Improving Counter-Strike: Source frame rates

[Jameson]

------ Casey's Config ------

Casey's Config v2 (CAL compliant)
Updated 01/23/07 - Added misc settings section
Download the .cfg file already created here (http://www.pureoverclock.com/download-3.html)

Below is my expanded tweak guide for getting the best performance out of CS: Source.

Launch Options
Source has many performance-friendly launch options built-in that you may find give you a significant performance gain. Launch properties can be added by right-clicking Counter-Strike: Source in Steam's My Games menu, clicking Properties, then Launch Options.

-dxlevel: Sets the DirectX level Source runs in.

You may find that setting this value lower to than what your card can actually support yields a performance increase. For example, a DirectX 9 card may run significantly faster in DirectX 8.1. Again, it is best to test various settings to find out what is right for you. Use the following:

-dxlevel 95 for DirectX 9c
-dxlevel 90 for DirectX 9
-dxlevel 81 for DirectX 8.1-heapsize: Dedicates a specific amount of memory to Source.

Increasing the allotted memory can yield substantial performance gains. However, it is important that you dedicate the right amount of memory. Dedicating too much or too little could actually cause a performance decrease.
It is recommended you dedicate half of your system memory. Below is the recommended usage:

512MB System Memory: -heapsize 262144
1GB System Memory: -heapsize 524288
2GB System Memory: -heapsize 1048576CVARs
The following is a list of CVAR tweaks I've compiled through experimenting and various research. These commands help to strike an appropriate balance between quality and performance. You can find other CFGs that basically destroy the look of the game. I tried to maintain the appeal of Source while making it playable. These commands are CAL / CSP compliant.

Simply paste the following into Notepad, and save the file as autoexec.cfg in your Steam\SteamApps\your@email.com\counter-strike source\cstrike\cfg folder.

Note: The comments will not interfere with the commands.

// Casey's Config v2 (CAL compliant)
// Updated for new season by CAL|Stone
// Updated 01/23/07 - Added misc settings section
//_Set Netcode vars_
cl_cmdrate "101"
cl_interp "0.01"
cl_interpolate "1"
cl_lagcomp_errorcheck "0" // Disables lagcompensation error checking, only needed if you're having any registration/loss/choke problems.
cl_lagcompensation "1"
cl_smooth "1"
cl_updaterate "101"
rate "25000"
//_Set MP vars_
mp_decals "0" // How many player sprays will be shown.
//_Set Client vars_
cl_drawmonitors "0" // Disables the rendering of ingame "monitors" which contain 3d rendered images.
cl_ejectbrass "0" // Disables brass ejection
cl_forcepreload "1" // Forces the game to load all texture and model information into memory on map load.
cl_phys_props_enable "1" // Enables phsyics props.
cl_phys_props_max "50" // Maximum amount of physics props allowed.
cl_ragdoll_physics_enable "0" // Disables ragdoll.
cl_restrict_server_commands "0" // Compatible/needed with serverplugins
cl_show_splashes "0" // Disables water splashes.
//_Set Render vars_
r_3dsky "0" // Disables the rendering of 3d sky boxes.
r_decal_cullsize "9999" // Any decals under this size are not rendered.
r_decals "0" // Disables decals.
r_drawbatchdecals "1" // Enables the rendering of decals in batch.
r_drawdetailprops "1" // Enables the rendering of detail props.
r_drawflecks "0" // Disables the sparks and dirt from bullet impacts.
r_drawmodeldecals "0" // Models decals (i.e. blood).
r_eyes "0" // Disables eyes in models.
r_lod "-1" // Different level of details on models. -1 = Variable at distance. 0 = None. 1 = Minor. 2 = Less minor.
r_modellodscale "1.0" // The transitioning power of LOD.
r_occlusion "0" // Enables the Model Occlusion system.
r_propsmaxdist "100" // Max distance at which props are rendered.
r_renderoverlayfragment "0"
r_rootlod "2" // Base lod of the model in the memory.
r_shadowmaxrendered "32" // Max shadows the game will render.
r_shadowrendertotexture "1" // Rendered the shadow texture causing it to match the player model.
r_shadows "1" // Enables shadows (Change be disabled for additional performance.)
r_teeth "0" // Disables teeth in models.
r_waterdrawreflection "0" // Disables the rendering of water reflections.
r_waterforceexpensive "0" // Forces cheap water.
gl_clear "0" // Disables the gl_clear convariable.
props_break_max_pieces "0" // Disables prop fragmenting
//_Set Materials vars_
mat_antialias "0" // Disables the use of multisampling to smooth out edges.
mat_bumpmap "0" // Disables bump mapping.
mat_clipz "0" // Disables optimized Z-Buffer rendering.
mat_compressedtextures "1" // Disables texture compression. Users with low amounts of system memory should turn this on.
mat_disable_bloom "1" // Disables bloom effects.
mat_hdr_enabled "0" // Disables HDR.
mat_hdr_level "0" // Double Disables HDR.
mat_mipmaptextures "1" // Enables the use of mipmapping to make textures look smooth.
mat_monitorgamma "1.6" // Lower the number the brighter the screen. Only works in fullscreen.
mat_picmip "2" // Changes the resolutions of textures when they're loaded into memory. May improve FPS on graphics cards with low memory sizes.
mat_reducefillrate "1" // Reduces the fillrate when the game is run in DXLevel 8.
mat_specular "0" // Disables Specularity on objects.
mat_trilinear "0" // Disables the use of Trilinear mipmapping.
mat_wateroverlaysize "8" // Sets the resolution of water distortion. Must be multiple of 8.
//_Set Violence vars_
violence_ablood "1"
violence_agibs "1"
violence_hblood "1"
violence_hgibs "1"
//_Set HUD vars_
hud_centerid "1" // Centers player IDs
net_graph "3" // Enables net_graph (Required in SS round)
net_graphpos "2" // Adjusts netgraph position-set between 1 and 3.
//_Set Misc settings_
cl_downloadfilter "nosounds" // Disables annoying pub sound downloads
fps_max "101" // Caps framerate. Set to max monitor refresh rate + 1.
jpeg_quality "100" // High quality screenshots
clear
echo _Casey's Config v2 (CAL compliant) loaded_

[Mike]

Hey, that's cool! I'm going to give it a try and I'll post my own results on here...

[Mike]

Hey, that didn't work too bad at all! I didn't think I'd see much difference because of the really poor setup I'm using.
So with my Radeon 9550 @ 640x480 res, here's what I got:

Before tweak - 64.4 fps
After tweak - 84.82 fps!

Dude! That's an extra 20 fps just for applying that simple tweak! :cool:

[Jameson]

Yeah it actually works!

Stupidly I heard about this and just jumped in and changed all my settings before testing, but i did notice CS:S frame rates soared into the 150fps range.

I'm going to put all the settings back and test this throughly, with screen shots of image quality with standard settings and then with these tweaks, as i have noticed the image quality reduces by more than 1%.

[fossilv925]

Wow, this is really works. My fps at first was around 30-40 now its 70-90 and 90+ on surf maps. Thx man.

[Jameson]

welcome to the forums :toast:

Nice to know it helped, and to be honest i can't play CS with bad frame rates, can't hit a damn thing :D

[champluipio]

I want to try out this tweak, but I have no idea where to put the text file. I don't have CounterStrikeSource under program files, all I have is steam.

[Jameson]

Hello, i should have made it more detailed, the dir is:

Steam\SteamApps\your email address\counter-strike source and then follow the directory listed in the first post.

