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Getting bad registration?

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It may be your fault!

Guide to better registration


Ever find yourself saying, “wow reg please” or “get new servers”?. The reality in this may be ironic, because probably 5 times out of 10 it is the users computers problem rather than routing/server issues. This guide is not meant to give credit to servers or take credit from personal computers but to point out the unknown weaknesses in a constantly used pc and how to fix them.

This is a small guide that I am in the process of writing to maximize client side registration in any Steam game running the Half-Life 1 engine (mainly Counter-Strike 1.6). A good habit is to defragment your computer once every half a month or so to keep it performing in tip top shape. Along with defragmenting, clean dust out of your computer. Cleaning dust out of your computer will decrease the operating temperature of almost every component in the computer, mainly due to the fact that dust can slow down the fans and can act as an insulator. The “insulation” effect affects your processor most because the fan, which cools your processor, will just continuously blow dust onto the processor, so be sure to remove the fan and clean any underlying dust.

So now we have a non-dusty computer which is defragmented, so what? Well believe it or not your in-game registration will be noticeably improved if you have not done any of these maintenance routines in a while. Next step to improving client side registration in game is to make your Counter-Strike program run efficiently and be able to keep up with server packets. Counter-Strike runs all of its configurations and custom addons in the /cstrike folder. This folder can be located in your Program Files / Steam / SteamApps / Email / Counter-Strike directory.


So, now you have your cstrike folder open, I would hope most of you are already comfortable with this folder. In this folder custom maps, sprites, demos, configs, screenshots, sounds, wad files, and more are stored. If this folder gets too big, for some reason computers, which aren’t top of the line, will show decreases in performance while playing Counter-Strike 1.6. To improve in-game performance, delete extra maps, move un-needed demos, move unneeded sounds, etc. to other locations. The next step is probably what can affect your registry most, in your cstrike folder there is a file called custom.hpk, this file is a temporary file, which builds up over time. The files job is to store other people’s sprays and things of that nature, and is useless to have sitting around. The worst part about the file is that it can grow relatively quickly and the file will take longer to load when the file is a lot bigger verse being a few kb file. I recommend once a week deleting that file, it will make a huge improvement with registration in-game.

The next step is optional, for some it helps and for some it ends up being useless. This next step is to download a small program which will change your router settings to maximum performance so that every mb of data transfer is used the best it can. The program name is TCPOptimizer and it is a speedguide.net approved program.

Link: http://www.download.com/3000-2155_4-10488..

Screenshot: http://speedguide.net/images/tcp_optimize..


Unfortunately, I only have limited experience with the program and my best advice is to enter your connection speed ( http://speakeasy.net/speedtest ) and check optimal settings at the bottom and apply the changes. This will change your registry to accommodate your connection and it may or may not improve your in game. Personally, I only have had good experiences with the program and recommend it and it is reversible for those who dislike it.

That concludes my guide; I just decided to write it after getting a few complaints about registration and then correcting them on their problems and actually having them realize it was their faults and not the servers. But of course, there are always servers out there, which just don’t perform correctly and get complained about and there are some great servers, which get complained about due to end-user misconception about Counter-Strike basics.



Thanks for reading!
FragHYPE|gspec
http://FragHype.org

This comment was edited at 12/09/2007 12:56 AM
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#2 and #3 same person
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I think #4 is the same as #5 thou
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if my shots registered id be winning the cpl right now, no homo
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Should sticky something like this and people can add to it.

Edit: Nice job btw

This comment was edited at 12/09/2007 1:16 AM
liQuidmotion fanclub! <3
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that program works pretty good, instead of getting 45 ping to chi i get 35, not too shabby, still get 150 to ny even though i live in ny (terrible routing, goes to AZ>WA>CA>VA>NY LoL)
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Thanks, #9 I live in Upstate NY and I ping 70 to Detox servers in NYC. To my understanding there is a routing issue where we are connecting to Cleveland - Washington DC - Back to NY - Making about a few hundred mile useless trip. Hopefully it will be fixed soon.
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I don't know why but I get 50 ping to NY servers in ESEA, but every other NY server I get well over 130 and sometimes just straight flush entities so I can't even play. Pretty sad if you ask me
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Yeah I know, it must suck more if you are a hosting company who has to deal with bad ISP routing issues.
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Last Result:
Download Speed: 740 kbps (92.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 129 kbps (16.1 KB/sec transfer rate)

shoot me......
I like Turtles
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hey i had that prog before, only used it to make my torrenting go faster tho lol
LoL^_^ ,v,,
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i hope i rember to have alook at this tomorrow lol
if i doubble post its becouse i hit the back button on browser or something but not on purpose.
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gspec how should i use that program with that awful internet i have as shown in #13 lol..
I like Turtles
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great job man, i was not aware that the size of the folder could affect the gameplay
there are useful links on my profile (for 1.6) so check it out
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this seems to be working

im getting ~5-10 less ping and initial reg is really good.
♥♥♥ [◣_◢] ♥♥♥
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mmm yeah, thanks
Intel C2D e6300 - BFG 7950GT OCed 256mb - 2GB Crucial DDR2 800 - ECS PT890A - 200GB SeagateBarracuda

