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Console Commands
Half-Life 2 Console Commands
Introduction
So you’ve been playing Half Life 2 along with its recently released expansion and you’ve enjoyed every waking moment you’ve spent with them. Only one problem, you wish that there was some way you could skip those annoying intro credit movies each time you load up the game. Maybe this isn’t you at all. Instead you’re a hardcore multiplayer schooling everyone in Half Life 2 Deathmatch or Counter Strike Source. At least, you would be were it not for your Geforce 2 card that keeps your frames in the single digits. Despite the fact you’ve cranked your settings to low, you wish there was some way you could eek out just that extra frame or two of performance.
Well, thanks to this guide you will suffer no more!
We're going to provide you with several console and command line tricks that will help you squeeze the most performance out of the Source engine. We're also going to provide you with instructions on how to create and load your own "config” file that will offer varying levels of performance based upon your specs. No matter what your reasons for reading this guide—and that includes you bored office workers attempting to find some sort of distraction—you will leave here enlightened!
Resources
The PHLWiki complete list of client side console commands and command line options is an indispensable resource. If you want to really play around with the engine and see what cool bits of the game you can check out without cracking open an SDK, check out this massive and well laid-out list.
Console Commands @ PHLWiki | Printable Text File @ FilePlanet
Preliminary Items
Before we can open our config files and see what makes them tick, we’re going to have some preliminary maintenance tasks to perform.
First, make sure your computer is clean and running well. Check out this guide for the full run-down on how to do that.
Secondly, use and abuse the Steam defragmentation program. It will help your performance exponentially. To use this nifty little feature, open up the Steam Program, click the Games tab in the main menu, right click on the game you plan to use next (for our purposes use Half-Life 2), click the local files tab, then click the "Defragment cache files”. With this convenient feature, you game will speed up considerably because the software will spend less time look over the hard drive for the information it needs and more time processing the ongoing game.
Finally, make sure no applications are running in the background as you play your Source game. To check and see what could be slowing you down, merely look at the tray of icons to the right of you in Windows. If you have anything running there, such as IRC and antivirus programs, shut them down before attempting to play your game. Again, the less your computer has to think about these other processes, the more time it’ll have to work on the game. Besides, contrary to the rumors on the internet, no one is going to send you a virus though a Source game- that you purchase legally in a store or from Steam, natch- and that thirteen year old from Korea you’ve been flirting with will be waiting for you when you get back.
Basic Terms
Ok, so you’ve run through the necessary steps to get both your computer and your game up to speed. You’re ready to begin but…where should you start? All this talk of config files and such is beginning to make your head spin. In fact, you’re beginning to think you should have simply invested your time in Internet Checkers. Stop being such a doubting Thomas and listen up, the actual process of creating a config file in incredibly simple.
For the slower members among us, the term "config” is simply shorthand for configuration. In essence, you’re going to create a file of custom configurations to have the game run custom tailored to your computer. How will you do this? By simply creating a basic text file, punching in the appropriate commands and their values, and have the game read this text file. A good comparison is the "dip switches” on the inside of arcade machines. These switches normally give the arcade owner control over how many lives the player will have and how many quarters it will take to play. Instead of cracking a physical cabinet however, you’re merely opening up some game folders.
The other key term you’re going to become familiar with is the command line. For the dinosaurs out there who remember the age of DOS, the command line was used as a means to execute and alter programs. This feature was later carried over into all versions of Windows XP through the "Run” command. Normally, I’d direct you to this feature of your computer and have a boring article on how to create about a dozen different shortcuts. Not today however! You see, Steam comes bundled with a lovely feature that allows you to place your command line options on a game without having to fiddle around with Run or anything else aside from Steam. Later in the guide I’ll show you how to make use of this feature.
Your Friend the Console
To quote Full Metal Jacket, "Your console is your friend! It is your only friend!” Indeed, once you acquaint yourself with all the possible features of the console you’ll come to love the power you wield over your virtual world. For many, the console is simply a means to access a cheat or two, but this usage only scratches the surface of what is possible. To get ourselves familiar with the console, let’s set it up and try out a few basic commands.
Before we begin, make sure you have the advanced option "enable the developer console” checked. With that ticked off, press your ~ key at any time during your game-be it a menu or in the action- to summon up the console. With the console open, type in the following command: "cl_showfps 1”. Do not include the quotation marks, just punch in what’s inside of them. Remember that spaces and spelling count, so make sure you punch in the command exactly as it is written here. To help you out, Source will automatically suggest commands beneath what you’re typing. Use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the list and have the command automatically fill in. All you’ll need to do is enter the number variable. Additionally, simply punching in the command without the variable will provide you with a definition of the command, if available. Just remember that these definitions were written by coders, so they’re not exactly user friendly.
You’ll notice that you now have a framerate counter displayed! This number will prove valuable in determining whether you’re seeing concrete performance increases or it’s simply your mind playing tricks on you. Now, lets assume you’re sick of seeing that number, merely pull down your console once more and type in: "cl_showfps 0”. With that, the counter will disappear and you’ll be left with a nice clean image. As you can probably figure out, most of the commands are determined by the numbers 0 and 1 with 0 meaning "off” and 1 meaning "on”. This is a throwback to the organization of binary code.
Your First Config
Ok, so you’re feeling pretty hardcore by entering console commands. Maybe you’ve even called over that girl you had a crush on just to boot up Half-Life 2 and show off how tech savvy you are. Only one problem, no soon than your game loads up that you realize Half-Life 2 isn’t displaying what you put into the console in your last session. After she’s finished laughing at you, you curse under your breath that this insult shall never be repeated again!
Well, something that dramatic probably won’t happen, but it is a pain in the rear to keep reentering every single command and option you set through the console. Here, I’m going to show you how to save the commands and settings you punch into the console inside a handy config file. Get ready, cause from here on the article is going to increase in complexity.
What we’re going to do is write our commands not in the console but within a custom autoexec.cfg file. This file will contain all of your commands that you’d normally enter through the console into a handy Notepad file . By placing our new options and other changes into the autoexec.cfg file, we’ve essentially made it a permanent setting. To make an autoexec.cfg, just create a new notepad file on your desktop and naming it "autoexec.cfg”. Make sure that you agree when Window’s asks if you really want to change it into a different file type. If you ever want to read .cfg file in the future, you’ll merely need to right click and choose to open them with Notepad or Wordpad.
After you have written down what commands you’d like to add, place the autoexec.cfg into your "cfg” fold inside of your Source game of choice. Let’s assume you made this for Half-Life 2, in this case it would go into C:\Program File\Steam\yoursteamname\SteamApps\half-life 2\hl2\cfg folder by default. Once you’ve done this, open up Steam and head to the My Games menu. From here right click on the game you placed the config in, in our case Half-Life 2, and click properties. From the properties menu, click the "Set Launch Options” button. Now on the command prompt input the following "+exec autoexec.cfg –toconsole –novid”. Remember that the +/- matter as do spaces. With these commands, the game will load the autoexec you created and skip the intro videos while launching you straight to the main menu with the console open.
Enhancing Commands
Now we’re getting to the real meat and potatoes of this article: an examination of some useful console commands that will alter your visuals and have a direct impact on your performance. Most of these settings are going to be disabling fancy visuals rather than improving them, but as I mentioned in my introduction these are here to help you folks with the single digit frame rates get some sort of performance boost. Remember that these commands should be placed into your autoexec.cfg so that they can be executed each time you load up your Source game of choice. Also keep in mind these tricks are universal and can be applied to any game or mod running on the Source engine. Unfortunately, you’ll need to create new .cfg files for each game. Onto the list!
cl_detaildist (number)
This command determines the view distance for displaying smaller level "details” such as grass and trash on the ground. By lowing this number, the amount of little touches you’ll see in the distance will decrease but your performance will increase. If you’re running the game on the HAL 9000, feel free to increase this number and give yourself a more complete view of panoramic spaces (at the cost of speed).
cl_detailfade (number)
The number you input will determine how far ahead of you detail objects will become visible. It works on a similar principle to the detaildist command, but don’t have this number meet or exceed what you set detaildist to, otherwise the engine will believe you set the number to 0.
cl_ejectbrass (0,1)
When this is on, your guns and the enemies weapons will display and animate the tiny brass shells dropping out of their weapons. Turn this off for a boost of performance in combat sequences.
cl_smooth (0,1)
Set this option to 0 as by default it’s set to 1. This command plays around with something called "eye/view” prediction to reduce console errors. Unfortunately, it also has the unwanted side effect of inducing stutter. Therefore, switch it off.
dsp_slow_cpu (0,1)
Activating this command will lower your sound quality slightly in exchange for a boost in performance. The difference should be too much on most modern computers, but those of you with very slow processors (<1.5 Ghz) or poor sound cards would be wise to activate this command.
fov (number)
Now this is perhaps one of the coolest commands in the game. The letters fov are shorthand for field of vision. In essence, this command defines how much peripheral vision your virtual eyes have. By default, it is set at 90 degrees, but you can feel free to increase it all the way up to 120. Any further and the image will become distorted and you’ll get a "fish eye” effect. For slower PCs, I’d recommend leaving this alone as having more to display on the screen will only slow you down further.
r_fastzreject (-1,0,1)
Setting this to 1 will have the engine execute an algorithm that will speed up your performance. Should you encounter any corruption or abnormalities while playing, your hardware probably can’t support this feature. Rather than setting it to 0, change the variable to -1 to correct the problem.
mp_decals (number)
The number after the command will determine the maximum amount of "decals”, which include small touches like bullet holes, visible on the games surfaces. By decreasing, fewer bullet holes will appear, causing an increase in performance. By increasing it, you’ll have a more realistic aftermath of the battle at the expense of performance. For reference, this number can go no higher than 4096.
r_lod (-8 to 8)
This command determines the level of detail a model has at a given distance. Typically, Source increases the detail of a model as the player approaches it. The lower you set this number, however, the model will retain its up close level of detail from any distance. The higher you set this number, the worse a model will look from any distance. Obviously, tinkering with this command can have a serious impact on performance, both positive and negative. For reference, the game has this setting defaulted to -1.
