The first thing you need to do is right click on the shortcut in your start
menu. It will probably be different for every person but it will be wherever
you go to in the start menu to play Half-Life. Then right click on it once
you have found it and left click on properties. Click the shortcut tab once
in the shortcut properties and after it lists the target such as C:\Games\Half-Life
type -console -numericping -noipx (you'll need to re-enable this one if you
play to play over a lan. re-enable it by removing it) +cl_sidespeed 650
+clforwardspeed 650 +clbackspeed 650. Enter these just the way i haver no
coma's just spaces. This will help reduce your ping even if you are on a broadband
connection.
Now ingame there are several things you can do to make the game run better as well. There are console commands (which we just enabled with the -console command) and can be reached by pushing the tilde (~) key (next to the number 1). There are many commands but I will just go over the main ones. When you see "keyyouwant" this means you should pick a key that you want to personally use for the command. By pushing the key it will activate the command.
One of the most important for us as a clan is: bind keyyouwant "drop" This command throws your current weapon in a box such as when you die allowing a just respawned teammate to pick it up.
Another useful one is: bind keyyouwant "say whatever" this lets you say a preset message without taking the time to actually type it out. I'll try to find out how to incorperate team messages as time goes by...
Here is another: a console command known as sv_maxunlag is very useful and perhaps more so to the broadband guys. To use it you'll need to first look at your ping. Next know that in this command 0.1 would represent 100ms. So you would, if you had 80ms, tpye sv_maxunlag 0.08. This command actually tells your computer to render the person 80ms ahead of where they are. The only problem is that you computer is in reality guessing at where they will be. I have had great luck with this command and notice an actual improvement in my playing.
Here are two more for people wishing for more fps in Half-Life: fps_max and fps_modem. These are set with a command like this fps_max 150 and fps_modem 150. The number depends really on how good of a video card you have. As a basic rule though, set it somewhere between 150-200. If you set it to high, you'll waste bandwidth trying to render the frames so don't try setting it to high. My brother with his GeForce 3 gets about 425 fps. Just experiment with it and see how you system/ping does. Keep increasing it until you start to jerk around and then set it down by about 50-75.
A few final commands that should help are cl_forwardspeed, cl_backspeed, and cl_sidespeed. The maximum speed is 650. It defaults to 400. This iwll help you by letting you move aorund faster and be a harder target for snipers. The forward and backward speed will stay once you set them but the sidespeed you will need to set every time or just use the +cl_sidespeed 650 command in the shortcut.
Now you will need to pick the category you fit into. Broadband or 56k and below.
Broadband:
The cl_rate and rate commands are basically useless for you guys since you
have such large download/upload capacities. However if you find yourself running
rough in big games or laging a little bit try typing in cl_rate 8000 and rate
8000 (NOTE: the rate and cl_rate need to be the same or problems may occur
with ping).
You can adjust the cl_rate and rate any way you wish the lower you set it
the less information is sent from the server to you. The cl_updaterate can
be set higher than it is. I think initally it is set to 20. You can set it
somewhere to 30-40 depending on ping again. When it starts to run rough or
ping starts to climb set it back down by about 5. Bigger games do again affect
how this will run as well. (NOTE: you can tell half-life to automatically
set a cl_rate and rate you want by in the shortcut to half-life where you
typed all of those other commands typing +cl_rate # and +rate # instead of
having to do it every time you join the server).
56K and below:
The cl_rate and rate play a major role in how good we do since we get a much higher ping. For us the cl_rate and rate should be set about 5600 through 2800 depending on what connection we have. the slower the connection, the lower the number should be. You'll know when its to high by the game lagging up and jerking around more than normal. Read the bottom of the broadband section to learn how to make Half_life set these according to your specifications without having to do it every time you join the server. Also the cl_updaterate command should not be higher than 20 with 56k and no higher than 15 with 28.8k. In big games you should reduce all of these numbers to compensate for the server having to send you more information seeing as there are more people to keep track of.
Again if you have any questions, E-mail me at SP_I_KE@Excite.com. Please do not distribute this to people not of our clan. This might be the extra kill we need to win a clan match ;) There are a vast number more commands that i do not know about that I'm sure would help us to. So if anywhere on the net you find more commands copy them down and I'll add them to this guide.
"Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me."