[romeozor]

i have a usefull command to add:
cl_downloadfilter "nosounds"

now this wont effect the fps, but it will prevent the download of stupid sounds from the servers. if you like them its fine but i like to get on a server asap and not wait for 30MB of custom sounds to be downloaded

[4DConsumer]

I get 20 fps normally and with the autoexec you posted I still get 20 fps. Am I doing something wrong? Also, the second suggestion you mentioned does not work for me either. I right-click the steam icon on my desktop, choose properties and do not see a "launch options" tab. Any help is appreciated. My system specs are:

Intel Celeron 2.30 ghz
1 GB ram
ATI Radeon 9250 256mb

Thanks.

[romeozor]

i think the correct command is mat_dxlevel
btw wouldnt expect much from that rig, sry

[Jameson]

Welcome :toast:

I believe most of the performance increase is largely down to changing from directX 9 to 8.1, and as your card is a direct X 8 part it won't benefit from this command as your already in DX8.1 by default.

Romeozor got it pretty much right, you won't see the major benefits liek those posted below on this card i'm afraid.

[hollowpoint]

ok so, recently i bought a new dell inspiron e1505. Got it home updated everything and installed hl2 and cs:s. started playing and realized how terrible my fps was. 6-13 to be exact. tried lowering all my video options didnt help much 7-19fps. ran the above configuration and it helped a little now i get around 20-25 fps. Now, correct me if im wrong but shouldn't i be getting better fps than that. :brick:

Ill post my stats in case they dont show in my profile.

Intel Centrino Duo T2500 2.0ghz
Nvidia GeForce Go 7300 256mb
2.0 GB DIMM Ram
Soundblaster Audigy Soundcard
Windows Xp SP2 fully updated

any help would be greatly appreciated

[romeozor]

imo css is a very cpu demanding game, dont have any xp playing it on laptops but maybe the core duo just wont cut it

[Jameson]

Do you know if the 7300 is the turbo cache version? This version actually takes most of its memory from the system, they are truly horrible cards for gaming.

Anyhow, i'm not surprised if that is the best frame you can manage with this card as its one of the lowest in Nvidia's range. You'll probably want to upgrade to a 7600 as a minimum for gaming. Probably not what you wanted to hear :(

This thread is about your card, it may help: http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/GeForce-7300-TurboCache-Radeon-X1400-HyperMemory-ftopict193519.html

[Jameson]

imo css is a very cpu demanding game, dont have any xp playing it on laptops but maybe the core duo just wont cut it

Isn't this Yonah we're talking about? Clock for clock they're faster than an A64 and are what Conroe is heavily based on.

[romeozor]

yup, the very same
i was just speaking of personal xp, because my vga card changes didnt affect the fps in css much

but in august i'll get my ASUS S96J setup with an x1600, and i'll try it out ^^

[hollowpoint]

well idk what happened but after a fresh reboot and just playing for a while my fps jumped to around 65-75 so all is good now...thanx for your help guys:o:lsfight:

[Jameson]

hehe :toast:

I wonder, does yonah support speed step? could have limted the CPU speed and not put it back up when you entered the game. I don't know, i think i'll give up on understanding this one lol.

[4DConsumer]

Can someone help me please? I followed the instructions but I'm only getting 60-70 fps. I just got a new rig and it seems like my fps should be way higher.

Athlon 64 x2 4200
2 gb ram
geforce 7900 gt

[Jameson]

what res are you using? are you using AA or AF?

CS:S is demanding, i have used hardware like yours for tests many times and i don't recall ever getting over 100fps and easily going down to 50fps on 40 player servers at certain moments in the game with 1024x768, 4xAA, 8xAF.

Perhaps i should record a timedemo and i'll mimic your setup and run it, pass the file onto you ans you do the same and we'll compare results. Hows that grab you?

[4DConsumer]

Sounds excellent but a little troublesome on your part. I have it set to 1024 x whatever. I will just try it with the same res and all the settings on low. Do you think that would help? Thank you.

[KillaKid]

Hey. I did what the tutorial suggested, and it did help improve my FPS.

With the video stress test it went from 65-70 to 90-95FPS, which is great, and this is running on 1024x768 (Note: I put everything on low)

There is only one thing that urks me about this though, everytime I start up CS:S it starts the game in 800x600 and "Recommended" Graphic Details.

I squeeze my FPS to the maximum, and I always put my res on 1024x768 and put all my graphics on the lowest option, however ever since this tweak, everytime I start up CS:S it reverts back to 800x600 and recommended system stats (but it still does stay at DX 8.1)

However is there anyway to save the information so I don't have to always edit it in options? I hit apply & ok btw.

[KillaKid]

Now that I think about it, it helped in the video stress test, but I don't think it's helping much in game online. :)

[KillaKid]

I thought I found the problem. I had the file named autoexec.cfg but I believe it was still a text document. Thats when I remade it to autoexec.cfg again and this time it showed up as a .cfg file.

However I thought this was a soultion, but it still doesn't save the settings. I am going to try resetting my computer, if this doesn't fix the problem I don't know what is. The only reason it's annoying to me is because I autojoin alot via xfire, and when I do the game is in a small resoutlion and looks weird.

Another thing I noticed is that everytime I edit the graphical settings in options, when I look in the console after applying all the changes the below error is in the console in red text.



Unable to remove c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\MySteamUserAccount\cou nter-strike source\cstrike\textwindow_temp.html!

Perhaps this is causing the prob?

[KillaKid]

Okay. I restarted my computer, redid everything and what not, and I still get that error in the console, and steam does not remember my graphical settings. Otherwise this would be a great tweak.

Could I remove one of the tweaks (like the autoconfig one or the dxlevel) and still get better performance, w/o the graphical setting not saving?

[KillaKid]

Sorry for all the posts, but I found the problem.

It relies in the -dx level command.

For example

putting

-dx level81 will cause the problem to not save the settings, and so would putting it as -dx level9 even though thats the standard setting (instead you would just need to leave the launch options blank)

I haven't tried using the .cfg file w/o it being on -dx level81 or -dx level9 would it cause a problem? Would it make an improvement

[KillaKid]

Bah. Everything is default now, but for some reason the graphics look REALLY weird, like all metal/hard surfaces are extremely light, is there areason for this?

-Edit: The problem that I think I am having is now that since I did -dxlevel 9 to revert it back to DX9, if you look in the video options for "Hardware DX level" it says 0.9 instead of 9.0. Glitch or the problem?

[romeozor]

do you have a valve.rc file in the cfg dir? because that executes the autoexec.cfg (and any other cfg you write in the file)

[KillaKid]

Um, yes I do have a valve.rc file.

My graphics are still weird. I put everything to "default" before i used the tweaks.

Not angry, tweak worked, I was just urked that everything didnt save to default for each load up. So, um any more suggestions?

-Edit:

I fixed the default settings, they work normal now, I don't know why, but something told me just to switch with the Blinnear/Trinnear settings, I did, and from there it displayed the correct DX setting (DX9 at the time) so that problem is fixed, however I still have the problem of the DX 8.1 settings not saving (the game opens up on 800x600 and graphical settings I did not choose) so my only worry now is having my 8.1 settings stay the way I change it to-

-Edit:

I was also wondering what the default settings for things like multilpayer decal in options were, because the .cfg file or w/e overwrite all the default stuff even though I deleted it-

[KillaKid]

Damn, doing this messed up my game.

To get my game in 9.0+ mode, I have to twinkle the graphical settings a little, then it'll say it's playing in 9.0 mode, but then after each map load, the surfers get really light, and then when I check in the options it says that the game is in Direct X 0.9 mode, then I have 2 twinkle my settings again.

is there anyway 2 fix this? I tried uninstalling the game via steam (that didn't work, it just removed the game from the "active" games list, but if you check in the steam folder everything and all the files were still there)

so then what I did was deleted the CS:S folder w/ everything in it, and reinstalled it, I still get the 0.9 DX mode after each map setting.

