Voodz Guide to Counter-Strike: Source

[Voodz]

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Update: 29/30/2005
Hello to all my readers! It has been far too long since I last updated the site (cough never) however, I have finally returned to give you an update on all things Counter-Strike Source and hopefully a few new hints. Firstly however I would like to thank all those people who have sent me emails thanking me for the guide and also those who message me in game. The feedback makes it all the more worthwhile and its great to hear so many people have appreciated the guide.
I would also like to thank SxRxRnR for allowing me to use some of his material on rates in the original guide. I forgot to include the reference when I originally posted the guide and he has been very patient while he waited for me to update the site. So a big thank you goes to him and his site, which you can find some great information on CSS rates and the like at www.counter-script.net
Since I first wrote the guide a lot has changed regarding CSS, rates have been changed and removed, net code has improved a lot and the skill level of players has increased a lot as well because people have been playing it for a lot longer now. In this update I will cover the new rate settings I recommend, particularly for those running high bandwidth connections and playing on high tickrate servers as well as a few new hints requested by some of my readers for staying alive in the Counter-Strike: Source world.
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So you want to be good at Counter-Strike? You want to know all the best rates and settings and graphical tweaks to make you better at Counter-Strike? Well stop right here then. This guide is intended to speed up your frames, your net connection and give you a great idea on how to improve your game, but it will not necessarily make you a great Counter-Strike player.
There is a distinct level of skill involved with the game that will only come from lots and lots of practice. The following guide is designed to make your experience playing Counter-Strike as enjoyable as possible by minimizing negative elements of the game such as bad hit boxes and the like. However, it will NOT make you brilliant; to become a top notch player at Counter-Strike Source requires time, dedication, a good computer and most of all patience.
I started playing Counter-Strike way back when it was first released in beta 1 for Half-Life, and played right through until around version 1 when I began to lose interest and only played sparingly. Counter-Strike Source reinvigorated my enjoyment for online gaming and for Counter-Strike and I have been playing pretty steadily since the Counter-Strike Source beta. As such I think I have a reasonable amount of experience at the game and enough knowledge to write this guide.
I have composed this guide in an effort to help my fellow gamers and accept no responsibility for any damage caused to your system or software, or your level of skill in the game that is entirely up to you. If you don’t accept this, stop reading now.

Still with me? Let’s begin then.
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Autoexec (top)

First things first, we are not going to go too far unless we have a custom autoexec.cfg file to store all our nifty tweaks and settings in. This file will be stored in the config folder of your cstrike directory. Located somewhere like this.

D:\Steam\SteamApps\your@mail\counter-strike source\cstrike\cfg\

Most of your key binds and settings are stored in the config.cfg however, some people reported issues with settings being reset to defaults each time they played. To combat this, each time you run Counter-Strike Source, the autoexec.cfg file is also run, and will override any similar settings in config.cfg and it is also a great way of keeping track of your settings that you have changed. You can download an empty autoexec.cfg from here, or alternatively simply create a Notepad file and save it as autoexec.cfg. You can edit the files at any time by right clicking and opening the file with Notepad. The first command you should put in the file is net_graph 3. This will give you a read out of your ping, the current flow of packets to and from server and some other information like frame rate. This sort of stuff is very useful for gauging server performance and I always play with it on.

Ok so we now have an autoexec.cfg file but what do we need to put in this file? Let’s start with some basic stuff like tweaking the crosshair.
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Crosshair Settings (top)

The standard crosshair in Counter-Strike Source is quite large, and when you think about primarily needed to aim at an often small head particularly from a distance, we need to know that we are point the gun in the most accurate direction as possible. As such I tend to use a much smaller crosshair than the default size. The main drawback for the Counter-Strike Source crosshair is that it ca be very difficult to see on some of the brighter backgrounds like on dust and dust2. As such the smaller the crosshair the more difficult it is to see. I recommend using a minimum crosshair size of 2500 or 3000. The default size is only 1200. You can see the size difference in the following screenshots. Some people go as small as 4000-5000 and I did like this small crosshair for a while, but on some of the brighter maps it is just simply too hard to see so I am currently sticking with 3000. Add the following command to the autoexec.cfg

cl_crosshairscale 3000

But just changing size isn’t the only thing we can do to improve the crosshair. We can make it a little more visible by selecting a good colour and by changing two other settings. I tend to stick to green and most people agree that this colour is the best most visible colour for a majority of maps, but feel free to muck around with colours until you have one that suits you. To make life easier, you can bind the following to a key, in this instance the key is just randomly selected as k but you can choose whatever, this command will cycle through the crosshair colours without having to go into the menu.

bind m "incrementvar cl_crosshaircolor 0 4 1"

Finally there are two more commands which can aid the visibility of the crosshair. They basically maximise the crosshairs alpha blend which enhances its visibility and makes it appear a bit more solid. Add the following commands to your autoexec.cfg

cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairalpha 999

So from this section our autoexec.cfg file should now have the following four lines added to it.

bind m "incrementvar cl_crosshaircolor 0 4 1"
cl_crosshairscale 3000
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairalpha 999

As an additional side not on crosshair’s, there is a command which stops the crosshair from reshaping itself which I always set to 0 however the command at the moment appears to be faulty, as the crosshair still changes size. I hope this is fixed as I dislike the dynamic crosshair. The smaller the crosshair the better though and the less you notice it. However feel free to add the following command to your autoexec.cfg

cl_dynamiccrosshair 0

That’s it on crosshairs but not on mice. One of the most crucial parts of any gamer’s repertoire is a low sensitivity.
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[Heath4n]

Voodz Guide to Counter-Strike: Source - Part 2 (Mouse and Graphics) Mouse Sensitivity (top)

This is one tough cookie to deal with as every PC nearly has a different look and feel to it and some will seem far more sensitive to others. However, at the end of the day, a user running Windows XP default settings with a reasonably decent optical mouse should NOT be using any sensitivity above 4 or 5 if they want to excel at Counter-Strike Source. Mouse over aiming is one of the most common problems for players of Counter-Strike Source and first person shooters in general. However, for those that are using high sensitivity, there is hope. A lot of people are not open to change, but to improve I am afraid you have to be. Where most people fail in regards to sensitivity is commonly when they make a big jump. Say a person is using a sensitivity of 8 and all of a sudden tries to drop it to 3. The end result is often a frustrated player who thinks that a lower sensitivity sucks, when in actual fact he just dropped it way too much and found to too hard to adjust to the big change.

The best way for anyone above a 4 sensitivity to go about lowering their sensitivity, is to do it gradually. Each day you play Counter-Strike Source over say the period of a week, drop the sensitivity by 0.5. Get used to that small drop and then next time you play, lower it by 0.5 again. If you repeat this process you gradually let yourself and your playing style get used to the lower sensitivity. I recommend repeating this process till your sensitivity is around 3. Then start lowering your sensitivity by decrements of 0.2. Once you find your accuracy improved enough and you aren’t jerking your mouse around too much keep it. Anywhere below a 3 sensitivity is ideal for a fast paced first person shooter.

I recommend having a largish mouse pad and a high quality optical mouse. I personally use a Logitech MX510 with an Everglide Ricochet mouse pad which has a very large gaming surface. I typically use a sensitivity of 1.4 or 1.2 depending on how I am feeling, however this is with mouse acceleration enabled. With mouse acceleration disabled I am currently using a sensitivity of 1.8. A majority of gamers will not use mouse acceleration as it gives you an unbalanced mouse feel; the faster you move the mouse the further the crosshair travels. This is generally very poor for people with poor wrist and hand control who tend to jerk their mouse a lot. To turn off mouse acceleration in Windows XP, simply go to the Control Panel > Mouse > (Select the Pointer Options Tab) > Remove the tick from the “Enhance pointer precision” checkbox. This will disable mouse acceleration and I strongly recommend getting used to this setting, though you may well need to muck around with slightly higher sensitivities otherwise you may struggle to turn around.

