help, it's choking!!! Thread

Ok, this is really pissin me off. Every time i join a server of any HL mod, the choke goes 100 and i lag like a 56ker joining a server in antarctica.

1) What is choke?
2) what can i do to prevent it?
3) is it my internet connection or is it HL software problem or a windows problem?

and if u r teh stoopid, open yer half life and go console. type net_graph 3 in there and there you is! see that little choke thingy? it's evil!!!

Edited by: Cj_the_Dj

100 is a good ping

ehem, the CHOKE goes to 100. not the ping

read it again carefully.

Yeah. I have 256k DSL, and I don't ever have that kind of ping. I think it's just that the server isn't that stable or something like that. Try entering servers that proclaim to be "Superfast" or something like that

i've tried myriad servers

GEE, have you power cycled your dsl modem for like 1 full minute? Have you checked for any updates for your dsl/cable modem? Did you go thru maybe a non windows setup? and if you don't know what that is, in certain modems you can open IE up type in the ip to the modem to gain access to the setup instead of having to pop a cd in and doing it that way. After you do that and it does depend on the modem you have, you retype your user/pass and make sure on whether your ISP does PPoE or PPoA and that you sel'ed non windows setup then select save and restart and then reboot your pc/mac/pocket pc and see if that works.

Edited by: Leonardo-DiVinci

still doesn't answer what 'choke' is... i suspect something that could match my problems... but without a 'definition' i donno...

Ok run Half-Life, join a "good" server. Now, one thing you have to do is to monitor you current status.
Drop to the console, and type 'net_graph 3' to disable type 'net_graph 0'.
It should then pop up a graph in the lower right corner of the screen showing your datapack flow.

The ping will show in Milliseconds it takes for a packet to travel from the server to you. Its supposed to be like under 250 to be able to play. Anything under 250 is ok, and below 100 is kool.

Loss: is how many packets that are dropped during transfer from the server to you.It can be due to a bad connection, or a unstable one. One of the most obvious reasons is that your connection is too slow to receive the data that the sever wants to send you. If thats the case you'd then need to reduce the data from the server.

Coke: is the packets your pc is unable to upload because your conn is too slow and/or server is requesting too much data at once.

The comms: you can use to control the flow are the following:

cl_updaterate XX
Sets the number of updates per second to send to your pc.
Modem usually= 15-25
Broadband definitelly use = 25-40
On servers that are being whored upon, lower this value a bit.

cl_cmdrate XX
Sets how many updates per second to send to server.
Modem usually = 25-35
Broadband about = 40-50

rate XXXX
Sets the data transfer rate between server and pc at any given time.
There is a big difference in opinions about this setting, but as a rule of thumb try :
28.8 = 1500-2200
33.6 = 2000-3500
56 = 3500-4000
ADSL = 3000-6000
xDSL, Cable, T1, etc = 6000-9999

The Goals you want to setup for gaming goodness

If you have data loss, then reduce your cl_updaterate. If you don't have data loss, then you could try a higher cl_updaterate to reduce the ping.
If you have choke, then lower the cl_cmdrate. If you don't have choke, then you could try a higher cl_cmdrate settng to reduce the ping.
If you have both loss and choke, try reducing the rate. if you have neither loss nor choke, the try to increase that rate.

Sometimes this canbe too much to handle, try starting out by setting the cl_updaterate and cl_cmdrate to a reasonable level at 1st. Then experiment with different rates. Up the rate until you get loss and/or choke, then lower your rate by 100. Itshould prevent high loss and/or choke in Server packed with lpbs.

Best to wait 5-8 seconds before you can see the actual result of the commands, so don't Up/lower the settings too fast.

Hope this helps a lil

Edited by: Leonardo-DiVinci

nice description. although after reading it i think my problem is not related to it.

i can play with 50-200 ping (depending on server) and all runs fine but from time to time my ping jumps to 2000-3000 for a couple of seconds and then drops back.

i've not found out yet what the problem is.

kool maybe it will help Cj_the_Dj... possible

err, i'm not that dumb i have netgraph open all time time even before this and i tested downloads. goes normal speed. btw i 1.5 Mbps DSL. it must be software.

thanks for the posts, the problem is fixed. i don't know why, but after some bluetooth stuff was uninstalled it screwed up HL. i restored it and it started workin again.

davinci, i appriciate your help

kool beans man ...