CFG

Configuration file (or CFG) is a Source games text file used to execute a newline-delimited list of console commands to the Developer Console. The .cfg file extension can be found everywhere and is not specific to Source.

Tip:It can be useful to keep situational keybinds in files other than autoexec.cfg.

Confirm:What exactly happens after exec autoexec.cfg.

File format

• Each line is considered a command. Note that each command can still consist of multiple commands delimited with the semicolon ;.
• Comments can be added by using //. These two characters and everything following after them is ignored by the engine until the next line starts.
• Cheat commands require sv_cheats 1 enabled, otherwise they have no effect. To configure a mod's default cheat convars, VScript or point_servercommand can achieve this on map start without having to enable sv_cheats.

Files

The folder <game>/cfg/ is usually dedicated to CFG files and can be further organized in subdirectories, and referred in exec by relative path.

This is a table listing common CFG files found in mods and games alike.

CFG	Description
autoexec.cfg	Ran on game start up, so one can easily create the file and put any commands that one doesn't want to type each time.
chapter#.cfg	Ran when the player picks the chapter, with # being the chapter number, see Adding chapters to your mod.
config.cfg	Ran on game start up, this is created automatically when the player runs the game/mod for the first time. Note: On game quit, key binds in this file will be re-written to current bindings, so making changes to this file is most likely pointless.
config_default.cfg	Ran when no config.cfg is present or when player clicks the 'Use Defaults' button in the keyboard tab in the options panel, see Customizing Options: Keyboard.
360controller.cfg	Used for players using Xbox 360 Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S (or XInput-compatible) controllers, lists the controls for the controller. Automatically executed when player enable Gamepad support in game options. Note:Gamepad option (referred as Legacy gamepad support) in Options menu was removed in Half-Life 2 since 20th Anniversary Update. However the joystick ConVar still works and can be enabled.
360controller-linux.cfg	Used for players using Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S (or XInput-compatible) controllers on Linux systems, lists the controls for the controller. Confirm:executed after 360controller.cfg.
undo360controller.cfg	Used for players using Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S (or XInput-compatible) controllers when they want to undo the effects of the controller. Todo: Find out when this is executed.
game.cfg	Ran every time a map is loaded.
listenserver.cfg	Ran when a listen server is being started, and runs every time the map is changed.
modsettings.cfg	Ran on game start up, unless not found in mod folder.
server.cfg	Ran when a dedicated server is being started, and runs every time the map is changed.
skill_manifest.cfg	Runs every time the map is changed, used to list the skill.cfgs to execute.
sourcevr_modfoldername.cfg	(in all games since ) Ran when the player enables VR, replace modfoldername with the name of your folder that gameinfo.txt is in.
userconfig.cfg	Ran on game start up, for "custom configurations", as a comment in config.cfg describes it. The pre-Steam version of Half-Life does not load it automatically, and users place configurations in autoexec.cfg instead. (rumor)
valve.rc	Special cfg file with the .rc extension, it's ran on game start up and executes autoexec.cfg along with a few other commands.

See also

• Mini-mod tutorial
• vtest - Alternative to cfg files.
• alias
• echo