Command line options

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

Command line options (frequently command line arguments or command line parameters; 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.

Command line arguments are traditionally prefixed with a hyphen (-), but some Windows applications (especially system ones) will use a forward slash (/) instead. Quake uses plus (+) as a prefix for console commands or cvars that will get executed by the game as soon as it starts, and all Valve engines inherit this syntax.

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
-adapter	Sets the GL graphics adapter. Default is 0.
-all_languages	Loads all language files.
-allowdebug	Allows for debug modules to be loaded in games that disable them and 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.
-debugsteam2wrapper (only in )	Writes debug information for files accessed through the Steam 2 Wrapper to the debugger. Includes creation and deletion of file handles. See Fixing VPK mounting for older Source SDK Bases for more information.
-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). Note:To force OpenGL (using ToGL) on Linux, use -gl instead.
-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 2004/2006 only) 70 (DX7, Source 2004/2006 or RTX Remix games only) 80 (DX8) 81 (DX8.1) 90 (DX9.0 / SM 2.0) 92 (equivalent to both "90" and "95". Mac/Linux only, translates DirectX to OpenGL using ToGL). Has partial SM 3.0 support. 95 (DX9.0+ / SM 3.0, default on modern hardware) 98 (Xbox 360 only, always enabled) 100 ( Left 4 Dead engine branch, 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
-force32bit (only in )	Forces the game to run in 32-bit mode, even if running on a 64-bit operating system. Note: Windows: Create new shortcut from 32-bit executable program and add in launch parameter -force32bit, launch game from shortcut.
-force64bit (only in )	Forces the game to run in 64-bit mode.
-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 (except and since 20th anniversary); 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. Bug:Gamepad UI is also available on Half-Life: Source due to shared binaries with Half-Life 2, but is broken.  [todo tested in ?]
-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 (only in )	Forces the game to runs on OpenGL instead of Vulkan (through DXVK). You can also select "Legacy OpenGL" option when launching the game on Steam (if available), to force OpenGL.
-gl_enablesamplerobjects	Use OpenGL Sampler Objects for better texture preloading
-gl_texclientstorage	Reduce memory usage by relying on GPU memory instead of a host copy
-heapcheck	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, but can still be changed through console commands (mem_min_heapsize and mem_max_heapsize)
-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. Also disables the automatic loading of menu background maps.
-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  (tested in: Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 2) 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_texture_stream (only in )[confirm]	Disables the use of lower quality textures while higher quality versions load, favoring immediate loading of higher quality textures. Disabling texture streaming can improve performance on systems with GPUs that have low VRAM. Can be found on Ultra high settings on the Official Team Fortress Wiki or a wiki dedicated to TF2 command line options.
-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.
-nod3d9ex	(only in ) (also in ) Forcefully disables Direct3D 9Ex.
-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 Warning:causes crash of the game on startup
-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 2021-2025 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 CSAA 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 (off, LDR/SDR with Bloom, and HDR) before the background map loads. See 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.
+sv_use_steam_networking <0/1>	(only in ) When set to 0, disable Steam Networking. Useful to stop players from joining your game from the Internet.
+timedemo	Console Command
+timedemoquit	Console Command

GoldSrc Games

These command-line parameters will work with any GoldSource engine games ( Half-Life, Counter-Strike, etc.).

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

Usage

These options can be used with:

• Hammer editor Run Map dialog.
• Windows shortcuts pointing to hl.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.
• Game launch options from Steam's Library.
• Linux shell scripts pointing to the application with launch options. executable -command

Examples

• steam.exe -applaunch 70 -dev -console -sw +sv_lan 1 +map MyMap
• hl.exe -game cstrike -dev -console -fullscreen +sv_lan 1 +map de_dust

