1. Configuration - Rates and interp The best rates are the highest rates, for rate this is “20000” for cl_updaterate and cl_cmdrate this is “101”. But not all servers and connections can handle these rates, that’s why there are some things you have to consider: • sv_maxrate and sv_maxupdaterate: these are server side variables which will limit the amount of updates the server sends to you, so having a higher value than the ones specified in the server.cfg are useless and may even cause choke. To check these values you need rcon ( rcon sv_maxrate ) or for example HLSW which will show most server settings. • Another thing you have to watch out for is choke, choke can either be caused by to high rates or a too low rate. The best thing to do is try and change some values. If you use high cl_cmd and cl_updaterates you’ll also have to use a high rate. • In CS 1.6 interp "haxxing" doesn’t exist anymore but you can still use bad values. The best thing to do in CS 1.6 is setting ex_interp to “0” . Counter-Strike will then automatically adjust your interp to 1/cl_updaterate. SK|fisker: "I allways play with the CPL standards even though I have bad ping. That is updaterate 101 cmdrate 101 and rate 20000" SK|HeatoN: "Rate 20000 and as high updaterates you can without getting choke." SK|Potti: "I always use 25000 101 101 don`t care about the rates that much." SK|Hyper: "updaterate 101, cmdrate 101, rate 25000 & ex_interp 0.01" SK|gosey: "The best interp to play with at LAN in CS 1.6 is 0.01, thats why its used at CPL etc. All servers with VAC has interp locked to 0.05." For more info you can always read the excellent article by SK|bds about the net code. ( Netcode explained ) - Mouse fixes Windows 2000 and windows XP both have an affect on your mousespeed in games. One way of fixing this is using the following commands in your counter-strike command line ( go to the games menu in steam , right mouse click on counter-strike , choose properties , click on launch options ) –noforcemaccel –noforcemparms. As the name says these command will not force mouseacceleration or other parameters to be activated in game. You can also download the XP mouse fix from http://www.sk-gaming.com/sk  SK|ahl: "In Windows XP I use the -noforcemparms -noforcemaccel commands in the command line. Still it's not the same sensitivity feeling as in other operating systems, but it's the closest you can get I guess." SK|HeatoN: "noforce commands & regfix." SK|SpawN: "noforce commands." SK|Hyper: "I use noforcemaccel, noforcemparms. No regfix" SK|Potti: "mousefix, and -noforcemparms -noforcemaccel." SK|fisker: "I play without mousefix but with -noforcemparms and -noforcemaccel." Removing the mousefix is either done by downloading and running the reg file from http://www.SK-Gaming.com/sk or removing the commands you put in the command line. - Sensitivity Most gamers use a low sensitivity because this will give them a more stable and smoother aim at long and midrange but because those close combats can be very important too so you’ll have to find a setting in between which pleases you. If you want to compare your sensitivity with other players its best to ask them how many degrees they turn when moving their mouse from one end to the other on their mousepad, because sensitivity changes with mouse, mousepad, monitor etc. SK|fisker: "400" SK|ahl: "190" SK|Potti: "about 180 degrees" SK|SpawN: "180" ; "windows sens=Original and cs sens=3.4 now" SK|HeatoN: "hard to say, but i try to have so when i turn my wrist in a jerk it turns 90 degrees. you should have 190 or 90 degrees sens imo, so you can do 180 or 90 degrees on 1 fast jerk " ; "sens 2.5 (noforce commands & regfix,defualt in windows)" - Mouse Drivers Both keyboard and mouse can be installed with drivers but none of them actually need them to work. Keyboards only need drivers if they have special multimedia keys you want to use, mouses however could actually work better and more accurate with the right drivers. SK|HeatoN: "Intelli drivers for the mouse and none for the keyboard! " SK|fisker: "Yes, allways. As HeatoN said, the mouse but not the keyboard. " SK|ahl: "i think some of the guys use the old intellipoint 4.1 drivers. I'm using 5.0 though " SK|Hyper: "I use intellipoint drivers. 