Command line options

Example of Half-Life 2 launch options in Steam, with -dxlevel 95 -high applied.

Command line arguments (or Launch options on Steam) are additional arguments specified before the program starts, these functionally change the behavior of the program in some way, such as launching the game and start the game with the specified map directly, or play a demo for example.

Some Microsoft docs refer to them as options, parameters and flags. They use command to describe exactly one command line argument without values.^WT

1 Source games
2 GoldSrc Games
3 Source 2 Games
- 3.1 Command-Line Parameters
  - 3.1.1 Deprecated Command-Line Parameters
4 Steam
- 4.1 Command-Line Parameters
  - 4.1.1 Deprecated Command-Line Parameters
5 HldsUpdateTool (Windows), Steam (Linux)
6 SteamCMD
7 Source Dedicated Server
8 GoldSrc / Half-Life Dedicated Server
9 Troubleshooting the Server Console
10 VRAD
- 10.1 Commands
11 See Also

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).
Launch options on the game's properties in Steam library.
Command-line batch script files launching these applications. For example: A bat file containing only "left4dead2.exe -dev -tools -nop4" to launch Left 4 Dead 2 in tools mode.
Linux shell scripts pointing to the application with launch options. executable -command

Examples

steam.exe -applaunch 240 -dev -console -sw +sv_lan 1 +map MyMap - this will launch Counter-Strike: Source with the specified map.
hl2.exe -game cstrike -dev -console -fullscreen +sv_lan 1 +map de_dust - same as above but launched from the game executable directly, with the map de_dust.