If you have found a sensitivity value you are happy with, add it to your autoexec.cfg file. The line should look like this, obviously though, put in your preferred sensitivity.

sensitivity 1.4

Another thing that has changed in the last 6 months with CSS is that cl_smooth no longer needs to be set to 0. This was originally only set to 0 because it caused stuttering for some people. Valve have since patched it and it can now be set back to 1 which it should be at by default. I recommend changing this back to the default value for those who have been playing with it as 0, as it is no longer necessary and provides no real benefit.

cl_smooth 1

There is only one other setting I muck around which is in the Windows mouse properties and that’s the PS2 refresh speed. I recommend using all mice on PS2 unless you are familiar with USB overclocking which is beyond the scope of the guide. The PS2 port actually can be set to refresh a lot faster than a USB socket normally. To do this go into the Control Panel > Mouse > (Select the Hardware Tab and click on the Properties Button down the bottom. If your mouse is connected via PS2 which it should be, then you should now be in the PS2 Mouse Properties box. Select the advanced settings tab and then where it says sample rate, drop down to the 200 option and press ok. This will require a reboot however it is well worth it. It will increase the sampling rate through the PS2 port meaning the mouse updates its position more often. Perfect for those using high end mice like the Logitech MX518, the mouse I am currently using. For those who have progressed onto excellent mice like the Logitech Laser G5 you do not even need to worry about overclocking the USB port. These mice automatically run at far higher refresh rates automatically so you can maximize performance of the mouse right out of the package. These new mice run on USB only but I highly recommend them. There have been some known issues with the mice not tracking well on black surfaces so keep this in mine before you buy one. The problem is being fixed through periodic firmware updates.



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Graphical Settings (top)

In all honesty, I think you need to be playing Counter-Strike Source at a pretty respectable frame rate to be decent. The game is much more demanding so you should play at a resolution that gives you a good frame rate, and then tweak your graphics options to ensure you have the best looking game possible but without sacrificing your frames. Your aiming will go haywire if your frames drop too much, I try and maintain a constant 60+ fps. And normally I sit on around 100 apart from in heavily action oriented scenes. I run a pretty top of the line system; working in a computer shop has its benefits! There are ways to improve the games performance without impacting noticeably on performance. One of the most common ways to increase performance on a reasonable machine is to force the game to run in DirectX 8.1 mode. This has been particularly effective for people running 9800 Pros trying to maintain high frame rates in large scale online battles. To do this, add the following command to your autoexec.cfg.

mat_dxlevel [50/60/70/80/81/90]

The DirectX Level, Dropping this value may increase your performance, but it will reduce the overall picture quality. However, majority of users cannot notice the difference between DX9 and DX8.1 so if you are struggling for frames I recommend forcing either DirectX 8.1 or lower.
You can also alter your DirectX level from the command line options from Steam if you don’t wish to make an autoexec file. To do this simply add any of the following lines to your launch options for the corresponding DirectX setting.
-dxlevel 70 for DirectX 7.0
-dxlevel 80 for DirectX 8.0
-dxlevel 81 for DirectX 8.1
-dxlevel 90 for DirectX 9.0

The following commands I use to increase blood detail so you have a better idea when you hit people.

violence_agibs "1"
violence_hgibs "1"
violence_hblood "1"
violence_ablood "1"
cl_show_bloodspray "1"

There are a few other graphical settings which I play with, some of which enhance the look of the game. However, I leave this up to the user to play around with. For a full list of commands and graphical tweak options you can go here.
http://www.counter-script.net/index.php?id=25

[Heath4n]

Voodz Guide to Counter-Strike: Source - Part 3 (Rates) Rates (top)
A lot of people think that rates tweaking is hacking and people should leave their rates at default. This is complete rubbish. Rates are there to enhance the speed at which the game plays on different connections, and the defaults are often sub par when you select your internet connection. A good analogy of this is when a game auto detects graphics settings; it will always choose lower than what the system can optimally run at. Rates are no different and will often be set lower than they should be for different connections. This section I will break down into three parts, rates for 1.5Mbit ADSL and above and Cablers, 512Mbit ADSL, and 256Mbit ADSL. This guide is not intended for dialup users, as no matter how good you are at the game, you will never mess with the best on such a slow connection, go and buy ADSL now, and if you cant, I feel for you.
A lot has changed in the world of rates in CSS. In Australia particularly we have seen the rollout of ADSL2 and ADSL2+ internet connections through great ISP’s such as Internode (www.internode.on.net). These connections have brought forward lower pings and much greater bandwidth for those lucky enough to have access. I am currently running an ADSL2+ connection so I will run through some general information regarding rates for these settings and configuration options.

Since I wrote the original guide, the net code has been improved drastically. I know a lot of people will still argue and complain about hit registration and the poor performance but there is no question in my mind the game has come leaps and bounds since its original inception. Gone is the physical tick rate limitation of 34, now the game allows servers t be configured right up to 100 tick rate which allows for far more accurate performance. Most Internet based servers are now running 66 tick rate, Internode, GameSpace all have 66 tick internet servers. GameArena have started dabbling with 100 tick rate internet servers but I am yet to see stable performance of 100 tick rate over the Internet. So how does this affect gamers looking to maximize the performance on higher tick rate servers? Well there are a few options and I will discuss them here. The rates section is still designed to try and keep these numbers as high as possible (eg, locked on 66.9) while keeping choke and loss at 0. I currently regularly experience 1-2 choke on good servers regardless of rates so expect a small bit of choke from time to time, I think this is currently inherent in the engine itself. So while this rate guide should improve your performance, do not expect them to be perfect or to mean that you will always get the maximum packets in and out per second. Typically, anything above 60 is decent for a 67 tick rate server, as long as one can minimize the amount of loss and choke which can cause sluggish and inaccuracy in hit registration. To monitor your packets in and out make sure you have net_graph 3 enabled. First of all lets take a look at all the rate commands.
An additional piece of information regarding the cl_cmdrate and cl_updaterate commands. In a update a good 6 months ago Valve actually fixed the netcode such that you can specify these commands to a specific value and as long as the server is up to it, it will provide the correct number of packets. So when playing on a 67 tick rate server there tends to be no need to run these settings at 100 as this can potentially cause choke and loss. I would usually set these to 67 and 67 for a 67 tick rate server, and set them accordingly to the server. Not 100% necessary but I like to minimize any chance of loss and choke occurring and this is a good starting point.
Note: Some of the following information was sourced from www.counter-script.net

rate [0-99999] - Sets the max bytes/sec the host can receive data (Download). Now I have read tons of articles on this value over the years and each one basically comes up with a different answer on what this value should be. So I went onto a server and tested different values to see what worked best for me. I used values of 1000, 5000, 10000, 15000, 20000, 25000 and 30000. The lower rate values on a higher bandwidth internet connection caused me to experience a large amount of choke and loss. I did not notice a great deal of difference between using 20000, 25000 and 30000. These seem sufficiently high to sustain a higher bandwidth net connection like ADSL2+.
(My Recommendation - All I can say is try different values until you feel like you have the best connection possible. I am currently using 30000 to ensure the maximum rate possible but you would be hard pressed to notice any difference between 20000 and 30000. For those who experience difficulties try lowering it by increments of 2000 and see how it goes.)

