sneak's Guide to ET

[sneak]

Note: I know this is alot to read, but there's alot of information out there to read all at once right here. Some things may be considered "obvious" to some people but they are included anyway because people commonly don't know about them. This isn't a "scrim/etpro guide", it's from the perspective of someone who pretty much only plays on pubs and regularly gets accused of cheating. For optimal viewing experience choose 1080p 60FPS setting on YouTube videos.Here are a few screenshots from recent pubbing (in some, there are less players than I played against because they decided to leave for some reason )

Disclaimer: The purpose of this guide isn't to advertise external sites but links to those sites do exist in this guide. Every site linked is a clean one that is safe to visit.












Chapter 1 - Technical Information

Section 1 - Gaming Peripherals
Starting with monitors first I want to let you know that higher refresh rate monitors are definitely not a gimmick to trick uninformed buyers into paying higher prices for something they don't need or "can't even see". There are several people out there (especially online) who think that these monitors are a scam because "the human eye can't see more than <insert arbitrary number> frames per second anyway". The arbitrary number is usually 20, 24, 25, 29, 29.97, 30, or 60. This applies to your FPS in games too, imaging playing ET with only 30 FPS for example. The truth is these people are just plain WRONG. They present the numbers as an invalid argument to the benefit of higher FPS and refresh rates and include ones like "29.97" out of pure assumption due to many movies being encoded in this FPS and the fact most video sites including YouTube (until recently) only allowing 30 FPS in the videos. This is NOT the reason why streaming sites do this. It takes alot of speed for a user to live stream higher FPS and uses alot of bandwidth to display the content to the viewer. It also would consume more hard drive space to store this. Higher resolution streams exist because it's not nearly as much data increase to go from 720p to 1080p compared to going from 30 FPS to 60 FPS.

The reason why their argument is invalid is because whether it's true or not how many FPS the human eye can see they are arguing the point that you can't see each individual frame. Meaning you can't see every single action that occurred in 31+ frames all in one second (assuming this person thinks 30 is the limit on our eyes). The obvious difference in higher FPS is perceived smoothness. Eyes are designed to perceive changes in light and motion, and there are other things to consider that vary from person to person. It's not as simple as how many FPS you can see. It's very obvious to anyone who isn't impaired that 30FPS in ET, for example is alot worse than 125FPS in ET. It's easier to aim with 125, it looks alot better and for some people a sluggish FPS can cause dizziness. The same applies to higher refresh rates, also known as the "Hz" setting on monitors.

There may be / are drawbacks depending on how much you notice with your eyes. I happen to have great vision and when switching from a 60Hz monitor to a 100+ Hz monitor I noticed an issue. I used to bind keys in ET to change my FPS based on which weapon slot I was using (more on this later). When I was using a 60Hz screen it wasn't a big deal to drop into the 70s from 100+ fps but now that I have a 100+ Hz monitor it's a huge difference and looks sluggish and distracting. Overall, I still believe a higher refresh rate is a big improvement to your gameplay, it even helps you aim better I think because it's so smooth. I can even tell the difference when my Hz setting isn't set to the correct value just by using Windows on the desktop, watching the cursor move around or dragging windows. For games like ET which require good coordination and allow you to control every move of your character, higher refresh rate can really be a huge benefit along with lower input lag. The smoother it FEELS when moving your mouse and seeing it move your crosshair, the better you will perform (theoretically). That's why things like motion blur and low FPS in games tend to make controls less responsive and feel like they are lagging behind your commands.

The refresh rate of a monitor is number of times per second your display will update with new information fed from the GPU. The more updates per second you send to the monitor the more data transfer you need to accomplish. If you can only get 30FPS in Crysis 3 and you purchase a 144Hz Monitor you probably won't get much advantage out of it. As far as ET goes, I didn't notice any issue running 125FPS with 105Hz on the monitor, it only made everything smoother. You may be wondering why downloaded movies are in lower FPS like 30 and why they look just fine. Well, they don't always look fine. Sometimes motion blur and other techniques are used to give the illusion of smoothness and you can still see some frame jitter in those movie files (mainly in scenes with wide open areas with cars driving by).

As far as monitor selection goes, alot of this is preference and I suggest reading reviews and watching youtube reviews (not unboxings) of monitors. A great guy to check out on YouTube who you can learn alot from and see some reviews is LinusTechTips. A great site for learning about specific monitors is a German one called PRAD. Here's the English link: http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/index2.html. They do in-depth testing of monitors and put a high level of quality into their reviews. Some monitor brands really making a name in PC gaming are Asus, BenQ and LG. These are only a few modern big name brands. There are brands like NEC around who may be making LCDs now but they were making excellent CRTs back in the day. There are also monitors known as "Korean Monitors", which is what I personally use. You can learn everything about those here: http://techreport.com/review/23291/t...a-are-for-real. Lastly, we have Acer. I don't normally recommend them because they are mediocre in monitors but they're making the first "big-name brand 1440p 144Hz IPS/PLS monitor" and it ships at 144Hz where Korean monitors usually ship at 60Hz. At the time of this post it isn't released yet and the price isn't determined yet either. Keep an eye out for the Acer XB270HU, oh and you need an Nvidia 650 Ti Boost or later GPU and Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 to take advantage of the G-Sync feature used in this monitor.

There are several panel types, each with their own intended purposes. Some have better color reproduction and some have better viewing angles and others are faster in refresh rate. Usually higher refresh rates like 120Hz or 144Hz are in TN (Twisted Nematic) panels. IPS (In-Plane Switching) and PLS (Plane-to-Line Switching) panels are nearly the same technology but have better viewing angles and color reproduction than TN. PLS are have slightly higher color range and better brightness and slightly higher viewing angles than IPS. VA (Vertical Alignment) panels are have better viewing angles and color reproduction than TN but in my opinion shouldn't even be considered. They also have big color issues when viewed at angles. IPS and PLS are typically for graphic designers or people who want very nice visuals in games but don't care about input lag and refresh rate. Some of these have issues with ghosting or other gaming-related problems, but not all of them. The benefit of the Korean monitors is you get the best of both worlds, an IPS or PLS panel with the possibility to overclock the refresh rate. All of this is done for a decent price compared to paying large sums of money for a high Hz gaming monitor from BenQ or a high-end visually accurate monitor from Dell.

