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:
