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Using Autoexec.cfg To Tweak Graphics
#1
Introduction

In my previous thread, I gave you a basic layout for your autoexec, and told you what each section is capable of doing. I also briefly explained that your autoexec.cfg is capable of doing a lot of things in CS:S. One of these things is optimising game graphics.


There is a large list of commands that you can have. I hope to lay them all out here and explain each on briefly. From this, you can put together the appropriate lines and use them in your own autoexec! So lets get started.

NOTE : All of the cvars are underlined so you can see them better, but they do have underscores in between the gaps, so it would "cl_cmdrate" and not "cl cmdrate".

[WARNING : I will not be held liable for any damage caused by using any code that I have given you. I have explained to the fullest what each command will do. If you didn't read it and just pasted everything into your autoexec, don't complain to me if it looks bad. If you read everything carefully, you should be fine. If you still don't understand something, post a reply]


Basic Graphical Commands

Here is a basic list of graphical tweaks that can be included in your autoexec. There are a lot more, but I feel like I can start with these, and perhaps go on to other ones, if needs be.

Taken from Overclock.net

Quote:cl_forcepreload "1" 
cl_phys_props_enable "0"
cl_phys_props_max "0"       
fps_max "0"                             
mat_wateroverlaysize "16"   
mat_hdr_enabled "0"       
r_3dsky "0"                 
r_cheapwaterend "1"         
r_cheapwaterstart "1"                                 
r_shadows "1"               
r_teeth "0"                 
r_waterforceexpensive "0"   
r_eyeshift_z "0"
r_eyeshift_y "0"
r_eyeshift_x "0"
r_eyemove "0"
r_eyegloss "0"
rope_averagelight "0"       
rope_wind_dist "0"

Now I will go through and explain what each of these are.

cl_forcepreload - When this is set to 1, it will load the map and its textures before joining the map. Usually CS:S will load parts of the map as you need them. This command will load the entire map before joining the server (or whilst connecting, as the case may be).

cl_phys_props_max and cl_phys_props_enable - Setting "enable" to 0 will disable all physics props, setting to 1 will enable them. "Props_max" is the maximum amount of physics props that can be loaded, ie objects that use the games physics, like trash. I'd have this set to 50, as that's what I have seen on most autoexecs.

fps_max - This will cap your framerate to whatever you set the number value to. You should set it to the max refresh rate of your monitor +1 (for example, if you have a monitor that refreshes at 60fps, set it to 61). There is no use having a higher number than your monitor can handle, as you won't be able to see it. The human eye cannot detect above ~40fps anyway.

mat_wateroverlaysize - This sets the resolution of the distortion of the water. It must be set at multiples of 8. Set it to 8 or 16, and see which you prefer.

mat_hdr_enabled - When this value is set to 0, it will disable HDR (High Dynamic Range). HDR is the rendering of real world light levels in game. I'd personally have it disabled, but you can have it on (set the value to 1) if you want. You can always turn it off Smile

r_3dsky - When this value is set to 0, it will remove rendering of 3d skyboxes. A 3D skybox is when you see scenery outside of the map that surrounds the world, but you can never get to it (unless you fly to it in Spec mode). It's purely for scenery to make the map look bigger. Turning it off just means your graphics card has less to render.

r_cheapwaterend 1 and r_cheapwaterstart 1 - These just worsen the quality of the water in game. Most GPUs will be able to handle the water graphics, but you can use this command if you want to worsen the water quality in game.       

r_shadows - When set to 0, it disables shadows. Set this to 1 if you want shadows.

r_teeth - Set this to 0 to disable teeth show in player models. Probably not worth disabling, as the only time you see model teeth in game is when hostages speak. As it's Source based code, it's more of a command for Team Fortress 2/Half Life 2.

r_waterforceexpensive - When this is set to 0, it will force the cheap water graphics that I previously mentioned. Some people put this in their configs just to be doubly sure that they will have cheap water in game. Superstitious people Tongue

r_eyes - If set to 0, this will remove player models eyes. The r_eyegloss will remove the shine from player models eyes as well. It's probably good to have r_eyes set to 1, but you can set r_eyegloss to 0 if you hate the way that player models have that weird shine to them.

rope_averagelight - When set to 0, this removes average lighting from ropes. Ropes are not that much of large part in CS:S, but there are a lot of rope commands. As the Source engine has a lot based on physics, ropes play a major part in the Source SDK, as they can move like ropes actually would. Probably not worth worrying about.

rope_winddist - When set to 0, it will disable wind effects on ropes.


Now I think that pretty much covers the basics. The more important bits are at the top, and the more specific stuff is further down. You may think some of it is unnecessary, but now you have a more general idea of the kinds of things that you can change through autoexec.

So, take the parts of that example config, paste it into your existing autoexec, and edit the parts that you think you'd want.


More Advanced Stuff

Now if you think I skimmed a lot of the important stuff in the previous section, don't wet yourself. I can understand that you think that there are a lot more important parts that you can edit in your autoexec, but I feel that the lines I selected and explained gave beginners a more round view of what you can edit in autoexec. Now I will go a bit more in depth. There are ALOT of things you can change, so please read carefully.