Mice are a very important part of FPS gaming, ESPECIALLY in ET. So is the mouse surface the mouse is on, and I even modified my mouse feet and found a useful improvement from doing so. What your ideal mouse is would be one that has a "flawless sensor" which has no altercation of your aim. You want something that provides 1:1 input based on your actions. Acceleration, smoothing and angle snapping are your enemy. Don't bother with PLN sensors (Phillips Twin Eye) because they have major issues including the most noticeable z-axis bug. The other thing you should consider is the feel of the mouse build and the specific features you require. For example, I prefer the mx518 body design and have been through multiple mx518 mice over the years. I moved on to the g500 and used a few of those then got a g500s. They are all using the same body as the mx518 with slightly different build quality, features, or a different sensor. I wouldn't suggest the g500 because it has some sensor issues but the mx518 is a legendary mouse. Sadly, it's hard to find these anymore unless you're willing to pay alot or get one in poor quality. The g500s works fine and has a few more features, specifically a mouse wheel that can tilt left and right which is useful for me because of my strange controls and left hand aiming. While this guide was in progress I ended up replacing my g500s with a g502. The body design is slightly different than the mx518 style but I've adjusted to it pretty well. I have to say the sensor in the g502 is much better, mayve even the best sensor I've ever felt. It's so responsive and accurate and it's hard to describe. So to re-cap: mouse sensor, mouse shape, build quality, features. Once you find some mice that have the features you like besides the sensor, check out this sensor list and review the sensors of the mice you're considering: http://www.overclock.net/t/854100/ga...se-sensor-list. Eliminate the mice from your consideration if you find they have a flawed sensor. Overall, I'd highly recommend the g502 as it has a flawless sensor as far as I can tell and have read and it's comfortable even for left-hand use as long as it has the features you need in a mouse.

Some people prefer using the desk for their mouse surface, which highly depends on preference and sensor type as well as desk type. Most people who use the desk are "doing it wrong" but some can achieve good aim with this method. Either way, it destroys the feet of your mouse rapidly compared to a soft mouse surface. After much testing and reading I think the optimal surface is cloth, assuming your sensor works fine on this material. The reason for this is to have control over your mouse. If you use a slick pad the mouse will too easily slide across, even if you may not notice it there is definite unwanted slide on slick pads. The reason is simple -- inertia. For this reason I also feel like adding all the weights into a mouse that has the capability or buying a mouse for it's heavy weight is a bad idea. You need to build muscle memory, especially in ET because you need to learn to track people who are strafing and snap to targets just like in most FPS games. I recommend the Steelseries QcK Heavy for a mousepad because it's very large and that allows you to have a good low sensitivity. The build quality is excellent and it doesn't curl up on your desk because it's thick. The surface is smooth but not slick, allowing for easy movement and still being able to maintain full control over the mouse movements.

As far as custom mouse feet there are Tiger Gaming, Hyperglides and Hotline brand feet. I've used the Hyperglides on the g500 and g500s a few times and the Hotline feet on the g502. I have no experience with the Tiger Gaming pads but the Hotlines and Hyperglides feel pretty comparable. I think they really make a nice difference in your aim and also tend to let you endure longer sessions of doing well.

Audio is a little more tricky than explaining the facts about FPS or mouse control. It's harder to objectively analyze things related to audio because of massive variance from user to user. I don't personally notice a difference using a modern Mobo (ASUS P8Z77-V LE Plus) on-board sound chip against using an ASUS Xonar DG sound card. I bought the sound card for other reasons so it's still useful. I think people are fearful of the on-board audio only because the old boards had really bad audio usually compared to discrete sound cards. I don't think it's necessary to purchase a sound card for gaming. What I really think effects the audio is the headphone choice. I've been through various headphones and headsets in my 12 years of ET and found a huge difference in the different levels of audio presented by different grades of headphones and headsets. I used to use those $15 ones from Radioshack that end up breaking in a month or two and never really sounded that great (along with giving me mic problems, or the boom falling off and getting lost). I've used a Creative F4tality headset and it was an alright step up from those cheapo ones at your local electronics store and while it was built a little better, it still lacked build quality and had room for audio quality improvement. I went through two of these because the first one became so unusable I got another to replace it. Later I moved on to the Logitech G35 and went through 2-3 of these because of them breaking and getting replaced under warranty or buying a new one to replace the old one. These were a bit more comfortable and the mic was better as well as audio for music (so I thought at the time anyway). The headset definitely came with alot more features, as it should considering it costed about $100. It's one of those "gaming-marketed headsets" with enhanced bass and high-range and virtual surround sound audio. It's impossible to have real surround inside of a headphone cup because of the way audio bounces. Even with multiple drivers inside, the sounds are bouncing around off your head and the ear cups and also mixing with the other frequencies. Real surround is achieved with multi-channel audio and properly positioned and accurately distanced speakers at appropriate volume levels in a place like a living room. Because of this, I recommend avoiding these "surround headsets" or atleast not using that "feature". From what I noticed in ET with the G35 is it makes it difficult to tell if someone is coming from the right or left sometimes if they are directly on your right or left side while using the surround setting. It's because it's trying to mix some of the sounds into the other channels at a low volume to imitate surround sound.

I gave up on the G35 after it broke again, just by me taking it off my head one day, the exact same way I had always removed it. It just gave up on me and snapped. No longer will I waste money on gaming-marketed headsets that were never that amazing to begin with and have durability issues which cannot be repaired unless you're under warranty or you do a bootleg job with duct tape. I've moved on to a higher grade of headphones. A good site to learn about headphones is Head-Fi, but beware, alot of the people here are total snobs who will laugh at you and insult you for even mentioning something like Beats by Dre in a non-negative manner. People here think they are the best thing since the internet and that nobody but them are correct. There are some cool people there who do actually know what they're talking about, it's just difficult to weed through people who are just being snobs. Oh yeah, don't ask them anything about which gaming headset you should buy either. Most of them will just laugh at you, and you'll get a couple people referring you to headphone manufacturers that happened to start making headsets (which is fine, more on this later).

Now I use a Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 Ohm connected to a Yamaha RX-v463 receiver which is fed my computer audio by Optical cable coming from my ASUS Xonar DG. I only use these when I have no need for voice, such as being on TS3 with people. They are the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn, featuring velour earpads. They also do an excellent job of cancelling out noises and can play audio very loud without distorting. The quality of the audio is excellent, I feel. I can really tell where people are very accurately in ET when hearing them. I can wear these for several hours in a day, every single day and forget they are even on. I used to try getting up from my desk after long work sessions listening to music to get a drink and almost forget to remove them. These will run you in the $200-300 range depending where you buy them or the current price they are going for. The bass isn't as thumpy as a G35 but I've found that I like the bass in these BETTER and that the G35 caused headaches sometimes and I'd find myself constantly tweaking the bass to add more or remove some because it was too low or too distorted. These aren't all distorted and don't cause discomfort, I don't feel the need to constantly adjust my sound card software EQ or my receiver settings.

When using voice, I use the Sennheiser PC360 headset. This one has been going for a very high price lately, so I'm unsure if you're able to find these for a decent price right now. When I bought them I only paid $166 and now they're going for $300 in alot of places. These let in outside sounds pretty well, so if you're in a noisy environment these may not be for you. All open headphones tend to do this but there's a good reason why they're open. They actually have better positional audio (spacial separation) in gaming. The mic on these is excellent and probably because Sennhesier is known for making high-grade world-famous microphones for several years now. The bass is a bit lacking in these, I feel, being someone who loves bass but that's also for a good reason. These are markted as a gaming headset but since it's from Sennheiser I was able to trust it (I also do alot of research before buying expensive things). In games like ET, you want to hear the footsteps and gun reloads as well as weapon switches and gunfire. These are mid-range sounds so you need to make sure you don't have lows flooding your ears with bass.

