GrumpySpyGuy
2nd September 2003, 03:03
Punkbuster Information
there are ways to brighten maps you can tweak almost every aspect of the game here are some tweaks.......
in console, type this line to see your FPS (you will see your framerate):
/cg_drawfps 1
Cvars = client variables
They are checked by Punkbuster when enabled on a server to see if a client/player is within the server's preferred Punkbuster settings.
Cvars, when altered, as you have obviously seen, can limit or increase the visual quality of how textures and models are rendered in the game. When a cvar is tweaked so as to limit/lower the quality, it usually increases the frame rate (FPS = frames per second) and that means smoother game-play; more snapshots of the map as you see it are drawn. So with a frame rate of 135, there are 135 frames being drawn in one second. With lower-end hardware (ie graphics card, processor, etc.), the FPS can really be low and makes for a choppy game. Obviously, the higher the FPS, the smoother the game and is easier for the eyes to process info compared to the twitching one's eyes can do with a frame rate of 10 FPS. Tweakers tend to tweak cvars that greatly affect FPS cause their hardware can't reach reasonable FPS with default settings; hence, their lack of capable hardware warrants them to alter the game's default graphics in order to make it playable. But even then, they can't acheive that much of a boost in FPS without taking the cvar values to extreme.
Cvars such as the following increase FPS by drawing less of the intended map (the less you have to draw, the faster the rates):
r_picmip (default 1) (high picmip alone eliminates tree limbs)
r_picmip2 (default 2)
r_rmse (default 0) (note: with r_picmip 4, and r_rmse 120+, tree limbs go away)
Then there are cvars that remove elements from the map:
r_uifullscreen 1 (default 0) will remove fog, however, on tram and some custom maps, it won't be useful, test it and you will see why.
// these below will increase brightness and help eliminate shadows.
r_gamma (default 1.3 - in game max value 2.0)
r_intensity (default 1)
r_mapoverbrightbits (default 2)
r_overbrightbits (default 1)
r_vertexlight (default 0)
Overall, increasing the values usually lowers the graphic details of the game. Some have only two possible values such as 0 or 1, others can be increased to increase distortion of the textures (aka blur them out - makes them pink). Extreme cvar manipulation is described as playing advanced "Pong".
There are also other variables that people will tweak such as:
cg_fov (default 90) // usually increased to widen the field of view (fov) - some players tend to use around 110, or their personal preference.
The way Punkbuster checks all this, is that each server has it's own settings, or server.cfg (configuration file). And if a server has Punkbuster enabled, then ONLY clients with Punkbuster enabled also on their end can join that server. Otherwise, if punkbuster were not enabled on client-side, then they would be rejected by the server so long as it has Punkbuster enabled.
Within the configuration files are code that tells Punkbuster what settings to check each client for. If a client doesn't meet the ranges, then punkbuster might at best warn before kicking the client. If the client does not change the values in error (which usually requires a video restart - type /vid_restart in console to do so), then Punkbuster will kick the client for unaccepted settings.
Not all servers run same settings. That's why it's important to find out if a) the server you are playing on has Punkbuster enabled (which is good thing btw imo), b) What are the restrictions listed for that particular server, and c) are those restrictions acceptable to you.
The more you learn about altering or creating configs, the more you can take advantage of these checks. In other words, one can create configs for competition/league play (tweaked settings), for specific servers (to comply with punkbuster settings), or simply for pubbing (default settings).
press a key (a bind) to check the punkbuster limits of that server (specifically, I made this bind: bind pgup pb_cvarlist). And if I could use my competition settings, I could press a key that would toggle between my pub and competition settings (this would be capable by means of a script). Each time I changed settings, the game would do a vid_restart (video restart) to make them take effect. All this would be programmed so to say in config files.
Btw, Evenbalance, operators of Punkbuster, have recommended settings so as to avoid people abusing them. Here is a link:
http://www.evenbalance.com/downloads/rtcw/pbsvcvar.cfg
Punkbuster, if told to in the server.cfg, can restrict any cvar. And there are some cvars that don't affect graphics or FPS that people can manipulate so as to avoid bobbing (like when shooting a sniper rifle).
particularly found on Cached.net (good source for demos), that pretty much eliminated anything that got in the way of vision except for the obstacles themselves. For example, throwing the airstrike wouldn't look the same as it would by default; one could see through the smoke and keep sight of enemies.
So, tweaking isn't just for increasing the FPS, and pro-tweakers will usually claim that as the reason, but amazingly honest people will say they tweak just to tweak (which translates to gain an advantage).
That's a basic working knowledge of cvars and their relation to Punkbuster and other things. Hope this helps you understand them better.
-----
Real-time scanning of memory by PB Client on players' computers searching for known hacks/cheats
Throttled two-tiered background auto-update system using multiple Internet Master Servers to provide end-user security ensuring that no false or corrupted updates can be installed on players' computers
Frequent status reports (highly encrypted) are sent to the PB Server by all players and the PB Server raises a violation when necessary which causes the offending player to be removed from the game and all other players are informed of the violation
PB Admins can also manually remove players from the game for a specified number of minutes or permanently ban if desired
PB Servers can optionally be configured to randomly check player settings looking for known exploits of the game engine
PB Admins can request actual screenshot samples from specific players and/or can configure the PB Server to randomly grab screenshot samples from players during gameplay
An optional "bad name" facility is provided so that PB Admins can prevent players from using offensive player names containing unwanted profanity or racial slurs
Search functions are provided for PB Admins who wish to search player's keybindings and scripts for anything that may be known to exploit the game
The PunkBuster™ Player Power facility can be configured to allow players to self-administer game servers when the Server Administrator is not present entirely without the need for passwords
PB Servers have an optional built-in mini http web server interface that allows the game server to be remotely administered via a web browser from anywhere over the Internet
---GsG
there are ways to brighten maps you can tweak almost every aspect of the game here are some tweaks.......
in console, type this line to see your FPS (you will see your framerate):
/cg_drawfps 1
Cvars = client variables
They are checked by Punkbuster when enabled on a server to see if a client/player is within the server's preferred Punkbuster settings.
