Locki's Q3 Config
This config has been put together to increase your FPS. Check it out here.

The Commands Explained:

Snaps = The number of world updates you receive from the server
Default: /Snaps 30
Rate = Rate at which packets are sent/received 
Default: Depends on connection. I.e. 56k modem = /rate 5000
Cl_maxpackets = The maximum number of packets you receive. This helps your connection from becoming overloaded with to many packets which usual results in the 'Connection Interrupted' message. 
Default: /cl_maxpackets 30
Cl_packetdup = Usually set to 1.
Default: /cl_packetdup 1

The lagometer is displayed when your playing online. (If not turn it on via /cl_lagometer 1). 

Top line indicates the 'world updates' you receive from the server and how your graphics card is updating the displayed frames. Blue indicates frames are being rendered in time with the world updates (good thing), and yellow indicates frames are being dropped (yep a bad thing).

If you are getting a lot of yellow spikes try lowering your 'snaps' rating, but try to keep the snaps level above your average FPS level (Look here in the FAQ section on how to benchmark q3 to find this average FPS level)

Bottom line shows the packets your receiving. Red = Lost packets, Yellow = Damaged/Rejected packets, Green = Received packets are fine.

If you are getting red spikes a lot of the time, then try reconnecting to your ISP. Or play about with the commands listed above. The pic (left) does have some yellow in it, but this not to bad, or anything to worry about. As long as you see a lot of blue and 3/4 of the bottom line shows green you should have a good ping rate.

Only when you have a flood of yellow or a sharp rise in the number of packets you are receiving (indicated left) should you worry. If at anytime you see this occurring in a game, stop what you are doing. If you keep running around and firing the server will keep sending packets back to you. If your already seeing a huge rise in your connection graph this will just make it worse, to a point where both graph lines are full of yellow and the 'Connection Interrupted' icon and message flash at you. If you see this stop moving and it should clear up. Your connection will then be restored, allowing you to carry on playing. Getting this once in a blue moon is common for modem users, but if you are constantly getting this then you need to tweak your settings again.

TWEAKING YOUR Q3 NETWORK SETTINGS

Now this (pic left) indicates a stable connection. Although the pic was taken by me on testing, on an empty server. Empty servers allow you to play about with your connection settings (more later). Once you've stabilized your ping so you can run around the map and jump about without locking up or seeing a flood of yellow on the lagometer. The next step is to join a packed server and have a run about and watch your lagometer. Of course you'll see it go yellow, but it should now occur less often than before you tweaked your settings. Also your ping should remain around a certain limit (my ping = 200-500 before tweaking. Now 150-240).

You aims when tweaking should be:

• Top line: All blue, with only very small yellow spikes occurring (if you can get no yellow it would be great, but shit happens and you'll see yellow at some points in the game. Not a bad thing unless it happens all of the time and if you see more yellow than blue, you'll need to tweak your 'snaps' setting)

• Bottom line: Stays at an almost constant level. All green, with yellow spikes only occurring on less than half of the graph at any one time. For an example click here. You'll see the bottom line has a lot of yellow, but my ping (175) is a good value. 

• Steady ping: No lock ups, and no flood of colour on either of the graphs. Look at your ping occasionally, and allow for an extra say 50% increase in your average ping value. Say you usually have a ping hovering around 200. If this increases to 400 a lot then you still have some tweaking to do. 

Try these values to give you a starting point. But remember everyone has different setups and have a go at raising or lowering some of the values to see if you can improve your connection.

cg_DrawTeamOverlay 1



Fyrespray pointed this one out to me. Currently on a default of 0 (hence off) this nifty little menu shows you who is on your team by displaying a small team menu in the top right of your screen. The flag carrier on your team is indicated, and it even shows you the weapons currently selected by each of your team mates. My advice is to use this, because the larger score board is not much use.

Update: The Quake3 point release allows you to move the position of the menu. The position can be changed by either going to the 'Game Options' menu or use numbers 1 - 3. I.e.   /cg_TeamOverlay 1 displays menu in the top right of the screen.

cg_forcemodel 1


 
eNgram has this to say about the force player model command:

Handy tip to prevent "hitching" during play (particularly on systems with only 64mb RAM) and generally smooth things out a bit. The command (cg_forcemodel 1) means that only the sarge model is used by all players in the game which means less system stress etc.

I`ve seen it`s mentioned in the manual as well. Yes I am one of those sad people who do actually read manuals :). You can force models in the `game options` menu or just type the command in the console. Although it`s a bit weird seeing everyone as Sarge, it does stop the lockups :).

However there is a way to change the default model to a prettier one than the Sarge :) This was sent to me by Infern0

If you put :
seta model "yourmodel"
seta cg_forceModel "1"

In your autoexec it will force the models to you selected model instead of
Sarge...I recommend using a brighter character to make everyone stand out
(as if that wasn't plainly obvious). 
(Although I recommend the hunter character as she looks nice :) ).

cg_deferPlayers 1
This will make Quake3 load up new models ONLY when you look at the score board, or when you die. Well when you die you have the scores shoved in your face and this is when the models will load :). This helps to fix lock ups when a new player joins the server, and as [TJD]Rico has commented it`s better when you die that you lockup, then to freeze when your alive and the enemy is about to take aim! :)

Status
If your in a game of DM, or any game for that matter, and there are too many players on the server so you can`t see your score or ping rate, then try typing `status` at the console. You`ll get a list of statistics. Nothing fancy, but can be used together with cg_deferPlayers 1 so you can check your score with no hassle, and will now only lockup when you die :)

cg_draw3dIcons 0
This removes the `heads` that appear on the score board as well as a few other things. It may help your machine gain 1-2 FPS, but won`t stop the lockups, because the game still needs to load up any new models from new players joining the server :(

Lighting = Vertex



In the `System Setup` change the lighting from lightmap to Vertex. I gained 10-20fps doing this, but the down side is you lose most of the flashy lighting effects. However if you need some more FPS then set this to Vertex.

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