Setting Client Rates

Client rate settings are useful in troubleshooting lag and poor multiplayer performance. Please review the Troubleshooting Lag topic if you need more information on troubleshooting lag.

Set Steam Rate

The first thing you need to check is your Steam rate setting in the Steam > Settings > Internet > Internet Connection Speed.

Make sure that is set properly for your connection type - if the connection speed is incorrectly set it may cause problems.

In-game Rate

The default rates are fine for most connection, servers typically prevent any changes to those settings. Most players get good performance from:

rate 7500

cl_updaterate 20

cl_cmdrate 30

Test Script

You are welcome to try this test rate settings script to see what what different settings are like, but in general the normal ones work very well for internet.

Download this rate.cfg file and put it in your game folder, then add the line exec rate.cfg to your userconfig.cfg file to use the script.

56K modems are typically best set to a rate between 3500 to 5000 - you may need to edit some of the rate settings to find the best range for performance.

Once you have loaded the rate.cfg test script you can execute the following commands in the developer's console to determine which rate offers the best performance:

• rates - see all the current settings
• dslow - only useful for minimal testing, probably not playable
• vslow
• slow
• norm - default settings
• fast
• vfast
• lfast - LAN and high-speed connections only

You may also use the F2 key to cycle around to all the settings.

Related Topics

• Troubleshooting Lag