[sneak]

Section 2 - Settings
The first thing to consider is the method of improvement. You need to analyze what you're doing in any profession or hobby and find out what you need to change to improve. Find out your strengths and make them stronger and find out your weaknesses and make them less weak. One way you can do this in ET is using cg_autoaction. This is a bitmask cvar and these are the options:

* * * * * 1 - Start a demo at the start of the round
* * * * * 2 - Take a screenshot at the end of the round
* * * * * 4 - Save game stats to a file at the end of the round

Typically a value of 2 to 7 is required in etpro. I suggest a value of 7 in all mods which will make a demo, take an end-of-round screenshot, and record all the stats of you and other players for each round. Collect all the data you can if you're beginning your journey of improvement in ET because it will prove useful to replay demos and see what mistakes you made or how someone knew where you were and things that you may have totally missed. The stats will give you an indication of your improvement and the skill of the players you're playing with and against. The demo files in ET are so small because they aren't actually encoded video, so there's no real harm in using demo recording. Each demo will be named by map and date and each stats file will be categorized by folders using names representing the date. This will create "demos", "screenshots" and "stats" folders in your mod folder.

Next, we have to talk about vsync and why it's horrible for gaming. Vsync was created to prevent screen tearing which is what happens when the monitor shows data from two or more frames in a single screen render. What vsync does is prevent your GPU from outputting anything to your monitor until the monitor finishes it's refresh. Vsync adds something called input lag into the equation which is why it's terrible for gaming and should never be used. There may be some games where it's only important to not have screen tearing and there's no input that can lag, in which case vsync would be fine. So basically, don't use vsync in ET... ever.

For your crosshair choice I'm going to accept that people say it's preference but tell you the reality right now which is that the best players consistently use the dot crosshair. In many mods there are actually two dot crosshairs and most people don't realize this. There's the default one which has a border around it that most people use, then there's the other one which a "light version" (in design, not brightness). I suggest a small dot like size 48 or smaller. I don't think it's a good idea to use gigantic dots and think it's very pointless to use anything but a dot crosshair. This is for a good reason. With other crosshairs you need to find the center of them, especially if you have that horrible crosshair pulsing enabled. The dot is an easier to track focal point than the other crosshairs. You don't need pin-point accuracy so don't use super small dots thinking it will help if you can barely see the dot. The reason is in most cases the range at which you have the dot over the enemy the hitbox is much larger than the dot anyway. Even at long range it's still not a big deal if the dot is covering more of the hitbox than normal.

For maximum fps many people are in the habit of using 43, 76, 125, or 333 FPS. This is because of the old tale of the Q3 engine's mathematical error causing these FPS to be considered "magic numbers" to ensure you jump at the optimal distance where other players who are using the default of 85 (rounded to 90) FPS will not jump as far. The truth is, this isn't necessary anymore because servers are configured to use fixedPhysicsFPS and give all players the jump distance as if they were using 125 FPS. You're now free to use any FPS and jump the same distance as other players, assuming you have the same jump skills as they do. Also, don't use pmove_fixed "1" unless you're in a TJ server because it increases bullet spread. Always keep in mind too, that FPS is more important than graphical quality and effects. If you can't maintain stable FPS you MUST reduce your graphics and/or resolution until the problem is resolved. You may just need to update your drivers to fix the issue. I use 100 FPS because of the correlation of FPS to cl_maxpackets in ET and I'm using 100 for that setting as well. If you use 125 FPS and 100 maxpackets you're sending 62.5 packets per second instead of 100. It becomes even more of an issue if you drop fps down to 100 because you now have more fluctuation in your latency which may cause your ping to spike. Having a steady FPS that matches your packets is a good idea. For snaps you can leave it at 20, though it doesn't really matter because it's dependent on the server's sv_fps setting. For rate, 25000 is fine in most cases but many people use 32000 or 45000. Higher rates are useful for populated servers with alot of explosions and people running around. If you set it to 45000 and the game doesn't require use of this much rate it won't actually use that much connection speed. Then number is measured in bytes per second of how fast the server can send data to you. This defaults to 4000 or 5000 in some clients and it's only because back then if you set this too high on a slow connection you could flood your connection with incoming data. Leave cl_timenudge at 0, just do it and don't argue. You shouldn't be playing with this cvar.

Almost all antilag methods in ET mods are based off unlagged. Read more about it by clicking that link if you want more technical information.

When adjusting your settings, keep in mind that high and stable FPS always takes precedence over graphical quality. Almost everything you need to learn about cvars can be found on this great site: http://antman.info/wolf/cvar.

When choosing your sensitivity settings I recommend setting your DPI to 800 (or 400 if you're more comfortable with this already). You should know which DPI your mouse can use when you buy it and if you don't then look it up or check the software (if it has any). Some mice have switches on them or buttons and don't include any software option but can still be switched to the common settings of 400 and/or 800 DPI. I prefer a sensitivity of [s].97[/s] 1.25 (I've replaced my mouse with a new one and had to change the sensitivity) with my 800 DPI. Make sure you apply the MarkC MouseFix if you're using Windows 7, 8, or 8.1. Just choose the reg file for your OS version and at your screen DPI (defaults to 100% on Win 7). Run that reg file then reboot your PC. Don't mess with the Mouse settings in windows. Leave the setting to notch 6 and enhance pointer precision disabled. If you have mouse software and it has acceleration, smoothing or angle snapping make sure to disable all of that stuff. I also recommend not using different X and Y sensitivities on the mouse, leave that for the cvars already included in ET. I recommend using 500Hz if your mouse supports a 1000Hz polling rate. Don't worry about it "being slower" because this is unrealistic unless you can tell the difference in a few milliseconds (you can't). The reason I recommend this setting is because if the mouse is capped to 1000Hz and you actually check the rate it isn't very stable, where 500Hz is almost perfect. Below are my recommended settings for the mouse in ET:

seta sensitivity 1.25
seta m_yaw 0.022
seta m_pitch 0.015
seta m_forward 0.25
seta m_side 0.25
seta m_filter 0
seta cl_mouseAccel 0

Now moving on to your sensitivity and how it relates to your aim. The reason why I use a low sensitivity and feel that it's the best for everyone to use a lower sensitivity is because of mouse control. Even if you do well with your current high sensitivity, I think you'll do better if you use 800 DPI and a relatively low sensitivity. Most of the action is taking place directly in front of you as long as you know where you should be aiming. The rest of the aim is mostly in a medium range in front of you to the left and right. You rarely actually need to spin around 180 degrees but you should set your sensitivity so you're still able to do that. Also, with a low sensitivity like mine, sometimes I need to do a 180 and kill one guy then continue turning a bit more the same direction and kill another player. Having a large mousepad helps accomplish this. You should practice snapping to objects while strafing then tracking the object and continuing to strafe (yes this is inspired from the old aiming by Raz tutorial), like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywgWhgnK-18 (These were supposed to be embedded but the forum only allows 2 per post)

