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For many people with a lot of experience in CS:GO, the movement in CS2 seemed really inconsistent and jerky. Some players think it has to do with the new subtag mechanic. They tried a workaround with some commands and reported that the movement felt more like CS:GO with those commands. Let’s take a look at what’s going on regarding movement in CS2.
CS2’s movement seems strange, at least to many people in the community who have a lot of experience with CS:GO’s movement. Some say this is due to the subtag server method that came with the introduction of CS2. Others think it’s something purely made up.
There was a setup posted by former pro turned caster Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill, which should give the move the same feel as in CS:GO. The community is divided and crazy analyzes are underway. Let’s take a look at it all. We’ll test it for you, if it really makes a difference.
Why does CS2’s movement seem so inconsistent?
This is going to get complicated, but I’ll try to break it down as simply as possible. We should start with the state of both games, so you know what we’ll be discussing next.
CS:GO vs CS2 servers: what’s changed?
The reason the move looks different is because CS2 moved from 64-tick servers to a “sub-tick mechanism”. Let’s start with the tick rate. A server’s tick count represents how often a server receives and sends information to all players. In the case of a 64 tick server, information will be sent to the server, processed by the server, and sent from the server to all players 64 times per second, or practically every 16 milliseconds. This is way too fast for a player to really notice, making the game feel smooth.
Valve introduced the “sub-tick” method, which calculates important information, including movements, shots, and grenade throws, each time they occur, without relying on ticks. In CS:GO, if you pressed a key right after the end of a tick, your action will not begin until the start of the next tick. For CS2, your input will be executed as soon as the game saves it. The game should therefore be much smoother and the discussion regarding tick rate should have been resolved with CS2.
Valve explained their new “subtick” method in a YouTube video, here’s how they explained it:
Why is CS2 less fluid than CS:GO?
But Valve’s hopes did not materialize. Since the Limited test, players have said that the game feels different and strange in terms of movement. And in my first few hours of play, I couldn’t agree more. Something is wrong. Especially when performing more skill-based moves, like Strafing and Counterstrafing.
Strafing involves crossing a corner with the side walk keys “a” and “d”, stopping your movement once you have completely reached the corner. You begin shooting the moment your character has lost lateral momentum and remains stationary, giving you ideal accuracy from your weapon. It’s quick and efficient, but difficult to learn.
Counterstrafing is a lot like Strafing, but you counter your sideways momentum by pressing the button opposite your direction. So if you move left, you need to press the “d” key for Counterstrafe. You’ll stop faster and be ready to shoot much faster with no movement penalty. But it’s even harder, and you need to know how to properly Strafe before you start Counterstrafe.
Due to the sub-tick method, pulling off perfect counterattacks has become incredibly difficult, as the margin for error has virtually disappeared. While the time window for a perfect Counterstrafe in CS:GO in 64 ticks had a margin of around 3 ticks (so around 46 milliseconds), the margin in CS2 has shrunk enormously. Good players might have a good idea of when to take Counterstrafe to get the most out of it. Now it has become much more difficult.
THE Twitter user “aRTYSAN” created a small thread explaining the commands we’ll talk about shortly, but he also made a graph showing why Counterstrafing has become so much more difficult:
Theoretically it MAY be better if you are divine on counterattacks, yes, but most of the time you won’t be, so you will be punished more.pic.twitter.com/gmg2UvPdVn
-ARTYSAN (@aRTYS4N) October 5, 2023
He predicts that Counterstrafing could actually be much more effective, but also much more difficult to execute correctly. This will widen the playing field and give you a major advantage if you can pull off counterattacks consistently.
Reddit user “u/carnifexCSGO” posted a lengthy post talking about his thoughts and some analysis he did on movement in CS2 with the subtick method. He drew the following conclusion:
I think there might be an advantage to locking movements to a 64Hz grid, as this will allow you to have a certain level of consistency as there is a window you can achieve. When the subtick is enabled, you have a nearly infinite range of values between two ticks that you can hit, and they all affect how much speed you get on the next tick.
Both of these underline the community’s feeling that movement in CS2 seems inconsistent, since there is no real consistency to realistically achieve. Or is there any?
How to fix CS2 movement issue
The Counter-Strike community will always find ways around things. And so, they found a way to bring the movement out of the sub-tag area. The former professional turned caster, Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill recently tweeted a set of commandsaimed at fixing the inconsistency issue in CS2.
This block of commands will “un-check” your movement entries, since aliases are not part of the information calculated between ticks. This means that your movement inputs will be in a 64-square grid, just like they were on official CS:GO servers.
I’ve tested them myself, and while I’m not the best player by far, the game feels a little different. A little more like CS:GO. Of course, this could just be a placebo. So don’t take my words for granted, test it for yourself!
How to get the CS:GO move in CS2
To get the commands we talked about above into the game, you need to put them in your Autoexec. If you don’t have one, here’s what you need to do:
- Open your Steam library and search for CS2
- Right-click on it and select “Properties”
- Go to “Installed Files” and click “Browse” at the top right
- Click on “game”, then “csgo” then “cfg”
- Right click, select “new” and create a new text file
- Name the text file “(NAME).cfg” and confirm that you are changing the file name to .cfg
- Open the .cfg and add the commands below
- change which keys you want your motion buttons to be on
- Save the file and close the folder
- Go back to Steam and right-click CS2 again
- Go again to “Properties”
- In “General”, scroll down to “Launch Options”
- type “+exec (NAME).cfg”
Here are the commands:
alias “_checkw” “-forward; aka checkw »
alias “+w” “+forward; alias checkw _checkw »
alias “-w” “checkw”
bind “w” “+w”
alias “_checks” “-back; alias checks »
alias “+s” “+return; alias checks _checks »
alias “-s” “checks”
bind “s” “+s”
alias “_check” “-left; alias check »
alias “+a” “+left; alias check _check »
alias “-a” “check”
link “a” “+a”
alias “_checkd” “-right; verified pseudonym »
alias “+d” “+right; alias checkedd _checkd »
alias “-d” “checkd”
bind “d” “+d”
alias ‘_checkcrouch’ ‘-duck; aka checkcrouch »
aka “+crouch” “+duck; alias checkcrouch _checkcrouch”
aka “-crouch” “checkcrouch”
bind “ctrl” “+crouch”
alias “_checkwalk” “-sprint; aka checkwalk »
alias “+walk” “+sprint; alias checkwalk _checkwalk”
alias “-walk” “checkwalk”
bind “shift” “+walk”
host_writeconfig
Once you’ve done all of this, these controls will activate as soon as you launch your game. We hope these changes help you feel more connected to the game and better understand the complexity of the moves Counter-Strike offers. Enjoy the game guys!
