I was just browsing the internet for some network settings of qw.
First i did read that the FPS of my qw and the rate setting influence my connection to the qw server. I played with some different settings (eg.: cl_maxfps 77, pushlatency -999, rate 20000). all was fine, but i thought 77 fps are a bit less for a first person shooter. i played q3 with 125 fps and with 77 it would get unsmooth, so i was wondering why everybody plays with maxfps 77 in qw.

than i saw cl_independentphysics in the "defs setup" thread and recogniced that this is a really nice command. i did put it in my cmdline with "1" and turned maxfps to zero and now i thought what cl_physfps is about? i think its the frames that will be send to the server. right?


my conclusions about these settings are:
rate: only usefull if you are having an old modem or ISDN connection. if you have a better one it only differs between 2 o 3 ms of ping.
pushlatency: same as rate (or you have a fucked up isp), but it cant change the ping it only smoothes out some lags.
cl_maxfps: just set it to zero.
cl_physfps: its the new cl_maxfps for server sending frames. but why the hell do so lot ppl use a setting around 77 ?!

i think there are alot of misinformation in my post. so plz correct me and tell me what the real deal is with these settings.


ps: what does pushlatency -999 exactly?

rate: like in q3 the rate can be set to the connection type, in qw with isdn you have to set a lower rate (like the standard in fuh, or 10000 with qizmo). if you have a good connection you should use the same rate as in q3 because then is nearly the same feeling in movement and aim.
cl_maxfps: 0 is not recommended because the best value is always a stable value. then the aim is always same. so if you use independent fps - like most 125fps users would do, start a huge qw map with bots or real players and look which fps value can be set as stable. if you play only 1on1 then play some duels with maxfps 0 and look what the lowest fps are. then set the maxfps a little bit lower than this value to be sure you always have the same stable fps.
cl_physfps: is important when you dont play in internet or on a 100fps server. in toureys 77fps physic is allowed only
its like in q3 with 120 or 125fps when you can do higher and longer jumps, its the physic. in qw 77fps physic is standard
in another forumthread (the defsetup) there was said that with independent fps you should use pushlatency 0, because it looks much better and not warpy

the similar command to maxpackets is cl_c2spps - isdn can make around 72fps in qw -> cl_c2spps 72

The rate setting i can't tell you exactly how works, exept that it has something to do with the transfer speed to/from the server, if it's bits bytes or whatever i don't know. But what i can tell you about it is that most servers has a max rate setting to reduce bandwidth usage per player, i would think that most serveradmins has that to 10000.

About the pushlatency settings, that is not needed if you are using a modern client, witch i assume you are since you also talk about the independent physics stuff in z/ezquake. Anyways the modern clients calculates the best setting for you if you leave it at 0.

The reason why "most", i would say all players, use maxfps 77 is that quake uses the fps to calculate the speed of the game, i can't go in dept with this as i don't know all the details.

But an example would be if i had 77fps and you had 150 then you would run, jump and overall move faster than me, so to not change the speed and gameplay of quake, the server mods has kept the standard of 77fps, which original was 72 but (i think) was changed due to a bug in kteams, someone please correct me if i'm wrong.

Anyways, as a result of that you should use cl_physfps 77 (or 0) to make sure that you get the same speed as everyone else. You can test this by setting it to 30, and you should feel that you won't move that fast as normal, you wont be able to jump as high either. The 0 setting will automaticly choose the highest setting the server allows, but that is generelly 77.

cl_maxfps you should set to the maximum number of stable frames you can get, as the game will run better with the framerate not jumping up and down.


edit Haha, I really should start refreshing the topic before i post

thx both for the reply

i did play a little bit around with the settings and found something interesting:

if i use +set cl_independentphysics 1 (cmdline) and following commands: cl_maxfps 100 (my stable fps in quake dm) and cl_physfps 77, i get a ping of 23 on a server near my location (the server has maxfps 77) and the movement feels crappy. But when i change the cl_maxfps value to 77 the movement gets really smooth and the ping is going down to 13!!

if i use +set cl_independentphysics 0, i get 77 fps (cause of the server maxfps i think) also if i change the cl_maxfps value to a higher one, my ping is about 13 and the movement feels smoooth.


i thought if i use cl_independentphysics there is no influence from cl_maxfps to the connection.
so whats up with this cl_physfps command?
and what is the advantage of cl_independentphysics if you get unsmooth movement/motions in qw if you set your client maxfps it to a higher one than the server maxfps?


edit: found out that if i use independentphysics 1 and cl_maxfps 10000, i get much more smoother movement, but my ping stays at 23.

when using independentphysics, try setting cl_maxfps to a double, triple or quadruple factor of your monitor refresh rate.
i use vid_displayfrequency 85 and cl_maxfps 340 = 4 x 85. i don't notice any changes in ping.
i also have cl_c2spps 0 and rate 10000

@vleesch: yeah that makes the game smooth, but try settings your cl_maxfps to 77.


notice any changes at your ping?

Most of your questions (not only this one on the forum, also those hundreds on #ezQuake) have simple answer: RTFM
http://ezquake.sourceforge.net/docs/?independent-physics

yaaa, im lazy
and i have too much questions

:p

I would say that it's alot more work to create forum topics and asking questions on irc, than reading the ezquake docs

k, found my problem, if someone is interested:

vid_vsync

it was set to nothing "" ..
set it to 0 and cl_maxfps 0: all is fine

thx for your time and for the "rtfm"

Use multiplies of 77 (if server has 77fps) So try 154 and 231 fps to get 13ms. I use 231 and its smooth as, getting 12ms too. You can use r_netstats 1 and see the changes yourself as you change fps.

I made a very interesting discovery. My refreshrate is 85, Iam running ezQuake with Indp. Physics 1, and cl_physfps 0. Then I join a server where I got ping 13 with MS-Dos Ping. I opened the netgraph to see any improvements.

And now the interesting thing: The best ping is achieved by setting the maxfps value to 65, 130, or 210. With these settings a got the lowest Ping but Gameplay is not smooth as all And only with settings where the gameplay feels very smooths the ping rises from 15 to 24.

So do I have to make a decicion? Either smooth gameplayer or low Ping?

low ping 4 sure ;P
well, isn't maxfps 130 smooth?

No, I dont know why but its anything else but smooth

:< sys_highpriority 1 ?
altho that caused some problems with the sound for me