Command-Line Parameters

Argument	Description
-32bit	Forces the engine to start in 32-bit mode. Only useful on 64-bit Operating Systems and 64-bit version of the engine. May not work with all games.
-adapter	Sets the GL graphics adapter. Default is 0.
-all_languages	Loads all language files.
-allowdebug	Fakes a debugger for phonehome, and is the same as -dev, unless -nodev is specified.
-allowmultiple (in all games since )	Allows multiple Source games to run at the same time. Only works if a `VPROJECT` environment variable is set. Use `-multirun` instead for Source 2013. Note:Source games that do not support this (or `-multirun`) can be run at the same time as a game that does, as long as the other game that doesn't support it was started first. Note:In Strata Source, both `-allowmultiple` and `-multirun` are supported, `VPROJECT` is not required, and using either will disable creating the Source mutex entirely, so any other game can still be started at the same time. Confirm:Does this work on Mac/Linux?
-allowstalezip	Suppresses console warnings from stale.txt existing.
-allow_third_party_software (only in )	Previously `-untrusted`, this launches the game in "Untrusted Mode", which allow third-party programs to injecting its code into game executable.
-anticheat_settings	(only in ) This command are most likely used to change Epic Games Launcher/Easy Anti-Cheat settings for the game. It was also used to enable Direct3D 12 (DX12), using `-anticheat_settings=SettingsDX12.json`. Previously `-eac_launcher_settings`.
-audiolanguage (only in )	Changes the audio (spoken) language. Due to the way it works, only `-audiolanguage english` works. However, it is possible to make other languages to work.
-autoconfig	Restores video and performance settings to default for the current hardware detected. Ignores settings inside any .cfg files until this parameter is removed.
-background `<n>` (only in )	Forces the main menu background ID to the integer `n` for the current session.
-basedir	Sets the base directory for the game files. On Xbox 360 RFS, this is forced to smb://hostname/game.
-bi	Defines the build identifier ID which is used in phonehome
-bugbait	Used internally to tell the game it is loading a Bugbait (the name of the bug reporting system) bug report.
-bugreporterdll	Name of the bug reporter DLL to use
-buildcubemaps	Builds cubemaps when fully loaded into a map, then quits the game.
-ccsyntax	Spew details about the localized strings we load.
-clientport	Sets the client port. Default is 27002.
-collate	Skips everything, just merges the reslist from temp folders to the final folder again.
-conclearlog	Clears the `console.log` text file on start. Only works if -condebug set.
-condebug	Logs all console output into the `console.log` text file.
-console	Starts the game with the developer console enabled. Same as having con_enable enabled.
-deathsonly	Supposed to only count deaths while parsing tf2 gamestats, but actually pointless because there is only code for deaths.
-debugdxsupport	Writes debug DirectX information as keyvalues to the console as shader devices are loading configuration.
-defaultgamedir	Fallback directory if "-game" is not set. Default is "hl2".
-demo	Enters the game into demo mode. Only works for Half-Life 2 and Portal
-dev	Enables developer mode. Also disables the automatic loading of menu background maps and stops the quit dialog from appearing on exit. In Postal III, does not disable menu background maps, without using `-nostartupmenu` alongside it.
-disable_d3d9ex	(only in ) Forcefully disables Direct3D 9Ex.
-disallowhwmorph	Same as `mat_disablehwmorph 1`. Disables HW morphing for particular mods.
-dti	Prints the datatable when being sent
-dumpvidmemstats	Spews video memory statistics to vidmemstats.txt. This forces CModelLoader to quit.
-dvd	Enables strict DVD mode. Allows loading files from DVD only. Xbox 360 only.
-dvddev	Enables developer DVD mode. Allows loading files from a remote path as a fallback as well as the DVD. Xbox 360 only.
-dx9 (only in )	Forces the game to never use DXVK, even in cases where it would be automatically enabled (such as when `-gamepadui` is passed in). Todo: What does this do on Linux, if anything? Does it revert to using ToGL or is that a separate launch option?
-dxlevel <level> (removed since )	Forces the game to start using specified DirectX feature levels. After starting the game with this launch parameter, the selected value will be saved for future start ups and video settings will be temporarily reset (but not saved), so it is highly recommended to remove this launch parameter after first launch with it. See mat_dxlevel. Please note that changing DirectX levels does not change the Direct3D renderer to use any other versions of Direct3D. All Source games will always run on Direct3D 9 (or Direct3D 11/12 in some third-party games). Supported values: 60 (DX6, Source 2004 only) 70 (DX7, Source 2006 or RTX Remix games only) 80 (DX8) 81 (DX8.1) 90 (DX9.0 / SM 2.0) 92 (equivalant to "95". Mac/Linux only, translates DirectX to OpenGL using ToGL) 95 (DX9.0c / SM 3.0, default on modern hardware) 98 (Xbox 360 only, always enabled) 100 ( SFM and Dota 2 pre-Reborn only, always enabled) Warning:If you are using Vulkan renderer (`-vulkan`), having dxlevel set lower than 90 (such as 80/81) will cause graphical glitches and crashes the game. Similarly, playing on maps that ship with custom models/props which only support `dxlevel 90` or higher can cause the game to crash on `dxlevel 81` or lower.
-edit	According to comments, intended to replace -tools. Does nothing except disable all file logging for building reslists.
