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Stringtables / cmds?
posted in Q/A Help
1
#1
0 Frags +

As of late, my game's been stuttering and I've found one of the possible factors to be random spikes of stringtables / stringcmds. I've looked a bit into it and net_graph's properties, but I haven't found anything directly related to stringtables / stringcmds - not even definitions of what they Are.

If anyone knows what stringtables / stringcmds are and can help me prevent them from spiking, it'd be much appreciated.

Pics (link to imgur album)

http://i.imgur.com/rTNQDib.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/q3wCTlZ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/e5Pe7q4.jpg

As of late, my game's been stuttering and I've found one of the possible factors to be random spikes of stringtables / stringcmds. I've looked a bit into it and net_graph's properties, but I haven't found anything directly related to stringtables / stringcmds - not even definitions of what they Are.

If anyone knows what stringtables / stringcmds are and can help me prevent them from spiking, it'd be much appreciated.

Pics [url=http://drjeremyy.imgur.com/all/](link to imgur album)[/url]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/rTNQDib.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/q3wCTlZ.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/e5Pe7q4.jpg[/IMG]
2
#2
2 Frags +

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Networking_Events_%26_Messages#String_Tables

The stringtables/cmds aren't causing the spike in your netgraph.

Entities (bright red) and Other Players (bright green) are causing the spikes. The stringtables/cmds values scale with those.

The screenshots you've taken may not show any other players, or entities, but the game engine will load those in sight unseen if you're near a populated area, and that's one of the many things that can make the game stutter.

I can't really get a sense of how well the game runs on your PC, but in your first screenshot your fps value is 78, which suggests that it's possible that your requested updaterate and cmdrate of 66 might not be ideal i.e. if your framerate dips below your requested rates, then the game will not feel smooth, and your overall experience could improve if your drop those rate values.

It's often a trade-off. You're playing Soldier, and high rates/low interp make rockets feel much more crisp/responsive, but you might suffer with choke that can cause other issues with hitreg.

It's up to you to determine what's best.

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Networking_Events_%26_Messages#String_Tables

The stringtables/cmds aren't causing the spike in your netgraph.

Entities (bright red) and Other Players (bright green) are causing the spikes. The stringtables/cmds values scale with those.

The screenshots you've taken may not show any other players, or [url=https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/List_of_Team_Fortress_2_Entities]entities[/url], but the game engine will load those in sight unseen if you're near a populated area, and that's one of the many things that can make the game stutter.

I can't really get a sense of how well the game runs on your PC, but in your first screenshot your fps value is 78, which suggests that it's [i]possible[/i] that your requested updaterate and cmdrate of 66 might not be ideal i.e. if your framerate dips below your requested rates, then the game will not feel smooth, and your overall experience could improve if your drop those rate values.

It's often a trade-off. You're playing Soldier, and high rates/low interp make rockets feel much more crisp/responsive, but you might suffer with choke that can cause other issues with hitreg.

It's up to you to determine what's best.
3
#3
0 Frags +
PathogenEntities (bright red) and Other Players (bright green) are causing the spikes. The stringtables/cmds values scale with those.

I tried to counter that with !hide, which hides other players and their rockets...but their explosions still show up for me, and I know they're obviously drawn in-game. Would that mean that the lag I get is server lag?

I can't really get a sense of how well the game runs on your PC, but in your first screenshot your fps value is 78, which suggests that it's possible that your requested updaterate and cmdrate of 66 might not be ideal i.e. if your framerate dips below your requested rates, then the game will not feel smooth, and your overall experience could improve if your drop those rate values.

Yeah, I can't really get an accurate gauge of my FPS even though I've benchmarked using timedemo, and I've read stuff about updaterate and cmdrate and I guess I just don't know how to determine what would be the best for me.

My Autoexecrate 60000
cl_updaterate 66
cl_cmdrate 66
cl_interp 0.0152
cl_interp_ratio 1

I added this to my autoexec to help me with rocketjumping (mainly with syncs / triples); should the rate, updaterate and cmdrate be lowered if my sv is barely above it?

Also, thank you.