r_dynamic (0, 1)
When set to 0, this removes most of the dynamic lighting effects from the game. However, it offers a modest performance boost and therefore should be considered by players struggling for frames.
cl_ragdoll_collide (0,1)
This command improves the collision detection between character models, adding a touch more realism the corpses of dead characters. Its performance impact in negligible so turning on this feature is highly recommended.
r_propsmaxdist (number)
This command determines at what range objects in the game world fade into and out of view. The higher this number is set, the more objects will remain on screen at any given moment. The lower you set it, the more you’ll suffer from the "fogging” effect as seen in early 3d FPSes such as Turok and Goldeneye but gain back in improved performance. By default this command is set to 1200.
r_avglight (number)
This increases or decreases the number of lights on a given object, be they player or static prop. This is set to one by default. However, setting this to 0 to gain a performance boost isn’t recommended.
r_maxdlights (number)
This setting will determine the maximum possible number of dynamic lights the player will see on the screen at any given time. Like usual, higher numbers equal better looking game while lower numbers equate to better playing game.
mat_nofastbump (0,1)
By turning this command off, bump mapping will be removed from any floor texture in the game. This will cause the floors to look like something out of Quake 1, but performance will improve.
mat_bumpmap (0,1)
Deactivating this command will remove ALL bump mapping from the game. Models and the world will suffer quite a loss in quality but performance will increase. On a personal note, deactivate this command only as a last resort. You actually want to enjoy the artistic world of City 17 don’t you?
mat_specular (0,1)
Toggles the use of specular lighting on the game maps. Turning this off will improve performance but cause the game’s lighting to look worse.
mat_mipmappedtextures (0,1)
Turning this feature off removes "mipmapping” from textures, causing them to look crude but offers a performance boost.
mat_filterlightmaps (0,1)
This controls whether filtering is applied to a level’s light maps. Like always, turning this off will offer a performance boost by worse the quality of a level’s lighting.
mat_clipz (0,1)
For the poor souls out there on Nvidia FX cards, activate this feature to solve some rendering issues. For everybody else, activate it for safety’s sake. It will have no negative impact on your performance and in some cases may actually improve it.
r_drawflecks (0,1)
Disabling this feature will remove the small particles that are kicked up when you drop something, blow something up, or when something crawls out of the ground. You’ll get a performance boost in combat sequences but lose some visual quality in the process.
mat_dx level (70, 80, 81, 90)
Depending upon what number you enter, this will alter what level of Direct X features are available in the game. Should you have a budget Direct X 9 card, try lowering your DX level to about 80, the difference between 80 and 81 is negligible but better to remain lower for possibly more performance. Should you have an older DX 8 card, such as a Radeon 9000 or a Gefore 5200, I’d recommend put it to DX 7. You’ll be running the game on low enough settings as is, it won’t hurt you to drop down the detail of some reflective surfaces and particle effects.
muzzleflash_light (0,1)
By turning this off, you guns will still emit the muzzle flash animation but not produce any light for surrounding models. Offers a slight performance boost in intense combat.
Whew, that sure was a lot of nerd mumbo jumbo wasn’t it? At any rate, play around with some of these commands and see what works and what doesn’t. Experimenting never hurt anybody, but just remember to keep a back up of your original config files should anything go horribly awry. Also remember to set your autoexec.cfg to "read only” to ensure nothing you have is overwritten by the game options.
When all Else Fails: Update
Now for the section we’ve all come to dread. If your computer is still having difficult cranking out the frame rates you desire, you’re pretty much stuck with the option of having to upgrade. Fortunately, not all hope is completely lost. Right this moment there are plenty of hardware options out there that will run Half-Life 2 quite well for a total cost of under $100. Remember that your options for the future are only going to get better and prices on older hardware are only going to plummet further. Some simple updates you can perform right now to get some decent performance at the "Medium” detail settings with just a few of these tweaks is to invest in a RAM and video card upgrade.
While the box and specs of Half-Life 2 claim that 256 MB of ram should run the game, the bare minimum is around 512. Therefore, having 1GB of ram is a sure fire way to make sure you’ve got plenty of memory resources to run the game. A stick of 512 MB of RAM can be had as cheap as thirty bucks on some online retailers, so this upgrade shouldn’t set you back all that much. The other update you can make is to your video card. Right now decent older cards, such as the venerable Ati 9800, can be had for rock bottom prices. Beware that many of these cards are on the out however, so if you’re looking to future proof your rig you’re going to have to shell out a bit of cash. In the higher end of prices, the Geforce 6800 and Radeon x800 are now considered affordable high end cards. While they won’t run next generation Direct X 10 titles with all the bells and whistles, they are still rock solid cards that give out stead frames.
Conclusion
Hopefully this guide has equipped you with some additional knowledge about how to enhance your Source game. Experimentation is the name of the game here, so if you happen to stumble upon possible commands to improve your game, save them for future reference. Remember that our forums here at Planet Half-Life are open at any time, complete with a technical help section where you can post questions about this guide and any other possible technical issues. Just remember that basic questions might have already been answered, so use the search function to browse about.
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| Категория: Tech Guides | Добавил: demon304dima (28.09.2011)
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