Now let's move on to reg tweaking and router settings tweaking. You may not have heard this from anyone but there are people out there who are currently (and have been for a while) trying to tweak their computer and router settings in order to make them harder to hit (ie: laggy) while still maintaining the ability to hit enemies and/or trying to "make their reg better" which means bullet registration. You know how sometimes you aim at certain players (even if they have a low and stable ping) and the shots just don't hit them even though you think they should? I'm not sure if anyone has completely nailed the reasoning behind this but some players are trying to create this. The thing is it's sort of a "grey area" and can be defined as cheating but also can be defined as not cheating. This is because these settings are global and not actually modifying ET or changing ET in any way, rather the changes are meant to affect your entire network settings. There are cheats that exist that have built in laggers, with different modes. Some modes aren't noticeable lag and some are. There are other exploits you can use to create artificial lag with ET cvars which is why alot of cvars are commonly restricted. The only issue with these tweaks is that the changes suggested are TCP And AFAIK make no difference to your network, nor does changing your MTU in the router. There is some evidence that suggests a couple of those TCP tweaks may possibly affect UDP transmissions (which are what ET uses, not TCP) but I'm not 100% sure on that stuff. I recommend building real skill either way instead of trying to abuse your network settings to gain advantage in ET, whether that is considered fair or not. I personally think it's cheap. Here's an example of being right on a target and not being able to register hits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVtziLbH7G8 (These were supposed to be embedded but the forum only allows 2 per post)

Another piece of useful information for people is to stop using autoreload. The problem with automatic reloading is that it's faster to switch to pistols than it is to reload (even with the skill promotions). Here's the cvar to disable automatic reload:

seta cg_autoReload "0"

The same goes for autoSwitch. You don't want the game deciding for you when to change to another weapon. Then there's noAmmoAutoSwitch. Sometimes you may run out of ammo just at the right time that you don't really need to switch to pistols but rather reload your SMG. You should be able to determine on your own if you need to switch weapons or reload. That gives you alot of flexibility in your decision-making while playing. Below are the cvars for disabling this, the second one is NQ specific:

seta cg_autoSwitch "0"
seta cg_noAmmoAutoSwitch "1"

The final note on settings I want to touch is autoexec. Most people are aware that if you create a file called "autoxec.cfg" in your game directory in any mod folder it will automatically execute that file. What's little known to most players is you can do things like "autoexec_adlernest.cfg" and "autoexec_axis.cfg" which will automatically do what you put in the config based on the map you load into or the team you join, respectively. I usually only do this in etpro but I tested it in NQ 1.2.9 so I assume it works in silentmod and other major mods.


Chapter 2 - Gameplay

Note: Congratulations, you've made it past the first chapter of my wall of text. If you've learned things maybe you should continue to read .

Section 1 - Movement and Aim
Positioning yourself is key in staying alive long enough to knock down a bunch of enemies before you go down. Hopefully you'll be able to judge the situation accurately and perform well and actually survive after taking people down. Here's a video example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyR0c5e-YB8 (These were supposed to be embedded but the forum only allows 2 per post)

I like to thinking of strafing as your own unique "dance". Most people just go left and right in the same pattern over and over if they even strafe at all. I suggest changing it up a bit, throw in some crouches here and there where appropriate (especially while reloading or going behind objects just under head level). You simply crouch then go back up. This makes them see you go down and start aiming down then by the time they are aiming down they are aiming for your legs or waist and you've already returned to a fully standing position. It throws them off and also moves your hitboxes around in a unique way. Another thing I do is instead of a repetitive strafe I mix the movement up a bit, especially when I feel like I'm going up against someone who's doing good damage to me. Don't jump while you're fighting people and strafing unless you're reloading and it's impossible to take cover. Jumping destroys your aim. Also, when you notice that you and the opponent are both strafing one direction and going the same speed, you're setting yourself up to get owned. Change it up. You may wonder why I suggest this because you are also setting yourself up for some easy headshots and the reason is simple; they have now adjusted to the fact you're both going the same direction at the same pace while shooting eachother. If you switch it up on them, you're in control and you know exactly when you're going to do this so it throws them off since they don't expect it. While they are there compensating for the movement they didn't think you'd make, you're already one step ahead of their game and preparing to adjust your aim accordingly once you go the other direction and start strafing left and right again.

Another thing is I don't sprint when i strafe and most people do. People find this odd when I tell them and don't even realize I'm not strafing when I do it. The reason for this stemmed from the way my controls are which is a completely different story but the point is it's unique. Find something unique to do that people aren't used to seeing. You need to understand that several players are just like me and have seen so many of the same repetitive actions from players over the years of ET and that's why most players are so predictable.

Another thing you should add into your gameplay technique is walking, crouching, and opening doors silently. If you aren't aware, you can hold your walk or crouch key and open a door and it will slowly open silently. Other than that, walking and crouching have great benefits and I usually watch players not taking advantage of them. Walking will obviously make you inaudible because players won't be able to hear your footsteps. You still need to take note that they can hear your weapons switching, your footsteps if you walk on uneven grounds or down stairways, your weapons firing, you falling down and your gun reloading. Walking doesn't mute your other sounds, only your footsteps. Being silent is an excellent way to surprise an enemy and have the upper hand on them when you two begin your fight. Crouching does the same thing but crouching also improves accuracy. Below is an example of a player who doesn't crouch when they should be:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYgF6pRIjxA (These were supposed to be embedded but the forum only allows 2 per post)

Here's an example of the effective use of crouching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7Ldpwog78g (These were supposed to be embedded but the forum only allows 2 per post)

Now I'll discuss proning. Some people hate when players prone in battles and I don't see the big fuss about it and usually do a good job of killing in-fight proners. I don't recommend building that bad habit though. I say build your aiming skill and positioning skills as well as gamesense and you'll be fine. The only time I prone is when I'm hiding for a reload or something else where crouching isn't going to hide me well enough.

I can actually estimate the amount of bullets someone fired after they finish firing as long as there aren't other nearby gunshots going on throwing my count off. The thing is, I don't count during the shots, I have the ability to count AFTER the sound of their gunfire has finished. The way I interpret those sounds is a pattern and I don't really know how to explain it but I can tell how many shots someone fired after firing without counting while they fire. I'm concentrating on aiming and positioning while firing, not counting every bullet. The thing is, you need to be able to quickly calculate after the enemy stops firing.*

When you have multiple enemies against you and want to minimize your damage received while maximizing damage dealt, you need to hide your body so that you're only hitting one enemy at a time. Move on to the next enemy one at a time, just like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSBrIFK1fQM (These were supposed to be embedded but the forum only allows 2 per post)

And check out that great job that taukima is doing reviving me, that's how you revive...

