What are your settings?

FOV set to max 100
Small weapons checked
Mouse sensitivity 0.50... i've gradually lowered this every few months. Has made a huge difference in my aim.
Crosshair colors changed to opposite color of projectile
HUD set to mostly transparent
Text font increased

Input changes:
Left shift (pinky) is walk. I like it better than crouch because I still have full movement, unlike holding C. Also easier to keyboard aim while walking. Not relevant in this server, but your footsteps are completely silent while walking.
Tab is toss weapon... always toss weapon just before it's out of ammo. also usually toss my AR unless getting spawnkilled by a manta
Mouse wheel button is horn... i use it all the time when coming up behind a teammate. actually helps traffic jams.
I used to have Q be my avril, but i kept accidentally ctrl+quitting. Really frustrating too when you have the intense moment of a manta coming right for you and all the sudden you're looking at your desktop. No weapon keybinds currently, I just have my row of numbers burned into my muscle memory. I dont even know which number each weapons are but I can reach them without looking.

Weapon shake on
Weapon bob on, anyone have these off?
Graphics max w/ all boxes checked
Preferred team blue, but i dont think it makes a difference

Most of my game settings are the same except...

Cross hairs for all weapons 50% smaller than default

Input
Forward, back, strafe left, strafe right bound to arrow keys
0 on Num pad Alt Fire (left thumb rests over 0 key + 3 fingers over arrow keys)
Right Shift Crouch (pinky)
Left mouse btn is fire
mouse wheel click is toggle 3rd person view (used when driving)
right mouse btn is jump (flyers it ascends)

Weapons shake and bob are off. It drives me nuts and screws with my aim when I spawn into a hot node.
Graphics settings are maxed out except Textures and Dynamic Mesh LOD are both set to high. If I max everything out I get lag. But only when there are allot of people playing. DM not a problem to max out.

Originally Posted by TotalBurn

Input
Forward, back, strafe left, strafe right bound to arrow keys
0 on Num pad Alt Fire (left thumb rests over 0 key + 3 fingers over arrow keys)
Right Shift Crouch (pinky)
Left mouse btn is fire
mouse wheel click is toggle 3rd person view (used when driving)
right mouse btn is jump (flyers it ascends)

I'd feel completely lost with this setup... especially with right click as jump. I kind of like that mousewheel to switch to 3rd person idea though... I'll have to try that.

Mostly stock with everything turned off or to the lowest setting except character detail and dynamic mesh LOD. I think I may have dynamic lights checked though.

Otherwise, the only tweaks I use that aren't "stock" are custom crosshairs for hitscan weapons, uncapped framerate, and force character models.

Originally Posted by dimshade

Mostly stock with everything turned off or to the lowest setting except character detail and dynamic mesh LOD. I think I may have dynamic lights checked though.

Otherwise, the only tweaks I use that aren't "stock" are custom crosshairs for hitscan weapons, uncapped framerate, and force character models.

You don't tweak mouse sensitivity? I figure someone who uses lightning/shock as much as you would have those modded a bit.

Also, how do you uncap the frame rate and force character models?

I have all graphics set to the lowest setting, all extras/effects turned off. I use Q for left, E for right, W for jump, S for crouch, space bar for forward and option (Mac) for back. Tab to talk, R to toss weapons. Everything else standard, except I use the mouse wheel "click" to enter vehicles, mouse scroll to change weapons. Using arrow keys for movement always made my fingers feel bunched up and awkward. Keys I use lets my hand be more relaxed and natural feeling.

Originally Posted by YEAAAHHHHHHHHHH

You don't tweak mouse sensitivity? I figure someone who uses lightning/shock as much as you would have those modded a bit.

Also, how do you uncap the frame rate and force character models?

Mouse sense is .65 or so, but there are other places to adjust mouse sensitivity (Windows, mouse software). It takes me about 7 inches to do a complete 180 (giggidy).

Short answer to uncap your framerate:
Go into your System folder and open UT2004.ini
Under [Engine.LevelInfo] find MaxClientFrameRate (default is 90)
Change this to what you want your framerate cap to be (250 is max)
To use higher framerates, you have to raise your netspeed above 10000. Just type "netspeed 10001" (or higher) in game. You'll have to do this every map.

Just google how to force character models. If you don't know what it is, it just makes everyone use the same character models. Not especially useful if everyone is in a vehicle all game.

I use default settings except for: keybind for alt-horn (g... it's next to the default horn h), and suicide (backslash).

