Half-Life 2 Performance Tips

New!  Updated for Half-Life 2 Deathmatch

This page is dedicated to helping you learn all of the ways you can improve your gaming experience when playing on the Internet against others. There are tons of resources out there already, so I won't try to repeat them all here. I will, however, rate them and categorize them so you can use them more effectively.

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Playing Tips
PC Hardware
Operating System and Drivers
Half-Life Configuration
Oz Key Bindings
How Do I Use the Hook?
Network Optimization
Other Tips and Utilities
 

Playing Tips

Increase your mouse sensitivity: The faster you can move laterally and spin around, the better. The default mouse sensitivity is set really low, meaning you need to move the mouse a long way to spin all the way around. You can fix this, but I suggest doing it gradually so you can get used to it along the way. Start by upping the value to 6. Here's how:

• Bring down the console by hitting the ~ (tilde) key (doesn't work?  You'll need to enable the console first)
• Enter the following:     sensitivity 6 <enter>
• Get rid of the console by hitting ~ again

Once you get used to this, up the value by 2 or 3 each time. Experienced players have their sensitivity set as high as 20.

Find the action: In order to maximize kills, you must seek out the areas of the map where everybody's killing each other. This is often not the most comfortable place to be, but it's where the best players are, and where the best chances of obtaining a quick kill are. Note that many players may be injured and near death here, and it may be your shot that takes them out. Don't shy away from the action.

Grab a better weapon first: once you spawn, you'll probably get stuck with the SMG.  You'll probably want to try to find something better before you get into a firefight, if possible.  If you know the map well, sprint to a good weapon, or grab a secondary-fire grenade, at least.

Always aim for the head: most servers are configured to do maximum damage at the head, so always aim there if possible.

Turn down your video settings: Use the defaults recommended at install, then turn them down a couple notches.  System performance makes a difference.  Sacrifice some of that UI beauty for online gaming performance.

Know your weapons: Be sure to experiment with all of the weapons available in the map you're in. They will all serve you well in certain situations; you need to learn when to use which weapon, and learn the keystrokes necessary to quickly switch between weapons. You might even want to consider creating key bindings (see below) for quick access to your favorite weapons. A couple of things that might not be immediately obvious:

• Right-click on the shotgun fires two rounds.  Shotgun does the most damage close-up.
• Holding down the right- mouse button on the gravity gun lets you catch what someone throws at you, if you get it just right.  You can then left-click to throw it back & kill them.
• The .357 takes forever to reload, and Valve just turned down the damage a bit, so it's less effective.
• Use your gravity gun to catch energy balls shot at you (the secondary-fire on the pulse cannon) & then throw them back.
• Right-clicking on a grenade tosses it close; practice this, then quickly switch to your gravity gun, pick it up, and toss it before it explodes.  This takes practice, but is a fun way to use grenades, which sometimes people don't otherwise use.

Try to mix up your weapons: don't get stuck always using one kind of weapon; it's not as fun, and sometimes people get all pissy and whiny about it anyway.  You're a more balanced player if you can use any weapon effectively in your inventory.

Charge up your suit first: even if it's only a little; this will give you the advantage you need in an otherwise equal fight.

Retreat for health: once you're done fighting someone, if it's close, but don't waste too much time doing it.

Hide for reload, and reload often: get in the habit of hitting 'R' to reload frequently at every spare opportunity.  If I'm in a firefight and close to running out of ammo, I often hide briefly, reload, and continue on -- it's sometimes enough to win. (not recommended for the .357, though, it takes too long to reload.  Use up all rounds first.)

Jump right back in: Don't dawdle when you're killed. Jump right back in and run.

Learn a good strafing technique: One-on-one shootouts are the most common form of combat, so learn to get good here. When you see another player, how you react is critical. Here are a number of tips to remember:

• aim for the head (maximum damage in most servers)
• move side-to-side and back and forth; try to keep the enemy in front of you
• jump and duck
• take advantage of two fighting each other; stand back and shoot at both
• save some of your 'sprint' energy (Shift key) for the fight & use it to sprint sideways
• increase mouse sensitivity for 180° turns (see above)

Some of these thing are obvious, but when you see someone, it's tempting to just run straight towards them and fire at their body. This is how you will die against the more experienced players. Practice dodging their fire while still keeping your aim true at their head.

Sprint a lot: but save some for the fight.