Anyway to get ur game %110 default settings? This is a bit irking.

[Shulam]

I get always something like "Blocked command" when I try to execute my autoexec.cfg, why? If I let the game execute it like autoexec should be executed it just gives me something like reverted blahblahblah command to the normal what it was before.

[KillaKid]

Any news????

[johnny]

hey man
i brought a hole new computer and when i brouhgt it i asked the guy if the grapics crad was good and he said yea but for start i dont realy know about computer and stuff i just like playing them but i c u have the same grapics crad as me and i was wondering how do u get 70 75 fps i whish i could have that much how can that be when i have the same grapics crad as you and i only get 15 fps 29 fps is there something i have to do if there is may u plz tell me what i have to do cause i realy wana play css but i cant with 15 fps it just to hard plz post me the settings n stuff OT ANY ONE PLZ HELP ME I NEED BETTER FPS

[KillaKid]

I don't know. I put all my graphics on low, and the thing for trinllear/blinnear w/e to Blinnear.

But even w/o editing those settings I still got like 30-40 FPS by default, not sure what's wrong w/ you?

Processor? Ram? maybe.

[Jameson]

hey man
i brought a hole new computer and when i brouhgt it i asked the guy if the grapics crad was good and he said yea but for start i dont realy know about computer and stuff i just like playing them but i c u have the same grapics crad as me and i was wondering how do u get 70 75 fps i whish i could have that much how can that be when i have the same grapics crad as you and i only get 15 fps 29 fps is there something i have to do if there is may u plz tell me what i have to do cause i realy wana play css but i cant with 15 fps it just to hard plz post me the settings n stuff OT ANY ONE PLZ HELP ME I NEED BETTER FPS

you might be able to squeeze out some more perofrmance but the fact is the guy who sold this too you lied, the 7300 is the lowest in Nvidia's lineup :(

[say what]

is it a GS or GT? cause i got kinda decent FPS in BF2 with most of the setting at medium W/ a GS but i dont know how BF2 compares to CS:source

[Mr_Boy]

hmm im having a few problems with source frame rates, just put a 7900gt in, and the fps are around 30 - 40 and drop lower than that in gunfire :| pretty poor considering i got this with a 6600gt as well :\ would u have any idea as to why this is happening. Nice thread btw (Y) i believe i might try those tweaks out as this is becomming pretty damn frustrating :(

[Jameson]

:confused: you seriously shouldnt be getting those sorts of frame rates on a 7900 GT. can you give the follwing info:

CPU and speed:
memory and speed (check CPU-Z (http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php) if you don't know and post a pic:
resolution:
In-game settings: (aa, af, setting all on high, etc)

Also what 7900 GT you have.

[Mr_Boy]

so i dont hijack the thread heh, i posted the settings in the other one i made :)

[recko]

For those who are having trouble with the dxlevel command the problem is simple.
These people are using: "-dxlevel 9" or "-dxlevel 9.0"
You need to use "-dxlevel 90"
if you dont put the zero after the nine without a dot cs source picks it up as u using directx 0.9 wich doesnt exist of course lol.

You should use the dxlevel that your card supports like "Ge-Force 5" cards dont support "dx 9.0" so u should use "dx 8.0" or "8.1"

I have a Ge-Force 6600GT that supports "Dx 9.0" so i get better graphics using 9.0 rather than 8.1 without any lose to fps.

Its also recommended nether to use "-dxlevel 70" as it makes the game very ugly and any card that can only support upto that dxlevel is too old to play cs source with anyway.

Hope this helps with some people and HELLO to u all as thius is my first post.

[Jameson]

welcome recko, hope that helps those having the DX problems :)

[abc223_86]

Ok, I'm gonna probably get a "zomg your laptop sux0rz" response out of this but...
I've been trying to run CS:S on my Vaio VGN-FE550G. The laptop isn't even a year old now (got it in march 06), core duo, integrated intel gma 945/950 video card, gig of ram.

I can manage 56fps with or without tweak, but I'm running -soft and -dxlevel 70 because I get absolutely no display at -8x or -90.
I changed to -gl and got a 1fps boost (woot), but that's only in the video stress test.

When playing a real game, ESPECIALLY with large numbers of bots (offline, heh), I only get ~5fps. I have every detail on the lowest setting, running at 640x480.

Any advice, or get a new card for my desktop and get internet at home?
Sony is stupid and soldered the videocard into the pci express port v_v.

*edit* just turned down more details and I LOST fps. O_o
it seems it drops every time I run the data stress test.

[Jameson]

Welcome :)

your kidding, sony has purposely made it so you cannot upgrade the video card? :o I guess there is nothing you can do to improve things on the laptop because so you're going to have to sort out the desktop if you want decent performance.

One thing i didn't understand though, you said it was Intel integrated graphics but then said sony has soldered the video card into the pci-e slot. Intel's IGP's are a chip on the motherboard so whats going on there?

[abc223_86]

Well, before buying, I researched and the mobo in it (I forget offhand) has a pci express slot. When I emailed sony after purchasing it, they said "the integrated card was permanantly affixed into the slot" (soldered) as to "ensure hardware compatability" :\.

I hate sony more and more each day.

[Jameson]

i'm not convinced, it potentially sounds like a lie.

here's a link to what a believe to be your chipset (http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/945gm/index.htm) and here's a supporting pdf file (http://www.silica.com/media.php/DC_online/articles/2006_2/DC2_06-page_19.pdf?dl=1#search=%22Intel%20945GM%20Express %20Chipset%22), though not from intel. The reason i think sony are lying is because the integrated graphics is not a card, its a chip that is soldered onto the motherboard just like an integrated audio chip or network chip, therefore how they soldered a chip to a pci-e slot is beyond me.

I'm not 100% saying this is a lie but i'm definitely saying that you should email Intel and ask if the 945GM chipset has a free PCI-e slot regardless of the Integrated 950 video because sony said...etc etc.

[abc223_86]

Ah, I'll have to do that, because the integrated chip sucks :P

[Jameson]

it does indeed, and its a shame as apart from that caveat your laptop has a lot of power, though you might also want to think about looking to see what overclocking options you have in the bios... that is unless Sony has soldered the delete key to the pci-e slot too :D

[abc223_86]

Actually, I've looked, there are no overclocking options in the bios :(

[recko]

Incase some of u are actually wandering wat some of the autoexec.cfg commands do heres a brief summary:

cl_ejectbrass 0
Disables shells flying out of guns

cl_phys_props_enable 0
Disables physics objects

cl_phys_props_max 0
Disables physics objects

cl_muzzleflash_dlight_3rd 0
Disables 3rd person muzzle flashes lighting up surrounding area

cl_muzzleflash_dlight_1st 0
Disables 1st person muzzle flashes lighting up surrounding area

cl_ragdoll_fade_time 1
Causes dead bodies to disappear immediately (default: 15)

cl_ragdoll_physics_enable 0
Disable ragdoll physics

cl_show_splashes 0
Disables water splash effects

cl_smooth 0
Disables smoothing views after prediction errors/juddering effect

commentary 0
Disables map commentary

dsp_enhance_stereo 0
Disable stereo effect sound enhancing

dsp_slow_cpu 1
For systems with slower CPU's: Reduces quality of dsp effects

mat_antialias 0
Disables AA

mat_bumpmap 0
Disables Bump Mapping

mat_bloom 0
Disables bloom effect

mat_bufferprimitives 1
Buffer primitive objects

mat_clipz 0
Lowers water quality

mat_fastspecular 1
Fast specular lighting

mat_hdr_enabled 0
Disables HDR

mat_mipmaptextures 0
Textures quality worsens with distance

r_cheapwaterstart 1
Worsens water quality

r_cheapwaterend 1
Worsens water quality

r_drawdetailprops 0
Don't draw detail props

r_dynamic 0
Disables dynamic lighting

r_lightinterp 0
Disables light interpolation

r_propsmaxdist 100
Object fading distance

r_RainSimulate 0
Disables rain

r_shadows 0
Disable shadows

rope_smooth 0
Disables Anti-Aliasing effect on ropes

cl_cmdrate 101
Sets CMD Rate for cable/DSL

cl_updaterate 101
Sets update rate for cable/DSL

rate 25000
Sets rate for cable/DSL

cl_interp "0.01"
Sets interp value

cl_interpolate 1
Interpolates entities on the client

fog_enable 0
Disables Fog

fog_enable_water_fog 0
Disables water fog

gl_clear 0
Disables hiding of cracks/faults between textures

CPU load settings (puts GPU load on CPU)

r_3dnow "0"
r_3dsky "0"
r_mmx "1"
r_sse "1"
r_sse2 "1"

