| Patched
UP?
First things first…
go here
and get the latest version of Half-Life - 1.0.1.6.
The
Basics…
For those of you who
don't know what multiplayer is all about in FPS [First
Person Shoot 'em ups] read on… if you know all about
getting yourself into a server and start fraggin but
want to improve your game… go here.
You have a servers
and clients. Clients [YOU] being the computers
that connect to the server, the server is the machine
that hosts the game.
You connect to a server
of your choice and you enter the map where other Half-Lifers
will be fraggin away.
Half-Life comes equipped
with some shit-hot multiplayer maps. Later versions
include updates and a couple of new maps.
There is a number of
ways to get into a server and start killing…
1. Using Half-Life's
Multiplayer Launcher.
2. Using GameSpy [GS].
3. Using the console to manually connect to a
server. [What's
the console?].
The most common way
to DM [Death Match] is using the Half-Life Multiplayer
Launcher, although GS is becoming a lot more popular
due to its added functionality and 'ease of use'.
Requirements…
1. A PC [no really].
2. A modem in your PC or some other form of connection.
[Must be faster that V.90 56K].
4. Half-Life version 1.0.1.6.
5. 1 hour of your time online. [For now!]
6. Willingness to be killed a hell of a lot by
experienced players before you learn how to play.
Even if you have completed
Half-Life on Hard you will get your assed kicked all
over the shop until you learn the skills and styles
of play. It also takes time to adjust to latency. Latency…
"What's Latency?" I hear you say.
Latency
or Lag
Lag, as most of you
know it, is the time it takes your computer to
pass data to the server, then back and visa-versa.
When you connect to a server there is going to be a
certain amount of lag that will affect your gameplay.
Lag is made up of certain factors…
1. The speed
of your connection
2. The speed of the server you connect to
3. The events in the game
4. ISP [Internet Service Provider]
5. Time of day
If you have a 56K modem
and you aren't paying for you ISP i.e. no monthly fee
or even worse free calls too, your lag will be sky high
due to the traffic of the ISP's network.
I suggest if you really
want to DM on Half-Life you pay for a decent service.
Other than that, try lots of free ISP's to see who performs
best. I suggest Breathe or Virgin. Don't go for a freecall
ISP's because you will get disconnected a lot. The amount
of people using it will be large so it will always be
slow. Free ISP's are better if you have a faster connection
than 56K like Cable or ISDN.
When you are in a DM
pressing TAB [by default] will display your statistics…
Name, Score & Latency. [Latency being the number
on the right hand side].
Click
for a larger image.
If there is a lot going
on at once in one area of a DM you will experience slowdown
depending on your connection. This is due to your modem
transferring and receiving more data.
In the Half-Life multiplayer
launcher you will see a server list with dots by the
server depicting the speed of the server. The more green
dots the better. I suggest that 56K modem owner's stick
to 6+ green dots for a good connection. GameSpy3D
however, shows the lag in a numerical format the same
as if you were in a game. So you can see what your lag
or latency is going to be before joining a game.
The more Lag there is
the harder and more annoying gameplay becomes. I will
be taking you through tweaking your connection here.
[Coming Soon].
You will see what I'm
talking about once you get into a game.
I wouldn't recommend
Multiplayer Half-Life to anyone with a connection slower
than 56K. Gameplay is too choppy and it like watching
a slideshow. The less lag the better. You should be
aiming for a lag or latency of about 200 odd with a
V.90 56K modem. How do
you join a game?
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