Rather than laying them all out like the basic example, I will just add all the ones I can think of, and you can look through and add the ones you think might help you. Since this is the more advanced section, it's worthy to note that a lot of these are only very tiny tweaks, and it's most likely that you won't use any of them, unless you are looking for a very specific tweak or you want to customise your autoexec very specifically.

cl_ragdoll_collide - Setting this to 1 enables ragdolls to collide with each other, rather than clipping into each other. Pileups look better, but you'll be rendering more of an image, so you could face a performance penalty for having this enabled.

cl_ragdoll_physics_enable - Disables ragdoll physics when set to 1. This means all dead bodies will disappear. I had it disabled for a while, but I honestly feel it's an advantage to see where people have died in the game.

cl_show_splashes - When set to 0, it will disable splashing in water.

mat_forceaniso and mat_antialias - These disable anisotropic filterting and antialiasing when set to 0. It's a lot to explain, but you can read about them here

mat_bloomscale - This is a range dynamic. Set it between 1 and 10 (4 is good). Probably best not to mess with this unless you read up a little on bloom effects in CS:S.

mat_clipz - Setting this to 0 disables objects being drawn that are not in your direct view. Disabling this is actually illegal in CAL, so I'd recommend having it set to 1. Some people claim it can boost FPS, but I doubt it's really worth it.

mat_fastspecular - When this is set to 1, it enables faster specular lighting. Specular lighting is the bright spot of light that appears on shiny objects when illuminated (most common on round objects, when you see that little spot of light). Read more about specular lighting here

mat_mipmaptextures - Setting this to 1 decreases object texture quality in the distance. The further you are away from the object, the less detail it will be in.

mat_picmip - This lowers texture quality. Set it between 1 and 4.

mat_specular - Setting this to 0 disables specular lighting (explained previously)

mat_trilinear - Setting this to 0 disables trillinear filtering. To read about trilinear filtering, check out this page here


mat_vsync - Setting this to 0 disables vertical synchronisation. Vsync caps your FPS to your monitors frame rate to avoid vertical image tearing. Disable Vsync unless you are experiencing tearing.

mp_decals - Setting this to 0 disables decals in game (such as cracks in walls,blood, bullet holes). It's a variable, most people have it set to 200 (you will see it in the Multiplayer tab in options under "Mutliplayer decal limit).

muzzleflash_light - Setting this to 0 disables the light flashes you see at the end of guns when they are being fired.


r_decal_cullsize - This is a variable between 1 and 4. The higher the number, the higher the quality of decals you view in the distance. Set to 2 for average, or just leave it out if you're happy with them at the moment.

r_decals - Setting this to 0 disables players sprays.

r_drawflecks - Setting this to 0 disables sparks and dirt flecks given off from bullets.

r_lod - This adjusts model quality. If you're going to use it, you need to set it between -5 and 5.

r_occlusion - Setting this to 0 disables occlusion in game. Having it set to 1 will boost FPS but lower image quality, and the opposite if its set to 0. Occlusion is the process of removing non-visible objects before the frame is rendered.

r_propsmaxdist - Changes object fading distance. Default for this is 1200.

r_renderoverlayfragment - Setting this to 0 disables the graphical overlay in the game. To see a good example of what I mean, check out this picture here

r_rootlod - Setting this between 1 and 4 changes the entire games detail quality.


Wow! That sure is a lot!

Well, just goes to show you, you can tweak A LOT in autoexec! Any questions or comments, post below!
If you read this, you suck.
#2
Soa bout the glass thing, i have to change some brightness right?
#3
thanks alot i, the rival  ;D
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#4
Rival, thanks for all of your hard work to help your fellow players. Keep up the good work.
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#5
hmm, nice thread...
have u stickied this thread yet?
#6
BaNaNaMaN Wrote:Soa bout the glass thing, i have to change some brightness right?

I had a check about your dark glass thing, and I don't really understand. It's almost like the consistency for the textures of glass has gone up, making them slightly more opaque than the regular glass textures.

On the other hand, I actually haven't gone in game and looked at the glass, so I can't remember if it's normal or not. It could just be normal and you could have had a setting that changed it in your autoexec. I'm going to have a look around and stuff, so bare with me.

Also, I don't get why it's that much of a problem? Glass gets broken so quickly in game, and it wasn't even that tinted :| Either way, I'll have a look.


Thank you for all the kind words. No I have not stickied this thread, but hopefully I will get the main thread stickied when I finish doing all the other threads that have to do with autoexec.
If you read this, you suck.
#7
Thanks man, the problem is that the windows somehow annoy me. And think about, there are more windows in every
map. But anyways thanks and my autoexec file is just my network sertting!
#8
BaNaNaMaN Wrote:Thanks man, the problem is that the windows somehow annoy me. And think about, there are more windows in every
map. But anyways thanks and my autoexec file is just my network sertting!

You could always try and redownload the glass textures? Or perhaps read the guide I wrote and put together an autoexec for yourself Smile
If you read this, you suck.
#9
when i change all this cvar to my config, will the server kicks me?
because from my experience in l4d2, when the server set sv_consistency 1, u cant change some cvars..
if u did it, ull get kicked..
#10
-VeeL.xyLoneZ` Wrote:when i change all this cvar to my config, will the server kicks me?
because from my experience in l4d2, when the server set sv_consistency 1, u cant change some cvars..
if u did it, ull get kicked..

I'd imagine that you'd only get kicked if your sv_ commands don't match the servers cvars. But if it doesn't match the servers cvars in CS:S, then the server should just change it temporarily to the value that it allows. These commands will be fine on our servers, I am not sure about others as each server has a different cvar list that it checks through when you connect.
If you read this, you suck.
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