-enablefakeip (only in )	Tells Steam Datagram Relay to use a "FakeIP" and an anonymous server ID when local server hosting.
-endgamevid	If specified startup videos will not be skipped, and EndGameVids.txt will be used instead of StartupVids.txt. This can also be invoked by the command "startupmenu playendgamevid", which bails back to the menu and plays the end game video.
-exit	Quits the game after fully loading into a map.
-fake_stale_server	Skip check game version from Steam and goes straight to out-of-date state
-filmgrain	Enables the `filmgrain` screen space effect. Crashes the game on . In effect works and enabled by default
-floathdr	Forces HDR to use float values.
-flushlog	Causes log files to be flushed to disk once per second (rather than after every 4kbytes of log data).
-forceallmips	Always load mipmaps below 32x32, regardless of if the "no minimum mipmap" VTF flag is enabled.
-forcenovsync	Forces vsync to be disabled.
-forcestartupmenu	Forces the background menu map to always load, even if developer mode is active or the game is loading straight to a level.
-forcexboxreconfig	Forces default config settings to be loaded on Xbox 360.
-force_device_id	(in all games since ) (also in ) Forces the GPU to be recognized as a different graphics card depending on the vendor set. This is used for either debugging purposes or for graphical workarounds, such as avoiding an Intel crash in L4D2 when both Shaders and Memory Pool are set to high, aswell as forcing the "High" shadows setting to be shown on systems with Intel GPUs. Tip:`-force_vendor_id 0x10DE -force_device_id 0x0191` will force the game to recognizing the GPU as a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (most Source games will detect this as "NVIDIA Unknown" according to `dxsupport.cfg`). And `-force_vendor_id 0x10DE -force_device_id 0x1088` will force the game to be recognized as GeForce GTX 590, which was listed in `dxsupport.cfg` (in most Source games, some may only recognizes older GPUs), and set most of the graphical settings to high by default.
-force_vendor_id
-forever	When you get to the end of the maplist, start over from the top
-freq <rate>	Same as -refresh
-fs_log	Starts creating a batch file to copy files at the specified filename. This works on the latest engine branch.
-fs_logbins	Logs binaries to the batch file from -fs_log.
-fs_nopreloaddata	Loads in the precompiled keyvalues data for each type. Works only with dedicated servers.
-fs_target	Sets the target game directory to copy files to, used with -fs_log.
-full_memory_dumps
-fullscreen or -full	Forces the engine to start in fullscreen mode.
-g15	Enables Logitech G15 support. G15 is only supported in SiN Episodes. ^[confirm] Confirm:Does this also works with other Logitech G series keyboards with LCD screens, such as G19?
-game	Sets game or mod directory to load the game from. Usually is set by default if not user specified. Default is "-defaultgamedir"'s setting. If -defaultgamedir is not set, "hl2" is used.
-gamepadui	Enables the alternate controller-friendly UI used on Steam Deck. Makes various UI elements larger. When used, keyvalues in VGUI resource files tagged with `$DECK` will evaluate as true. This is used by default on Steam Deck and in Entropy : Zero 2; use `-nogamepadui` if the original UI is desired. This also automatically enables DXVK; use `-dx9` to prevent this. Only present with updates released since 2020 - 2022 in any of those games. Note:On Portal with RTX, to enable Gamepad UI, you must use `-dx9` alongside it, otherwise it would break the renderer.
-gamestatslogging	Enables game stats logging.
-gamestatsloggingtofile	Enables game stats logging out to a file, gamestats.log. Passing this parameter automatically forces -gamestatslogging.
-gamestatstag <tag>	Tags each map reported with the specified tag.
-gl_enablesamplerobjects	(Linux) Use OpenGL Sampler Objects for better texture preloading
-gl_texclientstorage	(MacOS) Reduce memory usage by relying on GPU memory instead of a host copy
-heapcheck	(Windows only) Check if the heap isn't damaged or empty at the initiation of the game and every frame
-heapsize <kilobytes>	Specifies the heapsize (in kilobyte) the game will use. This has been since deprecated on later version of Source 2009 and Source Multiplayer.
-height <height>, -h	Forces the engine to start with resolution set to `<height>`. Ex: `-h 768`
-hideconsole	Forces the console hidden, whatever parameters are passed. This overrides -console, -dev, and all others.
-high	Sets the game's priority to High. Bug:In Apex Legends, this may cause the game into thinking that there is a Origin update available. A screenshot of this issue can be found here. [todo tested in?]
-hijack	Take control of an existing instance of the game, if any, instead of complaining about already running.
-host	Sets hostname. On Xbox 360, this sets the host computer name to be used for RFS. Xbox name must be <HostPC>_360.
-hushasserts	Disables a number of asserts in core Source libraries, skipping some error checks and messages.
-hushsteam
-ignoredxsupportcfg	Skips reading DirectX support file, dxsupport.cfg.
-insecure	Disable Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC).
-internalbuild	Causes the bug reporter panel to be drawn as internal
-interactivecaster (only in )	Starting your client with this will switch it into camera man mode (reference tv_allow_camera_man_steamid/tv_allow_camera_man_steamid2)
-ip	Does the same as the ipname Cvar
