Tinfo

*tinfo is a Subgame command that shows you a short history of a user's timestamps. These timestamps are values in which both the server and the user's client returns for a tick value. Everything dealing with the client's physics is calculated based upon these values. Thus, if a user's clock is running faster or slower than the server's clock, this will cause the client to see things that no one else does, such as weapons missing ships or ships recharging or moving too fast.

Some possible causes for a fast system clock is a user maybe running a program specifically designed to speed up or slow down the system clock. This is know as 'speed hacking'. Another cause could be some random software error that can cause it, such as a java bug or weird virtual memory bugs.

A way to check if a user's clock is running fast is to look at the user's *tinfo result. Below as two sample tinfo returns, the first one in which a user's clock is running too fast while the second one is working perfectly. Notice how the Diff values are slowly decreasing in the bad tinfo, while in the good one they remain about constant. This is what you look for. Calculating the variance of these Diff values results in the good one having a variance of 0.5 with the bad one having a variance of 247,926 which is slightly noticable.

Sample bad tinfo:

ServerTime    UserTime        Diff
 119719052      164457   119554595
 119719512      164957   119554555
 119719969      165457   119554512
 119720426      165957   119554469
 119720874      166459   119554415
 119721342      166959   119554383
 119721785      167459   119554326
 119722239      167961   119554278
 119722699      168461   119554238
 119723148      168961   119554187
 119723598      169462   119554136
 119724061      169962   119554099
 119724513      170464   119554049
 119724962      170964   119553998
 119725405      171464   119553941
 119725851      171964   119553887
 119726300      172465   119553835
 119726729      172965   119553764
 119727170      173465   119553705
 119727618      173967   119553651
 119728066      174467   119553599
 119728509      174968   119553541
 119728938      175468   119553470
 119729382      175970   119553412
 119729838      176470   119553368
 119730291      176970   119553321
 119730734      177470   119553264
 119731176      177971   119553205
 119731626      178475   119553151
 119732068      178976   119553092
 119732508      179476   119553032
 119732950      179978   119552972

Some good tinfo:

ServerTime    UserTime        Diff
 125194303     4654326   120539977
 125194802     4654826   120539976
 125195302     4655326   120539976
 125195804     4655826   120539978
 125196303     4656328   120539975
 125196806     4656829   120539977
 125197307     4657329   120539978
 125197806     4657829   120539977
 125198306     4658329   120539977
 125198806     4658829   120539977
 125199306     4659329   120539977
 125199806     4659829   120539977
 125200305     4660329   120539976
 125200806     4660829   120539977
 125201306     4661329   120539977
 125201806     4661829   120539977
 125202305     4662329   120539976
 125202806     4662829   120539977
 125203305     4663329   120539976
 125203805     4663829   120539976
 125204306     4664329   120539977
 125204806     4664829   120539977
 125205306     4665329   120539977
 125205806     4665829   120539977
 125206306     4666329   120539977
 125206806     4666829   120539977
 125207306     4667329   120539977
 125207806     4667829   120539977
 125208307     4668329   120539978
 125208806     4668831   120539975
 125209307     4669331   120539976
 125209809     4669832   120539977

The two Diff columns graphed, with scaling adjustments made: