diff --git a/Quake/gl_screen.c b/Quake/gl_screen.c
index 614d1074..cf7c7ce0 100644
--- a/Quake/gl_screen.c
+++ b/Quake/gl_screen.c
@@ -667,7 +667,7 @@ void SCR_SetUpToDrawConsole (void)
 {
 	//johnfitz -- let's hack away the problem of slow console when host_timescale is <0
 	extern cvar_t host_timescale;
-	float timescale;
+	float timescale, conspeed;
 	//johnfitz
 
 	Con_CheckResize ();
@@ -689,18 +689,19 @@ void SCR_SetUpToDrawConsole (void)
 		scr_conlines = 0; //none visible
 
 	timescale = (host_timescale.value > 0) ? host_timescale.value : 1; //johnfitz -- timescale
+	conspeed = (scr_conspeed.value > 0) ? scr_conspeed.value : 1e6f;
 
 	if (scr_conlines < scr_con_current)
 	{
 		// ericw -- (glheight/600.0) factor makes conspeed resolution independent, using 800x600 as a baseline
-		scr_con_current -= scr_conspeed.value*(glheight/600.0)*host_frametime/timescale; //johnfitz -- timescale
+		scr_con_current -= conspeed*(glheight/600.0)*host_frametime/timescale; //johnfitz -- timescale
 		if (scr_conlines > scr_con_current)
 			scr_con_current = scr_conlines;
 	}
 	else if (scr_conlines > scr_con_current)
 	{
 		// ericw -- (glheight/600.0)
-		scr_con_current += scr_conspeed.value*(glheight/600.0)*host_frametime/timescale; //johnfitz -- timescale
+		scr_con_current += conspeed*(glheight/600.0)*host_frametime/timescale; //johnfitz -- timescale
 		if (scr_conlines < scr_con_current)
 			scr_con_current = scr_conlines;
 	}