Counter-Strike 1.6 thoughts...

gechu · Post by **gechu** » 08 Sep 2006, 11:01

Things to consider:

The CS game engine works @ 100 FPS

I know that when doom 3 was created they choose to set the engines FPS limit to 60. The reason for this was to make people which didnÃ‚Â´t have the hardware capable of delivering 100FPS,, be able to jump as long as the other hardware freaks (100fps guys).

Now lets move that argumenation over to CS. Would the same principles apply to gunfiring as well? i.e. if I choose to lower the game to 60 fps, would that those 40 fps full of gunfire which was not shown simply be removed?

If thats true then:
a guy with 100fps engine shoots and jumps longer than some other which are limited to 60fps.

The cure for that is quite simple, turning off vsync. But I dont know if I want to do that. Because then my gfx card might render a frame when the last frame arent completly rendered at all.

So instead I try to move the limit from 60 to 75 (which I know my monitor can handle, NEC 20WGX2). I use to have a Samsung syncmaster 19Ã‚Â´, and to control my monitors frequency I simply used the "-freq x" command in the CS shortcut (no use for other permanent solutions since this is the only game I play). But when I try to set it to 75, because I know my monitor can handle that freq @ the widescreenresolution that I want to play, nothing happens. Still stuck @ 60FPS, and vsync is disabled.

I think the widescreen res. that I really want to use (1280x720), is quite high. Is it posible to use a lower res? I.e. start the game with the "-w" and "-h" command? I would like the widescreen alternative to 640x480, or 800x600. But which resolutions would that be?

That was alot of questions and thoughts, please share your experiences

/E

Stonefish · Post by **Stonefish** » 08 Sep 2006, 14:13

Doom 3 was capped to 60fps in order to let everyone's character jump the same distance?

That's a strange claim. and one that makes no sense of any kind.
Just because something isn't drawn, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

That said, any same multiple of 16 and 9 is technically a widescreen resolution. Keep going until you see a familiar number :)
However, LCD's really work best at their native resolution. 1280x720 isn't very high, and if you can't play CS 1.6 smoothly at that res, you might want to consider upgrading to a GeForce 3 :)

I suppose the widescreen equivalent of 800x600 would be 800x450. 640x480 cut to widescreen would be 640x360. This is purely academic, and utterly retarded. Don't ever do it :)

gechu · Post by **gechu** » 08 Sep 2006, 15:09

Hey Stonefish, I know the 60fps cap sounds strange but it is/was actually true. Take a look @ this old post (far down in the article):

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=12311

Just after I posted this topic I came to think something simulair like,
"Just because something isn't drawn, doesn't mean it doesn't happen." Guess I went a little overboard there ;)

"you might want to consider upgrading to a GeForce 3" ;D The sad thing is that Im curretly using a geforce 4, but since I only play CS @ 640x480 there really hasnÃ‚Â´t been a need for more horespower.

Yeah it sure is a low res. but Im actually going to try those two low resolutions that your mad academic skills has provided me with! ;D

IÃ‚Â´ll get back with my experiences, if they are something worth mentioning

Stonefish · Post by **Stonefish** » 08 Sep 2006, 15:36

I suspect your experiences are going to be along the lines of "the game plays exactly the same, but now I have a migraine".

According to that article, Doom's 60hz tic is only in place to prevent physics exploits, which is all well and good.

geeman · Post by **geeman** » 08 Sep 2006, 15:37

CS is best played at 800x600 or 640x480 I can't remember which, because it was designed to be played at that resolution. Using a bigger or lower resolution screws with the aiming. You have to search some pro cs site to find out more, this is just what I have heard.

gechu · Post by **gechu** » 08 Sep 2006, 15:53

thx for your quick replys guys!

IÃ‚Â´ve been into the CS-scene for quite a long time now and I know that most professionals in Sweden use 640x480 or 800x600 and 1024x768 in some rare cases. I also believe the game was made with a texture size of 640x480, but if it really mathers, I dont know.

Dont know where you found the info about the "physics exploits" in the article. "A fixed tic rate removes issues like Quake 3 had, where some jumps could only be made at certain framerates." weather that includes physics exploits I dont know. Well well, this facts doesnÃ‚Â´t seem to be important for me know anyways ;)

1280x720 seems to be the only available widescreen resolutions. But I wounder why I get tearing when IÃ‚Â´m using a LCD and not a CRT?

gechu · Post by **gechu** » 08 Sep 2006, 15:56

think think think! Why canÃ‚Â´t I learn to do that before I post something!

The reason for tearing is because the game engine is faster than my monitors HZ. i.e. using a CRT @ 120Hz will not cause tearing @ the HL engine running @ 100FPS.

