Rates in general.

[jacket13]

So i got this burning question google couldn't answer me.

how large is the packets size per frame?

what i assumed for the time being is that a packet is 1byte large.
so when you are calculating how much rate you need to be most effecient i came up with this super simpel sum. (Cmdrate+updaterate) times Average FPS = rate needed
but when i think about it the standard rate is 20.000
which for a 33~tick server would be fine, you'd sent around 20kish bytes to the server per second.

but assuming its 1 byte and you run average of 250 fps you'd need 50.000 rate to keep up. so roughly (bad estimate i know) 50kb/s
not sure how realistic that is compared how much a server is loaded.

but i could totally be wrong and the game works differently then i thought :P but as i understand you send x set packets per frame per second. so if i set my cl_updaterate 66 im sending 66packets per second to the server.

so if any one could tell me how big packets are or tell me how it actually works if im wrong i'd be gratefull

[cob]

Packets aren't sent per frame, 66 packets are sent per second unless you have lower than 66 fps. Afaik the packets vary in size depending on how much information is sent, CS:S rarely uses more than 20kb/s

[necrophyte]

maximum packet size is 1260b, after that they get splitted.

[jacket13]

Originally Posted by cob

Packets aren't sent per frame, 66 packets are sent per second unless you have lower than 66 fps. Afaik the packets vary in size depending on how much information is sent, CS:S rarely uses more than 20kb/s

then what correlation do the two have? what I have been told years ago is that every frame produces data that is sent to the server.
since you make x amount of data based on how much can happen in one second. there happens more, or I should say there is more accurate data the more fps you are producing.

but if you are saying the two are unrelated to each other directly means that there is no basis for rates enforced by servers as you can't calculate the data as nobody has a clue what or when you got the sweet spot.

[cob]

Originally Posted by jacket13

then what correlation do the two have? what I have been told years ago is that every frame produces data that is sent to the server.
since you make x amount of data based on how much can happen in one second. there happens more, or I should say there is more accurate data the more fps you are producing.

You simply send/receive 66 updates a second, doesn't matter if your fps or 66 or 1000. Unless you go below 66 fps, 60fps = 60 packets a second, 40fps = 40packets a second, etc.

Originally Posted by jacket13

but if you are saying the two are unrelated to each other directly means that there is no basis for rates enforced by servers as you can't calculate the data as nobody has a clue what or when you got the sweet spot.

That's not necessarily true, 66/66 20k rates are considered to be fine for CS:S and will not bottleneck the game. As these days almost everyone will be getting over 66fps and will have at least 20kb/s bandwidth so there is no problem with forcing these rates.

When 100 tick servers were around, rates were still forced to a minimum of 66, as some people didn't have the bandwidth or framerate to maintain 100 packets a second.

[jacket13]

hmm ok, thanks cob