[sneak]

Section 2 - Timing
You need to learn the maps to understand how long it takes to get from point A to point B. The reason this is important is for realizing before it's too late that an enemy has slipped by you in sp_delivery_te to go build the controls, meaning they've skipped the flag capping process at the flag you were so busy trying to defend. If you're playing a 3v3 and only see two enemies dead and you're looking around for a couple seconds for the third and he hasn't come you need to be thinking to yourself "did somebody get through?". This is ESPECIALLY the case if two of the dead enemies are non-engineer class. Turn around immediately and try to kill the engy. I don't suggest killing out because assuming you hit the coincidental perfect time to killout once realizing someone slipped past your team you still need to run to the controls and the quickest way is spawnway but the controls are built on the other side of the room (the side opposite of the button). It takes too long. If you know how to move fast you should be able to catch up to that engy because usually (mainly in pubs) the engy that sneaks through is often the type of player who isn't very skilled in shooting and wanted to go build the objective to lock down the flag cap for their team. The sneaky engy could be caught earlier if you use headphones and pay attention, assuming they were making noise to begin with. Knowing how long it takes to get from once place to another can also provide you with better alternate routes to meet up with your enemy and kill them when they're trying to deliver docs or simply get you another frag because you already know when to aim at a specific location on the map based on when you saw someone leave another location. This is especially useful when you're fighting one player and he runs behind a wall and another player is shooting you so you focus on him. Well what happens when you kill this 2nd player? You turn around *and aim where you suspected that player was going to be running to. Typically players like to double team you if you're alone, especially if they feel like you outclass them in skill. This only provides you with even more of an upper-hand because you know their moves before they make them.

Knowing when to push our kill out is important in pubs just like scrims. If you push out into enemies when you're about to spawn without killing out before the timer resets you're hurting your team's progress as well as your own. You're stuck waiting for an entire spawn, which is often a very long time if playing in etpro. You should be pushing out when you're about to die so you can die if you have to (but hopefully not) or kill out when you're about to spawn so you can get full health and ammo and push with your team again to defend or rush your objective depending on your current team. There's nothing unfair about killing out either, don't worry about people thinking you're a "noob" for that. It's part of the game. More on that later...

Knowing when to hold back is just as important. If you're alone against an entire team, you probably want to hold back or kill out when it's almost time to spawn to support your team. Which one you choose is dependent on the situation but if you choose to hold back and defend, you need to waste the time of your enemy. It doesn't matter if you're getting kills here as long as you make them afraid to come in. More experienced players will rush you anyway but often you can get away with holding defense all by yourself by wasting their time while your team is down full if you're playing against players who are not as skilled.

Reviving is another useful task you need to learn because medic is the staple class of ET. Yes medic, not engineer. For optimal team play you need more medics than engineers but most pubbers don't realize this and dislike medics for the wrong reasons (again, I'm going to go over those reasons later in this guide). Reviving and healing keeps your team alive to complete the objective and medics are great for taking down enemies and putting out alot of damage. When to revive is actually something I still think about sometimes. I think it's heavily dependent on the situation you're in and the players you're reviving. No, I don't think that medics on pubs HAVE to revive everyone. It's a public server, not a scrim. I think it's great to have medics on the team who do revive though and I do appreciate being revived and I personally have a habit of reviving everyone I can. It's possible to do well personally and still revive but I think alot of people assume that anyone who kills alot of people automatically isn't reviving but that simply isn't true. I've been called rambo medic countless times while being the best medic in the server (the award) or other high amounts of healing and reviving my teammates. People assume that I'm not reviving simply because I can aim and strafe. Ah, the tough life of playing medic and being hated by baddies.

I see alot of players throwing grenades without priming them. Do people not realize that nades can be primed? Hold your attack button down longer and listen to those beautiful click noises. Don't hold longer than 4 clicks because you'll 'splode yourself. How long to prime nades I can say can only be learned by experience and it depends on the situation.

I see alot of players try to capture flags while there are enemies defending them and the team has 15 seconds left to spawn still. Why do this? Why push into the flag to try extra hard to capture it and 95% of the time die because of that when you can simply wait until your team is about to spawn and THEN go potentially sacrifice your life to capture the flag for the team. This causes your team to spawn at the flag as soon as it's captured (if timed right) and annihilate those 1-3 players that were giving you a hard time while you cap. I understand it's difficult to get used to watching the spawn timer but it's very important in ET. If you really want to get this down you may need to go do scrims (yes in etpro). Don't scrim in other mods, use etpro and global configs because they're balanced and consistent across every server).

When you're fighting an enemy and they go behind an object such as a box, wall, or rock to reload you need to listen for the sound of the gun finishing the reload. I wouldn't say to start shooting exactly when it finishes reloading, but it's a short moment after. I don't care if you don't see them, shoot the same side of the object they just came from. The reasoning behind this is most people are too distracted by the battle to actually expect this from you or try to trick you and won't bother going the other way. People tend to hide, reload, then immediately come back out. It takes practice to learn exactly how long it takes the average player to jump back out after reloading. This often gets you an early headshot or two if you're aiming in the correct place and gives you the advantage. They either die or go back into hiding and try to pull out med packs in which case you rush and own them.


Section 3 - Movement
Being speedy in ET is very useful and I recommend that everyone learns how to TJ (Trick Jump). Not necessarily jumps that get you into advantageous positions or over walls to complete objectives, but gamma jumping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cAKh4lRfsc (These were supposed to be embedded but the forum only allows 2 per post)


Section 4 - Map Knowledge
Knowing the map plays a HUGE role in being successful. It helps you know where enemies are going to come from, how long it takes them to get places, and where you should be aiming and moving to and from. Without knowing a map you are almost useless to your team in every way because you don't know the objectives to complete or where to go to kill people. You also tend to lose more fights meaning it gives your team a lesser chance of winning and lowers your chance of dominating the scores. Because of the amount of players that have played the game, and currently do and the countless years of playing and several thousand maps played, I tend to know where people are going to be in maps I'm familiar with. To me all spots are common spots that people actually use in maps like Goldrush. I know the paths they take, I know the spots they camp at and spawnkill at. Here's an example of a player appearing upset that I knew he was under our spawn. The reason I knew is because it was impossible for him to get to the transmitter that fast. I could hear him jumping away with the objective while waiting for respawn and saw nobody jumping from the box outside our spawn when we spawned. It became clear to me he was underneath the spawn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PgFl1ISxIw (These were supposed to be embedded but the forum only allows 2 per post)


Section 5 - Game Knowledge
Gibbing is very important because it prevents the enemy team from advancing (or defending). Assuming the enemy team has medics who actually revive, if you don't gib battles will be much more difficult for you as well as your team. Gibbing is simply the action of forcing someone into limbo (making them wait for respawn) by either exploding their body or shooting them when they're waiting on the ground for a medic to revive them. Sometimes, based on the situation, it's wiser to finish killing more enemies first. This heavily depends on the skill levels and if the enemy team is reviving or has any medics alive. Usually you want to kill and gib engineers so they can't do objectives. This is why I said medics are the main class of ET despite many maps requiring the wrench and/or dyno. They keep engineers alive which is precisely why you need to counter that by gibbing.