[recko]

If u want the best fps possible on ur machine u can also use "cl_ragdollpysicsenable 0" this gives u quite a good frame boost.

Back to the quick thing lol: Dont use any custom gun models etc.. in the game keep ur gun skins on the defaults because installing custom guns has more polygons and higher textures, even though they look nice the'll slow down ur game by about another 10fps.

[abc223_86]

Yeah, it's definetly time to dismantle this laptop. I tried all of those options, and only got a 1FPS boost while making it look like crap :\

[Mampi5098]

HI,
Right i get about 15fps in the video stress test, and when i play online as soon i come into any sort of battle it goes down to about 9fps and my ping goes from about 80 to 180. Im guessing thats pretty lame. I tried adding those txt documents jameson talked about in the first post and i clearly dont know what im doing, so could you put it in extreme retard terms please haha. Basically i guess when u said add them commands to a txt document u mean just copy them to notepad and save it as a .cfg file? or something like that, But i cant find this directory your talking about, dont even know where to look to be honest. I cant find counter strike in program files.
Help me please. lol:brick:

[PressESCtoquiT]

When you open up the Program files folder, the subfolder to open up will be labeled "Valve" from there open up "Counter Strike".

[Jameson]

I'm going to update the initial post with a new config - Casey's Config. It's a well known way of getting better frame rates but the main site this is posted on doesn't allow Proxies which means most UK ISP's won't display trhe page so i'm going to do a full copy and paste and not feel guilty :p

[Mampi5098]

Ok so ive found counter strike in program files, but am i doin the rest right? where do i save this .cfg file, and what icon shud the .cfg file be because it still looks like a txt document to me, with the pic of the notepad

[Jameson]

follow this link (http://www.pureoverclock.com/download-3.html) and download

Rename file as autoexec.cfg and place it in your Steam\SteamApps\your@email.com\counter-strike source\cstrike\cfg folder.

[Mampi5098]

The download doesnt work, it just comes up with download error. Thanks for ur help

[Jameson]

it's working for me :confused:

[PressESCtoquiT]

yea I tried the link too just to see.It works. Try using a different browser.

[gangsta1]

every time i load the game up nothing happens but if i copy and past it directly in my config then it works but after i close the game and start it again it is back to the old config i dont get itNote* I'm going to leave the intial post but please ignore this now and scroll down a little to Casey's Config, it's much better.

Below are some simple settings which can massively improve your source FPS without noticeably removing any quality (eg, 1% quality change for 40% performance improvement).

I've tested this and it gave me a huge boost in frame rates. I now 'pwn' even more than before on public servers!!

First, test your starting FPS using the in game video performance test inside source. Write down the score. Now do the following:

1. Create a text file and add the follwing:

fog_enable 0
mat_bumpmap 0
mat_clipz 0
mat_specular 0
mp_decals 300
r_decal_cullsize 1
r_lod -5
r_propsmaxdist 1000
r_rainradius 0
r_rainsimulate 0
r_rainsplashpercentage 0
r_sse 0
r_mmx 0
r_3dnow 1
cl_crosshairscale 1600
fps_max 500

Name it 'autoexec.cfg' and place it to the following dir: 'Counter-Strike Source/cstrike/cfg/autoexec.cfg'

2. Either change your desktop shortcut icon for SOURCE or do "Play games" then right click and choose "Properties" then choose "Launch Options". Add to the launch line "-dxlevel 81". This instructs the game to use DirectX 8.1 which was much faster than 9 ever was but with no noticeable difference to Source graphics. Note, once you run the game with this once, to change it back if you wish, you MUST specify -dxlevel 9 to restore it. As it saves the settings and needs it explicitly set back.

Now run the FPS test again and see the difference. Post your before and after results here along with your GPU you are using!

------ Casey's Config ------

Casey's Source Config & Tweak Guide
Updated 9/21/06
Download the .cfg file already created here (http://www.pureoverclock.com/download-3.html)

Below is my expanded tweak guide for getting the best performance out of CS: Source.

[gangsta1]

ok i copied casies config and made my own text doc named it autoexec.cfg and somethings chang but not everything. if i copy your config and put it directly in my config it works great untill i close the game then it is all erased. like after people die i still see them laying on the floor and still see the tree tops and stuff. waht am i doing wrong

[xrage]

Hey guys, I guess you can say I'm completely retarded when it comes to these kinds of things, but I need serious help. When I ran the stress test, I had an average 25 FPS, with a flat 10 FPS in-game. That is bad.. I messed with configs, launch options, and all that stuff and managed to increase the FPS to 50 for the stress test, but it remains at a flat 10 in-game. My computer is pretty ****ty but I wasn't expecting it to be this bad on all low settings. Any suggestions? :confused:

[PressESCtoquiT]

what are the spec's of your PC? that would help a bit. Also is the gameplay smooth or choppy? 10 FPS seems like it would be choppy, but idk.

[Jameson]

yeah will need to know your PC specs. The stress test is useless really as its only a graphics test whereas when you play CS there is a lot of network activity tracking all the players, this stresses the CPU big time.

you should be able to see an example of this if you enter a server with say, only 5 people playing, then go into a 32 or 40 man server thats full on the same map and watch it crawl by comparison.

[Sabr]

Dear Members.

Hello. I'm new here so please be patient for my lack of knowlege.
I have Fujitsu-Siemens v3505 (2 x 1.6 [T2050] 1gb ram and INTEL GMA 945].

My main problem is ofcourse small amount of fps in CS:S. I've tried all config's which were posted here, but no changes.. still 9fps. I'm using -dxlevel 70 [with 80,81,90 - i have black screen insted of Game options] and -soft.

Graphic test in main game window give me near 35.5 fps but when i'll connect to cs:s server i won't have more than 9-10fps. All my graphic options in CS:S are chaneg to as lowest as possible.

I would be gratefoul for any help. I've looked in google.com and here. But i found only one page in Spanish and that board.

I know that notebook is not a good way in playing in such games like CS:S and i won't reach the tops of performence but.. i need near 25-30 fps 35 would be great :-)

I look forward from hearing from you.

Yours faithfully Sabr.

[Jameson]

welcome to the forums :toast:

is this (http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Fujitsu_Siemens_Amilo_Pro_V3505_VFY:APED350566M2GB/version-1.asp) your notebook? if so there are two things holding you back. The first is that though you have a great processor in there it is quite a slow one for gaming (1.66GHz). Perhaps you have some options to overclock that CPU with no voltage increases? I realize notebooks, especially from the big provididers like siemans don't give a monkey's about overclocking so there may be no options at all, if there are perhaps i/we can help you get more out of your CPU.