cl_updaterate [0-999] - Number of packets per second of updates you are requesting (downloading) from the server. This is another one of those mystifying values that everyone has a theory on, but each theory is a little different. This command is the number of packets per second that is requested from the server.
(Recommendation – Customize this value to the tick rate of the server. If it is a 67 tick rate server set it to 67. If you are experiencing choke and or loss then try lowering it by increments of 5 to achieve your optimal balance.)

cl_cmdrate [0-999] - Max number of command packets sent to server per second (Upload). This should be in proportion to your cl_updaterate. Normally your download is 1/4th to 1/8th your upload, but once again you will read numerous articles that show these 2 values either the same or very close.
(Recommendation – Customize this value to the tick rate of the server. If it is a 67 tick rate server set it to 67. If you are experiencing choke and or loss then try lowering it by increments of 5 to achieve your optimal balance.)

cl_cmdbackup [0-4] - For each command packet, how many additional history commands are sent (helps in case of packet loss). By increasing this value you will also increase your ping, but you will send more accurate data to the server, which allows for the server to send out your information more accurately.
(Recommendation – I would recommend setting this to 2 on any broadband connection. The higher you have this set, the more it will lag your cmdrate.)

cl_interp [0.01-0.1]- Enable/Disable whether you will interpolate object positions starting this many seconds in past. This is a valuable setting if you are having stuttering issues with cl_smooth off. This value is supposed to be in relation to your ping. So if you have a ping of 100, then your cl_interp should be 0.1 and a ping of 50 should have an cl_interp of 0.05.
(Recommendation – Some people recommend leaving this at the default value unless you are having hitbox issues, then try to align this setting with your ping. However I normally always have this set to 0 by default in my autoexec.cfg. However I am finding that more and more it is unnecessary to have this at 0. I can usually play with it at 0.1 or 0 with the same degree of accuracy since there have been major changes to the net code.)

cl_interpolate [0/1] - Interpolate entities on the client. Changing this setting will give you somewhat of a jumpy screen, so you may want to test this on "1" which should be the default, then "0".
(Recommendation – As many of you would know this command actually has been outlawed as it was exploitable. Valve have since fixed this so that the exploit cannot be used. I still strongly recommend everyone steers clear of this command and leaves it at 1.)

cl_lagcomp_errorcheck [0/1] - Player index of other player to check for position errors. When on, this will help with your shot accuracy by checking for position errors. This will only be useful if you can aim in the first place.
(Recommendation – I have this set to 1.)

The following rates are recommended for a 100 tick rate server and seem to be what I have found to be most effective on the Game Arena 100 tick servers. However, using cmdrate 100 and updaterate 100 will be just as good in many instances. Sometimes I find that you don’t send enough packets to the server unless you specify a much higher updaterate. Test them out and see what works best for you.
ADSL2 and ADSL2+ Users (Any high bandwidth connection) (My Rates)
rate 30000
cl_cmdrate 300
cl_updaterate 100
cl_lagcomp_errorcheck 1
cl_interp_ratio 1
cl_cmdbackup 2
The following rates are recommended for a 67 tick rate server.
ADSL2 and ADSL2+ Users (Any high bandwidth connection) (My Rates)
rate 30000
cl_cmdrate 67
cl_updaterate 67
cl_lagcomp_errorcheck 1
cl_interp_ratio 1
cl_cmdbackup 2

1.5Mbit, Cable and Lower
For all those who are using connections with restricted upload rates particularly, there are no specific rates that are best. I recommend playing around with the settings until you find some that suit you. Customizing your cmdrate and updaterate to the specific tick rate of the server is a great start point and lowering them a little if you experience loss and choke can ensure high performance. For those on these connection these are in general m highest recommended settings you should use for even 100 tick rate servers, as you can bottle neck your connection and start experiencing choke. A lot of people have been asking me for customized rates for all sorts of different connections, so at the end of the day I think this is the best way to address the issue. Customize your rates for the specific tick rate of the server and then lower them from there until you achieve optimal performance regarding minimal choke and loss.

rate 25000 (Lower as necessary)
cl_cmdrate 67 (Lower as necessary)
cl_updaterate 67 (Lower as necessary)
cl_lagcomp_errorcheck 1
cl_interp_ratio 1
cl_cmdbackup 2

[Heath4n]

Voodz Guide to Counter-Strike Source - Part 4 (Autoexec) Rates (top)
A lot of people think that rates tweaking is hacking and people should leave their rates at default. This is complete rubbish. Rates are there to enhance the speed at which the game plays on different connections, and the defaults are often sub par when you select your internet connection. A good analogy of this is when a game auto detects graphics settings; it will always choose lower than what the system can optimally run at. Rates are no different and will often be set lower than they should be for different connections. This section I will break down into three parts, rates for 1.5Mbit ADSL and above and Cablers, 512Mbit ADSL, and 256Mbit ADSL. This guide is not intended for dialup users, as no matter how good you are at the game, you will never mess with the best on such a slow connection, go and buy ADSL now, and if you cant, I feel for you.
A lot has changed in the world of rates in CSS. In Australia particularly we have seen the rollout of ADSL2 and ADSL2+ internet connections through great ISP’s such as Internode (www.internode.on.net). These connections have brought forward lower pings and much greater bandwidth for those lucky enough to have access. I am currently running an ADSL2+ connection so I will run through some general information regarding rates for these settings and configuration options.

Since I wrote the original guide, the net code has been improved drastically. I know a lot of people will still argue and complain about hit registration and the poor performance but there is no question in my mind the game has come leaps and bounds since its original inception. Gone is the physical tick rate limitation of 34, now the game allows servers t be configured right up to 100 tick rate which allows for far more accurate performance. Most Internet based servers are now running 66 tick rate, Internode, GameSpace all have 66 tick internet servers. GameArena have started dabbling with 100 tick rate internet servers but I am yet to see stable performance of 100 tick rate over the Internet. So how does this affect gamers looking to maximize the performance on higher tick rate servers? Well there are a few options and I will discuss them here. The rates section is still designed to try and keep these numbers as high as possible (eg, locked on 66.9) while keeping choke and loss at 0. I currently regularly experience 1-2 choke on good servers regardless of rates so expect a small bit of choke from time to time, I think this is currently inherent in the engine itself. So while this rate guide should improve your performance, do not expect them to be perfect or to mean that you will always get the maximum packets in and out per second. Typically, anything above 60 is decent for a 67 tick rate server, as long as one can minimize the amount of loss and choke which can cause sluggish and inaccuracy in hit registration. To monitor your packets in and out make sure you have net_graph 3 enabled. First of all lets take a look at all the rate commands.
An additional piece of information regarding the cl_cmdrate and cl_updaterate commands. In a update a good 6 months ago Valve actually fixed the netcode such that you can specify these commands to a specific value and as long as the server is up to it, it will provide the correct number of packets. So when playing on a 67 tick rate server there tends to be no need to run these settings at 100 as this can potentially cause choke and loss. I would usually set these to 67 and 67 for a 67 tick rate server, and set them accordingly to the server. Not 100% necessary but I like to minimize any chance of loss and choke occurring and this is a good starting point.
Note: Some of the following information was sourced from www.counter-script.net

rate [0-99999] - Sets the max bytes/sec the host can receive data (Download). Now I have read tons of articles on this value over the years and each one basically comes up with a different answer on what this value should be. So I went onto a server and tested different values to see what worked best for me. I used values of 1000, 5000, 10000, 15000, 20000, 25000 and 30000. The lower rate values on a higher bandwidth internet connection caused me to experience a large amount of choke and loss. I did not notice a great deal of difference between using 20000, 25000 and 30000. These seem sufficiently high to sustain a higher bandwidth net connection like ADSL2+.
(My Recommendation - All I can say is try different values until you feel like you have the best connection possible. I am currently using 30000 to ensure the maximum rate possible but you would be hard pressed to notice any difference between 20000 and 30000. For those who experience difficulties try lowering it by increments of 2000 and see how it goes.)