Command-Line Parameters

Argument	Description
-32bpp	Force 32-bit color mode (bit depth), enabled by default on Steam version of Half-Life and other GoldSrc games.
+<console variable> <arg>	Sets the Cvar (or console variable) to the specified setting.
-game <game>	Specifies which game/mod to run. Default is "valve".
-dll <name.dll>	Specifies which server DLL to use. Ex: -dll dlls\zbotcz.dll. Also works with linux, ex: -dll dlls/zbotcz.so.
-condebug	Stores console output to "Half-Life\qconsole.log". Note:Can be toggled with condebug console command.
-dev	Enables developer mode.
-glext	When paired with "-dev" setting, outputs all OpenGL extensions supported by your graphics card. Note:Can do the same with gl_dump console command.
-gl	Force the game to start with OpenGL renderer.
-soft	Force the game to start with Software renderer.
-full or -fullscreen	Forces the engine to start in fullscreen mode.
-window or -sw or -startwindowed or -windowed	Forces the engine to start in windowed mode.
-w <width> or -width <width>	Forces the engine to start with resolution set to <width>. Ex: -w 1024.
-h <height> or -height <height>	Forces the engine to start with resolution set to <height>. Ex: -h 768.
-stretchaspect	The game by default adds black bars based on your game screen resolution. Use -stretchaspect on your command line if you want the old behavior back (just always fill the screen). Setting "-nofbo" also implies "-stretchaspect".
-freq <variable>	Force a specific refresh rate when running in fullscreen AND your monitor supports the frequency in question.
-mousethread	If set we poll the mouse position in another thread running at 100hz by default, to get better movement accuracy. Set the "m_mousethread_sleep" cvar to the number of seconds to sleep between mouse polls to change this rate.
-joy_advanced	Use advanced joystick options (allows for multiple axes).
-joy_advr, -joy_advu, -joy_advv, -joy_advx, -joy_advy, -joy_advz	Forces specific axis to use advanced joystick options. [confirm]
-nosound	Disables sound support. Note:Can do the same with nosound <0 or 1> console command.
-nocdaudio	Disables MP3 support, and CD Audio in previous/retail (WON) version. Also disallows cd console command to load mp3 tracks.
-wavonly	Disables DirectSound and makes the engine attempt to play all sounds in PCM format.
-noip	Disables network support. Not the same as Steam Offline mode.
-noipx	Disables IPX support.
-nojoy	Disables joystick support.
-nomouse	Disables in-game mouse support.
-noforcemparms	Forces the engine to use operating system mouse parameters.
-noforcemaccel	Forces the engine to use operating system mouse acceleration.
-noforcemspd	Forces the engine to use operating system mouse speed.
-nofbo	Disables using the new method for rendering (allowing the game to render other aspect ratio/resolutions with black bar instead of stretching it). This will also disable the built-in MSAA.
-nomsaa	Disables MSAA (Anti-Aliasing).
-noborder	When used with the game set to windowed mode, will make the game act as if in fullscreen mode (no window border). Bug:Doesn't hide window border, only control buttons.  [todo tested in ?]
-nodirectblit	Disables direct  blitting.
-nobots	Disables bots. Confirm:Does this work with DLL plug-ins (ex: metamod) that add bot support to games that lack it natively?
-novid	(only in Half-Life (post-25th anniversary update) and Cry of Fear) When loading a game with this parameter, the intro video will not play. Note:In Cry of Fear, This must be applied through the Steam Launch Options or the CoFLaunchApp.exe executable, as applying it directly on cof.exe may crash the game.
-port <port>	Specifies which port to use for client connections for a listen server. Default is 27015. Note:Can do the same with port console command.
-sillygibs	Forces more gibs like skull and others to be spawned all time on NPC's death.
-demoedit	Enables hidden Demo editor. Note:Use viewdemo console command to get access.
-num_edicts <variable>	Sets the edict limit. Default 1200 (20th anniversary), 900 (pre-anniversary), max 2048. Both clients and servers need matching values for best compatibility; as such, this should be set in liblist.gam instead.
-heapsize <kilobytes>	Specifies the amount of heap(or free store - cache, an area of memory used for dynamic memory allocation) the engine will use. Minimum value is 14336(14 MB). Maximum value is 131072(128 MB). By default this is set to 40960 (40 MB) and automatically adjusted to suit your system. Note:Low value causes "Unable to allocate X.X MB" exit error.
-zone <bytes>	Specifies the amount of Bytes of memory for use with the console system. Note:Low or very high value causes Z_Malloc exit error.
-exec <file>	Executes specific config file immediately after the engine is loaded.
-steam	Show Steam server browser button (and "Friends" in older versions) on bottom-right corner of main menu. Running without this command does not disable the ability to connect to Steam servers. Enabled by default when launching from Steam library. Note:In older versions of Half-Life (pre-SteamPipe), on first launch it may ask for CD Key (Steam copies which are launched without this command line can simply bypass this by typing "A", but this may not work with "Half-Life 1 Anthology" retail copy which requires legit key). Note:This command also works with WON version of the game since patch 1.1.0.9 or 1.1.1.0, but Steam-related feature will not work properly without installing Steam Beta (the game will show error due to missing gfx/shell/steam_logo.bmp, and the game will crash or fail to load a map with "SteamGetEncryptedUserIDTicket" error). Note:With Half-Life 25th Anniversary Update, the Steam server browser option was removed from the menu.

Useful Console Variables

Console Variable	Description
+_setgamedir <game>	Specifies which game/mod to run.
+_setrenderer <variable>	Sets the rendering mode. Available parameters are opengl and software. Note:Parameter D3D is deprecated.
+_setvideomode	[Todo]
+_set_vid_level <0 or 1>	Toggles "Low video quality".
+_setaddons_folder <0 or 1>	Toggles "Allow custom addon content".
+_sethdmodels <0 or 1>	Toggles "Enable HD models if available".
+clientport <port>	Specifies which port to use to communicate with a server. Default is 27005.
+gg <demoname> or +cl_gg 1 +playdemo <demoname>	Runs the demo in Game Gauge mode. This is a benchmark utility that runs through a demo as fast as possible and stores the framerate in the file fps.txt in the GameMod directory.
+log on or +log off	Toggles logging before the engine loads config files.

Deprecated Command-Line Parameters

Argument	Description
-16bpp	Not allowed for use; would've forced 16-bit color mode (bit depth). Enabled by default in WON/Retail version of Half-Life and other GoldSrc games.
-console	Enabled by default in Steam versions; it can be accessible by either pressing tilde (~) in-game or it will appear automatically. Note:In old Half-Life builds (also known as WON/Retail version), a button to open Console is added, but the tilde (~) key will be non-functional on the main menu, only works in-game.
-d3d	Removed since 2013 SteamPipe update. This will set the renderer to Direct3D 6.
-gamegauge <demoname>	Use console commands instead. Runs the demo in Game Gauge mode. This is a benchmark utility that runs through a demo as fast as possible and stores the framerate in the file fps.txt in the GameMod directory.
-gldrv <driver name>	Was for selecting the GL Driver to use from two choices: "Default" and "3dfxgl.dll" (for 3dfx Voodoo cards).
-noaff	Would've disabled setting of thread affinity.
-noextracds	Retail/WON version only. Prevent the game from switching to 640x480 resolution when loading the menu.
-notopmost	Doesn't mark the game's windows as topmost (Always on Top) in fullscreen mode.
-nosierra	Retail/WON version only. Intro video support was already removed when the games were transferred to Steam, but was eventually restored in Half-Life as part of it's 25th anniversary, however it instead uses the -novid command in order to disable startup intro. Despite it's mention Sierra, it does skip both Sierra and Valve intro.
-nowinmouse	Renamed to -nomouse in newer versions.
-numericping	Enabled by default; displays ping in server browsers in milliseconds instead of dots.
-particles <variable>	Would've set the number of particles for which is set aside buffer space.
-toconsole	Would've shown the console when the game launched.
-vid_mode <variable> / -vt <variable>	Use -gl or -soft instead; would've set the rendering mode to either one of two choices: gl or software.

Source 2 Games

Todo: Fill this out. Confirm if launch options are Dota 2, HLA, or CS2 specific, and does it works or not.

Command-Line Parameters

Argument	Description
-addon <addon_name>	Starts the game mounting <addon_name>. (only in )[confirm]
-allow_third_party_software	Launches the game in "Untrusted Mode", which allow third-party programs to injecting its code into game executable. (only in )
-allowmultiple	Allows multiple Source 2 instances to run at the same time. Only works if a VPROJECT environment variable is set. (only in )[confirm]
-autoconfig	This command lets you restore config file settings to default. (only in )[confirm]
-console	Starts the game with the developer console enabled.
-dev	Starts the game with the DEV MENU enabled (only in )[confirm].
-forcenovsync	Switches off Vsync technology. (only in )[confirm]
-freq <refresh_rate>	Change the monitor refresh rate. (only in )[confirm]
-full	The game will start in full-screen mode. (only in )[confirm].
-fullscreen	The game will start in full-screen mode. (only in )[confirm].
-gpuraytracing	(Confirmed with csgocfg.exe) Enable ray-tracing feature support for Hammer Editor. Without it, Hammer ray-tracing related option such as GPU Path Tracing preview and GPU Ray Tracing Visualization will be disabled and hidden. Usually enabled when launching CS2 Workshop Tools from Steam (only in ).
-h <height> or -height <height>	Forces the engine to start with resolution set to <height>. Ex: -h 1920
-high	Sets the game's priority to High. (only in )[confirm]
-hlvr_workshop	Launches the Workshop Tools. (only in )
-insecure	Starts the server without Valve Anti-Cheat.
-language <language>	Interface language customization.
-limitvsconst	Limits number of vertex shaders up to 256. (only in )[confirm]
-noborder	The game window won’t have edges. (only in )[confirm].
-nohltv	Switches off all GOTV and Source TV opportunities. (only in )[confirm]
-nojoy	Switching off joysticks, joystick support. (only in )[confirm]
-nopreload	Cancels models, files and textures pre-loading. (only in )[confirm]
-nostyle	Disables some custom Windows UI styling. Can be used to force the tools into light mode, when Windows is set to light mode.
-novid	Intro video is disabled. (only in )[confirm]
-novr or -vr_enable_fake_vr_test	Launches the game in flat-screen mode. (only in )
-nowindow	Disables the spectator window. (only in )
-perfectworld	Switch to Steam China (Perfect World) servers. (only in )
-retail	Makes it so you cannot see certain items in the sdk, such as /characters/ and /econ/ (only in )[confirm]
-softparticledefaultoff	Rendering particles settings. (only in )[confirm]
-steam	Applied by default when launched through Steam, connects game to its 'network'. (only in )[confirm]
-tools	Launches the Workshop Tools (only in )[confirm].
-vconsole	Allows for using the VConsole program that comes with certain games like Aperture Desk Job which does not provide a way of accessing the console in-game [confirm].
-vrdebug	Allows the game to run without a VR headset. (only in )[confirm]
-vulkan	Forces the engine to use the Vulkan renderer.
-width <width>, -w	Forces the engine to start with resolution set to <width>. Ex: -w 1080 (only in )[confirm]
-window, -windowed, -startwindowed or -sw	The game will start in the regular window.
-x <x position>	Window position along the axis X (only in )[confirm]
-y <y position>	Window position along the axis Y (only in )[confirm]

Deprecated Command-Line Parameters

Argument	Description
-tickrate <tickrate>	Sets the game tick interval. In Counter-Strike 2 at launch, Valve hardcoded the game to use 64 tickrate with subticks, so this does nothing. Confirm:Confirm whether this does anything on old Limited Test build.

Steam

Todo: Add more command-line from this GitHub Gist.

These command-line parameters work when launching the Steam application.

Command-Line Parameters

Argument	Description
-applaunch <appID> [launch parameters]	Launches an Game or Application through Steam.
-cafeapplaunch	Launch apps in a cyber cafe context (Forces apps to be verified / validated before launch).
-clearbeta	Opts out of beta participation (in case for some reason it can't be done via settings).
-complete_install_via_http	Run installation completion over HTTP by default.
-console	Enables the Steam debug console tab.
-ccsyntax	Spew details about the localized strings we load.
-debug_steamapi	Enables logging of Steam API functions.
-dev	Sets the 'developer' variable to 1. Can be used to open the VGUI editor by pressing F6 or VGUI zoo by pressing F7. Intended for skin development, also enables the debug console tab.
-fs_log	Log file system accesses.
-fs_target	Set target syntax.
-fs_logbins	Log the binaries we load during operation.
-forceservice	Run Steam Client Service even if Steam has admin rights.
-gameoverlayinject	Sets the method how GameOverlay is injected.
-install <path>	Install a product from a specified path (e.g. "D:" for the DVD-ROM drive if D: is one).
-installer_test	Changes installing a retail game to emit all files to install_validate/ folder instead of to the steam cache.
-language <language>	Sets the Steam language to the one specified. (Examples: "english", "german").
-login <[username]|anonymous> [password]	Logs into Steam with the specified Username and Password combination. Note: Steam must be off for this to work.
-lognetapi	Logs all P2P networking info to log/netapi_log.txt.
-log_voice	Writes voice chat data to the logs/voice_log.txt file.
-noasync	Don't use async file operations, run them synchronous instead.
-nocache	Starts steam with no cache (Steam must be off for this to work properly).
-nofriendsui	Prevents the friends list window from showing automatically upon start.
-noverifyfiles	Prevents from the client from checking files integrity, especially useful when testing localization.
-no-dwrite	Forces vgui to use GDI text even if DWrite support is available.
-script <file name>	Runs a Steam script. All scripts must be in a subdirectory of the Steam folder called test scripts (Steam must be off for this to work).
-shutdown	Shuts down (exits) Steam.
-silent	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).
-single_core	Force Steam to run on your primary CPU only.
-tcp	Forces connection to Steam backend to be via TCP.
-voice_quality	Sets audio quality, range [1,3].
-voicerelay	Only allow 'relay' connections for voice (testing).
-tenfoot	Start Steam in Big Picture Mode.
-gamepadui	Same as -tenfoot. Note:Was used to start Big Picture in the Steam Deck UI, but this is now the default as of February 2023.