4.1 " - More FPS Lower your resolution, disable vsync in your videocard options (start/settings/control panel/display/settings/advanced/ then look around for vsync or vertical synch and put it to “always off” ) and make sure you chose 16bit color depth in your game options. Drivers are a tricky thing, I would advise you to have the latest vidcard, chipset and directx versions but these do not guarentee you the best FPS possible because CS is an old game running a modified Q1 engine which relies heavily on your processor. For ATI cards I would advise to use Omega drivers. These are modified Catalyst drivers which improve FPS in most games. There are also a few commands that can help raise your fps: • gl_cull "1" • gl_keeptjunctions "0" • gl_max_size "128" • gl_clear "0" • r_mirroralpha "0" • cl_weather "0" • gl_texturemode "GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_NEAREST" • gl_picmip "1" - GUI & Server Settings # CPL CS GUI (LAN adapted) # SK CS GUI (LAN/Online adapted) # CPL Server Settings (LAN adapted) # CAL Server Settings (Online adapted) # SK Insider Server Settings (LAN/Online adapted) # Live on 3 script - Operating systems The best operating systems for gamers are Windows 2000 Pro and Windows XP Pro. SK mainly uses Windows XP because every tournament they go to also uses Windows XP and thus it is better to get used to the sensitivity of this operating system. - Refreshrates The higher your refreshrate the better. But in windows 2000 and XP there is a little bug which only allows 60hz in games no matter what you selected in your options. To solve this you'll need a program that fixes this. There are several well known programs such as Powerstrip or you can chose one of the "HZ tools" from http://www.schroet.com/sk. V-sync is a command related to your hz, with v-sync on your fps will be equal to your hz this sound good doesnt it? but there is a catch. If your pc has more fps than hz you'll get something that is called tearing. For more info I'd suggest to read a great article about V-sync and all its effects at http://www.esreality.com/?a=longpost&id=522789&page=2 SK|ahl: "I had so much trouble with powerstrip at WCG 2003, i'll NEVER use it again :D" SK|fisker: "use the one that works, one thats allways worked for me is NVRT(www.nvrt.org)" SK|Potti: "I use the new override stuff on the nvidia detonator drivers" ; “just try and get high hz on the screen,i use 140 hz.” SK|Hyper: "100" SK|HeatoN: "Yeah the hz matters alot, i try to use as high hz as possible, 140 with 640,800, 120 with 1024 and 100 with 1152. And remember the sensitivity are diffrent with diffrent hz ;)" ; " I use the nvdia fix, never had anyproblems with it, and works everywhere! What can i say, greatwork there nvidia! ;)” - Resolutions Contrary to what people believe resolutions dont change the size of your models, they only put more pixels into each model which makes the graphics better. I tested this by measuring several objects in 640x480 and 1280x960 and the measurements didnt change what so ever. Resolutions do change your sensitivity. The players also change a lot from 640 to 800 because some tourneys use 17" monitors while others use 19" monitors. SK|HeatoN: "1024 @ 120hz " SK|Potti: "800" SK|fisker: "I was planning on playing with 640+large crosshair, but it was too big and too blurry so now im playing with 800+medium crosshair." SK|ahl: "i'll stick to 800 " SK|Hyper: "800" SK|SpawN: " I still use 640, i know its little bit harder to handle the spray but i dont want to change res, played with 640 over 1year now. " - Crosshairs With the new updates to Counter-Strike it is now possible to choose your crosshair size and the look of it by some simple commands. cl_crosshair_size "small/medium/large" ; cl_crosshair_color "255 255 255" ( Red Green Blue values ) and finally cl_crosshair_translucent "1/0" SK|Potti: "large size, transculent 0 lightblue color " SK|SpawN: "none translucent, large and green" SK|ahl: "none translucent, medium and green.i dont get the right feeling with the small crosshair, medium or large gives me better control. " SK|HeatoN: "none translucent, large and green" SK|Hyper: "medium, green. not tranclucent" SK|fisker: "none translucent, medium and yellow" - Screen resizing SK|Potti is known to resize his screen. In contrast to what many people think resizing your screen wont effect the hitboxes. Screen resizing can also be used to get a clearer image on high resolutions. SK|Potti: "Yes I use it so i get a 17" feeling on any monitor i use , so even if im on a 21" or a 19" it feels like a 17". And I ussuly play with 640, and it feels to big if its on a 21" or a 19" and Idont resize it." - Brightness and Gamma The SK.swe players change their brightness and gamma in windows according to CPL rules. Because every monitor is different this wont guarantee that you can see good with these settings. SK|Potti: " Gamma 1.4 you cant have more than 1.3 to 1.5 in cpl. I use pretty high brigthness on the monitor, but still its pretty dark. It pretty much depends on what kind of monitor u're using" SK|ahl: "gamma 1.3 in windows, cpl standard... brightness 50 and contrast 100 on monitor, but that's