The real killer here is the integrated graphics, its not meant for gaming, just for the most basic of tasks, and it's this that's really causing the problems here.

tbh, is you really want to get more fps (40+) you'll need to think about upgrading the card to something else, i won't recommend a card as i'm not familar with notebook GPU's and what would be best for the money, perhaps someone else can help you here. I good place to start would be nvidia obile lineup, perhaps something like a 7600GT mobile.

[disophisis]

I was wondering why with 2 6800xts I was only getting 80 frames per second, and it wasn't allowing me to change the graphics settings up (it would lag horribly) I found this article, and I realized that I was only allowing 256 mb of ram for the game -- I changed the heap size to 512 meg, I changed the launch option to 8.1 dx and I made the cfg file, and in the stress test (1024x768, some anti aliasing etc) I jumped from 80 FPS to 110.5. Easy as that, and the game is still good looking (no change in looks)

[Jameson]

you could probably get a nice FPS boost by overclocking that P4 to 3.5GHz-ish.

[disophisis]

I've clocked it up to 3.0, not a very big overclock -- I'm using a stock heatsink and fan, but then I changed the clock back down to 2.8. I haven't run prime95 or anything for stability as I'm not in the habit of waiting for long periods of time.
But heat will not be an issue -- at 2.8 I'm running at 38C with no load, and it barely increases with a load.
Maybe I'll take you up on that and try it out. I'll need to move slowly though, because I don't want my pc freakin' out at me.

Thanks for the tip :)

[disophisis]

Well I went into my BIOS advanced chipset features to manually change my FSB. My reference clock is 133x21, so I figured, if I change my FSB from 533 --> 550, I should be sitting on 3.15 or so. This is how I did my overclock before, and it worked well. My CPU FSB and my RAM FSB are linked, and it seems to work well that way, (just for your information)
Well I changed the FSB to 550, and saved the settings, but when it went through POST, it detected it as 137, or 138, giving me a CPU speed of 2.87. Should I just go higher so it will detect more, or should I use some sort of program to overclock.

[FlippyKid]

i did the hole thing where u said to do the notpad thing and put it into DX8.1, i got an amazing 5 fps boost ( WOOT) and then i realised ingame that well i didnt make any dif, wana know why? well i dont know so i cant tell you, anyways when i put on my netgragh_3 on i realised that i got a choke lvl of 40 - 70 when i used to have 0-4, so if i didnt have that joke affect it would help ( i think, im not even sure), oh well, i tryed going back to DX9 and well everything whent super light, so well thats where i am right now, oh and i also tryed bot your idea and the other one but nether really made a dif (ps: i got 38FPS before anything then i got 48FPS useing bot ideas on DX8.1 then i whent back to normal with a new driver(this is total freakydiky but) i got 88(WOOT)FPS with new video driver and with all the extra things off, but now im missing a few textures when i do the test, so :'( im super totlay lost right now(btw i like chese, and my comp specs are 1.79 ghz (woot real slow :D), radeon 9000 pro video card, and well 512mb of ram)

[omnislash454]

i put in these commands in autoexec.cfg in the right folder but it wont apply them ingame. can someone help plz? do i have to go to launch options and set it to exec it? also how do you put set multiple launch options? do you have to put each command in quotes? sry im a noob.

fog_enable 0
mat_bumpmap 0
mat_clipz 0
mat_specular 0
mp_decals 300
r_decal_cullsize 1
r_lod -5
r_propsmaxdist 1000
r_rainradius 0
r_rainsimulate 0
r_rainsplashpercentage 0
r_sse 0
r_mmx 0
r_3dnow 1
cl_crosshairscale 1600
fps_max 500

[FlippyKid]

how do u know it didn't launch?? mabe it did but it didnt make a big dif, like the bigest change in fps was when i whent from DX9 to DX8.1 cuz my video card runs on DX8.1 better then DX9, did you try changing your DX version?

[Madox]

Hy all!!!
I have a little problem....
My config is Athlon 2000AP+,MB Epox 8rda pro,1GB ram,asus 6800ultra agp8x,creative audigy 4 pro, 450W power supply
I have created autoexec.cfg with all the parameters set, and change form Directx9 to DirectX 8. Video stress test gives me about 80FPS, but when I am in game it lowers to some 40FPS...... what is wrong?
Resolution is 1600*1050 for widescreen and video details are set by default..
Before creating autoexec.cfg and changing to directx 9 FPS were even worse.....

THX

[Jameson]

the stress test is not really a good indicator of performance. It's a very basic source test (graphically) plus you need to remember that all the extra player data for a 32 man server is a big CPU load and that's missing in the test.

An example, if you go in a server with no players in you will probably get a frame rate much closer to the stress test, but when there are 40 players on a server it'll be far lower because of all the extra work involved (mainly cpu based).

The main cause of this is lack of CPU power. You might want to overclock your CPU as far as you can to help your fps in game as that is the bottleneck.

[EndlessSalsa]

I know there has been many posts about low fps and choppy gameplay during cs:s. however, im having the same problems as most of the guys here. during standard css maps i get an average abotu 25 fps. that number drops below the 20s once i step into an open area, for example: the outdoors of militia or nuke. at other times my fps can be as low as 7... ive tried the casey's config file and ive also tried launching css at -dxlevel 81. nothing seems to work. can anyone help me?

My comp. specs are:

Intel Pentium D 2.8GHz
nVidia Geforce 6600 graphics
1GB of RAM


Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

PS: Whats a decent graphics card by nVidia with a PCI slot for gaming?

[Jameson]

Well I went into my BIOS advanced chipset features to manually change my FSB. My reference clock is 133x21, so I figured, if I change my FSB from 533 --> 550, I should be sitting on 3.15 or so. This is how I did my overclock before, and it worked well. My CPU FSB and my RAM FSB are linked, and it seems to work well that way, (just for your information)
Well I changed the FSB to 550, and saved the settings, but when it went through POST, it detected it as 137, or 138, giving me a CPU speed of 2.87. Should I just go higher so it will detect more, or should I use some sort of program to overclock. yes that's how it works, the FSB (133) should be quadrupled to get your final value, 133 * 4 = 533, sop when you set it to 550 you changed it to 137.5 (550 / 4 = 137.5). This means when you made this change you were running 137.5x21 = 2887.

If you want 3.15 GHz you'll need to set this to 150 (600) x21.

[Jameson]

i put in these commands in autoexec.cfg in the right folder but it wont apply them ingame. can someone help plz? do i have to go to launch options and set it to exec it? also how do you put set multiple launch options? do you have to put each command in quotes? sry im a noob.

fog_enable 0
mat_bumpmap 0
mat_clipz 0
mat_specular 0
mp_decals 300
r_decal_cullsize 1
r_lod -5
r_propsmaxdist 1000
r_rainradius 0
r_rainsimulate 0
r_rainsplashpercentage 0
r_sse 0
r_mmx 0
r_3dnow 1
cl_crosshairscale 1600
fps_max 500add the following to the bottom on the auto exec, then when you load CS check the console (use the ` key next to 1) and see if you can find it, if so it did load the file.
echo "_auto exec loaded_"

[Jameson]

I know there has been many posts about low fps and choppy gameplay during cs:s. however, im having the same problems as most of the guys here. during standard css maps i get an average abotu 25 fps. that number drops below the 20s once i step into an open area, for example: the outdoors of militia or nuke. at other times my fps can be as low as 7... ive tried the casey's config file and ive also tried launching css at -dxlevel 81. nothing seems to work. can anyone help me? My comp. specs are:

Intel Pentium D 2.8GHz
nVidia Geforce 6600 graphics
1GB of RAM

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

PS: Whats a decent graphics card by nVidia with a PCI slot for gaming?could be as expected for your current setup, the 6600 (non GT) is an old card by todays standards and was by no means a good card when it was launched. You didn't mention what res your running in but i assume its an LCD at 1280x1024?