[quote=Pathogen]
Entities (bright red) and Other Players (bright green) are causing the spikes. The stringtables/cmds values scale with those.
[/quote]

I tried to counter that with !hide, which hides other players and their rockets...but their explosions still show up for me, and I know they're obviously drawn in-game. Would that mean that the lag I get is server lag?

[quote]
I can't really get a sense of how well the game runs on your PC, but in your first screenshot your fps value is 78, which suggests that it's [i]possible[/i] that your requested updaterate and cmdrate of 66 might not be ideal i.e. if your framerate dips below your requested rates, then the game will not feel smooth, and your overall experience could improve if your drop those rate values.
[/quote]

Yeah, I can't really get an accurate gauge of my FPS even though I've benchmarked using timedemo, and I've read stuff about updaterate and cmdrate and I guess I just don't know how to determine what would be the best for me.

[quote=My Autoexec]
rate 60000
cl_updaterate 66
cl_cmdrate 66
cl_interp 0.0152
cl_interp_ratio 1
[/quote]
I added this to my autoexec to help me with rocketjumping (mainly with syncs / triples); should the rate, updaterate and cmdrate be lowered if my sv is barely above it?

Also, thank you.
4
#4
0 Frags +

You're welcome.

The game engine isn't perfect. Loading new areas full of players will often cause your game to feel lagged. I think that experience is pretty much universal.

I'd be hesitant to pinpoint whether the issue you're having is server or client specific.

If you're playing 6v6 and encounter this issue, the server would have to be in a pretty poor state (outdated hardware/poor routing to and from) to have a severe stuttering issue.

I play a lot of 12v12 (or more) TF2, and even a technically solid server (maintaining a constant tickrate of 66) can have difficulty handling the network requirements needed for 12v12 play, often due to enforcing a low max_rate setting e.g. 30000, causing prolonged choke spikes of up to 50-60.

If you think your low end fps dips below 66, or you notice that you're frequently suffering with choke issues, try lowering your cmdrate and updaterate values - Ideally, your chosen values will never be higher than your lowest fps.

It's really just about spending the time experimenting with these values to find what works best for you.

You might decide that it's worth enduring some occasional stuttering because you're hitting more shots, or maybe having an overall smoother gameplay experience is your priority.

My only other advice would be to set your cl_interp value to "0", which allows your updaterate to determine your interp value. e.g. 1/66 = 0.0152 (approx), 1/40 = 0.025 and so on.

You're welcome.

The game engine isn't perfect. Loading new areas full of players will often cause your game to feel lagged. I think that experience is pretty much universal.

I'd be hesitant to pinpoint whether the issue you're having is server or client specific.

If you're playing 6v6 and encounter this issue, the server would have to be in a pretty poor state (outdated hardware/poor routing to and from) to have a severe stuttering issue.

I play a lot of 12v12 (or more) TF2, and even a technically solid server (maintaining a constant tickrate of 66) can have difficulty handling the network requirements needed for 12v12 play, often due to enforcing a low max_rate setting e.g. 30000, causing prolonged choke spikes of up to 50-60.

If you think your low end fps dips below 66, or you notice that you're frequently suffering with choke issues, try lowering your cmdrate and updaterate values - Ideally, your chosen values will never be higher than your lowest fps.

It's really just about spending the time experimenting with these values to find what works best for you.

You might decide that it's worth enduring some occasional stuttering because you're hitting more shots, or maybe having an overall smoother gameplay experience is your priority.

My only other advice would be to set your cl_interp value to "0", which allows your updaterate to determine your interp value. e.g. 1/66 = 0.0152 (approx), 1/40 = 0.025 and so on.
5
#5
0 Frags +

Yeah, I've been feeling that my shots as of late are really on point, but the stuttering happens pretty often and, as mentioned earlier, my fps is inconsistent. I guess I'll stay up later playing around with the rates and waiting for GXL coverage to start up haha.

Thanks again, you're a hero / wizard / heroic wizard.

Yeah, I've been feeling that my shots as of late are really on point, but the stuttering happens pretty often and, as mentioned earlier, my fps is inconsistent. I guess I'll stay up later playing around with the rates and waiting for GXL coverage to start up haha.

Thanks again, you're a hero / wizard / heroic wizard.
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