Setting Game Launch Options

Game launch options can be used to change core game settings before running the game (this can be especially useful if the video settings for the game are incorrectly set or in troubleshooting other issues).

This topic covers setting game launch options through Steam, however, game launch options may also be set by creating a game shortcut and Setting Steam Launch Options for the shortcut.

Set Launch Options

1. Right-click on the game title under the My Games tab in Steam and select Properties
2. Under the General tab click the Set launch options... button
3. Enter the launch options which you would like to apply (be sure to separate each code with a space) and click OK
4. Close the game's Properties window and launch the game

Options to Use

• -autoconfig - Restores video and performance settings to default for the current hardware detected. Ignores settings inside any .cfg files until this parameter is removed.
• -dev - Enables developer mode. Also disables the automatic loading of menu background maps and stops the quit dialog from appearing on exit.
• -condebug - Logs all console output into the console.log text file.
• -console - Starts the game with the developer console enabled.
• -toconsole - Starts the engine directly in the console, unless a map is specified with +map.
• -dxlevel <level> - Forces a specific DirectX version when launching the engine. This is useful if your graphics card is DirectX 9 capable, but a lot faster using only DirectX 8 (e.g. NVidia GeForce FX 5200). Multiply the desired DirectX version to use with ten. E.g. for DirectX 8.0 you would use -dxlevel 80.
• -32bit - Forces the engine to start in 32-bit mode. Only useful on 64-bit Operating Systems.
• -fullscreen - Forces the engine to start in fullscreen mode.
• -windowed or -sw - Forces the engine to start in windowed mode.
• -w <width> - Forces the engine to start with resolution set to <width>.
• -h <height> - Forces the engine to start with resolution set to <height>.
• -refresh <rate> - Force a specific refresh rate.
• -heapsize <kilobytes> - Specifies the heapsize (in kilobyte) the game will use.
• -nocrashdialog - Suppresses some 'memory could not be read' unhandled errors.
• -novid or -novideo - When loading a game with this parameter, the intro Valve video will not play.