Deprecated Command-Line Parameters

• -no-browser - Disables all instances of CEF. CEF stands for Chromium Embedded Framework, which Steam uses for its built-in web browser components (including the in-game overlay browser), and also for WebViews used by the new Panorama-based friends/chat UI, and Library. Using this option will —among other things— disable the new Library UI, and restore the old friends list and chat UI. However, it won't restore the old Library UI, requiring the use of Small Mode to view the list of games.
  Note:Deprecated as of January 2023.

• -noreactlogin - Switches to the old login UI, but disables login confirmations via the mobile app and QR code logins.
  Note:Deprecated as of January 2023.

• -oldbigpicture - Restores the old Big Picture Mode UI.

• -vgui - Start Steam with VGUI as the main window renderer instead of being Chromium.
  Note:Deprecated as of January 2023.

HldsUpdateTool (Windows), Steam (Linux)

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

Commands

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

Parameters for the Update Command

• -beta <betaname> - Name of the beta (optional parameter for taking part in a beta test)
• -game <game> - The name of the game to install (see enumeration).
• -dir <installdir> - HLDS Install directory (if dir not specified, will use value from last run of tool).

The following parameters are only needed to access limited content.

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

Flags for the Update Command

• -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 for All Commands

• -nobootstrapupdate - Do not check for updates to the update tool

SteamCMD

The Steam Console Client or SteamCMD is a new tool to install and update dedicated servers using a command line interface. It only works with games that have switched over to the SteamPipe content system. Eventually all Steam games will switch from HLDSUpdateTool to this.

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

To view the most up to date version of SteamCMD commands visit this GitHub repo: https://github.com/dgibbs64/SteamCMD-Commands-List

Usage

• steamcmd.exe +COMMAND1 [ARG] +COMMAND2 [ARG]
• steamcmd.exe +runscript SCRIPTFILE

Command-Line Parameters

Todo: Analyze the unknown parameters in more detail

• -allosvers - Unknown: "Allow Servers"
• -allosarches - Unknown: "Allow Searches"
• -chromeos - Pretend to be Chrome OS.
• -clearbeta - Presumably clears the beta client opt-in.
• -clientbeta - Unknown
• -debugbreak - Break on assertions in a debugger, also hides the assertion dialogs
• -download - Intended to do something, but the condition to reach the code is not possible.
• -forceosver [os] - Forces an operating system.

ExpandOS List 

• web
• unknown
• android
• android6
• android7
• android8
• android9
• ps3os
• macos
• macos104
• macos105
• macos1058
• macos106_unused1
• macos106_unused2
• macos106_unused3
• macos106
• macos1063
• macos1064_slgu
• macos1067
• macos1067_unused
• macos107
• macos108
• macos109
• macos1010
• macos1011
• macos1012
• macos1013
• macos1014
• macos1015
• macos1016
• macos11
• macos11.1
• macos1017
• macos12
• macos1018
• macos13
• macos1019
• macos14
• macos1020
• macos15
• linux
• linux22
• linux24
• linux26
• linux32
• linux35
• linux36
• linux310
• linux316
• linux318
• linux3x
• linux4x
• linux5x
• linux41
• linux44
• linux49
• linux414
• linux419
• linux54
• linux6x
• linux7x
• linux510
• windows
• win311
• win95
• win98
• winME
• winNT
• win200
• winXP
• win2003
• winVista
• win7
• win2008
• win2012
• win8
• win8.1
• win2012R2
• win10
• win2016
• win2019
• win2022
• win11
• default
• pw_dota2
• nexon_dota2
• steamcmd
• pw_csgo
• clientui
• steamhdl
• steamchina
• singleapp
• gameserver

• -forcesteamupdate - Unknown
• -forcepackagedownload - Unknown
• -holo - Unknown
• -hometest - Unknown
• -inhibitbootstrap - Skips auto-updating on startup, but it appears theres more unknown functionality to this
• -noassert - Disables assertions
• -nobootstrapperupdate - Unknown
• -nocrashdialog - Disables assertions
• -noiocp - Disables IOCP connection
• -norepairfiles - Don't repair files
• -noverifyfiles - Don't verify files
• -overridepackageurl [url] - Force a specific URL address for packages
• -promptdebugattach - Shows a debug prompt box on startup, presumably used to allow convenient debugger attaching.
• -silent - Unknown
• -simulatedownloaderrors - Pretend there is errors when downloading
• -simulatefatalerror - Simulates a fatal error on startup
• -skipinitialbootstrap - Skips auto-updating on startup
• -singleapp - Unknown: changes launcher type to 3 (the default is 8).
• -steamchina - Unknown: changes launcher type to 3 (the default is 8).
• -steamconsole - Pretend to be Steam Console.
• -steamdeck - Pretend to be Steam Deck.
• -steamos - Pretend to be Steam OS.
• -steamos3 - Pretend to be Steam OS 3 (?).
• -timingtestflushdiskcache - Unknown, does something with a file