Result:
Download Speed: 55 kbps (6.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 55 kbps (6.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
???????????????????
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Waste of time.
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If you are getting bad registration its either the server or its the fact that you can't aim!
#EG #gotfrag
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well #22 is also right ive seen many people not even aiming at the head and moan head please :/

thanx #1 ill try it to tday, ive got 7GB worth demos those need to be deleted.

can any one tell why my page file usage is 700+ Mb thanx any suggestions would be welcomed.
The reason i use GF is to achieve 4 nerd stars and look E-cool.

the only thing that will effect your bullet reg in that guide is TCPoptimizer, all that other stuff will just affect the speed the game runs/loads.
8)
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theres something wrong with routing from montreal (videotron) too NY those days..
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#24, Speed of the game running affects how quickly your game will send/receive server packets, which is the roots of why registration is altered with what is written above.

Hmm huge wall of text but... i found it very helpful =)
www.xtc.sg // Email: michael@xtc.sg // MSN: xtremist@team-xtc.net
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I appreciate all the feedback guys :)
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wow thanks alot really helpful
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Don't just use optimal settings because those could actually be [b]BAD[/b] for some people. The settings you should use depend on 1) who your cable provider is 2) what you Down/Up speed is and 3) what kind of router and nic you have. If you want to find out the optimal settings for YOUR cable/dsl/wireless provider I suggest using Google to find a guide to it.
SpeedGuide.net and dslreports.com are good sources to find out what you should use on a individual bases.
I Started the FURY craze!
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gspec should be a staff writer for gotfrag
#fragHYPE #phishcave #trackball
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#30, You are correct in the sense that it will be bad for some, it can only truly play a negative roll if your connection is more than fast enough not to worry about it. Adjusting your registry to accomodate a quick connection can sometimes cause choke and impair efficiency.

Good thoughts ;)
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[b]ADVANCED PROTIP:[/b]
For the custom.hpk, go in your cstrike folder and delete it, and then add
hpk_maxsize 0.1
in your userconfig.cfg.

Now join a New Game on your own listen server, and quit once you've connected. Now go make your cstrike/custom.hpk read-only (Right Click > Properties) and gl hf with a small custom.hpk file. This means a faster connection time.
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Nice job!
:)
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#33 Thanks! :) Good tip.
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http://img508.imageshack.us/my.php?image=..

wtf? :DD that programs pretty nice
I'm riding on a dolphin, doing flips and sh*t
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Teamless leet skeet player. pick me up d00d.
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or u can make ur hpk_maxsize .00000000000001 and it wont save any to it.
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good read , would suggest to a friend :O
Cheers
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lol my custom.hpk was like 4 MB :D
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#40 Did deleting it help?

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After doing all of this, it seems that my reg has gotten a bit better. What helped the most was removing the Half-Life 1 Texture Package files such as the cstrike.wad, map.wad, etc. The only one that I would recommend keeping is the 'tempdecal.wad' file because it is used for your in-game spray. I would also recommend removing the 'overviews' folder as it is not necessary and takes up quite a bit of space. I run my disk defragmenter every month, so that wasn't much help for me, but I also ran the disk cleanup which removed a lot of extra files that I didn't need. Overall this was a good, helpful guide and in my opinion, it should be stickied for others to be able to read in the future. Great job!

This comment was edited at 12/09/2007 6:16 PM
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nicely written for those who don't already know gj :)
!@#tUQue
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where would be a good place to move demos to? I mean I know you could move them anywhere, but perhaps someplace accessible I'm overlooking? Desktop?

This comment was edited at 12/09/2007 6:53 PM
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#45

Create a new folder on your desktop, and place the demos in there.

Hope this helps!
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how do i setup the optimizer ?! i select the optimal setting and apply ? and thats it ? or ...i should modify something ?! ty
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Good read :d
hustelinnn
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#fraghype
#fragHYPE #phishcave #trackball
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#37 why does your smoke look like a swarm of killer bees?
#teamc9

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