While we can't always control the ping of a game server because of our internet connection and the distance the server we are playing on is away from us, there are some steps a Counter-Strike Source player may take to reduce his in game lag. But first, we need to clarify some of the important points regarding connection and lag.
Although they are often times used interchangeably, ping and latency are not same. Ping measures the time it takes for a message to reach the game server and come back to your computer; latency measures the time it takes for a message to reach your server only. So essentially, latency is always less than ping.
So what is a lag? This happens when your connection is slow and you experience choppy gameplay because of it. Lag is the primary cause of frustration for gamers, so you should do all you can to reduce at least the parts you can control.
You will also encounter the term rate, which basically denotes speed settings for counterstrike source.
If your connection is bad, you might experience a high Choke. Choke is the lag caused by the server. This is critical because if you have any amount of Choke above zero, then you can be sure that some of your actions are not being sent to the server at all. So you may shoot or throw grenades as much as you want, if you are experiencing choke, some of the bullets might not be leaving your gun at all. And nobody wants that!
By default, Counter-Strike Source sends your actions 30 times a second to the server. So if your computer tries to send too much information, say around 100 actions per second, but the server can accept only around 50 per second, then you will experience 50 choke. This is terrible! Your firing won't register to the server and half of your actions will not work at all. There can also be Choke due to the server not being able to read all the actions it is receiving (it maybe because of network lag or a CPU lag at the server). Although clients cannot control this, you can compensate for it.
You might also experience Loss, which is actually out of your control and is primarily caused because of your internet connection. This happens because your information has to go through lots of networks before they reach the game server, and by the time the information reaches the game server some of the information gets lost! Wireless connections suffer from this particularly. If you are experiencing too much Loss, it is time to switch to a different internet connection.
And then there is the FPS or Frames Per Second, which if inconsistent will affect your Choke.
So how do we see all these information? Open your console (~ key by default) and type net_graph 3. On the net_graph you can see your fps, your ping, your loss and choke. There are two more rows in between, labeled in: and out: along with three columns of numbers. The first column will have no unit, the second column will have the unit k/s, and the last column will have the unit /s. The last column of numbers is important as it denote the number of times per second the server sends the position of all the players to your computer (in) and the number of times your computer updates your player's position to the server (out).
You need to know something else before you can start tweaking - the tick rate of the server. Usually, servers will have it written in the server name, but you can find it in game by joining a server and then typing sv_maxupdaterate. You will see a number, which will denote the tic-rate of the server.
Let's assume that the tic-rate of a server is 100. In this case, if the update rate of your computer and server is too inconsistent with this number (as seen on the last column of net_graph), then you should change your update rate to "1" more than the tic-rate of the server. So for a 100 tic-rate server, open your console and type the followings:
cl_updaterate 101
cl_cmdrate 101
fps_max 101 (you can use 121 too, which is very popular; if the fps is too much less than tic-rate, you'll get Choke)
rate 30000 (to find the max rate of a server, type sv_maxrate in console)
Now your Choke and Loss should be zero. You will see that your update rate will change to around 100-101 /s. So in case of a 66 tic server, you make the above changes by typing 67 instead of 101.
Of course, you can't always control the Choke if the number of players in a server is very high. Because then the server would need to update the positions of a more number of people per second, and some data will get lost.
You can try some other things to boost connectivity and improve latency, like deleting temporary internet files or system cache. You can also get an updated anti-virus/spyware software to rid your pc of unwanted annoyances which might be feeding off your internet connection. Disabling the firewall may help a bit too, but this is not recommended unless you have good anti-virus/spyware software. Finally, close all background applications which might be using your internet resources.
Next time you start a game, think of the above points and check the server tic-rates and max rates, and then use your knowledge to give you that extra edge in battle. This will make your Counter-Strike experience even more vivid and enjoyable.
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