• -verifyfiles - Force verification of files

Commands

Argument	Parameter(s)	Description
api_logging	<enabled> <verbose>	Enable/disable verbose API logging in SteamCMD
app_build_all_depots	[-desc <text>] -depotconfigpath <folder> -contentroot <folder> -buildoutput <folder> <appid>	Build all depots for one app
app_dlc_status	app_status <appId> <dlcId>
app_info_print	None	Dumps app info for appID
app_info_print	None	Dumps app info for appID
app_info_request	<AppID>	Issue an appinfo request for the given appid. Does not wait for results from the server.
app_info_update	[0|1]	Trigger app info update, optionally for update all
app_license_request	<AppID>	Requests a free licenses for this app if not already owned.
app_run	<AppID>	Launches the app.
app_set_config	<AppID> <key> <value>	Sets a config value for given app.
app_set_update_flag	<appId>
app_status	<appId>
app_stop	<appid> [force:0|1]	Stop this running app
app_uninstall	[-complete] <appId>
app_update	<appid> [-validate] [-language <lang>] [-beta <betaname>] [-betapassword <pwd>]	Make sure a Steam application is up-to-date
app_update_cancel	<EAppUpdateError>
apps_installed	[Todo]	Todo: Fill description.
apps_running	None	Displays information about running games tracked by Steam
async_disconnect	None	Async disconnect
build_installer	<project file> <target folder> [beta key] [beta pwd]
ceg_wrap	<appid> <orig filename> <stripped filename> <strips filename>	Upload executable to back end for CEG wrapping
cm_force_change	None	Change CM List
device_authorize_status	None	Prints device authorization status
download_depot	<appid> <depotid> [<target manifestid>] [<delta manifestid>] [<depot flags filter>]	Download a single depot
download_sources	None	Dumps list of download sources
drm_wrap	<appid> <input filename> <output filename> <toolname> <flags>	Upload executable to back end for DRM wrapping
dump_scheduled_functions	None	Displays internal Steam function callback timers
exit	None	Stops Steam client console
find	None	Find substrings in console commands
force_install_dir	<directory>	Sets the directory to install the server in
get_download_throttle	[Todo]	Todo: Fill description.
help	None	Show help information
info	None	Dump various Steam info
install_folder_list	None	List all mounted Steam volumes
licenses_for_app	<appid>	Shows active licenses for appid
licenses_print	None	Display users's Steam3 licenses
log_callbacks	<first callbackID> [last callbackID]
log_ipc	[verbose] <filter>	Enables IPC logging. Specifying "counts" or "verbose" is optional, defaulting to counts.
login	[<password>|anonymous] [<Steam guard code>]	Login to Steam
logon	None	See "login"
logoff	None	Disconnect from Steam
logout	None	See "logoff"
manifest_dump	<filename>
mem_stats	None	Dump memory stats
net_msgdump	None	Dumps list of sent net messages
net_msgspew	None	Spews sent net messages
p2p_info	None	Displays the current state of the P2P networking subsystem.
package_info_print	None	Dumps package info for packageID
quit	None	Stops & close Steam client console
render_ipc_connections	[Todo]	Todo: Fill description.
run_app_build	[-preview] [-desc <text>] <appbuildfile>	Run app depot build as specified in appbuildfile
run_app_build_http	None	Alias for run_app_build
runscript	<script file, such as TXT>	Runs a console command script
set_download_throttle	<Kb/s> <bPersistent = false>
set_spew	<group> <level> <logLevel>	Set spew levels for the given group
set_spew_level	<SpewLevel LogLevel>	Sets spew and log level for all groups
set_steam_guard_code	None	Authorize this computer by adding the Steam Guard email code
sign_install_script	<appid> <input filename> <output filename>	Upload install script to back end for signing
test_dropcon	None	Tests dropping a connection
test_failnextconnect	None	Tests failing the next connection
upload_controller_config	<appid> <filename>	Upload controller config to cloud
user_friends	None	Dumps list of friends
verify_chunk_store	<appid> <depotid> <datafile>	Run app depot build as specified in appbuildfile
verify_vpk	<datafile>	Verifies content of given VPK
voice_game_usage	None	Displays information about the game's use of Steam voice
workshop_build_item	<build config filename>	Build a workshop item
workshop_create_legacy_item	<appid> <workshop file>	Build a legacy workshop item
workshop_download_item	<appid> <PublishedFileId>	Download a workshop item
workshop_status	<appId>	Todo: Fill description.

