PC tweaks: gain an advantage! - Modern Warfare 2 Forum: Free Call of Duty MW2 Community

**abc** · 11-14-2009, 07:21 AM

This is somewhat a much shorter topic than the same subject based on a game (COD, COD2, COD4, COD: WaW) where you can have the console, but as ever configs can be change by editting the config file yourself. The large majority of commands being changed results in the game auto-deleting your custom config and handing you back a default one, but some commands can still be used.

Show me my PING?!?

Apparantly in pro tournaments having a difference in ping of over 30ms is deemed an unfair advantage and the host/server must forfit and another be found. Ping monitoring used to be easy since it gave you a number, but now we have to make do with a picture-diagram like the one's you did in maths in year 2.

4 BAR = under 100ms PING
3 BAR = under 200ms PING
2 BAR = under 300ms PING
1 BAR = under 400ms PING

That is arguably not very useful since most pings are between 150 and 50, even on a slow Peer2Peer setup. I'll now hand over to SarahB from the official IW forums courtesy of Jock from Bash&Slash:

Quote:

Navigate to the folder: 'program files\steam\steamapps\common\call of duty modern warfare 2\players' and open the file config_mp.cfg

Change scoresping_interval from 100 to 20, and maxbars from 4 to 10 (10 is the max).

This means that each of the 10 bars represents 20ms, with full green being 20ms or lower, and 1 red being 200ms or higher.

FPS

Default maxFPS is 80, this can be changed by finding you mp config (see above) and simply changing cg_maxfps xxx to your desired number, as with all previous cod games.

Streamlining your connection

This has always been one of the most useful tools in the COD4 console, the ability to setup the game so it can get the best out of YOUR internet connection whether you've got a high ping and low download or a lovely consistant fiber connection. Nothing has changed, those commands are still there and can still be changed but a word of warning the commands mean the complete OPPOSITE of COD, COD2, COD4 and COD:WaW. What I mean by that is setting up your connection to update really quickly was great when playing on a dedicated server because the servers' 100Mb/s connection could handle it. Now with Peer2Peer, as bizzare as it sounds, you almost want to be updating as infrequently as possible so the number are much lower for MW2. That said the idea is still to get the number as high as possible (i.e. update as much as possible) without causing lag. I.e. too high updates a lot, but because the hosts' connection can't hack it your updates don't get through and you have a bad experience. Anyway,

\seta cl_maxpackets xxx (advised to be very low this time. between the min (20 IIRC) to 30)
\snaps xx (default is 20. try higher and low)
\rate xxxxx (Don't know if this command is in MW2 or edittable but it's the one that made the biggest difference for me in other COD games, knocking 20ms off my ping and more importantly making the hit-registery much better. For dedicated servers & broadband recommended setting is 25,000. I can only assume that with P2P you'd want it as low as possible or thereabouts)

FOV

This is unedittable. However manually adjusting to 16:9 instead of 16:10 in graphics menu will give you a bit of a stretched, but ultimately wider viewing angle.

A bit about how matchmaking works

Choose gametype etc,
scans for other players or lobbys with same gametype with a sub 50ms ping,
scans for other players or lobbys with same gametype with a sub 60ms ping,
scans for other players or lobbys with same gametype with a sub 70ms ping,
etc until it has the min player limit (8 for most gametypes)

When not enough players can be found it can attempt to merge two under-subscribed lobbys. To summarise matchmaking is done predominantly by ping. It probably narrows things down by continent first just to give itself less results to proccess.

Hosting

Hosts are chosen based on upload speeds:

band_12players "384Kb"
band_18players "580Kb"
band_2players "64Kb"
band_4players "128Kb"
band_8players "256Kb"

So a player with a 256Kb can host a max of 8 players. Most people have roughly 333Kb upload for technical reasons.

Host migration in the lobby often fails and you'll simply get booted out. If a suitable host can be found mid-game host migration, for what it is - an annoying and uneccessary interuption, is dealth with quite well.

Thanks to Bash&Slash for inspiration, info and some content.

