Let's Talk About Impossible Ping

This guide will hopefully clear the air some about what is going on with players who have 1-5 "ping" (what is often precieved as impossible) in public servers!

ping lore

Alrighty gamers, there seems to be confusion here, at least from what I witnessed in normal casual gameplay. So, I thought I might try and share some info about the way ping is communicated to you and others to help get the word around what is normal AND what is not.

Let's introduce some commands and concepts.

Server vs Client

The client is what the player's individual computer controls (aim position, key input, movement, etc) and sends that information to the server to be processed and conveyed to other users.

Server is where the game is being hosted for other players to join.

When you play on a server, you are at the mercy of your own connection speed. This is how it goes in all online FPS games.

In TF2, a command called cl_cmdrate determines how many messages your PC sends to the server per second. By default, the maximum you can send is 66 as most servers only process 66 ticks per second. Server owners can push this to higher values or lower it if they wish, an example provided here:

Originally posted by sigsev:

how normal players get super low ping "normally"

5 ping? 3 ping?? 1 ping?!?

Typically, you will never see a player naturally have 1 - 5 ping unless they are on their own listen server.

But, then how come you still do occasionally witness this in public servers?

The answer is Ping masking! This is a technique that can be done without the use of cheats, given specific conditions.
[Be aware some communities do not endorse, or may even prohibit using scripts to mask one's ping.]

It requires the following commands to be set to these values in your autoexec.cfg

cl_cmdrate "0" // Matches cmdrate to server's tickrate
cl_updaterate "66"
rate "60000" // Minimum. Fiber-optic users with good region latency may set this much higher

These commands prioritize a speedy connection, and is meant for typical matchmaking servers where the tickrate is 66. Your client sends and receives commands to/from the server with minimal packet compensation.

Once your client uses these commands, you should notice your displayed ping to be much lower than before, and potentially 1-5 range. Typing "status" into the console will reveal your actual ping which will always be above 5.

But I still have 5+ ping?

Here is the other requirement, one that unfortunately is much more difficult to circumvent, yet seemingly obvious in retrospect:

The player must have a quick connection to the game-server.

You basically have to be playing close to the server's location. Like, very close.

For example, I live in Los Angeles where one of Valve's server-bases are located for official matchmaking. This allows me to use the commands and usually get about "5 ping", and even rarer "1 ping" (in quotations as this is, again, simply a ping mask and my real ping is going to be about 15-25ms) when playing on servers in that region.

Valve's Official Matchmaking Server Locations:

Europe : Madrid, Stockholm, and Luxemburg City
North America: Los Angeles CA, Sterling VA, and Wenatchee WA
South America: Lima, Sao Paolo, and Santiago
Asia: Dubai, Mumbai, Chennai, Tokyo, Singapore, and Hong Kong
Australia: Sydney
South Africa: Johannesburg

By default, matchmaking attempts to place you into the region closest to you.

You can modify the ping limit in your matchmaking settings when clicking your avatar in the matchmaking lobby.

Set it to something lower if you find yourself ending up in regions that are further away than a closer region to you.

You can also use the same technique for community servers if you modify your config to match that of the server's tickrate, given that you already have a reasonably low latency for that server.

detecting cheaters

Things get a bit complicated here
But I will try my best to help you detect cheaters using impossible ping masks here.

The "Threshold"

Using the script from the above section, we are limited by our true ping's value in order to achieve the 1-5 ping mask. Usually due to regional limitations, or our own ISP's inability to get sub-30 ping on your closest MM region.

Once our true ping reaches a value above the tickrate (usually 66ms), our ping mask begins to slip, and rise to higher values. (Kind of rendering the script useless). The point where this falls apart depends on your rate and your ISP, but generally, it will be around the server's own tickrate.

Again, you can see your true ping by typing "status" in console and looking for your name.

This threshold is usually how we can identify cheaters.

How?

They can set a ping mask that does not budge, even if their true ping is multiple times higher than the server response time.

For example, you may see this often where a cheater has 1-5 ping, yet their true ping is somewhere up in 100+ms range. This usually is done to allow them to appear "legit" while taking advantage of the lag compensation that comes with higher ping.

Basically: Cheats allow the user to simulate higher ping, while maintaining their mask, simply put.

They are also capable of simulating the opposite (simulating 500+ ping while actually having a speedy connection) to take advantage of the same exploits that come from lag compensation.

thanks for reading!

I hope this guide was a bit helpful, and maybe cleared up some of the confusion about what is really going on when checking your/other player's ping.

If you have questions, or think something is described in error, please leave a comment and I will try to respond to it ASAP!

With that being said, thanks again for reading, and take care!

[2dapy]

You forgot about Frankfurt and Warsaw. Valve has servers there too.

[ashtray]

Yeah, only ping masking would get you sub-5 from your own server. By default it usually is going to always be 5 true ping for client-hosted servers. If its a VPS or some other remote hosting then obviously it will be a bit higher though.

[A Motivated Man]

One thing to note is that if you're hosting your own server it's IMPOSSIBLE to go below 5 ping. Both me and my friends hosted our own servers before and we'd consistantly get only 5 ping, so if someone goes below that it's either a sign of cheating or ping masking.