-language `<language>`	Sets the game language to the one specified. (Examples: "english", "german").
-leakcheck	Dumps statistics about memory leaks.
-limitvsconst	Limits the number of vertex shaders to a maximum of 256.
-localcser	Sets a custom gamestats CSER other than the Steam-provided public one (default is steambeta1:27013)
-log_opened_files	Logs all opened files to `opened_files.txt` file. (useful for debugging which files are failing to load)
-low	Sets the game's priority to Low
-lv	Short for low violence. Enables German censorship like `-sillygibs` in Team Fortress 2 with blood/gore disabled.
-makedevshots	Used for taking screenshots, causing entities to not fade. Enables the use of the devshots_nextmap concommand
-makereslists	Makes reslists. Need to run with -textmode. Passing a parameter here uses a script file to control more complex makereslists operations (multiple passes, etc.)
-mat_softwaretl	Enables software vertex processing.
-mat_vsync	Enables Vertical Sync
-maxdownloadfilesizemb	CS:GO 5/1/2014, client launch option -maxdownloadfilesizemb N if clients needs to download even larger files from community servers.
-maxdxlevel	Limits the maximum `dxlevel` to use. Default is 0.
-maxplayers	Set the maximum players allowed to join the server. This does the same as the maxplayers convar, the maximum you can set it to is limited by the game/mod. Note:In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Maxplayers is deprecated, and should either be set in `gamemodes_server.txt` or with -maxplayers_override.
-minmemory	Set startup memory to mem_min_heapsize ?1024 1024?
-monitorTextureSize	Set the size of the texture used to render point_cameras.
-multirun (only in )(also in )	Allows the game to run even if another Source game is already open. Note:Source games that do not support this (or `-allowmultiple`) can be run at the same time as a game that does, as long as the other game is started first. Note:In Strata Source, both `-allowmultiple` and `-multirun` are supported, and using either will disable creating the Source mutex entirely, so any other game can still be started at the same time. Note:Not supported in SFM. Multirun is still possible by starting other games first as explained above. Bug:On some systems, running the game after another Source game is already open, cause the menu logo and/or menu options to become invisible (Confirmed on Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 2). [todo tested in?] Note:Windows only. Does not work on Linux. Mac untested.
-navanalyze	Used for developer purposes when launching a map. Immediately analyzes the navigation map of the loaded map to provide data about hiding spots and other data. Nav Mesh Commands
-navforceanalyze	Used for developer purposes when launching a map. Forces an immediate navigation analyze even if the action is not necessary to perform.
-netspike	Sets the trace threshold to the specified value (the limit of the number of records that will be written to netspike.txt before all records are removed).
-newdialogs	Forces new Steam dialog to be used.
-no_compressed_verts	Disables vertex compression for shaders.
-no_compressed_vvds	Enables thin VVD data, even if the client is not an Xbox 360.
-noassert	Allows attaching to a debugger instead of directly asserting.
-noasync	Disables asynchronous filesystem access.
-noborder	When used with the game set to windowed mode, will make the game act as if in fullscreen mode (no window border), commonly refers to Borderless Windowed mode. This will allows you to switching between application and the game (Alt+Tabbing) without a 2-3 seconds delay. It is only supported in Source 2007 and above, and can be changed in menu starting with Left 4 Dead engine branch, later available in Garry's Mod, some Source 2013 games (such as Half-Life 2 with Steam Deck update) and some third-party Source games. For games that does not support borderless windowed mode, you can use third-party software such as Borderless Gaming, or other listed here at PCGW.
-nobots	Allows Counter-Strike server hosts to force bots disabled to enforce CPU limits.
-nobreakpad	Disable the Breakpad crash handler.
-noclearsave	Skips clearing the save directory after restoring a save.
-noconvert	(xbox360) "No conversions during retail"
-nocrashdialog	Stop some windows crash message boxes from showing up.
-nodefaultmap	(Linux only^[confirm]) Supresses the addition of -map
-nodev	Disables -dev and -allowdebug during startup so sv_cheats and developer mode dosent get set.
-nodns	Disable DNS requests and resolving DNS adresses.
-nodttest	Skips datatable testing.
-noff	Disables force feedback for controllers.
-noforcemaccel	Use the Windows mouse acceleration settings. Only works if -useforcedmparms is set.
-noforcemspd	Use the Windows mouse speed settings. Only works if -useforcedmparms is set.
-nogamedll	Do not load the Game DLL, this most likely will cause your game/server to crash
-nogamepadui	Overrides `-gamepadui`, forcibly disabling its effects when they would otherwise be automatically turned on (such as on Steam Deck or in Entropy : Zero 2).
-nogamestats
-nohltv	Disable SourceTV
-noip	Do not bind to an ip and disables all multiplayer support
-nojoy (not in )	Disables joystick support.
-nomaster	Hides server from master serverlist.
-nomenuvid (only in )	Disables main menu background videos. In the Left 4 Dead series, it will render the game startup image instead. In Portal 2, it will render a static image corresponding to the video that would have been used.
-nomessagebox	Stop various windows error message boxes from showing up
-nominidumps	Dont write minidumps
-nomouse	Disables in-game mouse support.
-NoLoadPluginsForClient
-nop4	Forces the Engine to bypass Perforce Integration
-nophysx	(only in ) Completely disable NVIDIA PhysX physics engine, used for cloth simulation on Postal Dude's coat, but also prevent `p3_prop_cloth` entities (which uses PhysX) from displaying.
-nopreload	Forces models to not be preloaded. Takes priority over cl_forcepreload and -preload.
-nopreloadmodels	Same as -nopreload
-nops2b	Disables Pixel Shader 2b support.
-noqueuedload	Disables queued loading of map resources.
-NoQueuedPacketThread	(Linux) No queued packet thread will be created.
-norebuildaudio	Opposite of and overrides -rebuildaudio for the map reslist generator.
-norfs	Forces Remote Filesystem disabled. Xbox 360 only.
-norussian	(only in ) Preventing the game from switching to Russian language (Russian retail copies only).
-noshaderapi	Loads a non-existent shader API dll, `shaderapiempty.dll`. Effectively disables shader and texture loading completely. May be useful with -textmode to load the game quickly since a GUI is not required.
-nosound	Disables sound support
-nosrgb	Disables support for SRGB.
-nostartupmenu	(only in ) Prevent the game from loading the main menu map if used alongside `-dev`.
-nostartupsound	Disables menu music (`sound/ui/gamestartup*.mp3`) to play on startup.
-nosteamcontroller	Disables Steam controller system Note:This does not disable Steam Input whatsoever.
-nouserclip	Uses software clipping instead of hardware user clip planes
-novid	When loading a game with this parameter, the intro video will not play.
-NoVConfig	Prevents the filesystem you nexem library from running VConfig if it encounters a filesystem error where it cannot find the game content. Todo: Fix grammar.
-olddialogs	Forces old Windows dialogs instead of new Steam ones. Todo: Does it do anything nowadays?
-override_vpk	Forces actual files to override VPK.
-particles	Sets the number of beam trails to allow (2048 by default, minimum is 512).
-phonehome	If debug mode is also enabled, forces the init of phonehome? which handles some build information and sends them via netmessages to steam?
-pidfile <pidfile>	Use the specified <pidfile> to store the server pid. Default is srcds.pid^[confirm] (Unix/Linux only).
-pixel_offset_x	Sets the pixel offset to translate on the X axis in MatSystemSurface.
-pixel_offset_y	Sets the pixel offset to translate on the Y axis in MatSystemSurface.
-playtest	Tells the engine to record the names of all sounds played via `S_StartSound` call without any of the sound flags `SND_CHANGE_PITCH`, `SND_CHANGE_VOL`, and `SND_STOP`. Note:You may dump this list of sounds using ConCommand `snd_dump_filepaths`. Bug:In Left 4 Dead 2, ConCommand `snd_dump_filepaths` will ignore ConVar `snd_store_filepaths` and attempt to write to an inaccessible hard-coded path. [todo tested in?]
-pme	Activate the performance monitoring events code, this again only works on Intel processors newer then PENTIUM4
-port <variable>	Sets port for a listen server. Default is 27015.
-preload	Does the same as the sv_forcepreload Cvar. If -nopreload or -nopreloadmodels, this behaviour is disabled
-primarysound	If surround sound isn't enabled, forces the use of the primary sound buffer
-profile	If using Xbox360 or enabling this, additional debugging information are logged like the map startup time and similar
-publicbuild	Is this build a public one? If not, phonehome will not post information of this build to steam
-r_emulate_gl	Emulates OpenGL on Windows, provides a framerate boost for most GPUs Confirm:Doesn't seems to work at all. RTSS and other overlays applications still report it as DirectX 9.
-random_invariant	Forces the game's random number generator value to be invariant.
-rebuildaudio	Forces rebuild of _other_rebuild.cache (metacache) file at exit for the map reslist generator.
-recapvid	RecapVids.txt will be used instead of EndGameVids.txt. This can also be invoked by the command "startupmenu playrecapvid", which bails to the mainmenu and plays the recap video.
-ref	Sets MATERIAL_INIT_REFERENCE_RASTERIZER on the shader material adapter.
-reflectionTextureSize	Set the size of the texture used to render the Water shader's real-time reflection and refraction.
-refresh <rate>	Force a specific refresh rate. Ex: `-refresh 60`
-refreshrate <rate>	Same as -refresh
-remote	Sets the remote file path to be used with -dvddev.
-replay	Increases maxplayers by 1 at startup and automatically executes replay.cfg for the server.
-requirecubemaps	If a map dosen't have cubemaps, the game will promt up with "Map X does not have cubemaps!"
-resizing	Allows resizing the window lower than a specific resolution.
-reslistdir	Default is "reslists", use this to override. Reslist generator only.
-reuse	Reuse network sockets
-rpt	Remote perf testing. Same as having -condebug, -conclearlog, and -console enabled
-ru	(only in ) Set the game language to Russian.
-safe	Enables video safe mode, which sets the game to windowed, the width to 640, the height to 480, refresh rate to default, and disables antialiasing.
-shader	Loads a specific shader library instead of depending on hardware. Debug only.
-shaderdll	Loads a different shader dll. Default is shaderapidx9.dll. Todo: Is this the same as -shader?
-shadersondemand	Creates shaders on access, helps reduce D3D memory for tools, but causes I/O hitches.
-sillygibs (only in )	Forces gibs to be spawned as random common objects.
-skiploadingworkshopaddons (only in )	Only load addons from the addons folder, not subscriptions on the Steam Workshop.