The maxclientframerate for my game is in the default.ini, not the ut2004.ini. I just had to reload windows and now I can't get my FPS to budge from 83. Between rounds, it goes up to 400+, so i know things are set correctly for the most part. I used to get around 150-200 fps on most maps before the reload, so I don't know why it's not budging after changing the netspeed each round. I did try adding that line to the grouping in the ut2004.ini file, but it made no difference. I think I have an old set of ini files backed up somewhere...

Originally Posted by provert

The maxclientframerate for my game is in the default.ini, not the ut2004.ini. I just had to reload windows and now I can't get my FPS to budge from 83. Between rounds, it goes up to 400+, so i know things are set correctly for the most part. I used to get around 150-200 fps on most maps before the reload, so I don't know why it's not budging after changing the netspeed each round. I did try adding that line to the grouping in the ut2004.ini file, but it made no difference. I think I have an old set of ini files backed up somewhere...

The default.ini is not typically read by UT when starting unless it can't find ut2004.ini. From what I understand, the default.ini is used to generate a new 2004.ini when it's missing.

If you just reloaded Windows, make sure normal users, or at least the user you're running UT as, have read/write access to the UT directory, or it will create ini files in your local profile (somewhere in AppData, if I remember correctly).

Resolution:
1024x768 @90fov, just used to this resolution because when I started playing this game I was playing on a crt and got used to it.
I do play newer games on 1080p ^^

Mouse sense:
ingame 0.77, windows 6/6, 1600 dpi.. tho I often switch back to 0.73, just depends on how tired I am
It's a bad habit I know.

Ingame setting:
Most things on medium and unchecked except for dynamic lighting since I play ictf a lot (The dynamic lighting creates a lighting effect when someone gets your flag and it shines through some surfaces).
Custom crosshair for hitscan weapons, the L2-s from the kaus xhair pack using this crosshair for shock, super shock, lg and sniper.
Netspeed tweaks for higher fps.
Forced default models to gorge and rylisa.
No gore.
Got all weapons pipedbinded to make life easier. shock + lg combo is nice and having all my weapons quick without scrolling through them saves a lot of time.
Movement key's are default so I didn't change any of them.
Weapon bob/shake off, weapon view off.

I think this is most if it

Thanks for the reply dimshade. I figured out I was editing the wrong set of files. I was editing the ones in programfiles(x86)/unreal... instead of in my user/roaming/etc... folder. Once I figured that out, all is normal again. I'll be saving those on a backup drive for next time.

Things I've changed is...
windowed = NOW fullscreen
FPS cap 150

The rest of my settings is in the video.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/244195056

Disabling "ReduceMouseLag" stalls the render thread to wait for the logic thread, causing better performance but worse input lag (1 frame). Nowadays CPUs are much faster and can keep up with the GPU much better, at least the Intels.

Originally Posted by Anonymous[Lolz]

Enabling "ReduceMouseLag" stalls the render thread to wait for the logic thread, causing worse performance but way better input lag (1 frame). Nowadays CPUs are much faster and can keep up with the GPU much better, at least the Intels.

So with a modern day CPU/GPU it's better to enable this?

Originally Posted by YEAAAHHHHHHHHHH

Mouse sensitivity 0.50...

Not "picking" on you particularly because over the past decade+ I've seen people ask/post their in-game
mouse sensitivity and quite frankly, it means absolutely nothing.

It's but one piece of the sensitivity puzzle, the other being the sensitivity of your mouse.

A more global and accurate descriptor is how far you have to move your mouse to rotate your character 180deg.

My in-game input sensitivity is 1.00, my mouse's DPI is 1000. Those settings yield a 180deg rotation of 13cm, or
5inches for those of you imperially challenged folks (ie, 'Muricans ).

I can achieve that same 180deg rotation by setting my in-game input sensitivity to 3.141589 and setting my
mouse sensitivity to 318dpi. Or any other variant(s) that basically keep the same ratios.

p.s. My bruvah ShadeDim knows this and appropriately stated it already. I'm just reinforcing the thought.

Originally Posted by YEAAAHHHHHHHHHH

Input changes:....

HA ! I don't think I have a single original key set. Unless requested, I won't bother you all with my input
settings because it might cause several of you to have a mini-blue screen in your brains.

Originally Posted by Enyo

I have all graphics set to the lowest setting, all extras/effects turned off.