Soften your target: The hand grenade, SMG grenade, and crossbow all do a lot of damage, but take a long time to cycle.  One technique to try is to "soften" your target by using one of these weapons (say, the crossbow), which will maybe get them close to death; then, switch to the SMG to finish them off, rather than try to get multiple hits with that slow weapon.  Good players use the grenade grab-and-throw (described above) to soften, then finish with the SMG.  [Veritas]

Stay close to players with explosives: If you run across an enemy holding a rocket launcher or grenade, stay as close to them as possible.  They'll be less likely to use it, or at least they'll take themselves out too if they do.

Pulse rifle/energy ball: If you have an energy ball (the alternate fire on the pulse rifle), note that you cannot fire it if you are in need of a primary-fire reload.  Therefore, if you're shooting an enemy with primary fire but can't kill him, don't use up all the primary fire -- save a couple rounds, then right-click to launch the energy ball as a last resort.

Don't camp: "Camping" refers to finding a spot where you can wait for someone to spawn (jump in after dying) and shoot them before they get their bearings. This is kind of a cheesy technique, and even though you might get a kill or two, when I respawn I know exactly where you are, and you know I'm coming after you. I will be standing on your crouched-ass head when I kill you. You will not win rounds by camping.

In general, hanging out in one spot is not effective. Try to think about kills per minute; very good players average 3 or more. If you screw around waiting for someone to show up, you'll never achieve this kind of number. Jump in and go find someone, quick. Kill, die, repeat.

Practice, practice: This is, of course, the best way to learn; all the best players have spent countless hours playing online.

Move, rookie: Don't stand still! In a network game with even a few players in it, this is almost never an effective technique.  Also, learn how to run backwards, especially up stairs.

Be patient, and don't whine: We all have bad days. No one wants to hear about how bad your connection is lagging, or how off you are tonight, or how fukt this svr is or any of that. Don't give up; good performance seems to come in patches, so if you're getting your ass kicked, stick in there and your time will come. You will learn the fastest from players that are better than you, so use your bad days as opportunities to improve: experiment, and ask the good players questions; if you're polite, they'll give you valuable tips on why you suck so, so bad. Trust me, if you're patient, every once in a while you'll win a round against one of the masters -- a fun round indeed.

Chatting: The default key binding for chatting with your fellow players is the 'y' key. Hit it if you want to type in a message to everyone else playing. Sometimes hardcore players don't chat because it cuts into their valuable killing time :); I find that it makes the game way more fun for me, and it's not worth the extra performance for me to forego this feature.

However, it does cut down your kills per minute, so if better performance is your goal, keep this in mind, but also try to remember that you're playing this game presumably to have fun. There are some very cool people out there that you'll find very enjoyable if you're polite. Ignore the assholes; wait till they leave, then talk about them behind their back with the cool people. :)

If you're typing, face a corner or wall. Experienced players will recognize this, and not kill you. Or, more likely, they will kill you, then pretend they didn't realize you were typing and then apologize, like I do. :)

Freelook mode: Some servers allow you to roam around in 'freelook' mode before you jump into the game. Before you hit your 'fire' button (the left mouse button for most people), use the keyboard arrow keys to cruise all around the server. You can observe the game in real time, watching what experienced players do and where they go. You can learn a lot about how to play, and also what nifty things exist in the current map that you never saw before. Some servers force immediate respawn, so you can't use this feature. [Update: I haven't seen a HL2 server with this enabled, is freelook gone?]

Controls: Most players use a keyboard/mouse combination to control the game, using W/S/A/D keys to move and the mouse to aim and fire. However, some of the best players use joysticks or other controllers.

Learning a new server: [Arzach says:] "One of the things I see a lot of newbies doing is to log on to a game server late at night when there are few other players. This allows them to 'play around' with their weapons and get used to settings and surroundings. They basically do pretty good unless some towering HL junkie decides to hop on and cause havoc. Generally, if I have a bout of insomnia, I'll log on and try and do some late-night coaching (I also never use my normal names and push fakelag to 150).

I used to set up my own server in HL Multiplayer settings, even though I didn't have a network at the time, I would just set-up my PC as if it were and play a (lonely) game of deathmatch. But it did accelerate my deathmatch skills and knowledge of the common maps. Also, if I came across a server with a map I had never played before I would DL the map and explore it at my leisure without having to engage in online combat."

Use jeeps for cover against rockets: jeeps or other cover will usually absorb the entire damage from a rocket.  If you're in a jeep, jump out if you're about to get hit with a rocket, and hide behind the jeep.  Then pop out and cap your opponent.