different from monitor to monitor" SK|HeatoN: "i think your allowed to have 1.2 but the closest to that is 1.16 or something! " - Digital vibrance Digital vibrance is an option for Geforce cards to make the colors more vibrant. This will help you to clearly see the different shades of colors on maps and models. NVidia's "Digital vibrance" control is a *hardware* setting with a fixed range. It is not simply a feature of their drivers . ATI hardware doesn't have anything like Digital Vibrance, but unlike NVidia, ATI has 10-bit gamma correction and gamma correctable overlays. SK|Potti: " i use to have it on medium, but now i have it off" SK|fisker: " i use medium." SK|ahl: " medium or low" SK|SpawN: " low" - Game broadcasting There are 2 ways to broadcast a game. The first one is the easiest : A scorebot. A scorebot will relay the action from the game to mIRC. It can show the kills/deaths, bombplants and every single important action in the game. You can use the CWbot from jubii.dk or the program HLSW which not only is a serverbrowser but also has a built in scorebot. The second way of broadcasting is by using HLTV. This will allow people to join a server and see all the action live ingame and not just some text. The first thing you need to do is go to steam/games, then select dedicated server and let steam download these files. Then go to your “steam/steamapps/youremail/dedicated server” directory and look for the hltv.exe , open this and then type “connect ip” in the window and HLTV will connect. Its as simple as that. You can also modify the hltv.cfg to change the name,nr of users... To know more about HLTV go to http://www.slipgate.de/hltv/hltv.html which is the site of the official designer of HLTV. For info on how to start your own HLTV server click on the Admin HLTV FAQ. - All CVARs and commands People often wonder what all those commands in a config mean, well luckily there is a site with every HL/CS command and you can find it at http://server.counter-st rike.net/server.php?cmd=cmdall 2. Hardware - CPU provided by : The everlasting question : Which CPU is the best ? Well we at Team SK believe the intel chips are the best around. Not only do they give us great performance but they are also the most reliable and thus more than make up for the slightly higher cost compared to AMD chips. SK|Frag^m: "ut2k4 depends much on the cpu. we all use pentium 4 - 3.2 CPUs so it runs smooth." SK|HeatoN: "ive hade 2 or 3 AMD's and 3-4 p4's and ive only hade bad experience with stability and preformance on the AMD's and only good experience with the p4's so i would say go INTEL! - Graphics cards provided by : For counter-strike which is quite an old game you are better of with a good Nvidia Geforce card preferably GeForce 4 and up. But you’ll also need a good cpu. Team SK have chosen the Pentium 4 3.2 GHZ and the Geforce 5950 Ultra. SK|bds: "GF FX!" SK|fisker: "Any good geforce card :)" SK|gosey: "I have a GeForce4 Ti4600 and it works really good!" - Mousepads provided by : There are 2 major kinds of mousepads, the first one being mousepads made of a hard material (mostly some kind of plastic). SK Gaming prefers the Steelpad S&S which was designed by SK.swe, in a lot of ways this pad is the same as the well-known func surface but it is about 40% bigger and much better. The second kind of mousepad are the cloth mousepads. Allsop is very cheap and widely available, The DKT/FAT pads, which are very big and great for low sensitivities, are harder to come by. SK|HeatoN: "All i can say is that it is the best mousepad ever!" SK|ahl: "We did a nice job huh? :D nah but seriously, the size and the friction of the pad makes it the best! " SK|Potti: "I think its the shape thats the best part about the mouse" SK|Hyper: "After getting used to the size of the S&S it feels great. I will never think of using another mousepad. " - Headsets provided by : The two most used headsets are Sennheiser HD series, the Sennheiser PC series or the Plantronics DSP-500. Sennheiser is known for their quality sound while the plantronics DSP-500 was the first to have a built in soundcard, which is very useful, when you go to LANs. Sennheiser however also jumped on the gamer market and have released the PC-135/145/155 which is are great headsets with a microphone but also with a built in USB device which also has a soundcard. The biggest advantage the USB device from Sennheiser has is that it can be used with all Sennheiser headsets including the HD 590 and other top quality products. SK|Potti: "I got the Sennheiser USB thing with a Sennheiser HD 570 and I really like it." - Shuttle provided by : SK Gaming are equiped with Shuttles, these machines are much smaller then your average