Applying skills to real matches

Alright so how is being able to jump over ptrain 11 supposed to help me if after a mp_restartgame everything feels like glue and from the looks and feel of the game jumping ptrain would 4 seems impossible in the conditions I'm in.

I guess the reason why I am posting this is because I have hit a brick wall with my game. From my experience and i'm sure many other players too .. the game feels wonderful on the warmup time before a match starts and then right when the restart happens blah.. it all goes to crap and I have a hard time even hopping over the smallest gap. In the worst case scenario, I can be holding a crossbow and when I click fire the bolt does not even shoot out. I am quite sure it is not my mouse since i have tried 2 different ones. Now there are times when this doesn't happen and it's like a fluke but it seems like I have no control over it.

my internet connection is pretty darn good 9 megabit download and 700 kilobit upload. I am able to run 66 66 25000 rates with zero choke and loss on I think all matches with 5 or less players (on netgraph 3)

most games I don't even use a router. and I have 3 network cards in my computer and have tried them all (1 of them actually effects how well I can catch things)

oh and my computer is a amd 2.2 dual core 2 gigs of ddr1 ram and a 8800 GT.. ( lol I saw almost zero improvement when i got the 8800 GT .. the game ran about as good as the 6600 GT).. Also other games like cod4 run amazingly well on my system and after the 9 hours i played it I didn't have a hard time coming in 2nd place out of 30 players.. (it's just a boring game though)

Does anyone here have experience in having these problems and then doing something to improve them ?

When I see some players flying across a map it looks like you guys are able to do things I can only do alone in a server.

QFT, exactly the same as me...game turns to junk in matches, tho it may be the demo recording that is killing me most...

CPU and RAM usage perhaps? What you got?

I feel this too, but I have felt it in all games. Part of it I think comes from being nervous and just missing the jumps loosing you touch, one skill is players who do not become as nervous or handle stress better. Another part comes from the fact that the match is when people pull out all the stops and just in general there is more lag because more is going on. Teams tend to collide in force with tons of shots and movement taking place and that just creates lag. Also making jumps and so on in the heat of a match on small platforms is not the same as in an easy gap with lots of space to make the move and no physics objects.

On the other hand there could be a genuine bug in valves restart code. To test this you could try conducting some matches without using the match start.

Sounds like u have either cable or a higher end adsl connection (not adsl2).
I know for a fact that cable i shit, wen the dude came around to install it for me that fatefull day, he told me that cable, especially with that particular company, is total shit, and as it turns out, he wasnt lying..
Also, ive heard that with those adsl connections, the ones above 1500/256 are quite shit for gaming, for some reason.

Loki should to see this thread and give his own view as he’s the more educated one among us in these matters but for all I know (from the few matches I was admin on) the game was much smoother without the warmup timer…no crashes etc…..i personally tend to go with the “being too nervous / can’t handle stress in competition” explanation. I think this is the main factor in competitive (or any form of) gaming. And one that overshadows many of our hard earned skills. This is my personal observation. I noticed so many times how I literally own the server for rounds after rounds and when someone whom I know is better than me comes on my game goes fuk all. I usually use it as a mind practice but sometimes it’s the worse thing that can happen to you…in a bad day lol.

I think I'm an anomoly. I generally fair better the first 7 to 10 kills after the restart. Then I fade horribly. I go into every scrim thinking my opponent has better skills, better map knowledge, and better communication. So, at restart, the only focus I have is magnum/crossbow/shotgun. If I can get one of those quickly, I ignore gathering health/armor and target opponents as they are gathering and before they get organized. This is a shortlived strategy however.

I have never played a match or scrim with mic coms, but I'm guessing thats a huge advantage. So even when I'm on a team, I tend to operate independently. Chat is just so cumbersome.

I have never played a match or scrim with mic coms, but I'm guessing thats a huge advantage. So even when I'm on a team, I tend to operate independently. Chat is just so cumbersome.

Me and my mate used to do kind of the same, and now that we communicate more, trust me, IT HELPS.

i think cal acs lags me a bit...cant tell though.

Well, the example I gave above was for matches after a mp_restartgame because I guess I notice it the most against the toughest players.. it doesn't just happen for me after a mp_restartgame. My game can turn to crap against even some of the crappiest players. It's almost as if 1 player can make the whole server turn into crap. I have played games with some very tough players and the game felt wonderful but this only happens maybe 1 out of 6 times I play and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. It's funny it just so happens that the last 2 times I played conflict my game felt great.. and it ran awesomely.

it's funny I have been trying to figure out what has been happening for the last year I have been playing and I still don't know .. but I think I am getting close. (weather or not me understanding what the issue is will actually help my game is a whole other story)

I get the impression that it's a combination of quite a few things.

1 being my cpu being the choke point of my computer.