Getting the first hit on your enemy is important as well because it gives you the natural advantage of starting to damage them before they damage you but it also gives the potential to give them a hard time hitting you back. If you find yourself in the situation where someone is hitting you too much and you're having problems hitting them back, just sidestep and re-initiate the gunfire with the enemy. You're basically hitting the reset button on the fight and getting in the new "first hit". Make sure to make up for the time they were damaging you alot and you weren't because sidestepping to re-initiate won't guarantee you win a fight. Despite the lack of guarantee, it's a useful tactic that is commonly used by skilled players to win fights.

When you see a relatively close enemy with an MG and have the opportunity, run around him. You only need to go around them enough to be out of their range. Unless they're skilled and get you fast you can easily get around them outside of their bipod range and kill them before they can even leave the bipod mode.

LEANING! Just do it! It really helps you out and give you the advantage of knowing when an enemy is coming around a corner. You can jump out when they're in the air (especially useful on those servers with the super high double jump) and just knock them down immediately. It takes practice to learn how far out you should stand to see things without hanging out the edge of the wall and being detected. Learn how to do it and make use of this great ET feature.


Section 6 - Psychology
I feel that alot of being successful in ET is actually psychology. Coordination is important but psychology can win you alot of battles even against players you tend to struggle against. In a way, it's a method of outsmarting your opponent in their decisions to make certain moves in ET. One way you can trick people who are "less advanced" at ET is to do something very simple such as opening a door then coming out through the large opening next to it. Anyone should be able to do this as it's very simple, and better players are very aware of this trick and won't fall for it at all. A good example of this is on supply at the first gate (the one that's already open, not the one that allies need to destroy). The idea is to make the player look to a certain direction and then go the other way and hit him while he's looking away. Here's what I mean:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGYKJxeqI94 (These were supposed to be embedded but the forum only allows 2 per post)

Most players in ET tend to do the same exact thing as other players. You will rarely find players that do something different. Since you have a statically higher chance of being successful by adapting to the most commonly occurring gameplay choices I suggest you do just that. Expect that every player you go against is going to go to the same spots you've become used to seeing people go to in order to camp or sneak by or even rush in.

Another useful tip is when there are two doors next to eachother and you see an enemy go behind the wall between them you need to realize that he can pop out of either of those doors at any minute. For sake of the example let's talk about a separation between the two doors which is equivalent to two or three ET characters standing next to eachother, elbow to elbow. Typically he'll be going behind those to reload or run from one of your teammates that may die just after he does. Once he jumps out, where will YOU be aiming? You can only choose one answer and there are three options. The first option is to aim between the two doorways, dead center between them. The second option is to aim at the left doorway. The third option is to aim at the right doorway. If you chose either of the last two options you're correct. Don't aim between the two doors because you have a 50% higher chance to already be aiming at the enemy if you choose one of the doorways. If you aim between the two doorways you will need to adjust your aim to the right or the left but if you aim at one of the doorways you may or may not have to move your aim to the other door. Snapping to the other door shouldn't be a difficult task for you if you've built your muscle memory. How do you know which door to choose? Typically if a player ran from a good amount of distance and quickly behind the doorway separator it means they're coming out the other doorway (the one furthest from the direction they got behind the separator). If a player was already strafing in a way where they occasionally go behind the separator while shooting you and only went behind it to reload, they are most likely to decide to come back out the doorway that they came from. You should keep this in mind when you're the person behind the doorway for those players like me who realize this already. People tend to choose the shortest route to the outcome they want, which is to kill you. They don't usually think ahead and expect you to expect them coming out of a certain doorway. Most people probably don't think anyone even thinks about this. I know that was probably very confusing, especially if English isn't your fluent language. Here's an illustration:



In this example you can see our ET character is strafing left and right and appearing at the doorway which is on the right. Imagine the character BEHIND that wall, there's no other way to really draw that so use your imagination! That means they are more likely to come back out on that side after reloading.



Here we can clearly see our field ops is coming in from the left really quickly. Well, it's most likely he'll end up in that right side doorway.

There will of course be those players who defy the usual behavior of most players so this isn't full proof but I think you should get the idea by now, if not I don't know how you made it this far through the guide.

I often trick people into coming out the other side of an object, for example a rock. This requires an object for me to take cover behind as well. They shoot me, I shoot them, they take cover behind the rock and I come out for a moment to let them shoot at me then quickly go to the other side of my own object and wait for them to pop out of theirs. Nine times out of ten the average player will do this and you'll have the automatic advantage because you won't be moving and you can even crouch to possibly get better hits on them. You'll get the first hit usually too because they're playing right into your hand. Also, learn how long it takes them to get to the other side of an object and you can even prefire it. Things like this often cause players to accuse you of cheating by the way, so have fun with that. The reason this is so effective is because of the competitiveness of an ET player (especially male et players, which make up most of the game). Once they are attacking you, it's like you got them to bite the bait and you need to reel them in by going to the other side and forcing them to want to do it too so you can kill them. They will want to once again find the most direct route to attacking you again and often don't consider the outcome. This is especially ironic considering the whole reason they decided to go to the other side of the rock is because they couldn't see you anymore on the previous side of the rock you're hiding behind. They're so anxious to grab the frag that they don't consider the fact that you're setting them up to be in movement while you can easily prepare to shoot them the moment they appear on the other side.

[sneak]

Chapter 3 - Training and Mindset



Section 1 - Comfort and Attitude
Personal comfort is important to me, if it's too hot or too cold I'll not perform as well in ET. I can't be in an agitated or anxious mood, or I'll perform poorly in-game. The best kind of attitude to have when playing is a calm and neutral attitude. If you're constantly accusing everyone of cheating you probably will end up pretty upset and doing even worse than you started off as and then ragequitting. Ever notice how people usually ragequit after accusing players of cheats? That's why. Being fast to accuse players is bad, it makes you look bad and inexperienced or like a hater. The best thing to do is privately spectate and record a demo just in-case. Without proof, accusations are useless. Not to say I haven't been guilty of that in the past, but typically when I'm saying someone is cheating it's because I'm sure. Some people may not agree or realize it yet but my accuracy rate has proven high. Keep in mind too that this game is very old and some players have been playing since the start and have seen much more than you have and experienced much more than you have. We've been playing the same maps and encountering the same situations over and over for countless hours, days, weeks and months. We see players think they're clever trying to do things over and over throughout the years but in reality it's nothing new to a seasoned player. Alot of players have played against much better players than you, making you not much of a challenge to them. Just because they're better than what you've ever seen doesn't mean they cheat (this is mostly going out to you pubbers who accuse every single skilled player who comes to your server and ban them for "cheats"). After a while, it becomes habit to counter the behavior of players because people get so used to it. Imagine waking up every morning to someone punching you in the face. Eventually you're going to catch on that as soon as you wake up, you're going to be fighting back instead of calling them a cheater because they hit you when you were sleeping.


