Command line options

Source Games

These command-line parameters will work with any Source engine games (Half-Life 2, Counter-strike: Source, etc.).

Syntax: hl2.exe <parameter1> <parameter2> <cvar1> <cvar2>

Usage

These options can be used with:

• Hammer editor Run Map dialog.
• Windows shortcuts pointing to hl2.exe directly.
• Windows shortcuts pointing to steam.exe with the proper -applaunch <AppID> specified (see Steam section below).
• Command-line batch script files launching these applications.

Examples

• steam.exe -applaunch 280 -dev -console -sw +sv_lan 1 +map MyMap
• hl2.exe -game cstrike -dev -console -fullscreen +sv_lan 1 +map de_dust

Command-line parameters

• -autoconfig - Restores video and performance settings to default for the current hardware detected. Ignores settings inside any .cfg files until this parameter is removed.
• -condebug - Logs all console output into the console.log text file.
• -console - Starts the game with the console.
• -toconsole - Starts the engine directly in the console, unless a map is specified with +map. Also useful to bypass loading of the background maps that appear behind the game menu.
• -dxlevel <level> - Forces a specific DirectX version when launching the engine. This is useful if your graphics card is DirectX 9 capable, but a lot faster using only DirectX 8 (e.g. NVidia GeForce FX 5200). Multiply the desired DirectX version to use with ten. E.g. for DirectX 8.0 you would use -dxlevel 80.
• -fullscreen - Forces the engine to start in fullscreen mode.
• -windowed or -sw - Forces the engine to start in windowed mode.
• -w <width> - Forces the engine to start with resolution set to <width>.
• -h <height> - Forces the engine to start with resolution set to <height>.
• -refresh <rate> - Force a specific refresh rate.
• -heapsize <kilobytes> - Specifies the heapsize (in kilobyte) the game will use.
• -nocrashdialog - Supresses some 'memory could not be read' unhandled errors.
• -novid or -novideo - When loading a game with this parameter, the intro Valve video will not play.

Console variables

• +<console variable> <arg> - Sets the Cvar (or console variable) to the specified setting.

Some useful console variables

• +map <map name> - Loads the map specified after the engine starts. Note: the .BSP extension is not needed.
• +map_background <map name> - Forces a specified background map to be used. Useful for testing custom background maps. To avoid loading background maps entirely for speed reasons, use the -toconsole command-line parameter.
• +sv_lan <0/1> - When set to 1, launches the game in LAN mode. Useful to stop players from joining your game from the Internet.
• +sv_cheats <0/1> -- When set to 1, starts the game with cheats enabled.

Steam (Windows)

These command-line parameters work when launching the Steam application (steam.exe) under Windows.

Command-line parameters

• -applaunch %id %c - This launches an Game or Application through Steam. Replace the %id with the Game/Application ID number that you want to open up, replace %c with the command line parameters for the game as listed in the Source Games section above.
• -login %u %p - This logs into Steam with the specified Username and Password combination. Replace %u with the username, and %p with the password you want to login with (Steam must be off for this to work.)
• -nocache - This starts steam with no cache (Steam must be off for this to work properly.)
• -script %s - This runs a Steam script. Replace %s with the script filename. All scripts must be in a subdirectory of the Steam folder called test scripts (Steam must be off for this to work.)
• -shutdown - This shuts down (exits) Steam.
• -silent - This suppresses the dialog box that opens when you start steam. It is used when you have Steam set to auto-start when your computer turns on. (Steam must be off for this to work.)

hldsupdatetool (Windows), Steam (Unix)

Syntax: hldsupdatetool -command <command> [parameters] [flags]

Commands

• -command update - Install or update HLDS.
• -command version - View installed versions.
• -command list - View available games.

Parameters

• -game <game> - Mod game directory name.
• -dir <installdir> - HLDS Install directory (if dir not specified, will use value from last run of tool).

Flags

• -verify_all - Verify all HLDS files are up to date.
• -retry - Automatically retry every 30 seconds if the Steam Network is busy.
• -remember_password - Remember password (if a username is supplied).

Optional parameters

These are only needed to access limited content.

• -username <username> - Steam account username
• -password <password> - Steam account password

Source Dedicated Server

Command-line arguments for the Source Dedicated Server executable (srcds.exe, srcds_run)

Command-line parameters

• -autoupdate - The server is searching for updates on startup.
• -console - SrcDS will run in console mode (Windows only).
• -game <game> - Specifies which game/mod to run.
• -insecure - Will start the server without Valve Anti-Cheat technology.
• -nobots - Disable bots.
• -tickrate <number> - Specifies Server-Tickrate (for more info see Source Multiplayer Networking).
• -verify_all - Will check that each file in the install matches the latest Steam version.

Console variables

• +<console variable> <arg> - Sets the Cvar (or console variable) to the specified setting.

Some useful console variables

• +hostname "Server Name" - Specifies the name of the server.
• +ip - Specifies the IP when multiple network cards are installed.
• +map <map> - Specifies which map to start.
• +maxplayers <number> - Specifies how many player slots the server can contain.
• +hostport <port> - Specifies the host port (can someone explain this?)
• +clientport <port> - Specifies the client port (can someone explain this?)
• +sv_lan <0/1> - If set to 1, server is only available in Local Area Network (LAN).

Half-Life Dedicated Server

These command-line parameters are used with hlds.exe for Goldsource (Half-Life) games.

Command-line parameters

• -autoupdate - The server is searching for updates on startup.
• -console - HLDS will run in console mode (Windows only).
• -game <game> - Specifies which game/mod to run.
• -insecure - Disables Valve Anti-Cheat technology.
• -sport <port> - Specifies the VAC2 port the server should use.

Console variables

• +<console variable> <arg> - Sets the Cvar (or console variable) to the specified setting.

Some useful console variables

• +hostname "Server Name" - Specifies the name of the server.
• +ip - Specifies the IP when multiple network cards are installed.
• +map <map> - Specifies which map to start.
• +maxplayers <number> - Specifies how many player slots the server can contain.
• +port <port> - Specifies which port to use.
• +sv_lan <0/1> - If set to 1, server is only available in Local Area Network (LAN).

See also

Developer Console