2 being the fact that even though my internet connection is awesome.. the server I am playing on may not be able to handle the bandwidth I am uploading.. and therefore is being all OH NO this is too much. the reason I say this is because when I test my connection to different servers.. it's the last hop (the server itself) where i am getting the choke .. not any of the other hops..

3 actually i just thought of something.. this one is not number 3.. but going back to how some players I play the game runs awesome and others it doesn't .. when I run trace routes a lot of information seems to pass through Chicago for me and from my experience Chicago is the problematic area.. if I can play on a server where it doesn't pass by Chicago the game seems better.. and maybe that's why I have better matches at the weirdest times of night on say a Tuesday night.. (no one is online) .. also that would make sense for my matches with conflict.. because obviously a packet being sent from Toronto to Montreal would not go that route at all. ( LOL just watch my next game with him be laggy as poop )

What i just stated would also be true for ghostdog ( i've played my most games online with him).. as he is just outside of Detroit .. and I'm pretty sure when we play it doesn't route thru Chicago unless of course we are playing on a Chicago or Seattle .. or even Texas servers etc.

Anyway.. these are just theories.. and I really don't know what the F is going on .. but at least we're trying :-/

Interesting, but your Chicago theory still doesn't explain why it would go all downhill after an mp_restartgame.

But I sure recognize what you're describing. Sometimes it's like a strafe jump gets you nowhere and when pressing fire on rpg or xbow either nothing happens or it at least takes a while for it to trigger. But maybe it's mostly psychology.

There should be a mandatory practice round to each real match. Firing up a map and dumping you in playing leet players is a sure recipe for failure.
And i have noticed the best players have the most relaxed attitude in a match.

I get better as matches progress, meaning i am starting really own after my ass is already beat?!?!?

The Chicago theory and the mp_restartgame problem actually sit together very nicely in my eyes. Some internet connections while seeming very smooth when bandwidth isn’t being stressed will totally go to hell when bandwidth is indeed being stressed. It’s about priority and some connections are routed through shitty networks than others making it act exactly this way.
Your bandwidth is not really YOURS ‘par excellence’. What you are paying for is yours to use ONLY when it’s not needed elsewhere / not needed to be shared by many others. If there are others on the same highway as you are on (and for the most part of the day they are…) you will NEVER get fully the bandwidth you’re paying for. So this is all called by priority sort of speak. Some connections are routed through very strong networks which caters for much stress on your band..some connections are routed through shit networks and you feel it when the probability for lag to exist is high. Those with the stronger backbones won’t feel it then, or feel it less.

[EYE] Valar wrote:The Chicago theory and the mp_restartgame problem actually sit together very nicely in my eyes. Some internet connections while seeming very smooth when bandwidth isn’t being stressed will totally go to hell when bandwidth is indeed being stressed. It’s about priority and some connections are routed through shitty networks than others making it act exactly this way.

Yeah, you've got a point there. It's like when people say "shit server" when what they really should be saying is "shit connection somewhere between me and the server". Guess it comes more natural to insult the server owners when you're being beaten by them in a clan war

Yea, one of the most obvious examples for this I’m getting much better game on my US server than on my UK one. And I’m in Israel. The ping I get on the UK server is way better than the one I get on my US ones but still I can hardly play on the UK and for the most part get a very smoother game (Again, only relatively speaking lol) on my US servers. I won’t be surprised to learn my route to the UK server goes through some CHOOPA crap network while I’m going through a level-3 network on my way to the US…relatively speaking….i’m getting a better connection to a location that’s farther away from the other. Confused yet?

Took my time reading the main posts here - going back to the 1st in the thread. I read that and thought ..I know exactly how you feel...my game is like that all of the time...and I echo the GFX card 6600 was just as good etc.

Sometimes my game is silky smooth and fast (that's not related to any one server vs another - it's anywhere anytime) then it all goes sluggish...switching my rates helps "sometimes"....and it's a fact that the best rate you should use is very much dependant on so many factors and those factors keep changing...so I use a simple cfg that allows me to switch rates from defaults upwards...always I'm aiming for no choke.

"Choke" now there's a subject that has in recent months gained more and more posts across many clan server forums..all I note on rented linux servers using ever increasingly active lines...it's perhaps tosh..maybe all unrelated but choke has crept in as a significant issue since TF2 and various other new games started gaining popularity. Rentals are IMO using lines that are not what they were...something in the entire networks/netcode has changed in recent months....and it is endemic...and near impossible for anyone to pinpoint...at least not us humble novice users sitting server or client side of what's going down.

To understand the limitations of your own computer set up hardware...start off by baselining things on a listen server "create server"...then go join a server without any mods/plugins..and make that a good server not one aimed at newbie's and full of gizmo's....and make note of what's going on when the server gets busy...if your system is silky all of the time...I doubt your problems are anything to do with your set up and it's going to be something perhaps totally outside of your control.

