improving my gaming

[SherEPunjab]

hi. I recently started playing UT23K online.


Fun ass game. I am kinda new to gaming but noticed something. When i was using my standard MS PS/2 scroll mouse, i could never hit my targets as well. Since then i switched to logitech cordless optical mouse, and my accuray has gone up at least 50% i would say. I never realized what a difference the computer and its components could make in gaming.

What else can i do to improve my game? i have a 32mb Radeon DDR video card. I run it at 193.5 mhz. I have a 19" trinitron also. i have a AMD 1.4 ghz Palomino and 256 ddr memory. does onboard sound slow me down, or onboard lan? what about running zonealarm in the background?

 

[Anubis]

getting a new video card would help. youwould then be able to run at 1600x1200. you would see so much more. makes a big diff. lso 512 megs of ram would make it run smoother but that wont make you ant beter

 

[SherEPunjab]

I'm running it at 800x600. If i run it higher, my gaming slows down i noticed. Lets say I even have a top of the line video card, wouldn't it still be worth it to run it at 800x600 or 1024 becuz wont' i be moving faster then? and is there any way to change the refresh rate in UTK? for example, inormall keep my monitor at 1024 @ 115hz. when gaming i switch it to 800x600 but dont' know what the refresh rate is.

 

[xSauronx]

try tweaking your keys?

lots of variations you can make to WSAD and the surrouding keys to be as comfortable as possible for when you play, worth messing with if you never really bothered with it. as for me, i never leave a game at default keys when i play

 

[datalink7]

Originally posted by: xSauronx
try tweaking your keys?

lots of variations you can make to WSAD and the surrouding keys to be as comfortable as possible for when you play, worth messing with if you never really bothered with it. as for me, i never leave a game at default keys when i play

Yes, try getting a configuration that you like. For instance, I always set the middle mouse button as jump.

 

[LordMaul]

I personally could never get into the habit of the WASD setup...I use arrow keys, with cntrl as crouch, 0 is jump, delete is reload, etc. etc. and I use all 5 buttons on my mouse, whose axis I have reversed. :Q

 

[BatmanNate]

Originally posted by: SherEPunjab
hi. I recently started playing UT23K online.


Fun ass game. I am kinda new to gaming but noticed something. When i was using my standard MS PS/2 scroll mouse, i could never hit my targets as well. Since then i switched to logitech cordless optical mouse, and my accuray has gone up at least 50% i would say. I never realized what a difference the computer and its components could make in gaming.

What else can i do to improve my game? i have a 32mb Radeon DDR video card. I run it at 193.5 mhz. I have a 19" trinitron also. i have a AMD 1.4 ghz Palomino and 256 ddr memory. does onboard sound slow me down, or onboard lan? what about running zonealarm in the background?

Ass game?

 

[Tallgeese]

I saw a pretty large jump in my frag count in CS after I bought a Belkin nostromo n50 gamepad.

May not be the "magic bullet" for everybody, but if comfort = more kills, then it beats a keyboard and WASD setup any day for me.

 

[Spac3d]

Originally posted by: LordMaul
I personally could never get into the habit of the WASD setup...I use arrow keys, with cntrl as crouch, 0 is jump, delete is reload, etc. etc. and I use all 5 buttons on my mouse, whose axis I have reversed. :Q

:Q Yikes. I don't know how you do it.

Spac3d

 

[xSauronx]

dont open your mouth like that around him!

cant get used to WSAD?

man, it made a world of difference for me. my first fps online was half life (great game, btw)
at first i sucked

so, i asked a friend of mine how everyone did so good (we usually icq'ed and joined servers together)
he suggested i try setting WSAD for movement, then a few other keys for this and that
instead of about 3 kills per match, i very soon went to getting 20 or better
not that its a super high score, but setting your keys comfortably is very important, arrows or otherwise, it can make a very big difference

anyway, as for basing around WSAD (actually, use QE really ,for strafing, and turn with the mouse the majority of the time) ive gotten quite used to it, as it allows me to do pretty much every action with my left hand (and, im damn good with one hand...) jumping crouching running chaning weapons and such, all very easy for me. not that im an excellent gamer, but at least im comfortable when i play

personally iver never liked mice with so many buttons, prefer my 2 button optical wheel mouse (very rare that i use the wheel as a button for anything) but thats just me


remember....if none of that is coherent, it doesnt have to be

 

[MrCodeDude]

I use WASD, E = Use Key, C = Crouch, Space = Jump, Right Click = Zoom.
-- mrcodedude

 

[silverpig]

The only way to improve is to practice. And you have to practice more than you may think. While you get better, so does everyone else. I remember I used to suck at CS, then I played a lot one month, and got really good. Didn't play for a month, and when I went back, I was about the same, but everyone else got better.