Anyhow, as you already assumed, you'll probably need to upgrade your video card to get a decent frame rate. How much are you willing to spend?

[FlippyKid]

do you think its just cuz my comp is poop, and thats why i cant run CSS well, cuz i see these ppl with good comps in here with the same problem, and somone might have the same fps as me, maybe i can't go any farther then what i have now, oh well its all good

[Jameson]

pretty much, your processor is a bit slow for CS and the GPU is a budget card that's not really meant for hardcore gaming. Don't stress though, as your new PC is going to be mind blowingly smooth in CS.

[EndlessSalsa]

Huh, about my resolution, i was playing under 800 x 600 and that was the resulting fps. anyway, so is it soley my graphics card that is holding the frame rates back? and do you know if they have released any new driver updates for the 6600 (non GT) even though its incredibly old?

In the end, if it is the card, whats a decent graphics card that can run css and most other recent games? PCI Express... and how much is it around usually?

Thanks for the help.

[Jameson]

it's mainly the GPU that's causing these poor frame rates, your CPU isn't exactly cutting edge, but it's good enough though, and you can always overclock it.

As for a new card, anything above the 7900 GT level would be a good place to go. A few month back i'd have said go for an X1900 XT 512MB (were at really good prices), but they are really hard to find now. I'd say go for a 7950 GT 512MB (£160) if you don't want to spend a ton of money.

If you overclock your CPU and perhaps even the 7950 GT, i can confidently say you could then play at 1280x1024 with max image quality settings along with 2xAA and 16xAF on in CSS at over 60 fps.

[Guizas]

Ok i did my strees test and i had 64.something, after the CFG i had 96.something, my setup is.
Conroe E6400
BFG 7300GT
OCZ 667 2 sticks of 512MB running dual
Windows Vista final DX10
Running at 1280x1024 if i change it to 1024x768 i only get a 2 fps gain wich i think is not worth it coz i like to tun it at 1280.
Is this any good??? the 96 fps?? should i Overclock my conroe since it was bought exactly to be overclocked a bit, change the memory frequency, or timing what do you reccommend???

Thank a lot

[stealththedevil]

Hey...thxs for this thread it worked a treat.

I gained a massive increase on my g/fs comp which i built and its a low spec comp.Stress test reading from standard was 57fps...then after was 100fps.So i deleted the fps capped line and tryed again....it then increased to 147fps :toast:

Tested on my comp and it went from 115fps to 187fps...but i like my graphics to look lush so i dont think i will use it on my comp.

thx again ;)

[Jameson]

to those of you who had there graphics settings keep resetting all the time, it's usually caused by using the -dxlevel 70/80/81/90/95 etc in the launch options and then not removing this line after you've set it and run the game once.

you must remove this line after you set it.

[smith]

all you need for fps is a max of 60 fps because thats what the human eye can see any more than that is just useless so make your setting give you a min of 60 fps then your set;)

[romeozor]

more like make ur eyes hurt

[Jameson]

the whole 60fps argument is just not true, test it on a crt and see.

[fr35h]

the magic number is 40 i had to learn this in a media class, cable tv refreshes at 29.9fps and it doesnt seem choppy to me i dont know about you guys. My old computer was only able to get 35fps with day of defeat and i had no problems with the game at all even when i finished building this pc and using and started getting 100+fps i dont notice that much of a difference with that game.

That doesnt mean id go back to dealing with low frame rates now the numbers are more of a pride thing the more i get the happier i am. I cant wait to get my second 7950gx2 and push out more frames :toast:

[smith]

the whole 60fps argument is just not true, test it on a crt and see.

average human can only see 60, the reason you think you may need more is cuz when you turn or make quick mvements in game it stresses the hardware makeing you frames drop:p

[clever]

sorry but im new to all this and i need a little help i dont see 'Counter-Strike Source/cstrike/cfg i have all of that BUT the--> ''cfg'' ?????? what is the cfg

[romeozor]

you mean the dir? of the file?

[clever]

no it says to Name it 'autoexec.cfg' and place it to the following dir: 'Counter-Strike Source/cstrike/cfg/autoexec.cfg'
^^ what is the cfg?????

[Jameson]

just create a txt file in that folder and rename the extenetion as 'cfg'

if you can't see file extentions do the following. open a window, go to tools / folder options / view / untick 'hide extentions for known file types'

[clever]

all i see is [addons] [cache] [gfx] [logos] [manual] [maps] [models] [overviews] [save] [sound] [sprites] [dlls] thats the only folders in there i no this is somthing thats not hard to do but i have never did anything like this befor im just sick of only geting 20 fps in the game and not killing no one!

[Jameson]

do a file search for config.cfg, that should bring up the correct folder.

Steam\SteamApps\your@email.com\counter-strike source

[VanillaFace]

Hi. I have been getting between 10 and 30 fps. I have set all the settings to low, set every thing in the consol you have suggested, changed my heap size, and put the autoconfig file in my css file. I still only get 10 fps or lower when in a fire fight. One thing i noticed is if i restart my computer ill get around 60 fps for around five minutes but it will continually go down until it get to about 20. During the stress test i get 170 fps after a reboot and about 70 after ive been playing a while.

My Computer Specs
Graphics card: Nvidia 7900 GT
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 4000+
Memory: 2 Gigs
PSU: 600W

If you can please help me figure out what is going on.
Thank you.

[smith]

something wrong with your hardware:o a 7900gt should be pumping out at least 30-40 on high settings

[Jameson]

time to get testing. get orthos prime and 3d mark 05 and run them seperately for about an hour.

what memory do you have? is anything overclocked?

i'd also recommend you get core temp and cpu-z to see what happens when you do those tests.

[Vented]

This is probably a very old topic now, so sorry if I have bumped a dead topic. I just wanted to say thanks for the awesome guide. My average fps was 19 before I tried this, and at first, I was a bit skeptical about tweaking my config.

After I went through the script, removing some commands (I hope you don't mind =X ) that I enjoy having in the game, and changing my DirectX to 8.1, I fired up the stress test. My average FPS was 45!

When I was playing office, there were times where I would get my FPS to 100! Speaking of which, is there a use of the FPS limit set to 100?

Anyways, thanks again. I don't know how I can ever show my gratitude, now that I might be able to enjoy my game to the fullest!

[Jameson]

glad it helped. to change the fps limit type 'fps_max 300' in the console. 300 is the source engines limit.

[iconnecturwheels]

Hey, thanks for this guide. While reading it I also noticed your link to the Folding thing, and have decided try it out, so I joined your team. :toast:

[Jameson]

welcome mate, and good on ya for joining the folding team :toast:

[TopT]

I want to play CSS on my laptop but i have a black screen after starting the game. I think my Intel GMA 945GM is the problem. I want to play counter strike source on the computer, can you help me?!

[kishokuwarui]

what was this, here i was expecting good results, and i get crap. no offense, but you said that there was not going to be that big of a difference in graphics, well there is. and now my text is all screwed up, all the colors are more contrasted.. and my fps went down by 10, from 260 to 250.. you should indicate that it wont work for everyone.. now i need to redownload it from steam

[Jameson]

why use it if you're getting 260 fps?

I didn't write the guide, i'm just passing it on as in the UK the original source for this is blocked for almost all user through a proxy.

