I think I'm not doing it well enough, I think I should get farther away and probably I'm jumping to high.

Also I can't RJ by shooting at a wall right behind/at your side you. I think this is limiting my potential a lot.

Could you give me some tips?

Honestly the best way to get it is to just practice. All that there is to a rocket jump is when you jump/when you fire your rocket, the angle you put your rocket at, and what you do in the air after.

Aside from doing purposefully weak jumps by jumping and firing later (not sure if this has any use outside of bball), you almost always want to shoot and jump simultaneously, so the timing is pretty trivial. The only exception that comes to mind is the first jump of badlands, where you need to delay the rocket on the wall until you're at max height, such that you can clear the lip and land at the bottom door.

Air control consists entirely of holding one of your strafe keys while gradually turning your mouse in the direction you want to strafe. It's not really needed for basic jumping, but you can land in better places and make yourself much harder to hit by strafing back and forth by habit.

The angle to place the rocket at is what really determines the jump. If you're missing a jump again and again, slow it down and look at where you're aiming to change it up. For walls it's the same. You get boosted by using a wall to put the splash closer to you, maxing it out is a matter of placing the rocket correctly.

As for practicing, you should get the angle to do 27 damage rocket jumps across flat ground for one, do some races to mid, and try to get some of the important distance jumps (sv_cheats 1, impulse 101, hurtme -99999 are your friends). Jump maps can be good for this also; I would recommend rj_training (http://www.fpsbanana.com/maps/120543), as it mostly avoids useless pogo, and even has a section to practice 27 damage hops. To start off on practical distance jumps, I would recommend spawn to C or ground to C on gpit, and platform from house to spire on blands.

And if someone who actually plays soldier would like to post and tell me I'm wrong, please do!

Sigma got it correct, the only thing I would add, is on your local server use this command

mp_restartgame 1

what this does is restarts the game and forces you back to spawn, as a team we run through drills on the rollout on a lot of maps, we race to mid, reset, race to mid, reset in sequence until we get the rollouts down pretty well.

Truth be told, once you can at least equal the opposing teams time to mid it becomes a lot easier to figure everything else out from there.

Most of your jump videos you'll will see are generally useless jumps, for the most part I would ignore them unless you want to make a video yourself.

To learn the rollouts on the various maps, head for esportsea.com and grab a STV demo of a match on the map you want (only the past 30 days are available) and watch a few different players run the rollout to see the options.

I just started playing PUGs and comp scene in general for TF2 over winter break, and I started playing soldier (in general, I never even played it in pubss) a few weeks ago.

what this means is that i was a complete noob to soldier, in all aspects. especially rocket jumping. I got ridiculed in my first soldier pug because i didnt know how to rocket jump ;_;

so I became determined to learn it. luckily for you, since it was so recent, i remember all the tools I used to learn.

What I did to learn rocket jumps is watch videos. Here is one or two I really liked:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRof_bR5gGg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRnw1SV06lk&feature=related

second, I downloaded a rocketeer map.
http://www.fpsbanana.com/maps/48222

it will feel quite hard at first ( i could not complete it for sure on my first try) but as you practice, you will get the hang of it. this is a very basic map btw.

and third, just go in pugs, try rocket jumping. go on tr_walkway and jump around while you kill bots. etc.

It took me about 1 month (that's when I started playing soldier I would guess) to get good enough for pugs at rocket jumping. needless to say im not that good still, but like they say, practice makes perfect.

a few tips:
try testing different angles for your jumps
remember to push jump, crouch, and shoot all almost simultaneously (Although I bet if you got on the particle level, it would be in that order, j->c->shoot)
make sure your sensitivity is high enough that you can whip around for that jump but not too high that you can't aim and shoot well.

All right after some practise the distance problem has disappeared. However I can't jump like the guy in this video does:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN2LQbvcN_Y&feature=player_embedded

I know how to jump by shooting at the floor but not like this guy does. When I try I normally spin 360 degrees doing nothing. Any tips on this? It seems that his method gives you more distance.

All right after some practise the distance problem has disappeared. However I can't jump like the guy in this video does:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN2LQbvcN_Y&feature=player_embedded

I know how to jump by shooting at the floor but not like this guy does. When I try I normally spin 360 degrees doing nothing. Any tips on this? It seems that his method gives you more distance.
If you spin chances are your sensitivity is too high.

Some might argue, but I would try a RJ script.
You still have to aim, but it will jump, crouch, and shoot with one press.
The reason I like it is because it's consistent. I know exactly how far and how high I'm going to get with each jump. Also, on top of being consistent, it will give you the max height/length with the minimum dmg you can take. Can't ask for anything more than that. 14 years of FPS, so I consider myself to be a real good RJ'r to begin with, but this script just takes the grunt work out and allows you to focus on your angles, IMO. Takes out some of the brain cycles needed.

tf2 wiki scripts has it. Goodluck.

RJ scripts are not a good idea imo.

You won't know what to do when you don't need the extra power from crouching.

Also, have you tried playing Bball?

Also, have you tried playing Bball?

Yes, I play fine on them, the problem is jumping like the guy in my video does. He seems to use the wall instad of the floor.

Have you tried performing wall jumps in bball? :p

Have you tried performing wall jumps in bball? :p

No, I doubt I'm able to do them.

No, I doubt I'm able to do them.
Then you need practice. :P

Flick your mouse faster. And, play with different angles. Also, watch a strafing tutorial on youtube :D

Best RJ tutorial videos by far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRnw1SV06lk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm-BGnaBCgE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxAXe6jQyvk&feature=related

ummm excuse me Harry Gomm knows the most about TF2 so he makes the best RJ videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6LdSqWrAJs

As funny as those videos are I'm hoping this site doesn't devolve into having nearly as many useless posts as Gotfrag.

You mentioned that they seem to be jumping off walls instead of the floor. This is probably the case. I know it's difficult to picture through only words, but essentially for a wall jump you want to be touching a wall, and then jump+crouching when you fire a rocket off the wall. If you're shooting a wall to your right (try to shoot walls on your sides), hold A (left strafe). If you're doing it off a wall on your left, hold D (right strafe). First try just shooting off of walls in this way, then slowly train yourself to curve your mouse left/right in order to guide your movement during those wall jumps. It helps you move indoors (and outdoors for distance) much better. The main thing to note is you want to try to fire as horizontally level as possible with the floor, rather than below or above you (both of which will reduce the horizontal distance you gain).

Yes, Panda that is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you very much!

I found this topic very helpful. http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=834077 It really explains why the mechanics you are learning work so if you try something a little different you should have an idea how it should work.

double post, sorry:
I've heard some conflicting things about holding crouch while in the air, especially when doing multiple jumps. What impact does crouching have while in the air, and is the unnatural finger position it leaves your hand in worth any potential benefits.

go on a jump map with friends who do know how to rocket jump and practice it, that's how i learned

edit: make sure mouse accel is off... i remember a friend of mine couldn't rocket jump consistently because he had it on

All right after some practise the distance problem has disappeared. However I can't jump like the guy in this video does:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN2LQbvcN_Y&feature=player_embedded

I know how to jump by shooting at the floor but not like this guy does. When I try I normally spin 360 degrees doing nothing. Any tips on this? It seems that his method gives you more distance.

You might be spinning because of smooth mouse. Be sure to have that setting off.