P.S. I take no responsibility for any changes resulting in a reset profile or, if even possible or justifiable, being banned in any way/shape/form for any reason by IW/vac/steam/valve/any-other-company-having-anything-to-do-with-mw2. I have never heard of anyone being banned for console tweaks. That is just a lil disclaimer.

DSLpara · 11-14-2009, 06:03 PM

Well, if I'm honest, if there's no dedicated servers, no server list and controlled playlists, with the game being run P2P, I don't see how you can say they're exactly the same. That's like saying Pineapples and Caviar are the same. I mean sure, they're a food, but hey...

Wolfenstien1994 · 11-14-2009, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Navigate to the folder: 'program files\steam\steamapps\common\call of duty modern warfare 2\players' and open the file config_mp.cfg

Change scoresping_interval from 100 to 20, and maxbars from 4 to 10 (10 is the max).

This means that each of the 10 bars represents 20ms, with full green being 20ms or lower, and 1 red being 200ms or higher.

I can't open that file 'config_mp.cfg'... any help?

Olaf Vikingsson · 11-15-2009, 06:47 AM

Open it in Wordpad.

**abc** · 11-15-2009, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolfenstien1994

I can't open that file 'config_mp.cfg'... any help?

(right click) "open in" > notepad

As vis mentioned virtually any plain text editor (i.e. NOT MS WORD) will work, out of the few I've used notepad++ is easily the best as it is more pure than wordpad/notepad so you're less likely to lose formatting that may be crucial to what the file that you're editting does.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ViS

players' computers are used as servers

Errm, exactly. Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought a generally accepted definition of peer 2 peer is when content is streamed between end users' computers as opposed to streamed from a central non-end user box.

Wolfenstien1994 · 11-15-2009, 03:55 PM

Thanks guys, probably should of thought of that myself...

**abc** · 11-15-2009, 05:13 PM

yeah good luck opening any file with the intention of editting or modding a, or part of a, program just by double clicking

**Dante** · 11-15-2009, 05:40 PM

I couldn't notice any difference between maxpackets 100 and 25. Is the field definitely read?

**abc** · 11-15-2009, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dante

Is the field definitely read?

lol, yes it is. Just to make sure you are changing the one that "cl_maxpackets" not some random other crap. I suspect it may be near impossible to judge changes on MW2.

On any other game you make a change, join a dedicated server where you know the ping will be XX and see if it's changed. Likewise with the good old console you just whack a command in and see the resulting ping instantly.

Wolfenstien1994 · 11-16-2009, 05:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abc

(right click) "open in" > notepad

As vis mentioned virtually any plain text editor (i.e. NOT MS WORD) will work, out of the few I've used notepad++ is easily the best as it is more pure than wordpad/notepad so you're less likely to lose formatting that may be crucial to what the file that you're editting does.

Ok well when i right click on it, it doesn't come up with the normal 'open in' or 'open with'. see:

What now???

.Meth · 11-16-2009, 08:11 AM

Just done this, cheers mate hopefully it gives me some advantage.

**abc** · 11-16-2009, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolfenstien1994

Ok well when i right click on it, it doesn't come up with the normal 'open in' or 'open with'. see:

What now???

LOL how is this so hard on your computer. Hit start and type in "notepad," it should come up under programs. Then go file > open (make sure the filter at the bottom is on "all file types") and navigate to said config_mp.cfg (or w/e it's called)

Vapor · 11-16-2009, 08:52 PM

seta cl_maxPing "800" <--default ping difference

seta cl_maxPing "100" ping difference from host.

works most of the time imo.

Wolfenstien1994 · 11-17-2009, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abc

LOL how is this so hard on your computer. Hit start and type in "notepad," it should come up under programs. Then go file > open (make sure the filter at the bottom is on "all file types") and navigate to said config_mp.cfg (or w/e it's called)

Why did i need to go into run? when you click on accessories, notepad is 3 things above run...

Just try it to see if it works now...

**abc** · 11-17-2009, 10:44 AM

Ok enough. We can all agree that MW2 is not strictly speaking a 100% peer to peer as each peer is not connected to each peer directly, instead they are connected via a "host." However it is a million miles away from the performance of a dedicated server.

