connection speed and quality. The most popular one is the net graph, which can be enabled with net_graph 2 (or +graph). Incoming packets are represented by small lines moving from right to left. The height of each line reflects size of a packet. If a gap appears between lines, a packet was lost or arrived out of order. The lines are color-coded depending on what kind of data they contain.
Under the net graph, the first line shows your current rendered frames per second, your average latency, and the current value of cl_updaterate. The second line shows the size in bytes of the last incoming packet (snapshots), the average incoming bandwidth, and received packets per second. The third line shows the same data just for outgoing packets (user commands).

Optimizations

The default networking settings are designed for playing on dedicated server on the Internet. The settings are balanced to work well for most client/server hardware and network configurations. For Internet games the only console variable that should be adjusted on the client is "rate", which defines your available bytes/second bandwidth of your network connection. Good values for "rate" is 4500 for modems, 6000 for ISDN, 10000 DSL and above.
In an high-performance network environment, where the server and all clients have the necessary hardware resources available, it's possible to tweak bandwidth and tickrate settings to gain more gameplay precision. Increasing the server tickrate gernally improves movement and shooting precision but comes with a higher CPU cost. A CS:S server running with tickrate 100 generates about 3x more CPU load then a default tickrate 33 server. That can cause serious calculation lags, especially when lots of people are shooting at the same time. It's not suggested to run a game server with a higher tickrate then 66 to reserve necessary CPU resources for critical situations.
If the game server is running with a higher tickrate, clients can increase their snapshot update rate (cl_updaterate) and user command rate (cl_cmdrate), if the necessary bandwidth (rate) is available. The snapshot update rate is limited by the server tickrate, a server can't send more then one update per tick. So for a tickrate 66 server, the highest client value for cl_updaterate would be 66. If you increase the snapshot rate and encounter packet loss or choke, you have to turn it down again. With an increased cl_updaterate you can also lower the view interpolation delay (cl_interp). The default interpolation delay is 0.1 seconds, which derives from the default cl_updaterate 20. View interpolation delay gives a moving player a small advantage over a stationary player since the moving player can see his target a split second earlier. This effect is unavoidable, but it can be reduced by decreasing the view interpolation delay. If both players are moving, the view lag delay is affecting both players and nobody has an advantage.
The relation between snapshot rate and view interpolation delay is the following:

Source Engine v7 (CSS - HL2DM)
view interpolation delay = cl_interp_ratio / cl_updaterate

For example, if your client receives 66 update per second and the interp ratio is 2, your view interpolation delay will be 0.03 s. This way your view interpolation lag is lowered from 100ms to 30ms. cl_interp was disabled on the Source Engine v7, you need to use cl_interp_ratio and cl_updaterate to set the view interpolation delay. Removing the view interpolation lag completely by turning it off (cl_interpolate 0) will not work and cause jittery animations and worse hit detection.

Source Engine v14/v15 / Orange Box Engine (TF2 - DoD S) + Left 4 Dead Engine
cl_interp = cl_interp_ratio / cl_updaterate

For example, if your client receives 66 update per second and the interp ratio is 2, you can set cl_interp to 0.03. This way your view interpolation lag is lowered from 100ms to 30ms. Here, cl_interp_ratio is acting as a "limiter" of the cl_interp value. It is not possible to turn off the view interpolation lag on the Orange Box Engine.



Tips:


Don't change console settings unless you are 100% sure what you are doing
Most "high-performance" setting cause exactly the opposite effect, if the server or network can't handle the load.
Don't turn off view interpolation and/or lag compensation
It will not improve movement or shooting precision.
Optimized setting for one client may not work for other clients
Do not just use settings from other clients without verifing them for your system.
If you follow a player in "First-Person" as a spectator in a game or SourceTV, you don't exactly see what the player sees
Spectators see the game world without lag compensation.

counter strike low end computer frames per second (fps) guide

This tutorial is intended for people with low end machines, which can be qualified as machines with some type of 1.7 gigahertz processor or below, an agp slot - mostly towards 4x, or an nVidia 5900 series or below card or an ATI 9600 series or below (although you may also want to copy and paste the following link for the VALVe hardware assesment service)

• It is separated into six sections:

