mookie

I just reinstalled HL2 after formatting my hard drive, and now I find that the game often freezes while attempting to join a server (usually late in the retrieving server info part). Most of the time this is in map changes (as opposed to joining a new server), but that could just be because that happens a lot more often. Maybe it's just my computer; I've always been suspicious of the fact that CS:S is basically non-responsive while it's joining a game (has always been this way for me). If anyone has seen this problem and/or knows how to solve it I'd love to know, especially given the frequent map changes on GC servers (not a complaint, variety is the spice of life). Also of note: CS:S usually says that my video driver is out of date, but I've downloaded the most up-to-date drivers from ATI and CS:S still says that. My system specs: Windows 2000 SP4 DirectX 9.0c Pentium 4 3.066 533 FSB Asus P4C800-E Deluxe Crucial 2x256MB PC2700 Sapphire Radeon 9600GE Creative SBLive! 5.1 (I can never remember which card I have exactly) Seagate 80GB PATA --mookie

I noticed that in a lot of the ban posts people don't post their Steam ID, even though the big yellow banner links to instructions. No offense intended to whoever designed that banner, but to me it looks like an ad, maybe putting "GAMERSCOALITION" or something relating to the forum on the image would make it more visible. It looks to me enough like an ad that i unconsciously ignore it most of the time. Just a thought. --mookie

Just finished playing about 20 minutes on each of #1c and then #1; #2 is full ATM. I'm in Mass. so that's why my pings are higher than some of the other players'. #1 Ping was steady 80-90ms. Choke was near 0 most of the time, rarely going over 3 or over 5 in combat. Did not notice choke go over about 7. Noticed loss some of the time, rarely exceeding 3. Joining was pretty good, choke went up to 15ish but came down abnormally fast. Overall the performance was great; server had 23-24 players the entire time I was playing. #2 Did not play, server was full at 27. #1c Ping was very steady 55-60ms. Choke was near 0 most of the time, but went up to about 5-7 in combat, and sometimes spiked as high as 15ish. Joining game was as normal, choke went quickly to 20ish and came down at a reasonable rate. Overall the performance was good and lag-free; server had between 8 and 15 players while I was in there. My overall impression is that #1 was better than #1c. The choke was 0 more of the time, and did not spike nearly as high in combat (7ish compared to occasional 15ish), despite having roughly double the players. Did notice a small amount of loss on #1 which I did not notice on #1c (I may not have been paying attention), but it did not seem to effect gameplay. I can't explain why my ping should be higher in #1 than in #1c though, since my understanding is that both are in Chicago. Hope this helps --mookie

This might be too obvious, but what about trying either no AWP/Auto or on snipers? There seem to be a lot of complaints in Scopeless about no scout. --mookie

Judging by the poll results I see, maybe what kajahf and NOFX say might be warranted, although I can understand West Coast players not wanting to lose a server there. I've never been impressed with the Northeast pubs I've seen, so the area might be ripe for a server. On the other hand, knowing people in the NE it might just result in a ridiculous amount of bans for language/being a jerk. I'm in Western Mass right now and my pings on the MW servers are reasonable (usu. around 70ms) so I don't see a real need to move a server here, but it might be a good region to expand into. --mookie

As far as Griffin Run goes, it looks to me like shep and fatty might not be noticing the 6-month free thing. I priced a 26-man pub for Chicago. For 6 months it's $1153 and for 12 months it's also $1153, so this tells me the real permanent price is roughly $200/month and the 12 month quotes you've been looking at are basically half off. Granted a free 6 months is not trivial, but it looks to me like a one-time savings. --mookie