This happens when you start to install a new game under Steam and then try to join a server before the content for the game has finished downloading.

Because there isn't a specific progress bar for the new game and Steam doesn't want to prevent you from playing other games while the new game is downloading, you get into this situation.

Usually what happens is your connection to the server will time out and you will get disconnected.

What makes it a little harder is usually you are sitting there are the splash screen trying to connect to the server when you just don't have all of the game yet.

If you press your Windows key (you can <alt-tab> too) you will see that the Steam icon in the tray is 'busy'.

The best way to see what is happening here is to pull up the Steam Monitor Window and see what is being downloaded. Often what is causing this problem is that instead of downloading just one game at a time and letting it finish, you are trying to download all of the games at once which will usually take quite a long time.

The monitor should report all the different games that are downloading, but it might also just report the cryptic "scanning":



You should also check in the game properties where it will tell you what percentage of that particular game has been acquired:



There is a chance that for some reason the game is not set to automatically update, so in that case change it to automatically update and let the game finish downloading.

Bottom Line ... The Solution is ...
The solution for this is to wait for the rest of the game content to be downloaded.

If you want, you can set all the games you aren't immediately interested in to "do not automatically keep this game up to date"

This will pause the download for that particular game and speed up the download for the game you are most interested in. Don't forget to re-enable the automatic update for the other games though once you are done.

OK, All the Games are updated but I still can't get past "precaching", what now?

Occasionally this will happen, perhaps something is missing or got lost in the download.

One thing to try is to go to your splash screen (click on the game in the games menu) and click on "new game" which will let you start a listen server. Try a few different maps and see if they all work.

If that doesn't work, then the next step is to enable a couple of control variables that tell Steam to let you join a game even if the cache isn't 100%.

What you do then is you click on your game in the Games menu and go to the splash screen again, then at the splash screen, you enter the command console (usually the ~ key) and type in:

fs_lazy_precache 1

Then you can start a server or connect to an internet server and see if that will work.

if that doesn't work, then you can try entering:

precache 0

and again start a server or connect to an internet server.

This should solve your problem and let you play normally. But since you have dialup, I recommend simply getting a new internet service provider (ISP), perhaps Telus Velocity (DSL). That would literally solve your cs problems. And go to your console (~ Key) and type in "rate 12000". Make sure it does not go higher, because that would cause "choke" and having it too low will cause "loss" which both generate extreme lag during gameplay and loading a server.

Hope that helped ~

You should take another connection because im sure thats the prob but, You will see it, You will lag so much and you will never be ok to play lolll










sry for my english i hope you understand what i said

I had the same situation with the game, but I found a good solution and I can instruct you on how to play the game in with your internet:

First of all you need to to make sure counter-strike cach was fully uploaded onto your computer. By that I mean that when you run steam and go to your games list it shows you 100% beside counter-strike, which means that the game is fully downloaded. If it doen't say 100% you have to leave steam over night or maybe even couple of to make sure the game is on your computer. Because whats happening - you are trying to connect to the server but steam also updates/uploads rest of the files on your computer and your dial up cant handle it. So after you're done with the frst part you will need to create a special config to decrease your lag.

You need to go to the root folder of your counter-strike folder: its usually - c:/valve/steam/steamapps/yourusername/counter-strike/cstrike, than you create a file autoexec.cfg and add the following commands to it:

// Client network optimisation settings
cl_allowdownload "1"
cl_allowupload "1"
cl_cmdbackup "2"
cl_cmdrate "20"
cl_download_ingame "1"
cl_lc "1"
cl_lw "1"
cl_lb "1"
cl_nodelta "0"
cl_nopred "0"
cl_resend "1"
cl_showfps "0"
cl_updaterate "20"
fastsprites "2"
max_shells "0"
max_smokepuffs "0"
mp_decals "10"
mp_footsteps "0"
net_graph "1"
net_graphwidth "192"
net_graphpos "1"
pushlatency "-150"
scr_conspeed "10000"
// Server network optimisation settings
sv_unlag "1"
sv_unlagmax "0.5"
sv_unlagsamples "1"
// Aliases alias "net1" "net_graph 1;bind m net3" // Netgraph 1
alias "net2" "net_graph 2;bind n net4" // Netgraph 2
alias "net3" "net_graph 0;bind m net1" // Netgraph 1
alias "net4" "net_graph 0;bind n net2" // Netgraph 2
bind k "net1"
bind l "net2"
// Report
config loaded. Pres ''k'' or ''l'' (net_grath ''1'' or ''2'')

After you go to counter-strike - open console and type exec autoexec.cfg

Good Luck and if you have any questions feel free to ask!

you can try gg client/ garena, it acts as a virtual lan and it works fast even if your connection is not good. but on the game, i wont count your lag

WOW!
You just resurrected a 3 year old thread.