• Fixing Multiplayer Lag
• Optimum Game Types
• Team Playing
• Abandoned players
• Dignified behavior

Fixing Multiplayer Lag part 1

Many times I have heard about complaints with lag during multiplayer games. Some attribute this to network connection speed; however, this is only partly true. With Windows operating systems, background services can play a large part in multiplayer lag. For example, if you system starts doing a virus scan while you are playing, you game will lag tremendously. To fix this problem, it is recommended that all background services be turned off. You can do this individually by right clicking the service at the bottom right of your screen and exiting them. This however doesn’t shutdown all start up services.

Fixing Multiplayer Lag part 2

Another way to do this is to go to your Start and click on RUN. Where it says open type msconfig and click OK. Go to the startup tab and click the button that says Disable All and click OK. Then restart your system. When you r system restarts you will see a system box popup saying your settings changed. Just click OK. Then play Halo. Your system won’t do scheduled updates, virus scans or other Internet connections while you are playing. This can solve many lag problems because your computer won’t be using your processor and bandwidth for something other than the game. DON’T FORGET TO ENABLE THOSE PROGRAMS WHEN YOU ARE DONE PLAYING HALO.

Fixing Multiplayer Lag part3

Another problem with lag is CPU processor type. Intel Celeron CPU’s, for example, have only 1 level of cache. Pentiums have 2 levels of cache. If you have a Celeron Processor, expect there to be lag. The Processor can’t keep up with the network. Celerons bottleneck at the CPU causing a delay in information transfer. Buy an AMD processor and Motherboard, you won’t have this problem.

Fixing Multiplayer Lag part 4

Also, if you are playing a game with 16 different people, 9 times out of 10, those people are in 16 different countries. Depending on the time of day of each country there can be a great loss of bandwidth. When I host games in the USA, I do it late at night when there are less people using the Internet. Less traffic on the neighborhood network equals less lag. For example there could be 250,000 people on the Internet in California at midnight; but, 1,000,000 people at Noon. One person joining the game at a bad time of day could cause the Ping to go crazy all of a sudden.

Fixing Multiplayer Lag part 5

Lastly, don’t go on a 56k network connection and join a multiplayer game. That doesn’t work so well. Try DSL, Cable, or T1 connection speeds, have a fast router, and short cabling(forget wireless).

Optimum Game Types part 1

There quite a few different game types that can be made. The worst game types are the modded game types. Modded game types can be glitchy and cause system crashes during game play. This includes map hacks. Unless you have a well programmed map hack, you should stay away from map hacks.

Optimum Game Types part 2

Another poor game type are cheats. The "Aimbot" cheat is one of the favorite cheats. This type of cheat makes the game no fun for the group and diminishes the quality of the gaming experience. Unless you like patting yourself on the back I would stay away from "Aimbots". "Aimbots" prove that you have no skill."

Optimum Game Types part 3

Also, Halo has an Autoban feature for multiplayer game when a team mate betrays another team mate. This also wrecks the game because if your own team mate accidently betrays too many times you lost one of your team and they can’t come back into your game. Also, with key generated codes, you could be banning people you want to play with. The only way around this is to either use the” –console” option and remove the banned player (If you can) or go to My Documents/Games/Hale/banned.txt and delete the info out of the text file with notepad. You have to exit Halo and restart the game to do this though. Talk about ruining a game. It would be better to just make a game type that has friendly fire off to avoid banning altogether. Banning people is poor sportsmanship, unnecessary, and weakens the game.

Optimum Game Types part 4

Another suggestion is to create many combinations of game types. If you have a diverse crowd in your hosted game, you most likely run into a group that wants a specific map with specific weapons and vehicles. If you want to have a good game, don’t be a dictator of the game and make many diverse game types before starting the game.

Team Playing

One of the greatest aspects of Halo is the team playing ability. When playing a CTF, Oddball, King of the hill, or Team slayer, you are going to need to use your Y button and communicate with your team. Nothing is worse and makes you lose really as fast as the standalone Rambo on your team. It might be nice that Rambo can hold his own, but that is for a free for all slayer game, not CTF, Oddball, King of the hill, or Team Slayer. Rambo’s should join a different game.

Abandoned Players

Abandoning your player in a multiplayer game is not a really good idea. Occasionally you’ll see the guy that just stands there and never does anything. Of course you might want to get a cup of coffee or go to the restroom; but, when someone stands there doing nothing for an hour, it takes up a spot for other players that could join and participate in the game. Nothing is worse than having half of your team not participating in the game. That weakens the game tremendously. Banning the player is not an option because you might want that person to play later in the game.

Dignified Behavior

When you are losing really bad you could become a little frustrated. But occasionally you’ll see someone start going off on another player. Calling names and accusing people of cheating. Whether it’s true or not, this always weakens the game. Occasionally people will leave the game because of this. It’s good to play with experienced players and talented players because you can improve your skills faster this way. Of course using profanity isn’t a good idea either. Some of the players in Halo multiplayer games are just kids. The last thing that kid needs is for their parents to take their online Halo game away from them because someone said a bad word. Parents are a little crazy sometimes. Undignified behavior wrecks multiplayer games.