Rates etc.

[Security]

I kinda understood the rates thingy in CS:S but the new thing called "Lerp" in TF2 confuses me.

What is it and why is it always on 100ms for me?
I did some googling and ended up on the steam forums where people are just as puzzled as me about what it is, so I prolly missed it and I hope someone here can give me some insight on what it is and why it is on 100ms for me (on some servers this turns yellow, but still is at 100ms).

[Smurfy#]

Ye mine does that and turns yellow sometimes. I don't understand that either :/ Gonna have a google and see if i can find anything

[Smurfy#]

Double post -

That was a quick google...

TF2 Network Graph - Valve Developer Community

The "lerp" indicator shows the number of msecs of interpolation being used by the client. Some notes on the value of lerp follow below.

Whatever that means!! xDDD

Few interesting things on there too *reads more*

[Security]

Thanks, now to slap the dutch google for not putting that page in the first 3 pages of results. :/

[Waffles!]

I think that rates are like dicks and pussies.

Some people have different sizes and oh god **** it

[elliotuk]

lol just put your rates on 25000, 100, 100 and then they are fine for any server you ever go on whateva tickrate it is.
done.
:P

[Security]

The standard rates should be good for every server as well, but this lerp thing is new and was always at the same number (even tho at times it changed color) which caused me to wonder what it is.

[Muarf]

Originally Posted by Security The standard rates should be good for every server as well

Nope, the standard rates are totally out dated compared to what connections we got today.

As Elliot says:
rate 25000
cl_cmdrate 100
cl_updaterate 100

Then you're on the safe side

[Dogmeat]

Noob question: What are those rates, what depends on them and where do i change those(couldn't find those lines in config file). Thanks in advance.

[SOVIET_]

Actually, seen as no TF2 server is capable of running at more than 66 tick, you only need cl_updaterate and cl_cmdrate @ 66.

Also, the lerp number you speak of should be the same as your average ping. To get it to change, you can change cl_interp and cl_interp_ratio. For example, I have a ping on most servers of around 30ms, so I use the following settings

cl_updaterate "66"
cl_cmdrate "66"

cl_interp "0.035"
cl_interp_ratio "1.0"

Making sure your lerp is as close as possible to your ping (also, your ping on net_graph, not on the scoreboard) is extremely beneficial, most noticable using a shotgun or pistol. Also, do not ever have your lerp turn yellow.

*Deep breath* basically if you have too high an interp compared to your ping, with some guns you have to shot behind player models to get hits. This is interpolating. If you have a yellow interp figure this means your interp is too low compared to your ping and you have to shoot infront of a player model, otherwise known as extrapolating

[d3vious]

your interp is calculated as follows by the engine.

'cl_interp_ratio divided by cl_updaterate = cl_interp or lerp.'

same as css and other source games.

so if your interp ratio is 2, and your updaterate is default ie 20 then you get..
2/20 = 0.1 or 100ms interp.

on a 66tick server you should set your updaterate to 66 ideally which would give..
2/66 = 0.03 approx, or 30ms interp.

though tbh, i use an interp_ratio of 1, as you only need it set to 2 if you are losing packets.
---------------
oh btw,
anyone who wants to know why we need interpolation in source games should read this
Source Multiplayer Networking - Valve Developer Community

the bit on entity interpolation gives the basic reasons why the source engine uses interpolation in its games.

By default, the client receives about 20 snapshot per second. If the objects (entities) in the world were only rendered at the positions received by the server, moving objects and animation would look choppy and jittery. Dropped packets would also cause noticeable glitches. The trick to solve this problem is to go back in time for rendering, so positions and animations can be continuously interpolated between two recently received snapshots

basically everything is rendered slightly behind realtime by 'cl_interp_ratio/cl_updaterate' seconds.

tha article above was written before cl_interp_ratio was added as a cvar though, what the engine did then was calculate '1/cl_updaterate' then double it in case of packetloss.

[elliotuk]

I was under the impression that until 1-2 years ago you set your cl_interp manually.....but then valve updated it so that interp is automatically set depending on your rate, cmdrate and updaterate. I'm sure that happened like 2 years ago and then the cl_interp became a redundent command, you can still enter it but it doesnt do anything.
correct me if im wrong but im 99% sure that this is now the case.

[Hacienda]

Originally Posted by elliotuk I was under the impression that until 1-2 years ago you set your cl_interp manually.....but then valve updated it so that interp is automatically set depending on your rate, cmdrate and updaterate. I'm sure that happened like 2 years ago and then the cl_interp became a redundent command, you can still enter it but it doesnt do anything. correct me if im wrong but im 99% sure that this is now the case.

Consider yourself corrected :P

try it in game I think you might be thinking of another command that was similar but I cant remember what it was now.

[Smurfy#]

Yea i just changed my cl_interp to 0.035 and my "lerp" in the bottom corner also changed to 35ms. It may have just been coz i was paying more attention to it but i seemed to be able to do more damage with the shotgun after?

[Security]

I applied the changes according to Soviet's post and he was correct since the hitboxes seem to be where they should (unlike in CS:S ).
I played a bit as sniper yesterday and had no odd lagging problems (with my ping at 22 as usual ).

[SOVIET_]

Happy to help

[carlos1]

Maybe some one here can help as im a little clueless to rates but can someone say do these in the screenshot look ok or would it best to change some rates if so to what and how?cheers for any help

this was fragys server while full just as i died.

[Prisk]

Carlos you have way too much choke! choke should be around 0 and definitely no more than 10.

Unfortunately I don't really know how to help sorry

[Hacienda]

Originally Posted by carlos1 Maybe some one here can help as im a little clueless to rates but can someone say do these in the screenshot look ok or would it best to change some rates if so to what and how?cheers for any help this was fragys server while full just as i died.

cl_cmdrate 66
cl_updaterate 66
cl_rate 25000
cl_interp 0.045
cl_interp_ratio 1

Enter those in console one at a time and see if it reduces/removes choke let us know how it goes

[toomtoom]

hm.. does it matter that my tf2 config doesn't have cl_rate in it?

(totally un-tweaked)