 

[Evadman]

I play Tribes 2 which is the same as most other first person shooters except you have a backpack, and the "levels" or "maps" usually cover several square km. I started out sucking like everyone else. Then I started improving little things to help my gameplay.

#1. Corded microsoft intellimouse explorer with 5 buttons and wheel. My accuracy went way up, and I can now hit 2 out of 3 mid air sniper shots from 300-500m and 1 out of 3 at 500+.

#2 remaped the entire control key setup. For my entire gaming life, I had been using the arrow pad ( the 4 arrows between the qwerty keyboard and the number pad ) I think when Half life came out, I found I needed more keys, so starting with that game, I remapped everything to the numper pad. I use everything on the pad, every last key.

Left hand on the num pad, right hand on the mouse. I must say, I am now untouchable.

<edit>
for those who really care....

8-4-5-6 = up, left, down, right. (left and right are never really used unless something wierd happened. Strafe everywhere.)
7-9 = strafe left and right
1 and 2 = back and next weapon
0 = jump
3 = zoom level adjust
. = set zoom
numpadenter = pack
+ = repair kit
/ = grenade
* = mine
- = command view

Mouse:

left button = fire weapon
right button = jet pack
scroll wheel = next / last weapon
other 2 buttons and center wheel button = secret

That reminds me, I am going to go play now....

 

[Zugzwang152]

i guess i'm the only one who uses WASD then hehehe...although after playing CS so long, I remapped my UT2K3 keys to CS keys . jump to space, crouch to cntrl, score sheet to tab, hehehe...

 

[Koing]

bunch of freaks with messed up controls!!!

arrow keys for forward, back, left and right strafe.

ctrl as crouch,
shift as jump,

right mouse as zoom in Q3 and CS and other zoomable games,
0Ins key as reload

wheel on mouse for weapons.

Standard CS affair for hardcore gamers. Not that I'm a hardcore gamer anymore, no time and lame ass dial up kills online CS.

Practice and a new vid card for you would help.

Surround sound speaker set up which no one has mentioned WILL help you out. You get sounds from around you making it easier to see where the action is or you can actually notice where the guy is coming from and have a few miliseconds advance warning. Use it to your advantage.

Know the maps and get to know where the power ups are. You will need sheilds etc it helps,

When your dead follow the guys with the top scores they are there for a reason.

Use the map. Don't always go charging in. Hang back a bit. First in normally first dead unless your l337, so that goes for most people. Especially in CS or games with no health packs around the level.

Get actual exercise that will help you to game better.

PLAY PLAY PLAY!

You don't want to be running many programs when you do gaming as you'll the extra fps.

With the rocket type gun jump and aim downards. The blast radius will come out and make it easier for kills then if you had aimed across at the person. You'll more then likely miss and get NO damage what so ever. But if you aim down you will at least get some damage or kill if its closer to him/her.

GAME ON.

 

[Supermercado]

Like has been said, get the best hardware that you can afford and get a good control config. For CS, I definitely recommend a pair of good-quality (doesn't necessarily have to be super-good quality, just decent) headphones. There's no way I could ever play CS competitively with speakers. The directional audio is much easier to distinguish with headphones.

As far as controls, go with whatever is comfortable. I used to use the arrow keys, but one of my clanmates and friends from school finally persuaded me to at least give WASD a try. Was talking to another clanmate about it and he suggested ESDF because of the little bump on the F key. If your hand gets moved off the keyboard for any reason, the F key is easy to find because of the bump.

For anyone that cares, I rounded out my config with the following (I used to have the MS Intellimouse - not Explorer; got the MX500 from Logitech today and haven't done any gaming with it yet)

Left mouse = primary fire
Right mouse = jump
Middle mouse = voice comm
Wheel mouse one way = primary weapon
Wheel the other way = secondary weapon
Left side button = walk
Right side button = secondary fire
A = show scoreboard
G = use
Alt = reload
Spacebar = crouch
Number keys above = weapons other than primary and secondary

That's pretty much it. From what people tell me, it's a hybrid between several configs. But again, just go with whatever's comfortable for you. And don't get discouraged when you get into a game and get wasted when you're trying to learn a new config. It takes time, but with practice, you'll figure out what's the most comfortable for you and when you do, you'll be a LOT better. Trust me, I speak from experience.

 

[dawks]

Most so called 'newbs' use the arrow keys for gaming.. If you really get into it, you'll see that WASD is essential to efficent gaming. It may not be as important for something like UT.. But in games like QWTF, TF1.5 or Q3F, and more importantly, Rocket Arena 3.. its definatly a requirement. And if you do alot of 1v1 in a game like teamfortress's you need to have a finger on the grenade key for several seconds at a time, nice to have lots of keys close by.