desktop PC. Lots of people are afraid that smaller means slower, but this is totally false. The Shuttles can be equiped with all the latest and greatest hardware from Intel,Nvidia,AMD,ATI... SK|ahl: "shuttle owns! i remember when i used to carry my big chieftec case when going to lans. This is so much smoother. and the performance is good too" SK|bds:"Shuttle of course! Small and super performance. And you can get all the best stuff in there. This is what we have: Shuttle SB75G2 Intel 875 3.2GHz 1GB Corsair TwinX DDR400 Leadtek WinFast A380 Ultra TDH MyVICO Fits like a charm, and does not get too hot." SK|HeatoN: "i even had a shuttel before we got sponsored by them, because they are the best ! " - Memory provided by : As in all games RAM is a huge factor in having steady FPS in Counter-Strike and thats why Team SK are equiped by the best and most reliable memory producers in the world : Corsair. 256mb is an absolute minimum to try and play Counter-Strike at a decent level but it is advised to have 512mb or even 1024mb of memory. - Mice Generally speaking the best pheripals are the ones that feel most comfortable for you. Logitech MX 300/310/500/510 configuration Logitech mx mice got the best and most accurate engine but their drivers were flawed and that is why most gamers including SK.swe prefer to use the Microsoft mice IE 3.0 and intelli 1.1. The newest drivers however are a lot better. Go to http://www.logitech.com and download the latest mouseware drivers for the MX300/310/500 or go to this page if you got the MX510 but also download the "Advanced Settings Utility for MouseWare 9.76 and above". Install both programs and go to the mouse settings and make sure you select "disable acceleration in games" and select "none" under acceleration. Then go to the advanced utility and make sure you only select the following boxes: "enable game detection", "keep mouse speed", "keep trackball orientation", "MouseWare Implementation" and "speed". With these settings your mouse should work properly and you should also have the same sensitivity as you did with for example an IE 3.0. SK|fisker: "Well the best mouse is the one you like the most :)" - Mouseskates provided by : Mouseskates are made mostly made from teflon or other smooth substances. These skates are used to get a better and smoother glide over the mousepad. If you like to play witha very light mouse with almost no friction mouseskates are for you. Right now, all the members in SK.swe are using Padsurfers from Steelpad. SK|bds also had the following to say about hardware: SK|bds: "You wont become a good player only because you buy certain gear. But you will improve when you find gear that suits you and your playing style. Gear is not vital, but it is important." 3. Tips and tricks - Recoil control For a good recoil you’ll need some hardware and some skill. The first thing you’ll need is a good ping, good rates and a constant 100fps. This will register the bullets the best and keep the spray small. The skill is needed to work against the recoil, the best thing to do is go on a server and spray a full clip at the wall and look how the bullets behave, now try spraying again but this time working against the recoil (move your mouse a little lower). SK|fisker: "Actually everyone has their own playing-style. It's like you ask a pro soccer player how to kick the ball correct, no one can make you spray right, you have to learn it by yourself. Sure, use pros as guidelines but don't try to copy their playingstyle it only makes it worse." SK|HeatoN: "Other then what you wrote, try to learn the recoil and always aim high!" There are some nice guides for you with more info about the control of the guns made by the one and only SK|HeatoN, both guides are movies which you can download. # SK|HeatoN Colt Spray control and bursting tips # SK|HeatoN AK47 Spray control and bursting tips - Bunnyhopping Bunnyhopping is actually an old quake engine bug, by doing some specific movements one can increase his speed to very high levels. In 1.6 however it was removed by slowing you down when landing a jump, but if done correctly and with the right server settings it is still possible. For more info go to http://fidosrevenge.com/bhop/ its made by zigzag and he even made a small flash animation to show you the basic movement of the mouse and keyboard. Of course the most well known jumper is SK Gaming's SK|fisker and he made a little guide for all of you with some nice tips. Be sure to watch it here. # SK|fisker jumping guide - Wallbanging Wallbanging is a very important aspect of the game, killing people without them seeing you is the safest way to win a round. Almost every single entity is penetratable in CS, so when