Oh you poor poor man. Seriously, why would you do that ? Maybe back in the early days of UT2K4 (I started playing in '06
and had an Athlon 64 3200+) but even mediocre current processors (I'm currently running an I5-2500K) will have no issues
displaying full everything. Unless it's a detriment to your play caliber, revel in the beauty of the game and the awesomeness
of the maps !

I'm reminded of the DM map Mixer. When players comment on hitting (either themselves or with shots) "invisible" blocking
volumes I know their settings are too low. There is a wire mesh screen there noob !!

Originally Posted by dimshade

Short answer to uncap your framerate:

Framerates. Should be set to your monitor refresh rate. No point in setting your max frame rate to 200 and having the
game try to refresh your monitor 200x per second when the refresh rate of your monitor is only 60hz. If you swear on
all that is dear to you (which should be UT2K4) at least make it a multiple of your monitor refresh rate.

My monitors refresh is 144hz and I set my framerate to 144 (actually 142) at the beginning of each map. For my settings,
that is a "netspeed 10001" at the command prompt.

Originally Posted by dimshade

So with a modern day CPU/GPU it's better to enable this?

Ya, answer the question... dammit...

https://www.blurbusters.com/faq/bene...-refresh-rate/

lol anon I was just about to link that

Discussing this topic is akin to talking about religion or politics, we all know how that plays out. It's
all a matter of perspective.

However, lets discuss it.

The refresh rate of a monitor is the maximum number of times an image or frame can be drawn in one second.
So my 144hz monitor has the capability of painting an entire image on the screen 144 times in one second.
If my GPU is cranking out 288 FPS, my screen cannot display those 288 images in one second. It's a limitation
bound by the physical constraints of the screens world.

Now onto Blurbusters case closed *insert gavel banging sound* assertion, input latency. They are correct in
that assertion as the "x's and o's" of how games run on a software/electronic level is cyclical. Typically, input
is checked once per frame. So if you're running at 60FPS the input is checked every 16.7ms, bump that to 288FPS
and input is checked every 3.4ms. That's almost a 500% decrease ! WOW !!!!! NICE !!

But wait, lets leave the theoretical world and enter the real world, which is, despite our love of FPS's, where
it all really happens; the noobs running the keyboards . I play on a 144hz monitor, so my input lag is about
7ms. Seven milliseconds. Now we need to introduce the most important "processor" in the equation, us; the
homo sapien system(s) and it's reaction times.

13ms is the lower limit for the human brain to process entire images. But now we need to react to that image.
The average human reaction time is in the order of a quarter of a second. 250 milliseconds. But we're all different,
and some of us have superb reaction times. Fighter pilots, Formula One drivers and yes, competitive gamers (who
Blurbusters ultimately uses in their assertion/argument), fall into the 100-120 millisecond range.

So, lets say Carpe missed his calling and didn't become a fighter pilot, a F1 driver or a competitive gamer. He has
a mind numbing reaction time of 120ms. But wait, this specimen of a human also has a superbly overclocked visual
cortex, so we now add the 13ms into the equation. So our buddy Carpe can see Alton round a corner in front of him
and 113ms later react by blasting him in the face (we'll ignore all the timing/latency issues a network can impact
results). Yay Carpe ! Sit DOWN Alton !!!!

Of course, this isn't happening in the real world. My reaction times are, but since I'm sitting at a computer we need
to add in my input lag. 288FPS vs 144FPS would add an additional 3.5ms; 4 orders of magnitude less than the time
time needed for the human brain to register. In the perfect world. So the "perfect Carpe's" reaction time on a
system running 288FPS would be 116.5ms, vs the 120ms on a 144FPS setup. Since the typical human's reaction
time is 250ms going from 120ms to 116.5ms (.01%) isn't going to do diddly squat.

So by all means, if you think you're getting benefits from higher framerates, cool, because us humans are funny
creatures and if we think we're doing better because of something (say, a lucky hat or some other lucky charm)
we sometimes do. But from a pure factual point of view, my contention is it's useless. This ain't fake news.

The prosecution rests.

People keep citing human reaction time whenever this topic is brought up. What does reacting to uncertain stimuli have anything to do with judging consistent latency when moving the cursor around and using the eyes to judge the delay?

I play on a 144hz monitor, so my input lag is about 7ms.

7+everything else that generates latency, including the monitor's overall latency, which is higher than 7ms.

Edit:
And here are my results of an input lag A/B test at 10ms of latency.