1. Graphic Card Drivers
2. Command Line Settings
3. Automatically Executed Configuration
4. Setting Priorities
5. In game settings.
6. Other Helpful links

It is intended to get the maximum playability for those who can not afford to upgrade; it is not going to make a pretty game with all the bells and whistles, rather, it will turn them ALL OFF. Your game, when done, will now graphically resemble CS 1.6, but hopefully will be more playable in Source. This tutorial is not intended for users who already have a decent machine and just want to "squeeze out a few more fps", rather, it's for players who have fps problems. I hope it helps. This tutorial can easily be modified to work on all Source games, not just CS: S. This tutorial is not the end all be all of tutorials, it is only here for help. If you find it helpful, great, if you find something in it that does not work for you, feel free to let me know what doesn't seem to work and why in this thread. Computers are very different from one another, there is no generic single solution for everyone. Nothing is 100% and neither is this tutorial. Feel free to add your own tweaks or recommendations to this thread.

• Graphic Card Drivers

Older cards require older drivers. Just because a new driver was released doesn't mean you should install it.

( NOTE : BE SURE TO HAVE DirectX 9.0c INSTALLED. NOT SURE WHAT VERSION YOU HAVE? CLICK START-> RUN-> TYPE IN DXDIAG. THIS WILL TELL YOU RIGHT AWAY )

They won't help geForce F/X or ati 9600 or below series owners, and may in fact hinder you. I think nVidia put it best, on this one. Guru3d has a great database of graphics drivers for everything, and an awesome forum to help you identify which drivers you need(although for older nVidia users I recommend the 79.11 drivers). Check them out at: http://www.guru3d.com

But, be sure to use the software removal tools for any drivers. There are some on Guru of 3D although I've also heard good things about Driver Cleaner, too. When you've downloaded and installed the driver removal tool of your choice, and after you've downloaded but before you've installed the new driver, be sure to:

1. open Control Panel - Add/remove Software-  find your card's drivers -  remove.
2. Reboot in Safe Mode - tap the f8 key while rebooting to get this option
3. Run the driver removal tool of your choice
4. Reboot normally
5. Install your new driver

• Command Line Settings

Steam Way  ( THESE ARE EASY TO UNDO )

First, start steam 

1. Then, right click on the Steam icon in the lower right hand corner .
2. Select Games .
3. Right click on Counter Strike .
4. Click Properties
5. Click Set Launch Options .
6. enter in the following commands, the only spaces being between the commands as well as the command values .

Set the amount of ram used by Steam*. it is recommended to use 1/2 your available ram - so for the following:


code:

Right click and copy and paste the code.

1. Ram - Heapsize
2. 2 gigs - 1048576
3. 1 gig - 524288
4. 512 megs - 262144
5. 256 megs - 131072
6. 128 megs - 65536 (you should consider buying more ram)

NOTE:VALVe has said that this doesn't control
the same resources it did in Half-Life. For more 
information read this. 


Specify the DirectX level used by the game.**

Right click and copy and paste the code.

Right click and copy and paste the code.

• DxLevel - Number
• 9.0c - 90 (really unnecessary if you are already fine)
• 8.1 - 81
• 8.0 - 80
• 7.0 - 70 (recommended for very low-end, although leagues consider this a cheat, for which I can understand.)

**Also, once set, you should remove this command from the launch options before 
the next time you play. That way, if you've made any video setting changes
from the game engine after this, it will save and not reset itself each time.

• Automatically Executed Configuration

Copy the following code (Thanks, Casey) and paste it into windows notepad. Name it autoexec.cfg and save it in your Steam directory - in one of two places (I have been made aware of two different directory structures - I believe it depends on how old your Steam installation is - if you don't have one path you most likely have the other, unless you made a custom path)
c:\Program Files\Steam\ . . .counter-strike source\hl2\cfg\
or
c:\Program Files\Steam\ . . .counter-strike source\cstrike\cfg\
directory.



**Note**Both the r_drawdetailprops and the r_propsmaxdist are considered cheats in most leagues, so do not include these if you play in CAL, TPG, BFE, or ViE **




Here are the commands, with a brief explanation (to activate or de-activate certain lines, simply comment or un-comment them by adding or removing "//" in front of the actual command. when the two forward slashes are there, like "//mat_dxlevel 60" that means it's not going to be read by the computer.

