CS:GO Tips

cl_interp and how it affects your CS:GO gameplay (CS:GO tips)

January 2, 2017

How cl_interp affects my gameplay

Honestly, I completely forgot these command (cl_interp, cl_interp_ratio) until I read a topic on reddit few days ago. After changing mouses, changing sensitivities, crosshair, resolution, in-game settings, and even gaming chair and table, I still could not get used to playing CS:GO online. It was so much different between training with bots offline and playing MM. And you know that feel when you shot someone in his head 3, 4 times then you die without killing him huh? So frustrating. I was thinking the reason was the CS:GO hitbox was much smaller than CS 1.6, but c’mon, I knew my aim was not that bad!

Few days ago I read a topic on reddit and BINGO! I immediately launched CS:GO and check my config settings. My cl_interp was 0.0xxxxx, and my cl_interp_ratio was 2, cl_interpolate was 1. So I changed my cl_interp_ratio to 1 to see if there would be any difference. Got in a MM game and YEAH!. Now everything feels better, everything is controllable, and a lot more confident.

How to tweak cl_interp properly

So if you have done a lot of things to improve your aim but still get stuck, you might want to change your interp settings. Here I will tell you how to do it. (If you wish to read more about how Interpolation works, see this https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Source_Multiplayer_Networking#Entity_interpolation )

We have 3 commands: cl_interp, cl_interp_ratio, cl_interpolate. To be able to use these commands, you must first enable the in-game console. Go to ‘Options’ -> ‘Game Settings’ -> Choose ‘Yes’ for ‘Enable Developer Console’. Then go to ‘Options’ -> ‘Keyboard/Mouse’ -> Assign a key to ‘Toggle Console’. (Recommended key: ~). Now get in game and open you console by pressing ‘~’.

The default settings are:

Cl_interp 0

Cl_interp_ratio 2

Cl_interpolate 1

Back in time in CS 1.6, I often change the cl_interp only, but in CS:GO is a bit different. In your settings, the cl_interp should be set to 0 and 0 only. The game will automatically adjust this value based on the servers and the rate you playing on. But basically just set it to zero. The lower the better.

Cl_interp_ratio should be set to 1,2 or 3. It depends on your connection. So for me it is 1, but for you it might be 2 or 3. You probably need to test it yourself to see what works. However this is noticeable so there will not be a problem. Tips: Set to 1 if you have little to no packet loss (a.k.a loss, choke, use the command net_graph 3 to see it yourself), 2 of you have regular packet loss, and 3 if you have a big amount of packet loss.

Cl_interpolate, remember to check this command. Just set it to 1.

To change this you can add it to your autoexec config, or just copy and paste this to your CS:GO launch option:

No packet loss:

Config file:

Cl_interp 0

Cl_interp_ratio 1

Cl_interpolate 1

Launch option:

+cl_interp 0 +cl_interp_ratio 1 +cl_interpolate 1

Regular packet loss:

Config file:

Cl_interp 0