Well that is what this guide is here to fix. The common misconception is that America's Army's netcode is too far gone due to the Devs constant updates, and that it is beyond salvation. Although both the netcode and game code are becoming progressively worse with each new version of the game, there are some settings you can fix in the server.ini that will increase performance on the machine and in turn help you hit those amazing headshots and in turn move much easier in the game.

Boosting the tic rate on servers has been around many years in games that have large league and scrim followings. So long that most server providers charge extra for the setting. The reason you have not seen this done in America's Army is the high memory usage, and that it is a game originally built for public server play. It's also hard to find a public server in other games with a boosted tic rate. This is because running a server 24/7 at high speeds would cost a great deal in memory usage and in turn for the client of the server company. This guide is intended for scrim and match servers, although when someone runs a 100tic public server, they do become very popular.

It is important to remember if you do go ahead and use these settings that you will be increasing the memory and CPU usage of your server tenfold, and that some server providers may not agree with this. Therefore it is very important to find out if it is tolerated or allowed. The following pictures were taken from unreal tournament, the engine AA is based on, to show a server at five, twenty the default server rate, and finally at one hundred tic. With that said, enjoy the drastically lower pings, and vastly improved bullet registration.


Armyops.ini or Server.ini Depending on server launch settings.

[IpDrv.TcpNetDriver]
MaxClientRate=10001
MaxInternetClientRate=10001
NetServerMaxTickRate=100
LanServerMaxTickRate=100

[Engine.DemoRecDriver]
NetServerMaxTickRate=66
LanServerMaxTickRate=66

[WinDrv.WindowsClient]
MaxDesiredFrameRate=500.000000

* Increasing the netspeed to just 10001 will allow you to achieve much higher client side FPS, as long as your personal computer is new enough of course. The netspeed must be put to 10001 or higher on both server and client.

* Changing the tic rate on servers over 45 does cause a short bug in the first second or two when your player model is loaded into the game concerning the cocking animation of the gun. A fix is being worked on that is used in other games known as a 'freeze time' of 3-5 seconds to allow all players to load in and start moving at the same time.

* Once you have tried the new settings, please feel free post links of this piece up on other forums or America's Army related sites so that you will never have to play on a 20 tic match server.