Tuning

This section is meant for people with poor comms (ie, 56K or lower) to help them improve gameplay. Follow these guidelines and hopefully you're FPS will improve and your lag will be reduced. The following commands should be entered at the console - you can also use them in a script.

cl_allowdownload 0, cl_allowupload 0

These have the function of disabling the uploading and downloading of maps and decals. If you disable the downloading of maps, when you join a server and it is currently on a map you don't have it will fail to connect. This is a bit annoying but you can get round that. The most important bit is the decals part. If this is enabled (cl_allowdownload 1) then whenever you join a server you will download all the players custom decals and whenever a player joins a server you will download his or her decal. Personally, I find this annoying and am not really interested in viewing other peoples decals so I always set this to 0 and enjoy the benefit of having no lag spikes as new decals need to be downloaded.

r_dynamic

This turns off (0) and on (1) dynamic lighting. Off can greatly improve play, though the effect lighted objects have in darkened areas is lost.

s_reverb

This turns off (0) and on (1) sound reverb. IMHO, there is no great loss and this can have a good effect on your framerate.

mp_decals x

Decals are wall and room damage marks. For example, if a soldier fires a rocket at a wall, it will leave a black mark on the wall. The lower the decals, the smoother the game. Personally, I have this set to 0. This means that I see no explosion marks and the maps always appear pristine and new. I will admit that I lose some atmosphere of the game, but I find that this is easily compensated by the increased smoothness of the game. Basically, its up to you but I think it's worth experimenting with.

cl_rate and cl_latency

These work together to help reduce your lag and make things smoother. The suggested cl_latency is around -1/2 to -1 of your ping. I generall ping around 200 on most servers this the best starting point for this is about -100. You can adjust this in game and basically look at the effects and keep adjusting it until you reach the optimum number. The suggested cl_rate is around 2500 for 56k modem users. It is WELL worth experimenting with these values though as they can make a huge difference to the lag and smoothness of the game.

netgraph

Enter net_graph 1, and a graph will appear on your screen info on how good the connection is to the server. I suggest, after entering net_graph 1 you enter net_graphpos 2 to put the graph in the bottom middle of your screen. Basically, this shows info about your FPS and average ping. It also shows additional, very useful info. Yellow lines show that the server is sending you more info than you can handle so you should reduce your cl_rate. Red lines indicate dropped packets indicating a bad connection - try reconnecting - if that fails then it is likely that server is not gonna be good for you so try a different one.

Using these tweaks is up to you. Personally, I find that a bit of fine tuning can have a huge impact on how smooth the game is and generally makes playing more enjoyable. Yes, a do lose some atmosphere with variables like mp_decals but I think that this loss is more than compensated by smoother, more fun play. So, head on out and tweak away and hopefully you'll see what a great difference this variables can make.