Thread: Tickrates ?

Tickrates, are they like an FPS limit on the server, but each frame is when information is sent, so like a tickrate of 50 means info is sent 50 times ? or is it just FPS limit ? help me plz i know i am noobie :P

This is really simple and short, but it paves the way for a bug we encountered in SourceMod. What is a tickrate in Half-Life 2?

A game is like a film; it has “frames” and the number of frames per second determine the smoothness of the experience. Don’t confuse this with graphical FPS, which although related, is different. In Half-Life 2, a “frame” is a short burst of time where all entities, physics, client updates, and netcode are processed. By running frames at specific intervals, a game can simulate real time without using an extraordinary amount of CPU.

The default interval in Half-Life 2 is 15ms. That is, every 15ms, a frame is processed. The engine, in pseudocode, does this:

TIME = 0
WHILE TRUE
RUN FRAME
TIME = TIME + INTERVAL
SLEEP
END WHILE

In this manner, a global time value is updated to keep track of how many intervals have passed. The mod uses this time value to schedule all internal actions. The subtle note is that this time is not related to ‘real time’. Any number of actual clock seconds may pass in between that interval. For example, if you were to halt the game in a debugger, then resume it five minutes later, its internal time would be unaffected. It would pick up where it left off and continue as if nothing happened.

In Half-Life 2, mods are able to set their own tickrates. CS:S doubles the default interval, for a 30ms tickrate. You can also change the default tickrate with the -tickrate command line parameter. Any value over 10 will result in a new tickrate of 1.0/x seconds. For example, a tickrate of 100 will be 10ms, and a tickrate of 66 will be 15.15ms. Sometimes this is advantageous; for example, CS:S will have smoother gameplay on higher tickrates (”100 tick servers” are popular), though it will consume more CPU.

Simple reverse calculation: If the tick interval is 30ms, the number of ticks per second is 1/0.03.

ouch my brain hurts I am on summer break close to start school.Thank god I did not read all of it. 8)

CHeers for the info , someone told me thay to lower my ping i should change my tickrate . But it is server side only right ?

correct. the tickrate is defined by each individual server.

I know people like you in my engineering classes

what are you majoring in? I'm in ME

Originally Posted by Bunni

to simplify what joobs said:
valve defines tickrate as:
During each tick, the server processes incoming user commands, runs a physical simulation step, checks the game rules, and updates all object states. After simulating a tick, the server decides if any client needs a world update and takes a snapshot of the current world state if necessary. A higher tickrate increases the simulation precision, but also requires more CPU power and available bandwidth on both server and client.

stated more clearly...

btw love the movie in your sig