[iconnecturwheels]

what was this, here i was expecting good results, and i get crap. no offense, but you said that there was not going to be that big of a difference in graphics, well there is. and now my text is all screwed up, all the colors are more contrasted.. and my fps went down by 10, from 260 to 250.. you should indicate that it wont work for everyone.. now i need to redownload it from steam
i honestly don't understand why you would need to redownload/install steam. ???
Also, what kind of setup are you running to be getting 260fps?

[kishokuwarui]

i honestly don't understand why you would need to redownload/install steam. ???
Also, what kind of setup are you running to be getting 260fps?

btw i bought css from steam, so i had to uninstall and redl it from steam...
as for setup.. i just put everything on highest

why use it if you're getting 260 fps?

I didn't write the guide, i'm just passing it on as in the UK the original source for this is blocked for almost all user through a proxy.

lol i thought that if i used the guide, i'd b able to get around 300+ for the stress test..


EDIT: ok yay.. i got it to work. and for ppl who have had the same problem.. change the launch thing to "-dxlevel 90", not "-dxlevel 9". then start css, and set the video options to what u want, then close css, delete the "-dxlevel 90" u entered previously for the launch thing, press ok. now everything should be better :D
ps: it also fixed my dark de_dust thing

[VanillaFace]

time to get testing. get orthos prime and 3d mark 05 and run them seperately for about an hour.

what memory do you have? is anything overclocked?

i'd also recommend you get core temp and cpu-z to see what happens when you do those tests.

I ran 3d mark 06 and got 3324. My graphics card is over clocked.

[Smokey Amp]

Hello there.

I've just joined the board for the main reason of posting in this thread after stumbling across it via a Google search. I had hoped that the information provided here would enable me to play CS:S with a lot less problems, but so far, it hasn't.

My sister bought a new laptop a few weeks ago, and while it may not be built for gaming, I assumed it should at least be able to run CS:S as the game is rather old now.

The specs of her computer are as follows:

Processor: Intel Celeron M CPU 1.73 GHZ (Not fantatic, I know)
Memory: 1024MB RAM
Graph Card: Mobile Intel 945GM (Approx. Total Memory is 224MB)

I got the above specs from running DXDiag.

The laptop is running Vista, which I think could be part of the problem. I honestly don't know why they're putting Vista on laptops of this spec. They should just wait. -.-

Anyway, I've created the .cfg file in the correct folder on my system, I've also added the DirectX 8.1 option to my launch setup, yet it doesn't seen to make a difference.

When I run the stress test I seem to get close to 17fps or 20fps (Never higher) everytime, even with every graphics detail set to low and the resolution at 800X600. I figured the card should be able to produce more than that.

Am I doing something wrong, or is this laptop never going to be able to run CS:S?

On a side note: I want to enter more the one option into the launch option bar, so how would I go about doing that as it is just a singular text field? So far, I have just written both commands next to one another, like so:

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/SmokeyAmp/launchoptions.jpg

Is that correct?

Also, am I using the correct heapsize for my system's memory?

I'd really appreciate any help or advice you could give me as I'm getting really bored just playing the small fy and gg maps on CS:S (Which I can run quite smoothly). I want to play de_dust etc.

Thanks.

[Jameson]

Though CS:S is old, it's still very demanding, perhaps not graphically, but computationally. A 1.73 GHz Celeron M is going to hold things back, and the 945 GM chipset (the GPU is probably the Intel GMA 950) is not in any way a gaming card, even if the marketing tries to persude this.

It also uses a similar technolgy as Turbo Cache or Hyper memory as found on the cheap, waste of time NVidia and AMD graphics cards. The Intel version is called "Dynamic Video Memory Technology (DVMT)" and essentially means it uses system memory as graphics memory, so that 224MB you are getting from DXdiag is mostly, if not all coming from your 1Gb of system memory.

Because of this, you no longer have 1Gb of memory, you have around 768MB, so a heapsize of 512MB is too big, try 384MB.

And Vista is certainly not a good idea on a laptop like this, period, you'd be much better off all round on XP.

This guide will work for those on mid range systems (6600GT type graphics cards), but if the GPU is too weak, there's not much you can do but try it, and hope for the best.

[Smokey Amp]

And Vista is certainly not a good idea on a laptop like this, period, you'd be much better off all round on XP.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Although, I don't think I'll be able to persuade my sister to switch to XP for the purpose of my own gaming satisfactions, therefore I'm probably not going to be able to play the large maps. :(

I'll just have to wait until I get a decent desktop computer.

[SorlorG]

i'm a noob, but how do i restore my settings back to normal because i used those casey's settings and they made my game look like crap, all the boxes and barrels are pure white

[teabaq2232]

I bought a 7300 after hearing about the bad frame rates and after overclocking it i get 70 fps before that i got like 30

[hamwedges]

So i purchased a new gfx card the other day.. a nVidia GeForce 7600GS, 512mb core clock=400MHz Memory clock=700MHz (AGP 8x). I was thinking it would dramatically increase my fps in CSS. It hasn't. I'm still getting an fps of 15-35. My ping usually hangs around 30ish.

I have turned all the graphics details right down and off where possible, using this guide, but it has made no difference. Basically, no matter what i do to the in game graphics settings, it does nothing compared to when its on the highest level (which the game automatically configured it to originally). I've also tried changing the DX level.. nothing.

Computer Stats:
processor: 3.2ghz P4
RAM: 1gb Geil Dual Channel
GFX: nVidia GeForce 7600GS 512mb
monitor: Samsung LCD 710N 72hz
Connection: ADSL2+ @~1.5mb/s

My main question is... should i be getting more fps than i am currently (~25-35)?
Help would be much appreciated...

[russell16688]

Hamwedges im sure you should be with your spec posted there im running:

2.9ghz single core AMD 4000+
2gb corsair xms2
7600gt
dell monitor (17")and with that spec in the video stress test im gettin 158fps and in game using fraps im at leats 60-70fps in firefights and in less stressful bits its over 100 sometimes.

have you updated your drivers?get the ones just before the latest ones (the 158 drivers dont work with the 7600 cards) as this upped my frame rate noticeable when i did

[romeozor]

the game depends more on the cpu, i was having about 60 fps on servers with my p4 630 and x1800

[hamwedges]

Yea.. my driver's up-to-date. Ive tried the one from the nVidia website and i am currently using one from NGO. Neither of which makes much difference to my fps.
In the Video Stress Test, i get 84 fps with the graphics options on full (which is what the game reccomends for my system) and the same when i have everything turned right down.

[hamwedges]

Is it possible that a hot CPU could be causing my dramas?
Mine's a Pentium 4, 3.2ghz... anyone know what sort of temp this should be running at?

[hamwedges]

Allrighty.. ive fixed my problem... My processor is a prescot, and yes, it was running temperatures rivaling the sun (80-90 degrees).
My CPU heatsync was full of dust and crap so by vacuuming that out and giving a small dollup of heatsync gel (Arctic Silver 5 - good stuff!), its brought my idle temp down about 30 degrees and my fps while playing CSS stay around 50-70 (max graphics settings).
Also improved overall computer speed and stability.

Yay!

[Jameson]

config file updated to version 2.0 [10/05/2007]

[exceL91]

Hey, that didn't work too bad at all! I didn't think I'd see much difference because of the really poor setup I'm using.
So with my Radeon 9550 @ 640x480 res, here's what I got:

Before tweak - 64.4 fps
After tweak - 84.82 fps!

Dude! That's an extra 20 fps just for applying that simple tweak! :cool:


Wow, thats weird because my setup is, Radeon 9800 @ 800x600 res. And i still only get like 40-60 fps and i did all the tweaks he said. and i have a better video card then you. and i dont even get 80+ fps what did i do wrong?