-small	Allow window sizing smaller than 640x480
-sndcachedebug	Prints sound cache debug messages (developer must be enabled to see)
-snoforceformat	Skips sound buffer creation
-soft	Enables Software hardware rendering mode.
-softparticlesdefaultoff	Sets particles to be rendered without feathering (scene depth blending) by default.
-softparticlesdefaulton	Opposite of -softparticlesdefaultoff.
-spewsentences	Spew out vox sentence names during reslist generation
-startmap	Restarts devshot generation at the specified map if resuming from a crash.
-startstage	When running from script file, this starts at specified stage, and sets current work item (default is 0). Reslist generator only.
-startwindowed, -windowed, -window, -sw	Forces the engine to start in Windowed mode.
-steam	Enables Steam support (if the game is launched from Steam, this is enabled by default). Working directory must be Steam directory. Works only for singleplayer games.
-steamlocal	Similar to -steam. Runs Steam in local filesystem mode (all content off HDD), as opposed to remote filesystem mode (requiring Steam backend).
-steamport	Master server updater port. Steam authentication port is this port + 1. (default is 26900)
-strictportbind	If you launch the game with this option it will quit with an error message if it can't bind to the default or specified port.
-sv_benchmark	Enables benchmarking through sv_benchmark_force_start.
-swapcores	Swaps threads for the particle and material systems each init
-tempcontent	Searches for game content in a folder called "_tempcontent" relative to the absolute game path. This option is enabled by default for Portal 1
-testscript <filename>	Loads a .vtest file.
-testshaders	Loads the shader_test library. Debug only.
-testsub
-textmessagedebug	Spews client text messages to console.
-textmode	Runs the game without graphics
-threads	Number of threads to allocate for the thread pool, default is 3
-tickrate	Sets the game tick interval. Disabled in code for Team Fortress 2 because "server ops are abusing it". Also disabled in Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source, Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. In older versions on some of those games, or using server plugins, or by enabling it in the code, it can be changed.
-timedemoloop
-toconsole	Starts the engine directly in the console, unless a map is specified with `+map`.
-tools	Enables engine tools.
-trackdeletions	Logs what files are marked for deletion in Reslist Generator.
-tvmasteronly	Only one person allowed in HLTV.
-unrestricted_maxplayers (only in )	Set the maximum players allowed to join the server. Unlike -maxplayers, this can allow for up to 100 players in a single server. Warning:This feature is unsupported and not recommended, causing stability issues at maximum players.
-usedevshotsfile	Get map list from specified file, default is to build for maps/*.bsp
-useforcedmparms	Allows the use of -noforcemspd and -noforcemaccel.
-usegh	Loads ghostinj.dll to allow support for third party dlls (gamehost)
-uselogdir	Logs various data to logs/(mapname)/*
-usercon	Enable RCON for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive servers
-usereslistfile	Get map list from specified file, default is to build for maps/*.bsp. Reslist generator only.
-usetcp	Disable TCP support
-vcrplayback	Plays back a VCR recording. Nothing is simulated on the server, but all server packets are recorded. Note: VCR recording and playback only fully working on a leaked HLS build, other games and versions crash
-vcrrecord	Records a client's game and allows you to play it back and reproduce it exactly. Requires -nosound See this video on how it is different.
-vguifocus	Enables debug VGUI messages related to input focus.
-vguimessages	Enables debug VGUI messages.
-vproject	Manually sets the VProject directory to load game content for tools.
-vulkan (only in )	Enables the use of the DXVK library to translate Direct3D graphics calls to the Vulkan API. On Windows, where Direct3D itself is supported, this is of little use and should usually not be enabled (except in , where it can be used to work around some specific rendering bugs). On Linux, it is usually recommended for games which support it, due to providing better performance and less graphical issues compared to the OpenGL translation layer usually used on this platform. A newer version of the respective games from 2021-2024 or later, and a graphics card that supports Vulkan (such as Nvidia GeForce 600-series/Kepler-based, AMD GCN 1.0 (or later) and Intel Skylake) are required in order to enable DXVK. Warning:Enabling DXVK may crash the game if a third-party program tries to hook its overlay to the game unsuccessfully, and/or your GPU does not support Vulkan.
-vxconsole	Waits for Valve Xbox console to initialise. Xbox 360 only.
-wavonly	Disables DirectSound and makes the engine attempt to play all sounds in PCM format.
-x <x position>	In borderless windowed mode, determines where the window should be horizontally. Ex: `-x 0`. Note: Setting this to 0 will make it align with the left side of your main monitor, rather than its center. Negative values also aren't accepted.
-xnet_bypass_security	Disables Xbox 360 secure networking, to allow cross-platform testing.
-y <y position>	In borderless windowed mode, determines where the window should be vertically. Ex: `-y 0`. Note: Setting this to 0 will make it align with the top side of your main monitor, rather than its center. Negative values also aren't accepted.
-width <width>, -w	Forces the engine to start with resolution set to `<width>`. Ex: `-w 1024`