cl_updaterate [0-999] - Number of packets per second of updates you are requesting (downloading) from the server. This is another one of those mystifying values that everyone has a theory on, but each theory is a little different. This command is the number of packets per second that is requested from the server.
(Recommendation – Customize this value to the tick rate of the server. If it is a 67 tick rate server set it to 67. If you are experiencing choke and or loss then try lowering it by increments of 5 to achieve your optimal balance.)

cl_cmdrate [0-999] - Max number of command packets sent to server per second (Upload). This should be in proportion to your cl_updaterate. Normally your download is 1/4th to 1/8th your upload, but once again you will read numerous articles that show these 2 values either the same or very close.
(Recommendation – Customize this value to the tick rate of the server. If it is a 67 tick rate server set it to 67. If you are experiencing choke and or loss then try lowering it by increments of 5 to achieve your optimal balance.)

cl_cmdbackup [0-4] - For each command packet, how many additional history commands are sent (helps in case of packet loss). By increasing this value you will also increase your ping, but you will send more accurate data to the server, which allows for the server to send out your information more accurately.
(Recommendation – I would recommend setting this to 2 on any broadband connection. The higher you have this set, the more it will lag your cmdrate.)

cl_interp [0.01-0.1]- Enable/Disable whether you will interpolate object positions starting this many seconds in past. This is a valuable setting if you are having stuttering issues with cl_smooth off. This value is supposed to be in relation to your ping. So if you have a ping of 100, then your cl_interp should be 0.1 and a ping of 50 should have an cl_interp of 0.05.
(Recommendation – Some people recommend leaving this at the default value unless you are having hitbox issues, then try to align this setting with your ping. However I normally always have this set to 0 by default in my autoexec.cfg. However I am finding that more and more it is unnecessary to have this at 0. I can usually play with it at 0.1 or 0 with the same degree of accuracy since there have been major changes to the net code.)

cl_interpolate [0/1] - Interpolate entities on the client. Changing this setting will give you somewhat of a jumpy screen, so you may want to test this on "1" which should be the default, then "0".
(Recommendation – As many of you would know this command actually has been outlawed as it was exploitable. Valve have since fixed this so that the exploit cannot be used. I still strongly recommend everyone steers clear of this command and leaves it at 1.)

cl_lagcomp_errorcheck [0/1] - Player index of other player to check for position errors. When on, this will help with your shot accuracy by checking for position errors. This will only be useful if you can aim in the first place.
(Recommendation – I have this set to 1.)

The following rates are recommended for a 100 tick rate server and seem to be what I have found to be most effective on the Game Arena 100 tick servers. However, using cmdrate 100 and updaterate 100 will be just as good in many instances. Sometimes I find that you don’t send enough packets to the server unless you specify a much higher updaterate. Test them out and see what works best for you.
ADSL2 and ADSL2+ Users (Any high bandwidth connection) (My Rates)
rate 30000
cl_cmdrate 100
cl_updaterate 100
cl_lagcomp_errorcheck 1
cl_interp_ratio 1
cl_cmdbackup 2
The following rates are recommended for a 67 tick rate server.
ADSL2 and ADSL2+ Users (Any high bandwidth connection) (My Rates)
rate 30000
cl_cmdrate 67
cl_updaterate 67
cl_lagcomp_errorcheck 1
cl_interp_ratio 1
cl_cmdbackup 2

1.5Mbit, Cable and Lower
For all those who are using connections with restricted upload rates particularly, there are no specific rates that are best. I recommend playing around with the settings until you find some that suit you. Customizing your cmdrate and updaterate to the specific tick rate of the server is a great start point and lowering them a little if you experience loss and choke can ensure high performance. For those on these connection these are in general m highest recommended settings you should use for even 100 tick rate servers, as you can bottle neck your connection and start experiencing choke. A lot of people have been asking me for customized rates for all sorts of different connections, so at the end of the day I think this is the best way to address the issue. Customize your rates for the specific tick rate of the server and then lower them from there until you achieve optimal performance regarding minimal choke and loss.

rate 25000 (Lower as necessary)
cl_cmdrate 67 (Lower as necessary)
cl_updaterate 67 (Lower as necessary)
cl_lagcomp_errorcheck 1
cl_interp_ratio 1
cl_cmdbackup 2

[Heath4n]

Voodz Guide to Counter-Strike: Source - Part 5 (Gameplay part 1) Gameplay (top)

Aim At the Head: The most common fault I see in a majority of players in Counter-Strike Source is their normal aim. A lot of people run around with their crosshair pointing down. Now this is a lot of peoples failing points with aim. If you run into a person and your aiming at their feet, it will take you a moment to either adjust your aim to aim at their head or you start shooting at their feet. Either way you are instantly at a disadvantage. I cannot stress enough how important it is at the start of a round to align your aim with a team mates head so you have it at the right height, and then practice keeping it at the right height. This is how I achieve a lot of very quick headshots because I only need to adjust my aim minimally from side to side, not up and down as well. It is one of the most common issues and takes a long time to adjust to but it is something that everyone needs to work on if they want to get quick easy headshot kills.

Burst Fire: Spraying may successfully get you a few kills, and it has gotten me out of sticky situations from time to time, but most of the time it ends up getting you killed for many reasons. First of all, your accuracy goes through the roof and then it takes a fair while for your recoil to settle down again if you are going to change to burst fire. Secondly, spraying wastes a lot of ammo, a lot of people get caught out with low ammo clips and reloading at the wrong time, well burst firing is a sure fire way to conserve ammo. When you are burst firing, try to count how many shots you have used, get used to knowing how many bullets you need to kill someone and reload only when you know you are safe. Thirdly, burst firing is far more accurate than spraying especially with weapons like the Colt and the Ak47 my two weapons of choice. So you have a much higher chance of scoring a headshot quickly if you shoot in say 2 bullet bursts. I tend to try to do 1-2 bullet bursts as this means recoil is next to nothing.

Strafing: Strafing goes hand in hand with burst fire. One of the reasons I score so many headshots is I don’t have to move my mouse. At the start of a round I align my crosshair at the same height as team mates head and try to move it as minimally as possible. I try to strafe and align my crosshair with someone’s head, this means that your aim is far more accurate as you don’t have to rely on any large hand movements on the mouse (a low sensitivity also helps this). The less mouse movement the better in my opinion. However you need to synchronize strafing with your burst shots, I try not to shoot on the run as it lowers accuracy, so I try to strafe a little bit, take finger off the key, then burst fire, then move again. Repeating this process keeps your accuracy as high as possible while making sure you aren’t an easy target standing still.