ConVars

Argument	Default Parameter	Description
app_info_http_min	0	Todo: Fill description.
app_info_http_num_sockets	8	Todo: Fill description.
AsyncFileIODisableWrite	0	Todo: Fill description.
AsyncFileIOExpectOutstandingIO	16	Todo: Fill description.
AsyncFileIOForceGenericIO	1	Todo: Fill description.
AsyncFileIOMaxPending	128	Todo: Fill description.
AsyncFileIOReadHandleCache	32	Todo: Fill description.
AsyncFileIOWriteHandleCache	32	Todo: Fill description.
batterypercent	0	Todo: Fill description.
batterytime	0	Todo: Fill description.
bCheckForFreeGamesOnLogin	0	Todo: Fill description.
bCheckUGCIntegrity	1	Todo: Fill description.
@bContentManifestUseProtobufs	1	Todo: Fill description.
@bCSClientRateLimitUseDelays	0	Todo: Fill description.
@bCSForceNoCache	0	Todo: Fill description.
@bDepotBuilderReadBufferSizeKB	8192	Todo: Fill description.
@bDepotBuilderUnbufferedReads	1	Todo: Fill description.
bDisableTenFootOverlay	0	Todo: Fill description.
@bEnableMovieRecording	0	Todo: Fill description.
@bEnableOfflineLogonTicket	1	If true, an offline logon ticket will be requested during logon if none is cached
@bEnableSpewThrottle	1	Todo: Fill description.
bEnableSubscribedFileListCache	1	Todo: Fill description.
bFinishStagedDepotVersions	1	Todo: Fill description.
@bForceStreamUnsupportedApp	0	Todo: Fill description.
@bLANPeerConnectionTimeoutSec	5	Todo: Fill description.
bLogLegacyDiskDetails	0	Todo: Fill description.
@bMsgErrorDump	0	Todo: Fill description.
@bRequireOfflineLogonTicket	0	If true, a valid offline logon ticket is required when logging in in offline or no connection mode
@bRequireSignedParentalSettings	1	If true, a valid set of signed parental settings is required when logging in in offline or no connection mode
broadcast_upload_drop_sec	6	Todo: Fill description.
broadcast_upload_update_sec	3	Todo: Fill description.
bSteam3LimitedUserEnable	1	Todo: Fill description.
bSteamLoaderEnable	1	Todo: Fill description.
bSubscribedFilesDecompressOnClient	1	Todo: Fill description.
bSubscribedFilesPollForUpdates	0	Todo: Fill description.
bSubscribedFilesUseRangeRequests	0	Todo: Fill description.
bVerifyAllDownloads	0	Todo: Fill description.
cAppUpdateWorkingSetMB	128	Todo: Fill description.
@cbPartnerUploadChunkSize	1000000	Chunk size to use for POSTing partner uploads
@cCSClientMaxNumSocketsPerHost	8	Todo: Fill description.
@cDepotBuilderFileChunkingThreads	4	Todo: Fill description.
cFileValidationMaxLog	100	Todo: Fill description.
ClientStatsUploadRateSeconds	10	Todo: Fill description.
@cMaxContentServersToRequest	20	Todo: Fill description.
@cMaxInitialDownloadSources	-1	Todo: Fill description.
@cNetEncryptionHandshakeWorkMax_HighPri	8000	Todo: Fill description.
@cNetEncryptionHandshakeWorkMax_LowPri	2000	Todo: Fill description.
@cNetEncryptionHandshakeWorkMax_MedPri	4000	Todo: Fill description.
countrycode	Empty Todo: Supply Information	Todo: Fill description.
cPreallocateMinimumSizeKB	256	Todo: Fill description.
@csecCSRequestProcessorTimeOut	300	Todo: Fill description.
@csecFavoriteGameAccountCacheTime	86400	Control how often we refresh the account IDs in the game server favorites list
@csecIncomingDataRatePeriod	1	Todo: Fill description.
csecManifestDownloadTimeout	120	Todo: Fill description.
@csecUpdateTargetNumConnectionsEpoch	10	Todo: Fill description.
@cSecUploadDownloadRates	300	Todo: Fill description.
@CSInterfaceProxyPassword	Empty Todo: Supply Information	Todo: Fill description.
@CSInterfaceProxyUsername	Empty Todo: Supply Information	Todo: Fill description.
@cUDPSendRetries	8	Todo: Fill description.
@CustomBinaryRequestRetryTimes	20	Todo: Fill description.
@DepotBuilderAppInfoTimeout	120	Todo: Fill description.
@DepotBuilderConfigRoot	"./depotscripts"	Todo: Fill description.
@DepotBuilderContentRoot	Empty Todo: Supply Information	Todo: Fill description.
@DepotBuilderMaxParallelUploadChunks	24	Todo: Fill description.
@DepotBuilderNoReslist	0	Todo: Fill description.
@DepotBuilderNumHTTPSocketsToMDS	12	Todo: Fill description.
@DepotBuilderOutputRoot	Empty Todo: Supply Information	Todo: Fill description.
@DepotBuilderParallelUploadChunks	6	Todo: Fill description.
@DepotBuilderProgressTimeout	1000	Todo: Fill description.
DepotDownloadProgressTimeout	120	Todo: Fill description.
DepotReconstructionLowPrio	1	Todo: Fill description.
DepotReconstructionNumIOThreads	1	Todo: Fill description.
DepotUseAlternatingReadWrite	1	Todo: Fill description.
developer	0	Todo: Fill description.
@EnableUDPHistory	0	Todo: Fill description.
@fDownloadRateImprovementToAddAnotherConnection	1.2	Todo: Fill description.
findbestcellstartupdelay	600	Todo: Fill description.
@fMinDataRateToAttemptTwoConnectionsMbps	0.5	Todo: Fill description.
@GCNameOverride	Empty Todo: Supply Information	Todo: Fill description.
@IOCPGetCompletionBatchSize	1	Todo: Fill description.
@LocalContentServer	Empty Todo: Supply Information	Todo: Fill description.
log_files_always_flush	0	Todo: Fill description.
log_matchmaking_callbacks	0	Todo: Fill description.
@MaxOutstandingSendThreadItem	1000	Todo: Fill description.
mic_autogain	16000	Automatic gain control level for microphone input
mic_inputfile	Empty Todo: Supply Information	Causes voice data to be read from the specified file instead of from the microphone
mic_outputfile	Empty Todo: Supply Information	Causes microphone data to be written out to the specified file
musiclogging	0	Todo: Fill description.
nBroadcastSessionHearbeatSec	120	Todo: Fill description.
nBroadcastSessionMaxDropFrames	100	Todo: Fill description.
nClientBackgroundAutoUpdateTimeSpreadMinutes	0	Todo: Fill description.
nClientCMUDPPingTimeGoodEnoughThresholdMS	50	Todo: Fill description.
nClientCMUDPPingTimeoutUseGoodEnoughMS	250	Todo: Fill description.
nCloudDownloadMinIntervalSec	60	Todo: Fill description.
nCloudFileCompressionMinFileSizeKB	16	Todo: Fill description.
nCloudFileCompressionMinFileSizeKBSharedFile	128	Todo: Fill description.
nCloudFileCompressionPercentageMin	10	Todo: Fill description.
nCloudFileCompressionPercentageMinSharedFile	50	Todo: Fill description.
nCloudSyncIntervalSec	30	Todo: Fill description.
nCloudUploadMinIntervalSec	1800	Todo: Fill description.
nContentStatsReportInterval	72	In Hours Todo: Complete description.
@nCSClientRateLimitKbps	0	Todo: Fill description.
@nDownloadLANChunkCacheSizeMB	128	Todo: Fill description.
@nDownloadLANPeerGroup	0	Todo: Fill description.
@net_backlog_bytes_allowed	12000000	Todo: Fill description.
@net_backlog_time_allowed_sec	5	Todo: Fill description.
@NetConnectionBufferMsgLimit	1000	Max # of message that will be buffered into a single zipped packet
@NetConnectionBufferThreaded	1	Todo: Fill description.
net_incomingcheck	1	Todo: Fill description.
@net_loopback	1	Todo: Fill description.
net_maxresendsperframe	32	Todo: Fill description.
@nLANPeerRateLimitKbps	0	Todo: Fill description.
@nNetConnectionBufferZipLevel	1	Todo: Fill description.
@NoPromptForPassword	0	Todo: Fill description.
@nParentalSettingsLogLevel	4	Control the amount of spew written to the parental log file
nProductInfoUpdateInterval	900	Todo: Fill description.
@nSpewThrottleNagFrequencyMs	5000	Todo: Fill description.
n@SpewThrottlePeriodMs	1000	Todo: Fill description.
@nSpewThrottleResumeThreshold	3	Todo: Fill description.
@nSpewThrottleTriggerThreshold	10	Todo: Fill description.
@nSpewThrottleUnconditionalResumeMs	5000	Todo: Fill description.
@nSpewThrottleUnconditionalTriggerCount	50	Todo: Fill description.
nSubscribedAutoDownloadMaxSimultaneous	8	Todo: Fill description.
@nTCPLargeSendBufSizeMB	16	Todo: Fill description.
p2p_connecttimeout	15	Todo: Fill description.
p2p_unusedtimeout	120	Todo: Fill description.
rtime32EarliestSubscribedFileToDownload	1348857570[confirm]	Todo: Fill description.
@sCSDSVirtualHostHeader	Empty Todo: Supply Information	Todo: Fill description.
ServerBrowserPingSurveySubmitPct	5	Todo: Fill description.
@ShutdownOnFailedCommand	1	Exit steamcmd immediately upon any failed build-related command
spew_controller_loss	0	Todo: Fill description.
@sSteamCmdForcePlatformBitness	Empty Todo: Supply Information	Must be one of: <32, 64> Todo: Complete description.
@sSteamCmdForcePlatformType	Empty Todo: Supply Information	Must be one of: <windows, macos, linux> Todo: Complete description.
@strCSNoCacheHeader	no-cache	Todo: Fill description.
@StreamClientArgs	Empty Todo: Supply Information	Todo: Fill description.
testappcloudpaths	0	Todo: Fill description.
uForcePreloadApp	0	Todo: Fill description.
UGCCDNReportPct	100	Todo: Fill description.
voice_autogain	0	Todo: Fill description.
voice_minabs	0.15	Todo: Fill description.
voice_minavg	1.0	Todo: Fill description.
voice_outputdevice	0	0=>Miles 1=>XAudio2 Todo: Complete description.
voice_outputfile	Empty Todo: Supply Information	Causes output from voice system to be written out to the specified file
voice_preprocess	1	Enables voice cleanup on incoming microphone data
voice_quality	4	Todo: Fill description.
workshop_items_cache_days	14	Todo: Fill description.
workshop_items_update_interval	900	Todo: Fill description.