Some maps have particularly hard jumps that will greatly benefit you if you can make them consistently. Lockdown, lostarena, runoff, and king_air are just some examples. Being able to start a longer strafe jump also means your bunny hop will be faster.

I don't even remember you releasing king_air, but you talk about it like everyone has played it.

badinfluence wrote:I don't even remember you releasing king_air, but you talk about it like everyone has played it.

Thats because everyone whos anyone has played it!

this connecting to servers is getting on my nerve all i want is not to be limited by connection to a server and to be able to play a silky smooth game play where everything seems more natural. I h8 it when i play high skilled players im being capped by how bad my connection is to the server my ping may be low but im getting this jumping choke from 0-13 on some severs and it feels like someone is holding me back pulling on my shirt when im playing. I really do h8 this i don't mind lossing to a player if they played well but it drives my crazy to loss to a guy i know i can beat only because i was limited by my connection.
Also has anyone noticed on some severs that your sprint runs out faster on some severs. me and my team where playing es on there server and i found my self lossing aux faster which in the end imperead me to move freely like i usually do. btw there server was messed up i had 20hp and Sernio was spraying me with the smg and after he went thro a whole clip i had 5hp and killed him also my opponents where surviving direct hits of grenades on overwatch now thats where it i think there server was not setup properly.
My be it might be a good idea to include a guide on how best to start up and setup a server for hl2dm.

Well one of the plans is a server admin course. I started it, but have been distracted by other things. Thanks for reminding me.

Those things bother me too. One time ina a match I dumped almost 2 clips of smg into my opponents face, while he shot me to death slowly with the pistol. Other times I meet someone and we both plug 2 double 2ndary shotguns into each other, they live and I die. When I watch the srctv demos back it shows the ragdolls being in different positions and all my shots missing.

Walking Target wrote:Those things bother me too. One time ina a match I dumped almost 2 clips of smg into my opponents face, while he shot me to death slowly with the pistol. Other times I meet someone and we both plug 2 double 2ndary shotguns into each other, they live and I die. When I watch the srctv demos back it shows the ragdolls being in different positions and all my shots missing.

If thats related to the server or the server settings, then how is it that both people dont have the same thing happening? Seems to me the server would affect everyone equally?

Sorry I shouldn't have put the two things in the same post. I don't know what causes those issues for me, it is more likely my PC.

I do think that a crappy server can be the straw that breaks the camels back for players who already struggle with problems though. A bit like when players from different continents both play on a crappy server loaded with plugins and addons, the high pingers will feel the crappy server that much more, whereas the low pingers will struggle but may still be able to play.

Walking Target wrote: A bit like when players from different continents both play on a crappy server loaded with plugins and addons, the high pingers will feel the crappy server that much more, whereas the low pingers will struggle but may still be able to play.

Ask onti, but the STK servers have sounds/plugins/spawn protection all that crap...and I feel like I move around find in there...and onti usually even with high ping can move pretty freely with a 200+ ping without teleporting...Hopefully he'll see this and post..

Ask onti, but the STK servers have sounds/plugins/spawn protection all that crap...and I feel like I move around fine in there...and onti usually even with high ping can move pretty freely with a 200+ ping without teleporting...Hopefully he'll see this and post..

I saw it ...and I'll post =P. It's hard to find posts lately ....the university is having so many new threads and stuff that I can't keep up to date
I think ping doesn't have muuuch to do with "teleporting".
You might sometimes see a 400 ping player on a sever, and their motion looks smooth (not the same client side, try playing with 400 ping >.<)
And sometimes you see a 20 ping teleporting bastard.... I believe it has more to do with the connection, choke, and stuff like that.
About STK, take out those sounds pleeaasee -.- I hate them...specially when a whole text is erased due to them ..

hehe yeah i hate typing and having it not show, like "gg guys ill be back in 20 min" ends up just playing sound gg lol

Have to talk to the other guys about it...I don't control what goes on in the servers...although I could probably get them pulled from number 2 at least because that's our "practice server" with all the cal maps...

-Recording demos screws me up.
-Nervosity plays a major factor.
-ACS shouldn't lag anyone

I get a weird intimidation factor against some known top notch players. Its as if i know i can't beat them and then fulfill the prophesy. Some of it has to do with being a pubber for so long and missing those first few years of big time clan warfare and i lacked skills.

The best way i know to start clearing this block or psychology is simple: Play those folks, get owned and notice there tendencies (like crouch jumping to the right everytime or using the shotty all the time- keep some distance...) and learn. The more i do it, the more comfortable i get playing and the more comfortable i am, the more i play my game the best, which is scrappin for kills. Now i actually like playing these folks and it is way more interesting than pubbin.

Now if i can just get used to this crazy Razer board! The spacebar location is ALL wrong!!!