Keep Moving: I find it amazing how many people will literally stand still and try to out shoot an auto sniper or the like from a distance. It still baffles me. One of the key elements to survival in the Counter-Strike Source world is to keep moving. The more stationary you are the easier you are to hit. Even walking is better than standing still. I see plenty of people done by auto snipers because they stand still making them far too easy to be shot by someone with a powerful gun from a long range. In this type of situation you need to keep moving but be prepared to stop, line up your aim, then start moving again. You want to be stationary for as little time as it takes to line your aim up and get a few shots off before you move again. This helps against being spammed and makes it harder for the enemy to get an easy fix on you. Also, it is ok to stop and take cover and be silent, however you stay still for too long and people will figure out where you are, especially if they check regular camping spots. So keep moving but within reason, stop, line up your aim and fire but then move on even if you don’t kill them move to a different spot and try again. Try to stop only for small margins to ensure your aim isn’t adversely affected by your movement.

Know the Maps: After played CS for as long as anyone I would be pretty confidant in saying I am very familiar with all the maps. I like some a lot more than others and have played some a lot more so but I still am familiar with all the different maps. Particularly with Sources currently limited selections there is no excuse for not knowing the maps inside out. To excel at CS Source, you must know the player timings, eg, how long it takes an enemy to rush to the bridge on Aztec and roughly how long it will take you to get somewhere from a certain spawn. This makes it far easier to predict where enemies will be. Also, you need to be familiar with how quickly an enemy can get to a certain place so you know roughly when you must check a campy hidey hole, or whether you know you can safely run past. The better you know the maps the more efficient you will be at killing people.

Play Smart: This is probably the biggest differentiator that separates the elite gamers from the basic gamers. As many of you know my gameplay style is very gung-ho and I am very much a rusher. I still tend to do quite well at this because I know the maps well, but also I am quite good at predicting the enemy. At the start of any round you need to be fairly vigilant about where your team mates are going. Who has gone left and who has gone right, are there any vulnerabilities? For example on Italy, say 4 counter-terrorists go along the left path and 3 go right, yourself included yet none go up the middle through the building. You should instantly be wary of a back flush through the building from the Terrorists. In this sort of situation I may rush the market, try and pick off any T’s pushing from there, and then hold the market for a while to make sure no one floods from behind.

This is the type of play that comes with experience, but you can train yourself to play intelligently. If someone is against a wall, you know they can’t strafe one way so you adjust your aim accordingly, think about someone’s most logical course of action, and 80% of the time you will be correct. This gets me a lot of kills, and often accused of cheating as I read the play well. Just like a good footballer will be able to see where the ball will be going in the next few disposals and move into position.

Choose a Target: I constantly see people in situations of 1 versus 3, totally out numbered and they end up doing 50 or so damage to 3 people. Now that isn’t terrible as it means there are 3 wounded for your team to dispose of however you end up with no frags and your team could be outnumbered. In this type of situation you are much better off picking ONE target and concentrating all firepower on that one target. This is a very challenging concept to get used to as common reaction when outnumbered is just to spray. However, I have had much more success in getting off three quick burst fire shots and taking down all 3.

Whenever you kill one you have one less person shooting at you so you are taking less damage and you are also helping your team more. Even the pro players will spam from time to time but a controlled spam is slightly different to just a random spray from a beginner. However try and concentrate when you are outnumbered, if you can’t fall back or need to take them all on, pick one, aim non stop at that person until you have a confirmed kill. Do not get too overexcited and move onto the next target before they are dead and have only a little health left as this will only benefit your enemy. Continually move onto the next target once you have a confirmed kill. Once you gain more experience you will want to try and pick the target that is closest to you but to start with, concentrate on just selecting a target and concentrating on that.

Staying Alive: Probably the key to staying alive is killing your opponent quickly so as you take minimum damage but there are a few other small things you can do to ensure last ability in the game. Probably the most important thing you can do to stay alive is be unpredictable. If you keep doing the same things over and over again, people will wise up to your movements and guess where you will be each time. On a map like dust this is particularly noticeable as there are only limited pathways. So you have to make sure you do your best to be unpredictable, it makes you much less susceptible to guess kills, where someone literally just waits for you as they know exactly where you are going to be.

I also always recommend playing offensively. For example, if you score 2 or 3 body shots from a colt and you know you have done around 60-70 damage to your opponent but they have quickly retreated, many people will rush in for a quick mop up. If you are the person retreating, one of the best things you can do is surge back toward the player and catch them unaware. They are expecting you to be running away, which a lot of people do, not running back towards them. I always see people get done trying to run away when often the best course of action is to put up a fight or do the opposite.

Additionally, when you are disadvantaged by either height or an imbalance of cover, it is quite a good idea to retreat to where you will lessen your opponent’s advantage. If you find yourself completely out gunned by many opponents then been aware of where your team mates are help, draw the enemy back to where you can even up the odds or force them into a choke point. This will benefit not only yourself but the team as well, especially if you can give them forewarning about where they are coming from.

[Heath4n]

Voodz Guide to Counter-Strike: Source - Part 6 (Gameplay part 2) Radar: The radar is commonly forgotten about by many players but it can be monumental for gauging where not only enemy is, but where your backup is. If you are smart and you see a team mate get shot on your radar then you have a pretty solid indication where the enemy is. For example, if you are in the tunnels on Dust as a terrorist and someone has just run through the middle door and through to bombsite A. You may not know their exact position but say they dropped off the radar pretty quickly after running around the corner; it would be a reasonably safe bet that there is someone camping just behind the double doors on the left or fairly near the doors. So it is worth flashing or throwing a grenade through the entrance before you run in.

Using the radar can make a lot of difference and any skilled player will use it wisely and carefully. Also, if someone is using their radio they flash on the radar and this is excellent for knowing when a team mate is in need of support or helping to identify where the enemy is. The more attention you pay to the radar the better you will become. However, do not sit there staring at it, a quick glance is all you should need to know your team mates rough position. Your main focus should be on the game; again it is a fine balance and will come with practice.


Rushing: Rushing is a great way to catch people off guard and it is generally my preferred method of playing on public servers. I can not count the amount of times I have water rushed on Aztec as a Terrorist and flooded the CT bridge room and caught 4 or 5 unsuspecting counter-terrorists looking the wrong way. However, rushing can lead to frustration if it doesn’t pay off. Try coordinating your team to all rush the same way, people will normally respond well to leadership in game, after all, they want to win just as much as you do, so if you can coordinate your team to work together more then you have a better chance of succeeding.

Part of knowing rushing techniques is knowing when not to. If you see 8 enemies surrounding you, try and pull back, throwing away your life needlessly will only get you frustrated. Also, to rush successfully your aim generally needs to be pretty decent. You need to be able to take down enemies quickly and efficiently and know where you are covered from and where you are vulnerable from. This will come with practice and experience, and also watching more experienced players. See how they move, where did he rush out to, where did he stop, where did he reload, are all the sorts of questions you should be asking yourself if you want to improve your rushing techniques.

Additionally, if you find your team mates not performing as a team, try to use their non conformity to your advantage. If they are hanging back a bit then rush into a position where they can attract enemy fire but you are covered and then take out opposition from a sheltered area. Overall you need to know when and where to capitalise on a team mate distracting the enemy, and rushing will often put you in a good position to capitalise on this.

Grenades: When I used to play Counter-Strike I was not much of a grenade user. However, in Counter-Strike Source today, you really improve your game and your advantage over opposition by using grenades. Grenades really come with experience, like knowing where the choke points are on a map and when the enemy will be there and placing the grenade so it either does maximum damage or flashes the enemy the most. I tend to not use smoke that much as I find it often hinders me more than helps, but it is very useful for covering a certain path you are taking. For example, smoking left on dust will give you enough cover to rush the right without being sniped down the long corridor.