Examples

• steamcmd(dot)exe +login <username> <password> +force_install_dir <path> +app_update <appid> -validate

Source Dedicated Server

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

Command-Line Parameters

Argument	Description
-allowdebug	(Same as -debug ?)
-autoupdate	Autoupdate the game. Requires -steam_dir and -steamcmd_script to be set (Linux/Unix only).
-binary <binary>	Use the specified binary (no auto detection) (Linux/Unix only).
-console	SrcDS will run in console mode (Windows only).
-debug	Run debugging on failed servers if possible. Requires -gdb to be set [confirm]
-debuglog <logname>	Log debug output to this file (Linux/Unix only).
-dev	Show developer messages.
-game <game or path>	Specifies which game/mod to run. Accepts either a path to a gameinfo.txt, or one of these pre-set values.
-gdb <gdb>	Use <dbg> as the debugger of failed servers (Linux/Unix only).
-help	? (Linux/Unix only).
-insecure	Starts the server without Valve Anti-Cheat.
-ignoresigint	(Linux/Unix only) Ignore signal INT (prevents CTRL+C quitting).
-ip	Specifies the address to use for the bind(2) syscall, which controls on which IP addresses the program is reachable on. It must either be a local address (an addresses of the host it runs on) or 0.0.0.0 (the wildcard). This has nothing to do with externally-visible addresses in NAT setups.
-maxplayers <number>	Specifies how many player slots the server can contain.
-nobots	Disable bots.
-nohltv	Disables SourceTV and closes its port (usually 27020).
-norestart	Won't attempt to restart failed servers.
-notrap	(Linux/Unix only) Don't use trap. This prevents automatic removal of old lock files.
-port	The port the server advertises to clients.
-steam	Use this (along with -console) when you are running the version of SRCDS downloaded through Steam[confirm]. Original Description "Quit on steam update failure"
-steamcmd_script <path>	Path to the steam script to execute. Example: ~/Steam/hl2_ds.txt (Linux/Unix only[confirm])
-steamerr	Quit on steam update failure (Linux/Unix only).
-steamuser	Steam user ID? (Linux/Unix only).
-steampass	Steam Login Password? (Linux/Unix only).
-steam_dir <path>	Dir that steam.sh resides in. Example: ~/Steam (Linux/Unix only)
-tickrate <number>	Specifies Server-Tickrate (for more info see Source Multiplayer Networking). This cannot be altered on TF2 (except older versions), CSS (except older versions), L4D, and L4D2.
-timeout <number>	Sleep for <number> seconds before restarting a failed server.
-dumplongticks	Generate minidumps when there are long server frame

