next »

[Lt. Maverick]

What is Pure Mode? A '"Pure server"' is a server that forces all clients connecting to the server to use content that matches what is on the server. This way, clients who are playing on the server cannot cheat by modifying the game content on their PC. This is the standard method used by cheaters.

Without "Pure" servers, clients can and do modify their materials, sounds, and models files on their PC to give them advantages in the game. Some also allow themselves to see through walls, make enemy models larger or brighter, or make certain sounds louder, thus giving them an advantage while playing. Are you pissed-off yet?

We have already set the sv_pure console variable to 1 several months ago. However, the server currently ensures that very little of it's data matches the content (materials, models, and sounds) on client machines.

My plan to to update these settings so as by default, the server will kick more clients whose custom content varies from that the server is using. The server can also force clients to use content provided by the game server itself, and will never kick players who have only modded default content, like custom skins or models we provide on the server-side.

Mode 1 Details

In this mode, the list of content that the server enforces is specified in the file pure_server_whitelist.txt, which is contained in the server's hl2 directory. Server administrators can edit this file to change which content clients are allowed to modify. For example, the server could specify in this file that clients are allowed to modify sounds, but not materials or models. - We are currently in Mode 1 with very little protected content.

Mode 2 Details

In this mode, all game content is forced to be the default from Valve. This is identical to running in mode 1 and with everything in the whitelist file set to: from_steam.

Well, as many of you have seen, the upgrade to the Orange Box game engine did little to nothing to stop cheaters from playing in servers. In fact, cheating appears to be increasing. As a result of this, I've elected to raise the level of the "Pure" settings on our servers. I will be experimenting with these changes over the next few days. If you are a legit player, you will hardly even notice the change except you will likely see less cheaters in the servers and what is listed in the below section.

By making this change, our servers will be better protected from cheating,that's for sure. But they will will likely suffer some negative side-effects. For one, players will may longer be able to spray the walls with their images. Also, players may no longer be able to join the server if they've installed custom client-side skins on their weapons or player. I couldn't care less about the custom skins personally, and the sprays isn't a big deal since there are so many that are inappropriate. But all these are part of the CSS community and it's truly unfortunate they need to be blocked because dickheads are such little pussies they have to cheat to win and ruin it for the legit players who just want to have fun.

I will update this thread as I make changes, so if you being having problems connecting, please respond and let me know.

Have a good one,
Mav

[spcbaker]

would this explain spectating several players with their crosshair an inch away from the intended target and still getting hits?

[Lt. Maverick]

That may explain some of that, but the Orange Box version of CSS is not as smooth in my opinion, so some of what you're seeing may simply be the game's poor performance with shot registry and its poor lag compensation algorithms.

The most important thing you can do to limit the experience of what you are describing is make sure you have your client flow rates set appropriately for your Internet connection. The are as follows:

cl_updaterate 66
cl_cmdrate 66
rate 100000 (one-hundred thousand)

Our servers are set to automatically force rates between 33 and 66 on the cl_updaterate and cl_cmdrate settings, and between 75000 and 100000 for the rate setting. We leave the bottom threshold of these at a lower number so people with slower Internet speeds can still play without huge lag due to their connection speed being slower. But because there is a semi-large window from the lowest to highest settings for these, many people with good Internet connections that have them set too low will not see very smooth gameplay. So make sure you set them to the highest settings listed above if you have DSL or better.

Take care,
Mav