Network Settings

It is highly recommended that you leave Network Settings at their default value unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Menu options

Bandwidth (rate)

Default: 200

Position update freq (cl_updaterate)

Default: 1

Interpolation time (cl_interp)

Default: 1

Adjust weapons for lag (cl_unlag)

Default: true

If setting is turned off, this tells the server that you wish for your player camera to opt-out of backwards reconciliation, also known as "Unlagged". For a full explanation of what this is, see sv_unlagged under Server-only options. Note that if the server has turned off unlagged, this setting has no effect. Also note that this only effects your point of view...others can still reap the benefits of unlagged when aiming at you.

Predict weapon pickups (cl_predictpickup)

Default: true

Predict sectors (cl_predictsectors)

Default: true

Predict weapon effects (cl_predictweapons)

Default: true

Console-only options

These are options that are not located in the menus, and can only be modified via the console.

cl_prednudge

Default: 0.30

cl_netgraph

Default: false

Server-only options

These are options that only the server has control over.

sv_unlag

Default: true

Turns on backwards reconciliation, also known as "Unlagged".

In older online games - including older versions of Odamex - if you fired your weapon, the shot did not come out immediately. Instead, there was a small delay as your "I fired my weapon!" command went to the server, and thus it was commonplace for a shot that was aimed directly at another player to miss due to the delay. This caused players to be forced to lead their shots, aiming slightly ahead of other players in anticipation of the latency.

Backwards reconciliation fixes this by not resolving shots immediately...instead, as soon as the server gets your "I fired my weapon!" command, it moves the gamestate back in time to resolve the shot. This allows players to fire precisely where their opponent happens to be on their screen.

There is no such thing as a free lunch, however. In online games, the server always governs gamestate, and if you are shot on the server, there is a small delay before the message reaches you. By moving the gamestate back in time to resolve the shot, the delay in getting your death message is increased, leading to the feeling of being "shot around corners". In reality, you were not behind a corner from the POV of the player who shot you, but this can still be unexpected if you are not used to it.

Also, because the server has to move players back in time to resolve hits, a spectator who is watching a player is not seeing the same thing that the player is seeing, and might see oddities like shots that appear to miss but end up damaging another player.

Odamex currently applies backwards reconciliation to all hitscan weapons, with the exception of BFG tracers.

sv_ticbuffer

Default: true

Turns on the "Tic Buffer".

In an ideal world, player data sent to the server is sent in one continuous stream at a predictable rate. However, the realities of the internet mean that sometimes packets will bunch up or be spread apart at an unpredictable rate. The most obvious result of such behavior are players that appear to speed up at an incredible rate or stop in their tracks unpredictably.

The Tic Buffer ensures that if there is a bunching up of packets, they are resolved at a continuous rate instead of all at once. This prevents players from skipping across the map, at the cost of the unreliable player being "behind" the server in cases where their packets are bunched up.

In the interest of fairness, it is recommended to keep this setting enabled.