Grenades tend to be a lot about choke points and timing. For example a counter-terrorist rush on Aztec across the bridge throwing grenades in can really pin down the terrorists and give the counter-terrorists the upper hand. You should practice throwing grenades to the same place from different angles until you find the best spot and working out what trajectory is best to land a grenade in a certain area.

When facing a lot of enemies don't be afraid to throw both flash bangs and grenades before attempting to take advantage of them. Sometimes even partially flashing yourself is better than nothing as it will give you a chance to make the enemy retreat either allowing enough time for team mates to back you up or maybe enough time for you to pull back. Flashing opponents and hiding while calling for back up saves my life quite often when faced by challenging odds.

Some walls in specific maps allow you to throw grenades over them, learn which walls and obstacles allow this and use it to your advantage. Also, remember a successful flash nullifies, sound and sight, use both to your advantage. A majority of the skilled players depend upon sound so when flashed they wont necessarily be able to hear you sneaking up around behind them.

If you have injured an opponent and you know where they have fallen back to, throw in your grenade and you will often get a kill. This will develop with practice but I often get kills with grenades simply by predicting where the enemy is hiding. Similarly if you have done a lot of damage to opponents with a well placed grenade, you know they are more vulnerable because they have already suffered more damage giving you the advantage as they will die a lot quicker. Grenades also do a lot more damage if they explode around head height, so practice throwing the grenade and timing the throw to explode around chest and head height to maximise damage. A well timed grenade can do up to ninety off damage. Practicing this in a server by yourself or in a small 2 on 2 situations with fellow clan mates can greatly improve your game.

Also know where you can bounce grenades of walls and where they will land to maximise their efficiency. So don’t randomly throw a flash where it could land next to an obstacle and not have any impact, bounce it off a wall so that it lands in the middle of the area the enemy is coming from. People often just throw random flash bangs and assume the enemy will be blind and charge out, never assume anything in Counter-Strike Source. Be prepared for the enemy to be fully sighted as you never quite know for sure whether the enemy was sufficiently blinded. Mucking around with some bots would again be a good idea so you can practice on lightly armed opponents. Thought I have no idea how effective the flash bangs are against the bots.

Most importantly with grenades, know when NOT to use them. If you see a team mate running in front of you and is clearly planning on rushing in, do not throw a flash bang ahead of him and blind him, hold it and if he dies then flash. Flashing team mates is a sure fire way to make enemies very quickly and I find it to be one of the most frustrating parts of the game.

Sound: Sound of course plays a vital role in playing smart as footsteps and gunfire can give people away. A good set of headphones and a good sound card are essential for hearing everything, though sound in Counter-Strike Source can be misleading.

Sometimes it is worth practicing playing with either music going or no in game sound or just muting all sound so that you can experience it without. It certainly makes the game a lot more challenging but it makes you be a lot more wary of everything going on around you. I will sometimes do this to make sure my wariness is not lacking. This can make a big difference to your game play style so I don’t recommend doing it to often but it is definitely good to do from time to time to keep you on your toes.

Anger: One thing that used to get me killed a lot when I was a younger gamer is rage. It can build up and build up until you are basically useless as a player. I have never met anyone who is a good rage player. Some people can pull of some good stuff when ultra angry but for the most part, your play tends to suffer badly when raging. Counter-Strike Source can be on of the most frustrating games because if you die you have to wait, and sometimes this happens. But if you feel the rage building up too much just leave the game. Come back later or train yourself to keep your temper in check. I still from time to time will get angry and annoyed at myself, any sports player will. I normally try and work through these things and sometimes venting by just yelling or something can help to ease the blood pressure.

I always try and avoid quitting when I am losing however, as people often view this as bad sportsmanship, and often doesn’t make you feel any better. Working through it may ruin your stats, if you care about that sort of thing, but you have a better chance of success by working through your spot of bad form. Turning your game around by working through it can be very beneficial. Sometimes rushing just stops working for me and I have to play defensively for a while, so be it. It gives me a chance to turn the game around. If I join the losing side to begin with people often comment when they see my score as 1 of 3 or 2 of 6, and sure I am probably raging right about now, but I work thorough it, and can sometimes turn those scores into 50/10 and feel a heck of a lot better about the game. Other experienced gamers will always try and turn rage into a positive element, for example if you die look at how you benefited your team, or try and work out where the weakness was and how you can improve. This is a great way for not only improving your game but also keeping any temper in check.

[Heath4n]

Gameplay 29/12/2005 (top)
The following are the additional gameplay techniques that I have added since the original guide was written. I felt it better to include these in a separate section so those who want to just read the new content can quickly access the new information. Of course all my original advice still stands!

