Valve's Leon Hartwig just provided this explanation of the 'choke' value that appears in Half-Life - you know, the one which all the whiney players use to blame their poor performance on?

Choke happens when the server would like to send data to a client but it cannot because the client is not yet ready for more data (based on the client's "rate" setting or the server's sv_maxrate). Some things are obvious causes for choke, such as the client's rate simply being too low for the number of players on a server. Other things might not be so obvious, such as a client raising their cl_updaterate value too high.

On a similar note, LAN server ops might not be aware of this, but for LAN servers (sv_lan = 1), client "rate" settings (and sv_min/maxrate) are totally ignored and 9999 is used for the rate of all clients. This will be increased to the max allowed rate, 20000, in the next major release, but it's something to keep in mind for now.

Therefore, don't blame servers for choke.

so whats a good rate to have it set at? my choke makes me perform so badly :P

recommended "rate" settings

LAN -----------------> 25000
Cabel, wireless -----> 25000
ISDN Bonded ---------> 14000
ISDN Single ---------> 7000
56K -----------------> 5500
36K------------------> 3000
28.8K----------------> 2800

We can still balme the servers, when they have sv_maxrate "XXXX" set - it forces the client to use a rate no higher than "XXXX".

5000 is all anyone needs anyway

Whatever you rekon trog :)

most servers have pretty low max rates, like gamearena max rate is 6000

recommended "rate" settings

LAN -----------------> 25000
Cabel, wireless -----> 25000
ISDN Bonded ---------> 14000
ISDN Single ---------> 7000
56K -----------------> 5500
36K------------------> 3000
28.8K----------------> 2800

s*** that's pretty high, i usually have 5000 on cable, to cut down on usage. 9000 when i don't give a f***.

test

icles

TEST ... Failed

u should really visit this site :
http://www.savageuk.com/ucconnectionguide/

it is a great site, even though it only tweaks commands that u guys probably already know about. but for some reason, i found it more hlpful than other sites such as tweak3d or 3dspotlight

56K -----------------> 5500

56k is supposed to be 3500.

heh thats the default value from that drop down menu on the netgames browser

Rate is measured in bytes per second...

Trog no matter how much you "tweak" your netcode sometimes you just can't get rid of choke..

I thought GA was maxed at 9999..

I get no choke on nG servers which is why i do better on them. I prac on lan pings and if your bullets actually fkn count 40-50 ping is as good as lan. *s3x3s nG*

Oh, GA = major rubber bulletage. And Optus. And anywhere else lol.

mah, doesn't matter which settings I put it at I'll still be tha n00b that gets owned...

hl sucks

what?

it had to be said... =p

5000 is all anyone needs anyway

You're one of those people who thinks a 486 is up to any task (providing it has been sufficiently tweaked) aren't you?

... and that 512 K of memory will be more than enough, ever.

it was 540k
and go back to bed ted

i usually get about 10-20 choke on GA servers not that it affects much kinda use to it now anyhow

it was 540k
and go back to bed ted

Actually it was 640 kilobytes :).

Dem 640 KB machines where flash.

Here is an excellent article on the HL/CS netcode. IT explains how you can tweak your connection to improve your lag and reduce your choke.