Counter-Strike 2 is now open to more players than ever, as Valve extends the CS2 beta test ahead of the full Counter-Strike 2 release date. One issue is making death in Counter-Strike 2 more frustrating than usual, however, as players find themselves suddenly dropping dead after retreating behind corners. With the FPS game and CSGO sequel on its way, there may be a method to remedy this frustrating problem, and it goes back to the early days of Team Fortress 2.
Okay, picture the scene. You’re in a pitched gun battle on Inferno. You’ve taken a few hits, but dished out some punishment in return. Sensing your magazine is almost empty, you quickly retreat behind cover, only to find yourself ‘hit’ by your opponent’s bullets and suddenly dropping dead. It seems impossible – you were in cover after all – but the round’s already over.
Potentially, this is connected to interpolation, a setting within Counter-Strike 2 and many other online games that helps to synchronize the actions between players with different connection speeds.
I’m simplifying here, but your interpolation settings can change how other players’ actions register in your own game. In some cases, adjusting these can help remedy the problem of being killed while in cover – if interpolation is set a certain way, it can cause a kind of ‘delay’ in your game, whereby received damage doesn’t register until you’ve run into cover, creating the impression you’re being shot through a wall.
So, what’s the solution? Reddit user ‘UsFcs’ shares a lengthy explanation of how to customize your Counter-Strike 2 interpolation settings, and maybe remove the issue of being killed around corners. Inside your Counter-Strike 2 game files, you can find two values: ‘cl_interp’ and ‘cl_updaterate.’ Rather than the default values, UsFcs recommends changing cl_interp to 0.015625 or 0.03125, and cl_updaterate to 128.
One issue, however, is that these values will reset every time you close and reopen Counter-Strike 2. It’s a little technical, but if you go to ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\game\csgo\cfg,’ you can add commands that maintain the interpolation changes even when you restart the game. Inside the program files, add ‘cl_updaterate 128,’ ‘cl_interp_ratio 1,’ and ‘cl_interp 0.015625.’
As observed by other CSGO and Counter-Strike 2 players, over on the full thread by UsFcs, this is a similar fix used for Team Fortress 2’s interpolation issues, and has also been used for CSGO in the past. Some players say this has resolved the death issue in their games, where others say the effect may be more of a “placebo.” But if you’re struggling with Counter-Strike 2 and being killed around corners, this could be a solution.
You might also want to find out more about getting Counter-Strike 2 beta access, if you haven’t been able to test the CSGO sequel yet. Alternatively, take a look at all the Counter-Strike 2 maps that have been rebuilt with Source 2.