Strafing Techniques with different Weapons:
While I have covered the basics of how one should strafe in general games, a few people have asked me for more specific information regarding strafing from varying distances. There are lots of different interesting techniques that one can use to maximize accuracy and difficulty to be hit yourself and I will run through a few of them here. Part of choosing how you strafe will also depend on what gun you are using, and what gun your opponent is using. Some of that will be covered here as well.
To maximize your accuracy when strafing, the best technique tends to be to strafe one way, then when you want to stop and shoot you quickly tap the opposite direction, and time your firing to coincide with the exact point when you stop. This technique takes some practice but it means you stop a lot faster, you stop a lot more static and as such your accuracy is greatly increased. Most of the top players will use some variation of this technique when strafing.
Long Range: Long range strafing is the most challenging and probably where you need to be the most creative. Because your aim is from a range there is a much higher margin for error. Try and minimize hand movements and maximize strafing the crosshair into the correct position. It is also wise to utilize whatever cover you can when it is a rifle battle, avoid running in the same direction for long periods as it makes you far easier to track and to hit. Try to use smallish erratic movements but not so much as to destroy your own aim. Popping in and out of obstacles as cover is very helpful as well. Also, don’t be afraid to walk away from a battle if you think you can not win it, if you are battling a far superior rifler from long range, you may really want to take them on for the sake of your ego, but often it is wiser to wait and get them in closer proximity. Always remember you are no good to your team dead! It is also important to know your weapons, what guns work best from range, what guns don’t, what guns can penetrate what obstacles. Long range rends to do less damage for the weaker guns, but weapons such as the AK-47 still kill in one hit making it the most powerful ranged rifle. An M4A1 takes two shots silenced, one headshot and another hit to kill so remember this when engaging an enemy from long range. MP5 is a great gun but forget about it from long range, you will waste far too much ammo and do far too little damage.
People also often ask me about the best way to attack an AWPer from range with a rifle. The key here is that you are at an extreme disadvantage, they have a far higher magnification of you and as such are much more likely to kill you even if they aren’t the greatest AWPer in the world. I find the best way to attack AWPers when you have a rifle is to use grenades whenever possible even from long range as they can often act as a deterrent and an unsettler to the AWPer. You want to keep them on their toes so they have to move as much as possible thus hurting their aim. Never run in a straight line towards an AWPer or never strafe in the same direction for more than a second or two. Maximise erratic movements, use 3-4 bullets bursts to keep hitting them and lowering their health and hopefully register an arm hit which severely disables anyone’s aim. Of course, ideally registering a headshot instantly would be the best but you have to play the percentages and play to your own ability. So many people whine about AWPers but they are as easy to kill as anyone else if you play smart.
Medium Range: Attacking from medium range with rifles requires more precision than long range. You need greater control of your mouse as targets move faster in close, but you also have a larger target to hit. So many people miss their first few shots with a rifle then instantly crouch and start spraying at the target. This is a surefire way t get yourself frustrated and killed. It works every so often but fails a vast majority of the time. You become a stationary target and have virtually no accuracy on your weapon. It also takes a long time for your accuracy to return fully when spraying with a rifle so try not to do it from medium range. If you miss the first few shots, try strafing behind an object and getting a shot over the top or firing off a few quick bursts from one side and charge out the other. Keep the opponent guessing and let your aim settle to give yourself the best chance of killing them. If it is a rifle versus a rifle from medium range, I tend to use a circle strafing technique, whereby you mediate your distance from your opponent by strafing in a zigzag pattern around an imaginary circle. That way you don’t stray too far out of your desired aiming range but manage to keep them guessing which way you are going to go next while also keeping a decent control of your own aim. Remember to tap the opposite direction only for a split second to come to a complete halt and fire off your bullets. If someone starts spraying at you, keep your call and keep working at them, you instantly have the far greater advantage.
If you start getting into a battle where you have a rifle versus an opponent with an MP5, you generally want to maximize the distance between you and them. They do less damage from range whereas you do just as much. Avoid letting them get too close and spraying at your head which can kill you pretty quickly. The MP5 is very damaging, especially from close range so make sure you keep them at medium range and don’t let them rush you. Don’t be too concerned if they get a few hits on you. It is likely you will only lose a portion of your health. If you score a few hits on them, then they will be dead when you are rifling. Keep your aim settled and try not to let them get too close.
Also from medium range you have to be very careful about the ground level you are on compared with your opponent. One major difference between Counter-Strike: Source and Counter-Strike 1.6 is the fact that there is a lot more uneven terrain in Source. You need to adjust your aim and strafing to maximize usage of flat surfaces and to ensure you compensate when necessary for uneven ground that you or your opponent may be standing on. I find from medium range the effect is maximized.
Close Range: Strafing from close range is probably one of the most challenging things to do as the battles are fast and frenetic and are often over very quickly. The bottom line is from close range, you have to act fast and think quick. I tend to minimize movement from close range and concentrate on my own aim. A few steps either direction or something unpredictable like running towards your opponent when they least expect it are some of the best tactics. Ultimately you want a headshot quickly and from close range, and if someone is spraying at you with a rifle it is almost instinct to do the same back. Quick solution is just fire off a few bullets while standing still and take them down, this will work more often than not. Settling your own aim rather than worrying about them will save your life a lot more often than it wont. Rifle to rifle from close range I find typically revolves around who gets the headshot first. Sure people do get kills spraying but more often than not the victor takes down an opponent with a quick headshot. Keep your mouse movement steady and make sure you only use light keyboard taps for your strafing to move out of their direct line of fire. Once you are set a quick burst should finish them off.
Fighting an opponent who has an MP5 from close range when you have a rifle is a very difficult battle. This is because the MP5 is incredibly accurate and damaging from close range coupled with the fact that people move very fast when using it. I find if you don’t take them down very quickly from close range you are generally in pretty big trouble. If you can strafe behind an obstacle then do it, an MP5er will often keep their finger on the trigger until the clip is empty, this can give you a chance to wait for them to run out of bullets. Also an accurate burst from a crouch can be a good move. Ultimately there is not one great tactic that will save you in this situation, generally best if you remain calm and focus on your aim rather than panicking and jumping around the place spraying wildly. I guarantee this tactic will fail more often than not because the mp5 is simply too accurate.
Variety in Maps: So many people these days wonder why they get destroyed on any map that is not their favourite. Well it is quite simple, Counter-Strikers are very complacent and will happily play their favourite map over and over and over again. However, doing this is a good way to let your skills get lazy and to not get experience on other maps. It is very important to maintain a balanced diet. There are plenty of good maps in various server rotations around the place so get some variety and don’t play the same maps over and over again. This will ensure you are better prepared for a wider variety of situations and aren’t just a one map wonder. This is especially pertinent in wars, don’t just play dust2 or your clans strongest map, you will turn into one map wonders and your reputation will suffer as a result.

[Heath4n]

Clan War Strategies:
Many people have messaged me asking about war strategies and the like, unfortunately that is far outside the scope of this guide. For the more serious players, Whisper has an excellent guide to warring especially regarding buying equipment. His guide can be found at the following website. http://whisper.ausgamers.com/warstrats.htm The best advice I can offer is a team of champions is often beaten by a champion team and that Counter-Strike: Source is more like Baseball, where every team plays so many matches that you are guaranteed to lose a few every so often no matter how good you are. Learning from losses is usually far more beneficial than easy wins.
Aiming Practice: A lot of people wonder what the best way to practice aiming is when gaming these days. Well there is no right and wrong answer here any practice is good practice. A few of the better techniques are create your own server and fill it up with a whole bunch of bots. Give them all knives and or pistols only. And then practice taking them down ONLY with headshots. The other good method I recommend is one which my fellow clan mate rec swears by. When playing on a public server. Buy only one clip of ammunition. When rifling this forces you to be ultra economical and not waste bullets. Concentrate on only getting headshots and maximizing the amount of kills you get for your own clip. Once your clip is finished, move on to your pistol. This is a great way to ensure your aim is enhanced and you also practice your pistol skills in tough situations. Another technique one of my other clan mates uses is some form of self punishment as it were. You can buy up your kit as usual, but whenever you do something silly or that costs you badly like spraying from a distance or not checking a hiding spot, punish yourself by only using a pistol the next round. Do this for only one round after you have done something silly and you will rapidly enhance your pistol skills as well as make yourself play smarter and less stupidly. These are the three tactics I tend to think work really well for ensuring your aim is top notch for rifling.
Teamspeak and Ventrilo: As many of you will know, the in game voice communication system for Counter-Strike: Source is below feeble. It needs a major work over before it becomes useful again. I tend to recommend the use of either Teamspeak or Ventrilo when warring to ensure you can communicate effectively with your team mates. Typical sportsmanship rules apply however, do not communicate with live team mates when you are dead, for starters you will get into bad habits and if you have any aspirations of lanning then you will end up costing your team rounds and possibly matches by communicating when you are dead. These programs make communication much clearer and easier and are a great way to go to practice strategies. These programs can also be configured so that you don’t have to press a key to speak, which can be great to keep yourself focused on the game, especially when you are starting out at lans. Often laners wont use in game communication but would rather just speak audibly enough for everyone in the team to hear. So pressing the button isn’t necessarily a prerequisite for lanning either.
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Computer Related Information29/12/2005 (top)
Computer:
Running a decent specification machine is not crucial but it does help. I know a number of top tier players within the Australian community who play on lower end gaming rigs. Many players who go from a low frame rate machine to a high frame rate machine improve dramatically as it helps you to hone your aiming a lot better when things run smoothly. I recommend the AMD Athlon 64 platform, Counter-Strike: Source is incredibly intensive on your CPU so basically the higher spec the better. Though I am not endorsing spending ridiculous amounts on a CPU. Dual core current doesn’t provide any real advantage aside from the higher clock speeds but that may come into its own in the future. 3500+ and above is more than adequate I find. Ram I generally recommend 1Gb as a minimum and that is what I am currently running though many games, including Counter-Strike:Source are starting to appreciate 2gb’s worth of memory. Can always add more as you can afford it. Make sure you always get a decent motherboard don’t cheap out in this department. It is the pure guts of the machine so make sure it has the features you need as well as the performance, I generally buy Asus but all the mainstream brands have top level products depending on your budget. Finally video cards, this will really depend on how much you can spend, cant go past the 7800GTX’s at the moment from Nvidia, they are a powerhouse card that will easily handle any current game. In the lower end spectrum I am still running an X800 Pro which still seems to perform reasonably well for me though I have lowered my graphics settings somewhat since the games initial release as a lot more detail has been added. But they are good value for money and will last you a while if your investing in a card now. That is if you can still find one. Ultimately it will depend on your budget but I would say spend as much as you can within your means on your video card. That way you wont be disappointed. You cant expect a $200 video card to perform on par with the higher end cards but at least it will be an improvement over what you currently have (I am assuming here you are upgrading).
Headphones:
I use a set of Sennheiser PC150’s for my headphones. I find them lightweight and very high quality, fine for Counter-Strike: Source. They have a microphone as well which is nice and clear and perfect for competitive gaming. Choosing a good headset depends a lot on budget and needs. There is no point having a top of the line headset for a weekend gamer. Unless of course you have money to blow, in which case send me a cheque The lower branded headphones are all pretty decent and find for the casual gamer, Logitech, Altec Lansing all manufacture quality components and very affordable prices. For those going for more competitive gear then I tend to recommend something that is light weight. I used to have a set of Zalman 5.1 headphones and while I found them ok quality wise (if a bit gimmicky), they were very heavy on my head and I found I often got a headache after prolonged usage. This is not so with my Sennheisers so ensure you take your own comfort into account when choosing a headset.
Mousepad: Choosing a mousepad is pretty simple really. They are all pretty similar these days. I use a Logitech MX518 mouse with an Everglide Ricochet mousepad which is a nice large surface and has both a rough and a smooth side so I can choose whichever surface I prefer. This is generally the rough surface as with some nice mouse skates you get awesome traction over the surface. Ultimately though, they are all pretty good I generally don’t recommend spending an absolute fortune on a mouse pad, concentrate on the rest of your equipment. A nice large surface is ideal and any of the high level mouse pads are great.