Cvars, when altered, as you have obviously seen, can limit or increase the visual quality of how textures and models are rendered in the game. When a cvar is tweaked so as to limit/lower the quality, it usually increases the frame rate (FPS = frames per second) and that means smoother game-play; more snapshots of the map as you see it are drawn. So with a frame rate of 135, there are 135 frames being drawn in one second. With lower-end hardware (ie graphics card, processor, etc.), the FPS can really be low and makes for a choppy game. Obviously, the higher the FPS, the smoother the game and is easier for the eyes to process info compared to the twitching one's eyes can do with a frame rate of 10 FPS. Tweakers tend to tweak cvars that greatly affect FPS cause their hardware can't reach reasonable FPS with default settings; hence, their lack of capable hardware warrants them to alter the game's default graphics in order to make it playable. But even then, they can't acheive that much of a boost in FPS without taking the cvar values to extreme.
Cvars such as the following increase FPS by drawing less of the intended map (the less you have to draw, the faster the rates):
r_picmip (default 1) (high picmip alone eliminates tree limbs)
r_picmip2 (default 2)
r_rmse (default 0) (note: with r_picmip 4, and r_rmse 120+, tree limbs go away)
Then there are cvars that remove elements from the map:
r_uifullscreen 1 (default 0) will remove fog, however, on tram and some custom maps, it won't be useful, test it and you will see why.
// these below will increase brightness and help eliminate shadows.
r_gamma (default 1.3 - in game max value 2.0)
r_intensity (default 1)
r_mapoverbrightbits (default 2)
r_overbrightbits (default 1)
r_vertexlight (default 0)
Overall, increasing the values usually lowers the graphic details of the game. Some have only two possible values such as 0 or 1, others can be increased to increase distortion of the textures (aka blur them out - makes them pink). Extreme cvar manipulation is described as playing advanced "Pong".
There are also other variables that people will tweak such as:
cg_fov (default 90) // usually increased to widen the field of view (fov) - some players tend to use around 110, or their personal preference.
The way Punkbuster checks all this, is that each server has it's own settings, or server.cfg (configuration file). And if a server has Punkbuster enabled, then ONLY clients with Punkbuster enabled also on their end can join that server. Otherwise, if punkbuster were not enabled on client-side, then they would be rejected by the server so long as it has Punkbuster enabled.
Within the configuration files are code that tells Punkbuster what settings to check each client for. If a client doesn't meet the ranges, then punkbuster might at best warn before kicking the client. If the client does not change the values in error (which usually requires a video restart - type /vid_restart in console to do so), then Punkbuster will kick the client for unaccepted settings.
Not all servers run same settings. That's why it's important to find out if a) the server you are playing on has Punkbuster enabled (which is good thing btw imo), b) What are the restrictions listed for that particular server, and c) are those restrictions acceptable to you.
The more you learn about altering or creating configs, the more you can take advantage of these checks. In other words, one can create configs for competition/league play (tweaked settings), for specific servers (to comply with punkbuster settings), or simply for pubbing (default settings).
press a key (a bind) to check the punkbuster limits of that server (specifically, I made this bind: bind pgup pb_cvarlist). And if I could use my competition settings, I could press a key that would toggle between my pub and competition settings (this would be capable by means of a script). Each time I changed settings, the game would do a vid_restart (video restart) to make them take effect. All this would be programmed so to say in config files.
Btw, Evenbalance, operators of Punkbuster, have recommended settings so as to avoid people abusing them. Here is a link:
http://www.evenbalance.com/downloads/rtcw/pbsvcvar.cfg
Punkbuster, if told to in the server.cfg, can restrict any cvar. And there are some cvars that don't affect graphics or FPS that people can manipulate so as to avoid bobbing (like when shooting a sniper rifle).
particularly found on Cached.net (good source for demos), that pretty much eliminated anything that got in the way of vision except for the obstacles themselves. For example, throwing the airstrike wouldn't look the same as it would by default; one could see through the smoke and keep sight of enemies.
So, tweaking isn't just for increasing the FPS, and pro-tweakers will usually claim that as the reason, but amazingly honest people will say they tweak just to tweak (which translates to gain an advantage).
That's a basic working knowledge of cvars and their relation to Punkbuster and other things. Hope this helps you understand them better.
-----
Real-time scanning of memory by PB Client on players' computers searching for known hacks/cheats
Throttled two-tiered background auto-update system using multiple Internet Master Servers to provide end-user security ensuring that no false or corrupted updates can be installed on players' computers
Frequent status reports (highly encrypted) are sent to the PB Server by all players and the PB Server raises a violation when necessary which causes the offending player to be removed from the game and all other players are informed of the violation
PB Admins can also manually remove players from the game for a specified number of minutes or permanently ban if desired
PB Servers can optionally be configured to randomly check player settings looking for known exploits of the game engine
PB Admins can request actual screenshot samples from specific players and/or can configure the PB Server to randomly grab screenshot samples from players during gameplay
An optional "bad name" facility is provided so that PB Admins can prevent players from using offensive player names containing unwanted profanity or racial slurs
Search functions are provided for PB Admins who wish to search player's keybindings and scripts for anything that may be known to exploit the game
The PunkBuster™ Player Power facility can be configured to allow players to self-administer game servers when the Server Administrator is not present entirely without the need for passwords
PB Servers have an optional built-in mini http web server interface that allows the game server to be remotely administered via a web browser from anywhere over the Internet
---GsG