Counter-strike and router = no game?

[pushVTEC]

I try to play counter-strike with my netgear wgr614v2 router and it gets maybe 800 servers then stops. It pings the servers fine originally. Then when I go to play on one it says the ping is 1000+ regardless of what the original ping was. What could be causing it to stop downloading the server list and ping the servers extremely high? Do I need to forward the HL port 27005 to my pc? Thanks!

[qparadox]

You shouldn't need to forward the port. In the HL engine there is a severe differences between the in game ping and the ping from console. A ping from the console is just the time for a packet(s) to reach the server and return. The in game ping is the average time for a each game frame to be transmitted to the server proccessed and any required data returned.

Now that that's out of the way ... that ping is way too high and the router should be no problem and require no configuration. There are some funky steam bugs so make sure you try multiple servers. If the result is repeated then perhaps your ISP's routing to the server is absolutely awful. I believe the truncation of the list is something that steam often does ... do you need more than 800 servers?

A couple things you should check while in the game with a 1000 ping. Open up a console (start -> run -> cmd) and type ping ip.address.of.router.here (192.168.1.1 probably). This should be in the <10 ms range). Then type ping ip.address.of.cs.server and see what you get. Report back with those as well as your wireless card manufacturer and os.

[Enverex]

do you need more than 800 servers?

The servers are loaded in some weird order, so if you want the best of lowest pinging ones, then yes, it's normally better to let it complete and get all the servers.

[qparadox]

yeah true. I admin a set of servers and don't normally venture out into the 'wild'. I can't stand the level of cheating on CS servers and can only stand it when I can ban the bastards :D