Right click and copy and paste the code.

Code:

// Casey's Config v2 (CAL compliant)
// Updated for new season by CAL|Stone
// Updated 01/06/07 - Lowered some vars to increase FPS within rule limits. Also removed one cheat var.
// Updated 01/07/07 - Reorganized and updated original version

//_Set Netcode vars_
cl_cmdrate "101"
cl_interp "0.01"
cl_interpolate "1"
cl_lagcomp_errorcheck "0" // Disables lagcompensation error checking, only needed if you're having any registration/loss/choke problems.
cl_lagcompensation "1"
cl_updaterate "101"
cl_smooth "1"
rate "25000"

//_Set MP vars_
mp_decals "0" // How many player sprays will be shown.

//_Set Client vars_
cl_drawmonitors "0" // Disables the rendering of ingame "monitors" which contain 3d rendered images.
cl_ragdoll_physics_enable "0" // Disables ragdoll.
cl_show_splashes "0" // Disables water splashes.
cl_phys_props_enable "1" // Enables Phsyics Props.
cl_phys_props_max "50" // Maximum amount of Physics props allowed.
cl_forcepreload "1" // Forces the game to load all texture and model information into memory on map load.
cl_restrict_server_commands "0" // Compatible/needed with serverplugins

//_Set Render vars_
r_decals "0" // Disables decals.
r_drawbatchdecals "1" // Enables the rendering of decals in batch.
r_decal_cullsize "9999" // Any decals under this size are not rendered.
r_rootlod "2" // Base lod of the model in the memory.
r_lod "-1" // Different level of details on models. -1 = Variable at distance. 0 = None. 1 = Minor. 2 = Less minor.
r_modellodscale "1.0" // The transitioning power of LOD.
r_drawmodeldecals "0" // Models decals, I.E. Blood.
r_shadowmaxrendered "32" // Max shadows the game will render.
r_shadows "0" // Disables shadows (Change to 1 if you like them.)
r_shadowrendertotexture "1" // Rendered the shadow texture causing it to match the player model.
r_dynamic "0" // Disables dynamic lights.
r_propsmaxdist "1200" // Max distance at which props are rendered.
r_drawdetailprops "1" // Enables the rendering of detail props.
r_occlusion "1" // Enables the Model Occlusion system.
r_renderoverlayfragment "0"
r_3dsky "0" // Disables the rendering of 3d sky boxes.
r_waterdrawreflection "0" // Disables the rendering of water reflections.
r_waterforceexpensive "0" // Forces cheap water.
r_drawflecks "0" // Disables the sparks and dirt from bullet impacts.
r_eyes "0" // Disables eyes in models.
r_teeth "0" // Disables teeth in models.
gl_clear "0" // Disables the gl_clear convariable!


//_Set Materials vars_
mat_monitorgamma "1.6" // Lower the number the brighter the screen. Only works in fullscreen.
mat_disable_bloom "1" // Disables bloom effects.
mat_hdr_enabled "0" // Disables HDR.
mat_hdr_level "0" // Double Disables HDR.
mat_specular "0" // Disables Specularity on objects.
mat_picmip "2" // Changes the resolutions of textures when they're loaded into memory. May improve FPS on graphics cards with low memory sizes.
mat_antialias "0" // Disables the use of multisampling to smooth out edges.
mat_bumpmap "0" // Disables bump mapping.
mat_clipz "0" // Disables optimized Z-Buffer rendering.
mat_compressedtextures "0" // Disables texture compression. Users with low amounts of system memory should turn this on.
mat_mipmaptextures "1" // Enables the use of mipmapping to make textures look smooth.
mat_reducefillrate "1" // Reduces the fillrate when the game is run in DXLevel 8.
mat_trilinear "0" // Disables the use of Trilinear mipmapping.
mat_wateroverlaysize "8" // Sets the resolution of water distortion. Must be multiple of 8.

//_Set Violence vars_
violence_ablood "1"
violence_agibs "1"
violence_hblood "1"
violence_hgibs "1"

//_Set HUD vars_
net_graph "3" // Enables net_graph (Required in SS round)
net_graphpos "2" // Adjusts netgraph position-set between 1 and 3.

clear
echo _Casey's Config v2 (CAL compliant) loaded