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• The Mailbag on Piracy can be found here.

• The Netcode Article can be found here.
• The Netcode Rebuttal article can be found here.
• The Interview with Mr. Bernier can be found here.
• The Mailbag for the first Netcode article can be found here,page two is here and page three.
• The Mailbag for the Netcode Rebuttal can be found here, and page two is here.
• The Mailbag for the Interview can be found here.

Greetings! Just wanted to tell you that I agree with your opinions about the new netcode. Currently I am running off a 33.6 connection, so I'm one of those High-Pinger mofo's you are talking about. And I notice all the time when I snip, that a person can have moved (what would seem) several feet from their location I shot at, and still die. I know this makes gameplay for low pingers very fustrating, because I have also played on a xDSL line, and gameplay just don't feel right anymore. I feel it is a shame that Valve gave all those people who were so dedicated to their game and bought faster connections just so they could play it, an electronic "kick to the groin". This decision would also seem to effect phone companies in a slightly lesser form, for now, Valve is saying to everyone: "You don't need a fast connection to be on an even par anymore!" It was a techological step back in gaming, telecommucations, and fun in general. Well, that's enough ranting from me. Thanks! George SA[Turbo_X]

...I gotta agree with one thing you said: Against a guy with 350 or 400 ping, I almost always die......I couldn't even begin to understand it. But, anyhow, the weapons are useless now and the game is no fun...its 99% luck now if you live or die....so I've backburnered it till they fix the problems. PS: Broadband is hardly available in most places.........don't assume that "hard core" players all have hi-speed access, its not like "you can get broadband everywhere, its just too expensive for people". There are only 8 towns in Connecticut where you can get a broadband connection right now....and none of them are "major towns". Granted, we aren't NYC or Boston, but even still.....its just not all that available. Brant Rusch

Sirs, I am an unfortunate 250-350 ping CounterStrike player, no digital exchange or cable in my locality. I have been thinking that my play is getting worst, I cannot seem to hit things as I could. If other characters are moving I now have almost zero chance of a kill. One point is that I have hit and killed 2 guys this week with the police sniper rifle and I know that the cross hairs were not aligned. This does seem to support your theory! I used to shoot 7.62 for real back in the forces, why do some of the rounds on the SIG assault rifle fly wild? I must admit to still enjoying the game, I just have to savour each victory.

I have a cable modem and I now get 19 – 80 ping because of the new netcode but it seems very unrealistic. I have seen that “stall” but thought it was just lag but then I would just die. I hate cheaters and have never cheated but its lame when I start cleaning the whole server up and then everyone is accusing me of cheating. I hate that. Everyone is so cheat “scared”, if someone mentions that someone is cheating they usually agree if he is doing well and then the admin kicks him just because Mr. So-n-so said he was! Its stuff like this that will put this game to misery. It’s almost like the Salem witch trials but instead it’s the CS cheat trials.

Excellant article...I totally agree, I used to run a server that allowed any and all players..After this new netcode came out..I now limit my server to sub 150 pings...I did not want to do it..BUT I was getting so many complaints from regulars that I had to do something..This new netcode reminds of a cheat, but ONLY if you have the right kind of connection. BUT what worries me more than anything is that TF2 is going to have this netcode (assuming TF2 every makes it out) and I was so looking forward to TF2, if there is this kind of prediction in TF2, it might very well ruin the game for alot of people. I also wonder something..The first delay in the patch was discovered by a member of the CS who happened to have a rare type of connection..ie Cable Modem with 56k uplink..I am really starting to wonder now if Valve might be catering to a select few of the people they know that have LOW speed connections..Kinda makes you wonder WHY would a company take such a GIANT leap BACKWARDS..in network technology...Strange indeed..

I've read Mr Jeffrey Zehner's highly inflamatory article and I'd like to set a few things straight.
1) Any conclusions based solely on Counter-Strike are essentially flawed. Counter-Strike has its own bugs, and indeed it is quite possible to empty not only an AK-47 clip, but even an AWP clip into someone without doing any damage. I've shot my boss three times in the head with an AWP and he lived. One shot at the butt and he died. For a slow bolt-action rifle, that kind of bug can get you killed fast. He was standing still, so movement compensation wasn't an issue. I've also been on the lucky end of this. One of my coleagues emptied an AWP clip into my head, and did no damage. Again, I was standing still, so no movement compensation was involved. I'd like to add that this bug has existed long before the new netcode. I'm positive that in CS 6.1 I was running into the exact same problem.
Point blank bursts would sometimes do no damage. Worse yet, it seemed to depend on some short straw you drew when connecting, totally regardless of ping. I.e., once you started doing streaks of unlucky shots, it would continue throughout subsequent games, unless you disconnected, quit the game, restarted it and reconnected. It also does not happen in either TFC, normal Half-Life, or Opposing Force. So this is not Valve's fault.
2) The new netcode just eliminates a totally unfair advantage us LPB's have been enjoying. If you're ineffective with the new netcode, then you should have never been effective, and have been enjoying an unfair advantage. It's that simple. You didn't get shafted now, it's just that the HPB's have been shafted before. Let me give you an example. I straffe lots. I change direction lots. A poor High Ping sod had no chance in heck of ever retaliating. Short of a lucky stray shot due to weapon spread, they never could aim at my true position. Sniping was just short of impossible for a HPB. (Actually that was a good part, since I hate the camping aspect that IMHO plagues CS.)
Yes, I have been enjoying a totally unfair advantage on my fast ISDN connection. Now the HPB's finally get a fair chance, and some of them prove to be excellent players that were only kept back by their ping. I have been slaughtering players way better than myself, just because of my better connection. Now they slaughter me, because they ARE more skilled. We LPB's have been (unknowingly) cheating, and now the cheat has been removed. Deal with it.
3) Weapon spread. Frankly, with all due respect, Gooseman's handling of burst mode is a joke. A bad joke. I don't think it has anything to do with covering up for bugs, but just with plain lack of first hand experience with said weapons. E.g., as an ex-sergeant I have actually fired an AK-47. It is nowhere near as inaccurate as in CS. Granted, it is no sniper weapon, but at 100m range (about 300 ft), you can hit a target with even minimal training. At 300m (approx 1000 ft) it's still possible with good training. Briefly: the whole ballistics code of CS is screwed up. It's a CS issue, not a Half-Life one. And they had this long before Valve's new netcode.