you see somebody ducking or strafing behind a wall dont stop shooting, instead try to fire a few burst through the wall and try to guess his position while he is moving. To show you some of the most usefull wallbang positions I started the "Wallbanged! series" in which I'll show you the wallbangs for each CPL map: # de_dust2 Wallbanged! # de_nuke Wallbanged! # de_inferno Wallbanged! - Steelpad S&S tips The players got some good tips for the Steelpad S&S which they all use. They like to clean the pad regularly to make sure it doesn't get dirty and loses its great traction and accuracy. Heaton also like to treat a new Steelpad S&S with his mouse before he starts using it to get rid of the new rough feel when you first get a mousepad. SK|HeatoN: "When i get a S&S I always rubb it down with the mouse hard and fast for 1-2 minutes over the area you use the most, that will make it perfect from the start so u dont have play with it to rough as they are when they are brand new! Soap and water before use everyday, make you have the same friction all the time! " SK|ahl: "I clean it after i've had it in my bag for a while during events. I only use regular soap and water " SK|Hyper: "If it gets dirty I clean it with regular soap and swedish water." - Better Server FPS It is well known that the higher your server FPS are the better your registration and lower your ping will be. Linux servers are the best but lots of people run dedicated windows servers cause they are much easier to run. But the main problem is that you'll get higher ping and less server FPS, but there is a very easy way to fix this : run windows media player in the background and the server FPS will be boosted dramaticly. SK|Hyper: "Get windows media player running in the background of the server, that will increase the server fps." SK|HeatoN: "Yeah and u need it to be on "now running" to get the server fps boost! " SK|fisker: "Either windows media player or a ping booster." SK|ahl: "It's some kind of windows bug, when you start windows media player the system makes all the cpu power available in some way " 4. Movie making - Before you start recording a movie its advised to change some settings in your cfg and your vidcard settings.The first thing you need to do is change your cfg, set fps_max "30" and change gl_max_size to 512 if you dont have that already. The second thing do to is go to your videocard settings and put your opengl options to the highest and enable AA and other options. These settings are advised because when you convert the bmps to avi the codec will lessen the quality. - To convert your demo file to avis you first need to convert the demo to bmps which can be imported into a program like videomach or windows movie maker ... To convert your demo to bmps you have to play your demo and then type startmovie "name" "fps",it is advised to set the fps to 30 this will give you a nice smooth movie but not too big. When the scene you wanted to record is done you can type "endmovie" to stop the conversion.You can do this as many times as you want during a demo but remember that your hardrive will be filled withbmps. - To convert the bmps to an avi file you need a program like videomach or windows movie maker which can be found in windows update. The next step is to open or import the bmps to the program and then choose your output form,avi is the most used, for codec you can choose between divx,xvid,indeo 5.10 and many others. 5. SK Insider - Where are the players? Because of their busy schedule it is possible they don’t play on the servers for a couple of days/weeks because of their preparation or their stay at an event. - I can not connect to the insider servers? Go to play.php and make sure all the logged information is right. # make sure your name is correct ( If you are in a clan on sk.com then make sure you got the right tag too). It has to be in your config.cfg # doublecheck your steamid in your preferences, it should be in this form x:x:xxxx . To see your steamid connect to a server and type "status" in console then look for your name. # check if your IP is logged correctly. Try log out/log in so the site has your latest IP. If the information is correct you shouldn’t have a problem connecting to the servers. If it is wrong you'll get banned for 10minutes. - Clan forums, Game results , Practice Scheduler missing? You need to create a clan to activate these extras, once you are in a clan you’ll see the links under “MY SK” on the right. - How often are the insider rankings updated? The rankings are updated real time and get their stats from all servers - How do the insider server rankings work? You get a lot of point for planting the bomb or defusing it. You will also