Deprecated Command-Line Parameters

Argument	Description
-lowmemworkshop (only in )	Allow updating very large map files on Steam Workshop. While the option still works, Valve most likely no longer allow users to upload CS:GO items to Workshop in favor of CS2.
-mat_aaquality	Set MSAA quality level, does the same as the Convar mat_aaquality. This no longer works on most modern GPUs (starting with NVIDIA GeForce 750Ti/800M/900 series). Confirm:Does not work on latest version/Source 2013 as the console command with the same name remains unchanged. Confirm whether this does anything on older engine.
-mat_antialias	Antialiasing. Can be set to 8, amount past 8 won't sharpen the edges of game world. Confirm:Also does not work on latest version/Source 2013. Confirm whether this does anything on older engine.

Console Variables

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

Useful Console Variables

Console Variable	Description
+cl_showfps <0/1/2/3>	When set to 2, shows the framerate and map name.
+connect	Immediately connects to a server address.
+load	Console Command
+map <map-name[.bsp]>	Immediately loads the map specified after the engine starts.
+map_background <map name>	Forces a specified background map to be used. Useful for testing custom background maps. To avoid loading standard background maps for speed reasons, use the `-dev` command-line parameter.
+mat_hdr_level	Sets HDR level before the background map loads. HDR Lighting Basics
+maxplayers	Sets maxplayers. This will set maxplayers before the background map loads. To change when running, run <disconnect> to escape the current map, including background maps.
+physcannon_mega_enabled <0/1>	Makes Gravity gun a super gravity gun.
+playdemo <demo>	Immediately plays a demo file.
+port	Console Command
+sv_cheats <0/1>	When set to 1, starts the game with cheats enabled.
+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.
+timedemo	Console Command
+timedemoquit	Console Command