This guide will work on most all Valve games, such as DOD:S, TF2, etc. as long as they are running the source or orange box engine. This guide does not apply to the order games like Counter-Strike 1.6 & Day Of Defeat Original.

-Tickrate

The first thing we will look at is setting the tickrate of the server. This is best set in the commandline therefore not allowing to be overridden in the server config file.

You will need to add the following to your commandline:

The number 66 will be just a place holder for the moment, we will explain below what the valid options are.

The -tickrate command can has numerous values in place of the "66″ with have listed above. The most common and suggest values at "33″, "66″, or "100″ (Without the quotes). It will depend what you are running and the slot count you plan to use the server for. Most times you will want to stick on the 66 tick level, as it is what I would call the "normal" value.

However, if you are playing in competitions, you may be required to use a 100 for the tickrate value.

Note: We will not be getting into the debate on what is better, only showing how a server admin is able to set the tickrate, so please don't make a reply asking which is better or start a flame war on how this is better than that. Thank you.

When you have set the tickrate of your server via the commandline you will be set to go, even if you are renting out the server to a client, they will not be able to change unless you give them access to the commandline.

-Serverside FPS

Now that we have set the tickrate, we will take a look at how we will set the server side FPS rate. This setting needs to be set via the server.cfg and cannot be locked down in the commandline. So if you plan to limit your clients to a X amount of FPS, you will need to find another way.

With that out of the way, we will need to add the following line to your server.cfg (Or server config file).

Adding this line will tell the server it is allowed to go up to, but no further than 600 FPS on the server side. This value you can set to just about anything depending on what FPS rate you want the server to run at.

Now once you have added this to your server config file, you are set to restart your server and enjoy the new FPS rate. Check the server console window to see what rate you are getting.

Note: If you are not getting the full FPS you were expecting, keep reading!

-FPS Not Working (Windows)

If you are reading this, you have found you are not getting the serverside FPS that you were expecting, so now we will do a little more work to the server.

Note: As I am not a Linux tech, I will only be showing how to get this done on Windows, Linux is much more messy and can require kernal hacking to get the FPS working as desired.

By default, Windows does not support more than about 64FPS without changing the windows clock.

Not to worry, this is a very easy fix!

Solutions:

1. Easiest solution is to open Windows Media Player on the server. You do not need to be playing anything, just open and running.

As soon as you open it, you should see a nice boost to your expected FPS.

2. Second solution is to run an added piece of software on your server machine, called FPS Boost. You can download FPS Boost as an attachment to this post.

All you need to do, is extract it, click it to start it and let it run. Once you start it, you should also see your FPS boost.

There is one more added problem, you will not be able to boost the serverside FPS any higher than about 512 on a windows server 2003 server, if you are wanting to hit 1000FPS you will need to be running Windows Server 2008 and have a motherboard to support it. We will have another guide coming later that will touch specifically on 1000FPS servers.

-The End

This wraps up our tutorial on how to get Counter-Strike: Source up and running on non-default tickrate & serverside FPS.

• A server/workstation running Microsoft Windows Server 2003
• The Server 2003 installation disk OR a copy of the I386 folder

1. You will first need to navigate to the "Add/Remove Windows Components" – You will locate this here: Control Panel –> Add or Remove Programs –> Add/Remove Windows Components
2. Once you have the "Add/Remove Windows Components" window open, you will see a series of options:
3. You will need to place a check mark next to "Application Server"
   • If you double-click on "Application Server" you will have additional options. You will need to be sure you have the following checked off:
     • Application Server Console
     • ASP.NET
     • Enable network COM+ access
     • Internet Information Services (IIS)
   • Now double-clicking on "Internet Information Services (IIS)" you will be presented with additional options. There are many options however for the security of your server I would start with only having the following selected:
     • Common Files
     • Internet Information Services Manager
     • World Wide Web Services
   • After choosing the above options, you will need only to select "Ok" on the additional windows.
4. Now that you have the above options selected, you can choose "Next" on the "Windows Components Wizard"
5. Your server will begin to install IIS, during the install you will be prompted for the CD (Usually 2 times).
6. When you are prompted you will need to do one of two things:
   • Have the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 install CD/DVD in your CD/DVD drive.
   • Point the installer to a copy of the "I386″ folder on the server. NOTE: The I386 folder is located on the CD/DVD that you installed your copy of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 from. If you are renting a dedicated server, there is most likely a copy of this folder on your server's hard drive, if you not your host should be able to provide it.
7. Once the wizard completes you are all done!

What does this mean? This means that you can all up to three (3) people logged into remote desktop at the same time, all running their own desktop session (You will not see what each other is doing, running, etc.). This is great if you have multiple people needing to work on the same server at the same time, however this feature also causes agony.

When you disconnect from RDP (without logging off) your session on the server will continue to run. Just like at home, if you get and walk away from your PC, it will continue to sit there doing whatever you left running on it.

When you go to log back into RDP next time you may or may not get the same session, allot of times you will end up starting an all new session on the server and in turn anything you had running on your other session you will not be able to see or interact with.

The easiest solution to this issue is, is to connect to the console session on the server. The console session on the server is unique in the sense you can force remote desktop to connect to it every time you connect via RDP. So each time you log in, you will be right where you were when you disconnected earlier.

Later down on this article we will go through the steps on how to connect to the console session, however before we do we are going to discuss a few more important things about the console session.

Beyond the console session being able to be accessed via RDP each time, it also plays another very important role. It is the session where all services you have running on your server will run.

So if you install a service and check off "Interact with Desktop", the console session is where you will be able to see them.

This little tidbit is very important if you are running game servers or various other software that is  set to interect with the server desktop. In turn, when the service is running, you will be able to see the application up and running and interact with it as you would any other time.

The console session like all server session has a limitation on how many people can be connected to it at any one time. You can only have one person connected to an RDP session at any given time, if someone else needs on the console session, you will need to disconnect first.

Now that we know the basics and some additional help details on how the console session works, we can now look into how exactly we connect to it using our windows home or workstation computer.

Depending on the operating system you are running, there are different ways to invoke the console session when connecting with the RDP client, so please choose your local operating system before going into how to connect (very important).

Windows XP (32-bit, SP1 – SP2 | 64-bit, SP1 – SP3) & Original Vista (Before any updates)

Windows Vista (After intial updates), Windows 7, & Windows XP (32-bit, SP3)

9. Once you have connected, you should be all set to go. You are now connected to the all important console session on a windows server 2003. If you run into any issues while trying to connect, post up in our forums and we will get you setup!