gain points by killing people with more points than you of course you will also lose more points if you get killed by someone with less points than you - Where do I get the sk aim maps? SK aim maps were designed for the insider servers but you can of course also use them on your servers. We are running 2 dedicated AIM Servers for more info go to the SK Insider servers page. 1. configuration - Unit Grouping Unit grouping is a very important thing in warcraft 3. The rights groups will help you to control your units better and thus be more powerful in battles. SK.FaTC: "1- ranged units, 2- heroes&melee, 3- casters " SK.Insomnia: "1- heroes and fighting units, 2- casters/griffins, 3- mortars/hawks " SK.HeMaN: "1- all heroes and all main units, 2- sorcs, mortars, 3- priest That's how I bind my units, but in battles when your units are fighting I use the F1, F2, F3 keys to control heroes, and I also move back hurted units one by one." SK.MaDFroG: "1- main melee hero and all melee units, 2- range heros and 3e hero and caster/range, 3- statues destroyers " SK.SuRviVoR: "in early game i have all my units in group1 - heroes,footmen,rifle for easier focus fire and in lategame: 1- heroes/melee units/gryphons, 2- ranged/mortars, 3- casters I then use f1-f3 keys to control my heroes in the big battles " SK.Wizard: "I just put all units in group 1 with my first hero until it full. Group 2 is 2nd hero with overfill group units from group 1. usually never have 3 groups. " SK.DominatoR: "1- great hall/ later on tier 2 building producer like beast or lodge, 2- barrack in some situations i switch this to another building producing units, 3- grunts or taurens + 3rd hero, 4- 2nd hero, 5- first hero, 6- first tier 2 units i get(raider/demo/wyv), 7- 2nd tier 2 unit (raider demo wyv kodo etc),0- altar" SK.Kookian: "1- All heros + melee, 2- Casters or ranged units (depends on situation), 3- Katapults or Raiders or batriders, 4- Ranged units if the Casters are on 2, 5- If 1-4 are already in use and bats still dont have an own group, 6- Barracks, 7- Beastiary, 8- Lodge, 9- Taurentotem, 0- Altar 4 Mainhall until mid-lategame where i need the key for units." SK.Kain: "1- baracks/spirit logdge/beastiary/totem etc., 2- altar, 3- all heros/all melee units/kodo, 4- caster/raiders, 5- katas, 6- warmill, 7- mainhall, 8- expansion" SK.BoneStorm: "In the beginning: 1- all heros/units, 2- mercs/healer, 3- rax, 4- altar, 6- blacksmith, 7- main, 8- expansion, 9- expansion, 0- farm at shops or sth. Later in game : 1- am/ranged/rest, 2- mk/meelee" SK.Miou: "1- heroes/melee/gryphons, 2- range/hawks or flying machines/tanks, 3- casters/mortar teams/ rax/avairy in mid and early game, 4- sanc and/or workshop, 5- altar, 6- main building, 7- expansion 1, 8- expansion 2, 9- blacksmith, 0- zeppelin" 2. Strategies - Build Orders Often the most important thing when starting a game is your order in which you construct your buildings. Getting the right order is the first step needed to start of a specific strategy. To get to know the best orders the players have written some guides where they share their experiences and strategies with you. # SK.SuRviVoR Build Order # SK.DominatoR Build Order # SK.Wizard Build Order - 2on2 Strategies # SK.KaiN & SK.boNe 2on2 Strategies - Undead Strategies SK.MaDFroG: "well vs ne the best strat is ghouls gargs and then get T3 and make sure he dont exp and have a good gargharass maybe add second hero lich and some statues and have scrolls. Also use rods on all heros. vs orc is really hard, u should try to get up ur hero lvls since that is the only thing i can see that ud has better then the orc. Then it all depends on what units he makes, i like ghouls and if he go wyvs i add some fiends and kill his army with just heros and dont really care what units i have, but try to have some healscrolls or all army will be gone to fast before giving any exp to ur heros. " 3. Tips - General Tips SK.HeMaN: "If you wan't your units to attack "whoever they want" directly, just push A (attack) and click right behind (not on the unit) the enemy troops. In small battles you often gain on focus firing on each unit, but in larger battles, if you got like 8 knights against 8 knights, it's not that wise to target one of the enemy knight with all your units. Mostly because you won't get in a position where 8 knights can effectively damage one of the opponents units. Also if your enemy's micro doesn't completly suck, he will just move the targeted unit and you end up having 8 knights chasing one unit, and you don't want that do you? SK.SuRviVoR: "When u want to surround a unit you just place your units close to the target and then click the move key, "m" on the target multiple times."