Section 2 - Preparation
Alot of good aim comes from in-game practice of course which is mostly developed by building muscle memory and learning to track player movement and teach yourself a pattern of common movements players make. Another thing you could do that I used to do with friends several years ago is *a 1 vs 4 on a map called ctf_well in an etpro server. These are the rules:

• You go on one team as field ops and you can use any weapons you want.
• Four friends go on the other team as field ops and can only use pistols.

The purpose of this exercise is to teach you how to prioritize targets and hide your body from damage. You want to "slice" your targets off in a way so that you can only shoot one at a time when several are coming at you from the same direction. Sometimes you need to chase people around a building when there are people coming from the other side and will end up behind you soon. You need to use headphones to accurately hear where people are and able to process several calculations in your head while you shoot. If it's too difficult to do all this, maybe try taking it one by one then improving each skill once you're comfortable with others. For example, improve your snapping and tracking to targets then move on to target prioritizing and audio cues to move to certain places to avoid damage. Often the difference between a single kill and then dying and 4 kills then dying is how you position your OWN body while shooting. The enemy team that has 4 players is going to learn how to improve their pistol shots at the same time. At the end of the round the player with the most damage gets a turn unless you're only planning on training one guy in 1 vs 5 over and over. In the global configs the round doesn't end so maybe you should set a timer. There is an objective on ctf_well which is kinda interesting but when you're practicing 1 vs 4 you don't want to do objective. Keep your mind focused on the objective of fragging.

Another thing you can do if you're a loner with no friends is go on an etpro server with aop_practice_b3. It's a map with floating ET heads without a body that I've spent hours on just like ctf_well 1 vs 4. They shoot back at you and hit you pretty well. It's difficult to hit them because there's no body under them and heads are small. My advice is to imagine with peripheral vision if you can, a body under the head. For some reason this psychological trick tends to help me hit the heads.

I think to really build skill you need to get into a routine you're comfortable with during gameplay and get used to doing the same things over and over that have proven effective. Build muscle memory with your keyboard just like your mouse. You should be playing and making decisions like habits, not trying to over-think everything and make it a chore or task to play. Things should feel natural, like you didn't even have to think to successfully pull something off in-game.


Chapter 4 - Things that can hold you back


Section 1 - Player Perceptions
This section is being included because it contains beliefs that can prevent you from accepting the reality of ET, and progressing in skill level.

There are people out there who constantly complain about things like spawnkilling, spawncamping, corner camping, selfkilling, and a number of other things. The complaints are invalid and only holding those people back from reaching their potential in ET. If you don't play using those tactics and skills then you can't be the best player possible.

Starting off with the big one, SK: Spawnkilling is when you kill someone inside their spawn right after they spawned or if they haven't left the spawn and they're standing there AFK like idiots causing the teams to be imbalanced. You generally don't have an issue with AFK players and people who complain about SK in etpro so this is going out to you pubbers. People think it's unfair and that you should "give the enemy a chance", well the reality is that it's completely fair and they already have a chance because they're playing the same game with the same weapons and classes. Spawnkilling is actually a core objective of all traditional first person shooters, and ET falls under that category. The reason SK is an objective of ET is the same reason killing the enemy is the objective: because the game is a team-based FPS. In order to actually do the teamwork and move or build tanks or trucks, destroy things, build things, carry objectives and capture flags you need to kill enemies 99% of the time. The game is literally a game about shooting people which is why it holds the genre "First Person Shooter". So right from the start, your main objective in ET is to shoot the enemy. Without guns in ET, the offensive team would always win. The goal of defense is to hold back the offense and the goal of offense is to complete the MAP OBJ. Spawnkilling achieves this for your team by pressuring the enemy team from actually advancing throughout the map. If the enemy team cannot advance, they can't defend their map objective (or push it if they're on the offensive team). If you constantly cry about people spawnkilling this is going to hold you back from becoming a good player because good players spawnkill and whining about what other people do in the game is only going to ruin your mood while trying to play. Not only is all the above true, but the game actually COMES with spawnshields built in. How much more can you really ask for? You already have a chance + the spawnshields so stop asking for "a chance to leave spawn". If you aren't out of spawn by the time 3 seconds is over you aren't helping your team enough and deserve to die. The final point about SK is that entire teams don't tend to do it, it's usually one person or two. If an entire enemy team can't leave spawn with one to two people killing/camping there then the teams must be off. That isn't the fault of SK, but a team imbalance. Even if someone successfully kills a freshly spawned enemy or two, the rest of the team with full health and ammo and invulnerability for 3 seconds is bound to kill the SKer.

Spawn camping is basically the same concept, but it involves a player hanging around the spawn which is actually even better of a move. There's nothing wrong with playing smart in order to prevent the enemy team from winning. Next thing we know we are going to have people making server rules to "not shoot someone in the back" because they need to be "given a chance to turn around and shoot you". It's completely absurd and ridiculous but alot of admins are restricting SK because of players who want this. Clans want populated servers so they often have to do what's necessary, even if that means using rules like those. It's the players who need to change and accept that this is part of all shooter games and shouldn't be restricted. When people move on from this incorrect form of thinking that SK/SC is a bad thing, they will begin to improve. The "waa waa it's no fair because you won't give me an extra chance" mentality is harmful. SK and SC can potentially put an enemy player out full (dead for the entire duration of their spawntime) which is also helping the team defend or push their objective. SK and SC ARE the implied objective since the objective is goal based rather than KDR and damage.

Self-killing is also a huge part of ET because of the spawntimer system it uses. In the most simple terms, it's better to spawn with full health and ammo and assist your team than be dead an entire spawn cycle leaving your team to carry the weight of a missing player. Killing out to avoid kills isn't really a huge deal either but I can kinda understand why people get frustrated about that.