[CoolGenericName]

I just bought a brand new Sony Vaio with Vista home premium, it was fine until i tried playing CS:S... I was getting an average of about 10 fps in any game i joined, making it virtually impossible to play, this sucked. I then ran the video stress test, which gave me an average of like 47 fps or so and i saw it top out around 100 i'm just thinking... wtf... I have a wireless N card and wireless N router and i normally get around 3.0 mbps, I have a 1.8 ghz core 2 duo, 2 gb 667mhz ram and x3100 intel graphic chip which either has or is sucking up 358mb of ram. I'm just curious why it would run so slow and I did get a boost of about 1 fps after doing the tweak, that made me frown a bit. Any help would make me pretty damn happy

[BuBbA]

Where can I find a Casey's Configuration for Counter Strike?

[Jameson]

first page of this thread...

[IRISH]

Everything seems to work fine on my system except I now have a scroll bar in the middle of my CS:S screen...

Any suggestions

[Jameson]

is it to do with the chat window? If so i think you can just press y to open it and then press enter, it goes away, i used to have a problem when i would alt tab to windows.

[IRISH]

I removed the registry.blob, the new .cfg files and started over. It went away. I did try what you said to do but that didn't help. Everything is fine now.

I will say that the changes have boosted my fps to 120-160 in most CSS maps and the lowest steady at 104 fps.

Thank you for your efforts and reply, keep up the good work.

[ryang]

Ok, so I buy a new laptop and I cant Counter Strike Source on it
Well i can but 20 fps is terrible, so what can i do....i tried to use the mod and got to 25-30 ish....
Some specs

Processor Processor AMD Turion 64 X2 mobile technology TL-50 / 1.6 GHz Multi-Core processor technology Dual-Core 64-bit processor YesGraphics Processor / Vendor NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150

at first it only had 1 gig of ram and i upgraded to 2 gigs of ram....still about 30 fps....is there anything i can do?

[say what]

try getting a processor upgrade

[Jameson]

the multi thread upgrade should come out sooner or later (no idea when, but it's tba) so that will boost things. I'm afriad most people don't get a good enough GPU on there laptop for this game...

[Yblad]

Hey, that didn't work too bad at all! I didn't think I'd see much difference because of the really poor setup I'm using.
So with my Radeon 9550 @ 640x480 res, here's what I got:

Before tweak - 64.4 fps
After tweak - 84.82 fps!

Dude! That's an extra 20 fps just for applying that simple tweak! :cool:

this may sound daft, but whats the point in getting extra fps beyond you moitors refresh rate? you wont see the extra frames per second. this is presuming your running at 60hz not 70 or 75.

[copic]

I recently got a new mac book pro, as soon as i got the chance i ran bootcamp(which allows you to dual boot XP) to test out this new mac laptop with source. With settings at full (except filtering, which was at trillinear) i was able to reach just over 300 fps :o
i decided to run this config to see if i could get an extra improvement for fun(after removing fps max of 101) sadly i couldnt T_T
ne way i like this config its definetly worth using but i was wandering if ne one cold tell me how to put bullet imapcts back on. I like to no where my shots have been and i couldnt find the command for it that worked. ne ideas?

[Eight]

I used this config and it works great! My computer has no need for texture and models to be on low though. So how do I change them to start out as high and also turn sprays back on?

[Michael915pk]

this may sound daft, but whats the point in getting extra fps beyond you moitors refresh rate? you wont see the extra frames per second. this is presuming your running at 60hz not 70 or 75.

Having a higher max FPS will help ensure that your minimum wont drop below the 60-75fps that your monitor supports.

[Yblad]

Yeh, i was on a major hangover when i posted that :P

[say what]

Yeh, i was on a major hangover when i posted that :P

thats great XD

[Yblad]

lol you know one of those days when even the simplest thing does'nt make sense? it was one of those haha.

[VasiliosX]

Okay i'm a new source player and i need some help. Its reallyyyyy laggy if i try to play without a config. like Caseys, But if i try to Use it, Everytime i try to play, right after the map loads, i black screen and get an error. It errors even if i try to set the dxlvl or heapset. Can anyone help me please?

also, my console wont open, lol


Thanksss!

[Yblad]

post your system specs mate and it will help alot with working out the problem.

[hollowpoints]

can someone help me out with my fps the most i'm getting is 70-90 fps i tryed alot of settings but i'm still clueless please helps.. My rig is on my system specs..please help MEEEEEE... i know my rig can do better with a geforce 8800gtx and a good cpu ???what am i'm doing wrong???

[Cilgin64Turk]

why i love this forum


Thanks man!!!

[nickgj83]

here is a good site with lots of fps configs

http://counterstrikesourcetactics.blogspot.com/2008/01/getting-****ty-fps-and-lag-caseys.html

[Snowdream]

Hey Jameson,

I have used EVERYTHING mentioned in your guide...and my FPS is no better really...
I only got CSS today and i cannot manage to get it past 10fps no matter what i do! Please help! :)

[say what]

if you put your computer specs in your profile, we will be able to help you better

[Snowdream]

I have done mate

[kaganader]

did you click save for every one as you put them in, its still not showing your computer specs.

[Snowdream]

Yes, I can see them when i visit my profile!

[say what]

did you select "YES" where it says "show system specs"?

[Snowdream]

Sorry, didn't see that, i was going through a diff way. anyway, the'yre on now :)

[xXx]

shows you have accelerator, but not what your graphics are.

hi ppl looks like a good forum, and polite not bad admins.

[Doctor_Death]

Hi xXx

Welcome to our forums!

[TechnicalFreak]

Snowdream, do you have an onboard graphics card?
If "yes", do you also experience any stuttering in the game??

I have tried similar on a friends system, but when I first saw that he had built in graphics card, I told him to get a real card. He did so and the FPS went up.

have you tested to add in the "Launch options" the following:
-dxlevel 70 -console -16bpp -noforcemaccel -noforcemparms -high

I'm unsure if that graphics card that you have is using some of the memory from the system, but if you go into the BIOS of the computer you will see if that is so. Also, Vista is known for "eating" memory and using more resources than XP. But 2Gb of memory should make the game smooth...


EDIT: Sorry, didn't realise that you are using a laptop. Nevermind the graphics card then.. There is something else you can do. Just can't remember what it was, it was something to add in the "autoexec.cfg" file. I'll come back later when I have found my old files (somewhere on a CD..).

[Snowdream]

Okay. New comp.
2.4GHz pentium 4
1GB ram
Nvidia GeForce 5600 Ultra

and it runs like heaven...now to try CS:S on it! :o

[RoosterCogburn]

OK so I've tried everything recommended so far and my FPS is still around 12. I'm not extremely computer-savvy so I'm hoping you guys can help me out here. Also, getting a new graphics card is not an option for me, I'm stuck with the Inspiron 1525's integrated graphics. Does this mean my days of CS:S on this computer are done?

[Datam]

hi! you save my ass! I have a Acer Aspire One ZG5 and it doesnt work.. I have download your document and than some properties added.. than it was good... when someone have some question that do not work with the same model ask me

[logan]

OK so I've tried everything recommended so far and my FPS is still around 12. I'm not extremely computer-savvy so I'm hoping you guys can help me out here. Also, getting a new graphics card is not an option for me, I'm stuck with the Inspiron 1525's integrated graphics. Does this mean my days of CS:S on this computer are done?
i have a feeling that it's teh integrated graphics.

i recently got a laptop with intel's Arrandale integrated graphics. it's a brand new graphic solution, but it is just plain awful in games. in TF2, i can barely play, and it looks very plainly much worse with all settings set to low than my HD4200 integrated on another setup.

intel's integrated graphics are just plain bad :(