Not many people have played/play RA3 because its really hard to get used to.. its a very fast paced gameplay, and would be much harder if you had to reach 'further' for extra keys.

I also feel its just a little more natural, seems weird puttin your hand which is normally on WASD anyway, over on the arrow keys.. WAYYY over there..

 

[stev0]

Originally posted by: DaZ
Most so called 'newbs' use the arrow keys for gaming.. If you really get into it, you'll see that WASD is essential to efficent gaming. It may not be as important for something like UT.. But in games like QWTF, TF1.5 or Q3F, and more importantly, Rocket Arena 3.. its definatly a requirement. And if you do alot of 1v1 in a game like teamfortress's you need to have a finger on the grenade key for several seconds at a time, nice to have lots of keys close by.

Not many people have played/play RA3 because its really hard to get used to.. its a very fast paced gameplay, and would be much harder if you had to reach 'further' for extra keys.

I also feel its just a little more natural, seems weird puttin your hand which is normally on WASD anyway, over on the arrow keys.. WAYYY over there..

yes, wasd is where it's at for cs, btw, get a coreded mouse, wireless sucks for gaming.

 

[BatmanNate]

I use EDSF, basically a one key shift over from WSAD because it gives me access to more keys. I also play with an inverted mouse.

 

[TonyG]

I use the arrow keys for up/down and move/strafe right/left, ctrl is crouch and shift is jump. Left mouse button to fire, scroll wheel to change weapons and left mouse button for either reloading or secondary fire mode depending on the game. I also use the delete/end/page down buttons for various functions as well as the keypad for some functions. I have been playing Quake 3 like this while it was still only in beta stages, probably still have some of the betas burned on a disk someplace among the pile. Before that I played Quake 2 for quite some time. I also have played some halflife and a little, I repeat little Daikatana in the past. Oh yea, don't forget unreal/unreal tournament/ut2k3.

 

[Storm]

Having good equipment like a comp, broadband helps. I guess a better vid card will help you.
Some people like high rez cuz they can see more whereas some ppl like 1024x768.
After that its down to configuration and whats most comfortable to you. Most people
use a variation of the WASD. Some others dont have frag just as well. It all depends
what you're best at.

When creating your cfg if you need to for your fps of choice. Its best to create a custom
one. I know I did when I played cs and q2ctf. Knowing the specific syntax for aliases
and binding weapons/movement/items/etc also helps. For example in q2ctf I was able
to bind several weapons as once so I could cycle through them if necessarily. That
way I saved other keys to behind other stuff like team communication.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

You can't get better unless you practice. Having a better system than what you have (video card wise) would help a little bit - running at higher resolutions helps. I used to play Q2 on a P166 @ 320x240 - it sucked but I was decent. Getting a better computer definetly helped my game out a lot but practice was the #1 thing I did (well I basically had no life so all I did was play Q2) that helped me

 

[LordMaul]

Originally posted by: Spac3d

Originally posted by: LordMaul
I personally could never get into the habit of the WASD setup...I use arrow keys, with cntrl as crouch, 0 is jump, delete is reload, etc. etc. and I use all 5 buttons on my mouse, whose axis I have reversed. :Q

:Q Yikes. I don't know how you do it.

Spac3d

Well, I have big fingers and I always end up hitting the wrong key when it's so crowded by the WASD area...but either way, I still rox0r in Q3 and CS.

 

[SherEPunjab]

thanx for the replies.

I, personally am comfortable with WSAD as well. Didn't know what you guys were referring to at first thought it was an acronym for something at first, but that is what I used to play CS in I believe (Haven't played that for ages). r and q for strafe. mouse wheel for weapons switching, left button for fire, right for zoom. Anyways, i guess what i'm trying to figure out is how ppl seem to have such deadly accuracy in the game. For example, i like to play CTF in UT23K a lot, with the laser beam gun. I keep on having to fire, like maybe 5-10 times to hit a guy. Once in a while, if it is dead on, and I'm jumping into them, i'll get them in one shot. most people move left right left right and up down though to avoid getting hit. These people i have a hard time hitting in 1 or 2 shots. Some of you guys say corded mice are better, but i was using the ps2 intellimouse corded and i sucked on it. it isn't nearly as smooth as my logitech optical is. should i consider a corded optical perhaps? i do have cable modem, but every once in a while i lag and some guy gets me cuz i'm moving to slow. i guess that can't be avoided though. Do i need to keep my firewall on? I would imagine so. I use software Zonealarm. I don't have a router or anything with a built in firewall.

 

[Spikesoldier]

Originally posted by: BatmanNate
I use EDSF, basically a one key shift over from WSAD because it gives me access to more keys. I also play with an inverted mouse.

sans the inverted mouse