Sorry for that one

Post by **skipclarke** » 11 Sep 2006, 20:49

CS is best played at 800x600 or 640x480 I can't remember which, because it was designed to be played at that resolution. Using a bigger or lower resolution screws with the aiming. You have to search some pro cs site to find out more, this is just what I have heard.

I heard about this too - I don't think it was "designed" for them so to speak, but the hardcore CS freaks who play in tournaments swear by it. That is the primary reason they have been so reluctant to embrace LCD's (even in 2006); they feel that unless they are playing at one of those low resolutions on a CRT monitor they are losing a competitive advantage.

I remember about a year back there was an announcement by one of the major tourney hosts that they were switching to LCD's all across the board and based on the forum thread response you would have thought these guys were being forced to play blindfolded or something... :wink:

gechu · Post by **gechu** » 11 Sep 2006, 21:20

IÃ‚Â´ve posted a post @ guru3d forum, and since Im a lazy fo**er, will I just post it here unedited. So it will contain some info that isnÃ‚Â´t new to you. Hope you dont mind.

"I have a Nec MultiSync 20WGX2 aand I have some problems with refreshrates in Counter-Strike. According to the specifications for this monitor, should it be possible to use 800x600 and 640x480 @ 75Hz. There are some settings which manage the way the image is displayed, ie. streched or with black bars on each side (for non wide-resolutions). There are also alts. that put the scaling process in the monitor or in the gfx card.

The problem is that I cant get it to work @ 75Hz. I get terrible tearing with the 60Hz cap ingame (since I dont want to enable vsync), caused by the HL engine working @ 100FPS. So I thought it must be worth the go to try to get 75Hz working. Then could I at least force the game engine to work below 75FPS (fps_max). This is what IÃ‚Â´ve done:

1. tried to start the the game with "-freq xx" in the shortcut
2. tried reforce (using the right driver for my monitor)

IÃ‚Â´m currently using det. 44.67 because it has great IQ and performance especially in CS. Guess it lacks some new functionality in windows compared to the newer ones, but they are also slower. Is it possible to use a newer driver with older openGL routines? And why canÃ‚Â´t I get 75Hz ingame?

I also wounder what the pro gamers @ would cyber games use use for settings because I know that samsungs 931BF (which is a LCD), is to be used there.

What do you think guys?

/E"

fobose · Post by **fobose** » 11 Sep 2006, 22:21

I dont get any tearing when playing CS 1.6 at 60fps on my 2007WFP - was playing it windowed at 1152x864.

gechu · Post by **gechu** » 12 Sep 2006, 16:53

swtiched to 90.xx drivers. Guess they have better hardware compability because they detected the optimal resolution automaticly and in CS my refreshrate changed to 75Hz.

So I rest my case

/E

Tom · Post by **Tom** » 15 Sep 2006, 22:45

This is an interesting topic for me, as I used to play Counter-Strike (and some other same-engine mods (e.g: TFC, DoD) 4 years long.

What I want to know is:

1) Will my Geforce 4 Ti4200 handle a WideScreen resolution? (My computer: AMD Athlon XP 1800+ with 256 DDR RAM) (I'm wanting to buy a 20" WS, but still doubting whether my old computer can handle high WS resolutions)

Note: When I go to the resolution-tab in windows I can only see "normal" resolutions (1600 instead of WS 1680 for example), could that be because of my 15" CRT monitor currently being connected to my PC temporary + old ForceWare drivers (81.98) installed?)

2) What will the WideScreen resolution be for Counter-Strike 800x600 ? (and how to config it? : I would prefer black blocks around the actual window (that way the window doesn't stretch)).

gechu · Post by **gechu** » 15 Sep 2006, 23:05

I have a Geforce 4600 Ti. And CS works quite alright in 1280x720. That is the lowest widescreen res. thatÃ‚Â´s available.

You can choose to use i.e. 640x480 (a standard res.) in CS and then set a option so that the image isnÃ‚Â´t streched (black on both sides of the 640x480 image).

Dont worry about your windows resolution. That card will not have a problem with providing you with the correct resolutions in windows.

You might need to use newer drivers because I had some problems with detonator 4x.xx. To overcome that problem I used Powerstrip to enforce a resolution of 1680x1050 in windows. It all worked good and those drivers a for sure more optimized for an old engine like the half-life one.

Tom · Post by **Tom** » 16 Sep 2006, 10:28

Okay, thanks for your reply :)

I've got a 3th question actually: Will I be able to see movies "fullscreen" with my Geforce 4 TI4200?

gechu · Post by **gechu** » 16 Sep 2006, 10:33

I think some never gpu:s (your gpu is in the nvidia 4 series) have some new features for optimizing DVD playback. But IÃ‚Â´m pretty happy with what IÃ‚Â´ve got so dont worry too much about it

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