Console Variables

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

Some Useful Console Variables

Argument	Description
+hostname "Hostname"	Specifies the name of the server (Spaces between words won't work here!).
+ip	Specifies the IP when multiple network cards are installed (Old, but still works).
+map <map>	Specifies which map to start.
+maxplayers <number>	Specifies how many player slots the server can contain (Old, but still works).
+hostport <port>	Specifies the host port (Port specification before -port was added, but can still be used).
+clientport <port>	Specifies the client port (The port the server advertises to clients, the same as -port and clientport in console)
+sv_lan <0/1>	If set to 1, server is only available in Local Area Network (LAN).

Linux Command Options in Left 4 Dead series

The Linux version of Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 dedicated server added extra server commands.

As part of the forking functionality mentioned below, the server parameters support substitution. For instance, if you specify +exec autoexec##.cfg, then the first server will execute autoexec01.cfg, the second autoexec02.cfg, and so on.

• -netconport <number> - Creates a remotely accessible server console on the specified port. This can be connected to with telnet or similar applications, and allows controlling of the server as if the commands were being typed in at the console
• -netconpassword "password" - It set, users must type PASS "password" to use the remote console described above
• -fork <number> - Starts up the specified number of instances as subprocesses at once. They will each use the first available port number at 27015 or above.

GoldSrc / Half-Life Dedicated Server

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

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

Examples

• hlds.exe -console -game cstrike +sv_lan 0 +maxplayers 22 +map de_dust2
• ./hlds_run -game cstrike -autoupdate -pingboost 2 -port 27016 +maxplayers 20 +map de_dust2

Command-Line Parameters

Argument	Description
-condebug	Stores console output to "Half-Life\qconsole.log". Note:Can be toggled with condebug console command.
-dev	Enables developer mode.
-autoupdate	Autoupdate the game. Requires -steam_dir and -steamcmd_script to be set (Linux/Unix only)
-console	HLDS will run in console mode (Windows only).
-game <game>	Specifies which game/mod to run. Default is "valve".
-dll <name.dll>	Specifies which DLL to use. Ex: -dll addons\metamod\dlls\metamod.dll.
-nomaster	Disable communication with Master server. Use this parameter if you do not want your server to be listed in Server Browser. Note:Also disables server queries.
-insecure	Starts the server without Valve Anti-Cheat.
-port <port>	Specifies which port to use for client connections. Default is 27015. Note:Can do the same with port console variable.
-sport <port>	Specifies the VAC port the server should use. Default is 26900. Note:You only need to change -sport if VAC connections fail through the primary port.
-noip	Disables network support. Not the same as Steam offline mode.
-noipx	Disables IPX support.
-tos	Enables the LOWDELAY TOS header in the udp/ip packets the server generates. (Linux only)
-nobreakpad	Let plugin authors still get old style minidumps if they need it (win32 only)
-num_edicts <variable>	Sets the entity limit for map/game entities (not temporary entities, which is still locked to 500). 900 is default. 4096 is a good limit, beyond that seems to cause hunk_alloc errors[confirm]. Both clients and servers need matching values for best compatibility[confirm].
-heapsize <kilobytes>	Specifies the amount of heap(or free store--cache, an area of memory used for dynamic memory allocation) the engine will use. Minimum value is 14336 (14 MB). Maximum value is 131072 (128 MB). By default this is set to 40960 (40 MB) and automatically adjusted to suit your system. Note:Low value causes "Unable to allocate X.X MB" exit error.
-zone <bytes>	Specifies the amount of Bytes of memory for use with the console system. Note:Low value causes Z_Malloc exit error.
-maxplayers <number>	Sets the maximum number of players that will be able to join your server. Note:Can do the same with maxplayers console variable.
-sys_ticrate	Overrides sys_ticrate cvar.
-exec <file>	Execute specific config file immediately after the engine is loaded.
+<console variable> <arg>	Sets the Cvar (or console variable) to the specified setting.

Useful Console Variables

• +hostname "Server Name" - Specifies the name of the server.
• +ip <address> - Specifies the IP when multiple network cards are installed. Required for VAC2 operation.
  Note:Usually you do not need to specify this.
• +map <map> - Specifies which map to start with.
• +sv_lan <0/1> - If set to 1, server is only available in Local Area Network (LAN).
• +mapchangecfgfile <file> - Like Server.cfg, ran after every round change, before Plugins are started.
• -pingboost <1/2/3> - Selects between optimized HLDS network code stack. Set this on 2 usually reduces latency toward 1ms without loss of activity input packets.

Source compilers (VBSP, VVIS, VRAD)

Used in Expert compile mode, a batch file, launch parameters, or a frontend such as Compile Pal.
See the applicable page for VBSP, VVIS, and VRAD for more info.

Troubleshooting the Server Console

Specifying a map is necessary, otherwise the server is not ready to accept connections from players to your server. You may wish to specify the "ip" and "port" parameters if you are experiencing problems.

Note:This only applies to dedicated servers.

See Also

• Developer Console