Wolfstein, please find the part in my post where I told you to find "run" and type notepad.exe? Hmm exactly

I was reffering to vista's start menu auto search box thing. My bad for assuming everyone in is 2007

Wolfenstien1994 · 11-18-2009, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abc

Wolfstein, please find the part in my post where I told you to find "run" and type notepad.exe? Hmm exactly

I was reffering to vista's start menu auto search box thing. My bad for assuming everyone in is 2007

I'm sure it said run there...

You didn't edit it? Oh well, maybe i was sleeping.
And yea i'm using Vista anyway

13 · 11-23-2009, 08:07 AM

Guys I hate to say this, but, do it at your own risk! Good chance of getting banned by doing it! I could be wrong and hope I am, but you never know. And Steam bands your account so any other games you have on the same account as MW2 will also be lost.

**abc** · 11-23-2009, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 13

Good chance of getting banned by doing it!

Granted, absolutely anything you read on the internet should be taken with a lump (not a grain) of salt.

However you have based that on, what I can assume since I didn't find any, little or no evidence.

Everything included in this topic is known to have worked. When a tweak is made that is not allowed, e.g. cg_drawfps 1, then your config (not profile, your config) is reset.

unethical · 11-23-2009, 01:50 PM

The 10 Bar change is a must. I can't believe how people play not knowing they are 200-300ms off from each other. I know if everyone is 300ms off, it's cool, but there is always a host who has the big advantage.

I wish there was a way to lock in a 50ms max ping that works. I did this change in the config, but it's totally useless:

seta cl_maxPing "50" (default was 800) <---- wow

Sometimes we'll have 8-9 bars, but never know if the hosting computer has some junk apps running in the background which cause issues.

Also, a lot of lines keep getting set back to defaults or being removed automatically. I can't remember, but there was maxfps which is totally gone now.

I just wish they could bring back dedicated servers.

I like the comfort of knowing what's actually happening

**abc** · 11-23-2009, 02:23 PM

You can download exploits that enable the command console... but I have no idea what VAC would make of that if it could detect it. Obviously this is not an ideal solution.

I really hope treyarch's next game has dedi servers and a command console, considering they already have worse rep than IW surely they can't be stupid enough to annoy PC users all over again?

Gamble · 01-27-2010, 06:56 PM

ABC, just the other day on the official IW>MW2 forums I read about a guy who used a tool which enabled a console to make various adjustments. Needless to say his account was banned. So I wouldn't recommend anyone downloading any exploits unless you are prepared to have your account banned.

**abc** · 01-28-2010, 06:21 AM

thanks for confirmation. Any manual console edit tweaks haven't been banned as of yet.

HBK · 01-28-2010, 04:53 PM

Nice tips there abc

I was wondering about what value the bars had in ms.

Problem solved lol:

Spoiler:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolfenstien1994

Ok well when i right click on it, it doesn't come up with the normal 'open in' or 'open with'. see:

What now???

It would be much easier if you just clicked on "open" a pop up would show up asking you to choose from a list of programs to open that file , notepad would be there

LOL

**abc** · 01-28-2010, 05:15 PM

Ah but if the computer already thinks it knows what a txt file is it'll just open it up in default program (which is usually something useless like media player... for a text file)

R.E. that ping read out. That's not a screenshot of yours is it, that'd be far too clever? If it uses any external files I'm not interested BUT if it's just a config tweak...

GIMME!!!!!

HBK · 01-28-2010, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abc

Ah but if the computer already thinks it knows what a txt file is it'll just open it up in default program (which is usually something useless like media player... for a text file)

R.E. that ping read out. That's not a screenshot of yours is it, that'd be far too clever? If it uses any external files I'm not interested BUT if it's just a config tweak...

GIMME!!!!!

Yeah good point, but when the computer sets a program as default for opening a certain file type doesn't the program icon appear instead of that blank page icon ?

Oh that's my screenshot I took it like 45 mins ago, sorry it uses external files, you got the retail version so it wouldn't be a very hawt thing to do lol. But I haven't had any problems with it so far, I did however read about a safer way to do it I'll see if I find that again.

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