Medics, there's nothing at all wrong with medics. In the case that a server admin changes the health regen of medics to increase it by alot or gives them unlimited ammo or something there could be an issue but by default there's no issue. People have whined about medics for much too long and it needs to come to an end. The reason they got owned isn't because the enemy played medic, it's because they're bad at ET. Medics aren't broken and were meant to be in this game and without them there'd be no objective completion. Medics are the all around objective-doer aside from things that require explosions or pliers. This is because they are great for fragging, great for keeping the team healed and revived, and that includes the engineers who will be building and destroying alot of the objectives. They are very useful in several parts of ET. And not only this, but let's face it -- not everyone is that coordinated or lacking disabilities which prevent them from playing better. Not everyone has great hardware and peripherals. Not everyone can knock down opponents easily. We need people who can play medic in this game or it would be extremely boring. Everywhere you go, imagine never being able to get revived. Imagine not having any extra health when you just got shot by a random lotto rnade and you're nearly dead. Medics help carry the team to victory, whether in defense or offense. Yes, you do need engineers for most maps (especially when walljumping isn't allowed), but without medics this would be an entirely boring game. It's not cheap to play medic, it's not cheap to heal yourself. This is the perk you're granted when playing medic. You have less ammo, less grenades, and can heal yourself and the team. Yes, I understand some people only dislike "rambo medics" but I'm referring to the general dislike of medics and people who think that medics should be entirely removed from the game. I'm sorry but you're plain wrong. Medics have existed since the beginning and worked from the start.

Walljumping is only a trickjump if double jump isn't being used. This is one misconception people have in servers with double jump. That guy who just jumped by kicking the air and went over a wall didn't do anything special. He just used your server settings. Real TJing takes skill, timing, practice and coordination. There's nothing wrong either with doing this, though I see the reason why pub servers have rules against it. Again, most players want to continue playing the maps and not have objectives rushed. The only contradiction here is that sometimes the settings and player count for the map sizes are unfair for the offending team.

Alot of people tell me things like "this isn't etpro" or "we just want to have fun" whenever I try to discuss things like this with them or game balance regarding panzers that fire off every 2 seconds from the same player and shut a nuke size missile at a bullet speed of travel rate. I have no intention of turning pub servers and pub mods into something exactly like etpro. The problem is that SOME things are just extremely unfair in these servers and that's what I have an issue with. How this is relevant to the guide is by playing on servers like this and following their beliefs you're creating bad habits for yourself and it will be hard to accept alot of things in this guide and hard to progress into being a more skilled player. Pub players have odd views on etpro and anyone from it. Just because someone expects balance doesn't mean they want to convert your jaymod server into an etpro one. Calm down guys. Also, there's a reason why etpro is used as the competition mod in ET, it's balanced. It's FAIR. So try not to have this bad attitude whenever someone wants a map that happens to be played in pro alot or wants balance and fairness in the gameplay. If people were more willing to accept things and be open-minded they'd be able to improve and the entire game would be less of an accusation-fest.

Modifying configs is perfectly fair and it's a feature of ET. There's nothing wrong with it, it isn't a cheat, it isn't unfair. If that's what you think then you're 100% wrong. First of all, configs are already included in the pak0.pk3 file. If you understand how ET loads the pk3s you know that the things in the pk3 are loaded relative to the mod folder. If you have a silent server and you put a pk3 in there that has the folder structure "/sound/announces" then files inside with the appropriate names it's replacing the ones inside the silent mod pk3. Well in the etmain folder there are configs in the root directory of pak0.pk3 from developers of the game (to best of my knowledge that's where the configs came from). That's where those tricks come from where you tell people to "/exec horsey". Next, this is actually quite common in FPS games. Even Half-Life based games and COD games have swappable config systems. Finally, nothing in CFGs are being added into the game. All of those settings already exist, they're only being tweaked. You're probably now thinking "well, you can't change (or find) those in the game so it's unfair". You're wrong again! You can change all of those in the console and you can find all of those in the console. Alot of people don't know that you can type things like "/cg" and hit tab and the console will display all the cg cvars. Alot of people ALSO don't know that you can type "/writeconfig filename.cfg" to store your chosen settings to a config file.

Lastly, don't make accusations against players for things such as kills to deaths ratios. "Going 118 and 36" doesn't mean someone cheats. Everyone just laughs at you when they find out you actually thought someone cheats because you said something like "dude you went 53 and 4, you cheat". If you think someone cheats, go to spec and make a demo of them. It's that simple. Review the demo to judge their play. Only very seasoned players with the right experience can spot cheaters by playing against them, and even then if they have no proof it means nothing anyway. Don't contribute to those servers who ban people without proof. Get proof before banning or you will forever be a joke and terrible at ET. Speaking of demos, another pro tip to take with you is to record other players who are skilled so you can watch them and learn how to play.


Wrapping this up


By now you may be feeling extremely exhausted after reading all that and watching those videos. Take a rest and reflect on what you've read then go try some things out. Back when I started this game I was a total noob like most people and I didn't really play FPS games online (only LAN games). ET is more difficult than most games I think and I was no child prodigy when I started. I was playing on a server called MoB and I don't remember what it stands for or if it's the same people who play RTCW but there were some players there who trained me in ET and taught me some things about configs and how to remove the bloodsplatter and bobs. I learned alot from them and I still remember that. The people who really taught me in the beginning were thrifty24, [MoB]*Bunni* and joey. I spent hours in scrims on Sandals scrim server and pubbing on ETBOX Core East and SNL! and many hours playing with eX~ and Eternal#. All of this was very useful in learning ET and by the time I joined jaymod clans like [UPC] (United Pizza Confederation) and *PsL (Party Squad Leiden) I was doing real well. I had always liked scrimming but never was interested in official scrims on STA/ETL/TWL, etc... I was also in Jr high and high school for a large part of my early years and busy doing other things back then.

So I wanted to thank joey, thrifty24, bunni for being my original ET mentors but there are other people I have to mention here. Shout outs to and people I've known for a good amount of time and talk to regularly and discuss ET things with as well as other things. Those people being: Banana, tAukima/ellen, Winnie, vick, PuK, grnwng, rsn, gerb/deceiver and Foreigner. Also to people who help me learn more technical information when I'm stuck such as: magik from tjw, Dragonji from sky-e, Paul from TB and from ETLegacy team we have morsik, Radegast, RaFal, Ensiform and hifi. They help me out and I really appreciate that alot. These guys are trying to better ET by developing ETLegacy so go check that out when you get a chance. Finally, wanted to mention Jemstar because he's the coolest Australian in ET ;>.

So congratulations if you've read through this huge novel and learned atleast one thing about ET. Every little thing adds to the community knowledge about the game. If there are any serious requests for more walls of text from me for a guide on something I may consider doing it so leave it in replies.

[Paul]

What an astonishing post! I'll see if I can put a more visible link to this somewhere

[sneak]

What an astonishing post! I'll see if I can put a more visible link to this somewhere

thankyou :>

[DRi*VJ*]

Quiet impressed sneak, you have to much time on your hands though . Thanks for the post though amazing.

[JoNny]

Thanks sneak, I donated 200 TB Points to you. I hope I could motivate you or any other member to do more tutorials and stuff

/JoNny

[sneak]

Quiet impressed sneak, you have to much time on your hands though . Thanks for the post though amazing.

Thankyou :>

Thanks sneak, I donated 200 TB Points to you. I hope I could motivate you or any other member to do more tutorials and stuff

/JoNny

Thanks, appreciate it alot

[BossHK]

ALMOUST read it all, fastread the rest what I didnt read. Great guide