Ask for help: [[LDR]Cannon says:] "Press 'y' to talk and don't be afraid to ask for help. Most of us, I believe, are more than willing to do a little coaching."

Don't cheat: it's not necessary to use cheats to win.  Play like a man.

Analyze your survivability: [Veritas says:] "If an opponent has, for example, RPG, think about if you should engage or run. Running away is not cowardice unless you are defending a teammate or a vital position. "Run away today to return and fight another day."  If you come upon an opponent with an RPG, is your health and armor enough to survive a direct or indirect blast? How about a crossbow or 357? Learn to judge your situation: can I beat this threat? What tools are at my disposal (is there a table around to deflect the RPG or kill the enemy before I get killed)?  Etc.

Judging if you can survive is the first step in defeating a better foe. If you do not think you cannot defeat a superior opponent, why try?   If you have no tools at your disposal -- i.e. better weapons, or cover (walls, corners, objects), get as close as possible and move side to side, and make as much damage to them as possible to lower their health/armor. Do this to lower that enemy's score, even if you are not the one that kills them, it helps in the end of the game (and in your rank standings). To defeat a better foe (better as in aiming/maneuvering skills) you must use your weapons and surroundings if you have them; if you don't have anything to use, run like hell if you can.

Hide your own capabilities. If an enemies knows your capabilities with what you have at your disposal from a range where your enemy can then plan a strategy to kill you, you have lost already. Never show that you have an RPG and run around with it... brandishing. Hold out an SMG (for example) until you really have a strategy to defeat your foe."

PC Hardware

Check out my section on gaming performance for complete information on PC hardware.

Operating System and Drivers

These are some fairly obvious, but important, update tips:

• Windows Update for your operating system
• nvidia.com or ati.com for your video card - download and install the latest drivers every 2-3 months
• Keep your XP system healthy

Half-Life Configuration

Config files: [note: this is for HL1; not updated yet] When you install Half-Life, you get a default configuration. You can improve it significantly, though. Your configuration is stored in two files: autoexec.cfg and config.cfg. Config.cfg is really the more important one. Its location varies; for standard Half-Life games, it lives in c:\SIERRA\Half-Life\valve. If you play a mod like Oz, it'll be in c:\SIERRA\Half-Life\Oz. I have customized these files for my particular environment, so they won't be appropriate for yours; however, if you want a starting point, feel free to grab my autoexec.cfg and config.cfg. Many thanks to Sparken and TweetyBird for these.

Crosshairs: The default crosshairs kinda suck, and they're hard to see sometimes. I recommend replacing the default ones with a set that's easier to see. See the links for Half-Life 1 and Half-Life 2.

Half-Life Crosshairs

A good site with lots of crosshair sets for Half-Life. Find more by simply searching for 'half-life crosshairs' at google.com.

Key Bindings

Binding Keys: You can greatly simplify your controls by binding commands to convenient keys on the keyboard. This is simple to do, and is worth the time to go do it. Here's how. Simply add lines to the end of your config.cfg (see Configuration above), following this example:

bind "c" "droprune"

You may also type these in directly from the console while you're playing by hitting ~ (tilde) to bring down the console. Enter the command you want. Get rid of the console by hitting ~ again. You may view all of my current bindings by taking a look at my autoexec.cfg and config.cfg files.

The Half-Bind

A complete reference for some very cool and useful Half-Life key bindings.

HL console commands

A complete list of all Half-Life console commands.

How Do I Use the Hook?

bind "q" "+hook"

You can choose another key besides "q", but I recommend q because I can reach it easily using the same hand as my movement controls. Once youve bound a key, simply aim at the ceiling or something and press and hold that key. Cool, huh?

Network Optimization

Windows TCP/IP settings: If you have a cable or DSL connection, your TCP/IP settings may be tweaked to improve your network performance. There are a number of resources that can help you do this manually; however, I recommend simply getting Broadband Wizard. It's $20 shareware with a 15-day free trial. It'll optimize your settings, perform regular transfer rate tests and other cool stuff.

You might want to try Netstat Live for checking your speed. It displays your current download speed and other variables, great program. [dvusdoug]

Navas Cable Modem/DSL Tuning Guide

Cable modem and DSL (e.g., ADSL, G.lite, IDSL, SDSL) tips on increasing speed, enhancing security, fixing problems, sharing a connection, and more. [dvusdoug]

Other Tips and Utilities

GameSpy 3D is a nice little utility all gamers should know about. See my GameSpy Tips page for more details.