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Australian Counter-Strike: Source Community (top)
A majority of the Australian community resides on IRC. You can find most players and clans on the EnterTheGame IRC domain. #ausource is great for picking up scrims and finding other clan channels to idle for matches. Some of the bigger named Australian clans are #ichor, #sykotic, #livid and of course #ceterisparibus. Some of the regular clanners such as #tz are great for finding practice scrims against but there are a whole host more channels once you get in there and start idling. For those looking to start getting into a clan it is the best way to go, start scrimming with teams in pug channels and make yourself available as a slut and you can often find a clan that way.
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Conclusion (top)

At the end of the day, people have to remember that Counter-Strike Source is just a game, especially in public servers so it isn’t worth taking that seriously. Play for fun that is the aim of the game. Competitions and clan wars are a different thing but the same rule applies, we are there playing to have fun the same as any sport.

I hope you all found this guide useful and if you have any suggestions or things you think should be added to the guide then please feel free to contact me on my email: johnsidey@hotmail.com which is also my MSN or I can be found lurking in the #ceterisparibus channel on EnterTheGame on IRC. I also sometimes hide out in #IGN with the Internode regulars. Please don’t contact me in game regarding the guide or any settings covered or not covered in the guide. I am available plenty of the time through any of the other contact means. Thanks for taking the time to read the guide and I hope to see you all on the Internode servers!

Cheers, Voodz

[DeSiRE]

wow that is a long read...none the less i enjoyed reading it, boy can u type voodz lol +1 for ur hard efforts

[.crow]

well done voodz, very well written +1

[moo]

I remember reading that like a year and a half ago when I first started playin cs, helped alot. +1 voodz

[ox1]

yep i read that proably over a year ago, made me a much better css player, very good read voodz

[Voodz]

Thanks guys I may get around to updating it now it is hosted on Got Games

[Kingpin!]

u claim to have a rushing style of play...not in pub

[Voodz]

Originally Posted by Kingpin!

u claim to have a rushing style of play...not in pub

Obviously you have only ever played with me once or twice. Anyone who does play with me will know I dont camp and rush pretty much every round in pub.

[danoontje]

n1 Voodz

[Adam_]

Haha, I think the rates part needs updating.

As for cl_interp, when I have it on 0.1 it ****s up my hitboxes SO BAD, it's only properly playable on 0.01. My ping is roughly 70ms.

Oh, and you should add you need to sync cl_cmdrate with your FPS, something I only found out really recently that has been the cause of a lot of problems when I didn't know about it (used to use cl_cmdrate 100 with V-sync on a 60Hz monitor).

[CLnR_]

top stuff helped heaps nice to see top players helping out and not bein assholes cheers

[MuFFiN]

wen i put dxlevel 70 in my cfg it does not work. How can i change my dx level?

[11411181]

Originally Posted by MuFFiN

wen i put dxlevel 70 in my cfg it does not work. How can i change my dx level?

mat_dxlevel 81

Failing that, put -dxlevel 81 in launch options.

(Don't make me slap you for running dx7)

[chX]

This guide is what encouraged me to continue CS:S.

I would love if you could update it, Voodz, especially since there has been a lot of significant changes to CS:S since you wrote it.

[MuFFiN]

Originally Posted by Anakha

mat_dxlevel 81

Failing that, put -dxlevel 81 in launch options.

(Don't make me slap you for running dx7)

haha lol my comp is that bad but ill use 81 and check it out thanx.

[rjay!]

Jesus nice write up, how long did that take you?

[Voodz]

Took me about 4-5 hours to do the first draft. Wrote it a long time ago though it is pretty out of date in terms of commands etc. Will maybe one day do an update...

But thanks

[chX]

I really think an update would be good, it's helped out a lot of people so far and if you added some more recent things (such as the new radar) it would definately help out even more people.

Oh, I noticed the-puppetmaster.com is down... why's that?

[Eternity]

how long until "voodz guide to running gotgames" comes out?
should be a good read.

[raveN]

Originally Posted by Eternity

how long until "voodz guide to running gotgames" comes out?
should be a good read.

lol. yes a great read




raveN.

[MessiaH]

Originally Posted by Eternity

how long until "voodz guide to running gotgames" comes out?
should be a good read.

You just have to take the malicious stab don't you.

[Eternity]

Originally Posted by MessiaH

You just have to take the malicious stab don't you.

duh.

[Snook]

Well hes doing the best job so far so perhaps not long ahah

[mister]

Originally Posted by Eternity

how long until "voodz guide to running gotgames" comes out?
should be a good read.

How about eternity's guide to "lonely, sexually confused men, who make cheap stabs at people over a forum because they were fired from a volunteer position" ?

Id seriously read that guide. I need help

[Eternity]

Originally Posted by mister

How about eternity's guide to "lonely, sexually confused men, who make cheap stabs at people over a forum because they were fired from a volunteer position" ?

Id seriously read that guide. I need help

hahaha.

[bsty]

Helped heaps cheers gw on the effort... but one thing the cl_cmdbackup doesnt show whats that about?

[shotty tomato]

Originally Posted by bsty

Helped heaps cheers gw on the effort... but one thing the cl_cmdbackup doesnt show whats that about?

it is an old command and has been removed from the game.

[bsty]

ah right cheers for that shotty.

[Longie[iw]]

Gw Voodz it helped me out, probs what i needed

[Mickos]

Voodz guide to cs, dont caek it on lan ohh i want dere love u voodz

[Hectic]

nice write up. going to see if it helps

[strydzrcore]

nice read

[FuRbY*]

Originally Posted by struK

nice read

THAT WAS SOME GOOD INPUT THERE.