Yamagi Quake II Console Variables

This lists explains most console variables (cvars) added by Yamagi Quake II. Most of the original clients (Vanilla Quake II) cvars are still in place, however due to architectural changes some of them have been renamed. The prefixes are:

No prefix: General stuff.
cl_: Client.
gl_: Common to all OpenGL renderers.
gl1_: OpenGL 1.4 renderer.
gl3_: OpenGL 3.2 renderer.
ogg_: Ogg/Vorbis music playback.
r_: Common to all renderers.
s_: Sound system.
sw_: Software renderer.
vid_: Video backend.

All cvars may be given at command line through +set cvar value or typed into the console. The console can be opended with Left Shift + Esc.

Keep in mind that some cvars need quotation marks around the arguments. When giving such cvars at the command line the argument string must be surrounded by ticks. For example +set sv_maplist '"q2dm1 q2dm2"'.

Command line arguments

These are not console variables, they cannot be entered into the console, only be given through the command line at startup. While cvars are prefixed with a +, arguments are starting with a -. For example it's +set busywait 0 (setting the busywait cvar) and -portable (setting the portable argument).

datadir: Directory from which the game data is loaded. Can be used in startup scripts, to test binaries, etc. If not set, the directory containing the binaries is used.
portable: Makes Quake II portable, all runtime data like the the config, savegames and so on is stored next to the executable and not in the users home directory.

General

busywait: By default this is set to 1. causing Quake II to spin in a very tight loop until it's time to process the next frame. This is a very accurate way to determine the internal timing, but comes with a relatively high CPU usage. If set to 0 Quake II lays itself to sleep and tells the operating system to send a wakeup signal when it's time for the next frame. The later is more CPU friendly but rather inaccurate, especially on Windows. Use with care.
cl_async: If set to 1 (the default) the client is asynchronous. The client framerate is fixed, the renderer framerate is variable. This makes it possible to renderer as many frames as desired without any physics and movement problems. The client framerate is controlled by cl_maxfps, set to 60 by default. The renderer framerate is controlled by vid_maxfps. There are two constraints:
- vid_maxfps must be the same or greater than cl_maxfps.
- In case that the vsync is active, vid_maxfps must not be lower than the display refresh rate.
Both contraints are enforced.

If cl_async is set to 0 vid_maxfps is the same as cl_maxfps, use cl_maxfps to set the framerate.
cl_loadpaused: If set to 1 (the default) the client is put into pause mode during single player savegame load. This prevents monsters and the environment from hurting the player while the client is still connecting. If set to 2 the client stays in pause mode after loading. If set to 0 pause mode is never entered, this is the Vanilla Quake II behaviour.
cl_showfps: Shows the framecounter. Set to 2 for more and to 3 for even more informations.
in_grab: Defines how the mouse is grabbed by Yamagi Quake IIs window. If set to 0 the mouse is never grabbed and if set to 1 it's always grabbed. If set to 2 (the default) the mouse is grabbed during gameplay and released otherwise (in menu, videos, console or if game is paused).
coop_baseq2 (Ground Zero only): In Ground Zero, entity spawnflags (which difficulty modes / game modes level entities spawn in) are interpeted a bit differently. In original Quake 2, if an entity is set to not spawn on any difficulty, it is treated as deathmatch-only, however, in Ground Zero this same condition is treated as coop-only. This causes maps made for original Quake 2, including the entire Quake 2 campaign, to not work correctly when played in Ground Zero in co-op mode. This cvar, when set to 1, restores the original interpretation and enables you to play original Quake 2 maps in Ground Zero co-op. Though keep in mind that Ground Zero maps will not work correctly when this cvar is enabled so remember to disable it again before playing Ground Zero maps in co-op. By default this cvar is disabled (set to 0).

Audio

al_device: OpenAL device to use. In most cases there's no need to change this, since the default device is normally the correct choice.
al_driver: OpenAL library to use. This is useful if for some reasons several OpenAL libraries are available and Quake II picks the wrong one. The given value is the name of the library, for example libopenal.so.1.
ogg_enable: Enable Ogg/Vorbis music playback.
ogg_ignoretrack0: Normally Quake II disables the background music if a major objective has been archived by setting the music track to 0. Setting this cvar to 1 disables this behavior, the music keeps playing.
s_doppler: If set to 1 (the default) doppler effects are enabled. This is only supported by the OpenAL sound backend.
s_openal: Use OpenAL for sound playback. This is enabled by default. OpenAL gives a huge quality boost over the classic sound system and supports surround speakers and HRTF for headphones. OpenAL is much more reliable than the classic sound system, especially on modern systems like Windows 10 or Linux with PulseAudio.
s_underwater: Dampen sounds if submerged. Enabled by default.

Graphics (all renderers)

vid_displayrefreshrate: Sets the displays refresh rate. The default -1 let the game determine the refresh rate automatically. Often the default setting is okay, but some graphics drivers report wrong refresh rates. For example 59hz are reported while the display has 59.95hz.
vid_renderer: Selects the renderer library. Possible options are gl1 (the default) for the old OpenGL 1.4 renderer, gl3 for the new OpenGL 3.2 renderer and soft for the software renderer.
cin_force43: If set to 1 (the default) cinematics are displayed with an aspect ratio of 4:3, regardless what the actual windows size or resolution is.
cl_gun: Decides whether the gun is drawn. If set to 0 the gun is omitted. If set to 1 the gun is only drawn if the FOV is equal or smaller than 90. This was the default with Vanilla Quake II. If set to 2 the gun is drawn regardless of the FOV. This is the default in Yamagi Quake II.
fov: Sets the field of view.
r_gunfov: The weapons are rendered with a custom field of view, independently of the global fov, so they are not distorted at high FOVs. A value of 75 should look identical to the old code at fov 90, it defaults to 80 because that looks a bit better.
horplus: If set to 1 (the default) the horplus algorithm is used to calculate an optimal horizontal and vertical field of view, independent of the window or screen aspect ratio or resolution.
vid_gamma: The value used for gamma correction. Higher values look brighter. The OpenGL 1.4 and software renderers use "Hardware Gamma", setting the Gamma of the whole screen to this value in realtime (except on MacOS where it's applied to textures on load and thus needs a vid_restart after changing). The OpenGL 3.2 renderer applies this to the window in realtime via shaders (on all platforms). This is also set by the brightness slider in the video menu.
r_consolescale / r_hudscale / r_menuscale and crosshair_scale: Scale the console, the HUD, the menu and the crosshair. The value given is the scale factor, a factor of 1 means no scaling. Values greater 1 make the objects bigger, values lower 1 smaller. The special value -1 (default) sets the optimal scaling factor for the current resolution. All cvars are set through the scaling slider in the video menu.
r_customheight / r_customwidth: Specifies a custom resolution, the windows will be r_customheight pixels high and r_customwidth pixels wide. Set r_mode to -1 to use the custom resolution.
r_farsee: Normally Quake II renders only up to 4096 units. If set to 1 the limit is increased to 8192 units. This helps with some custom maps and is problematic with other custom maps.
vid_maxfps: The maximum framerate, if cl_async is 1. Otherwise cl_maxfps is used as maximum framerate. See cl_async description above for more information. Note that vsync (r_vsync) also restricts the framerate to the monitor refresh rate, so if vsync is enabled, the game won't render more than frame than the display can show.
r_vsync: Enables the vsync: frames are synchronized with display refresh rate, should (but doesn't always) prevent tearing.

Graphics (GL renderers only)

gl_anisotropic: Anisotropic filtering. Possible values are dependent on the GPU driver, most of them support 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16. Anisotropic filtering gives a huge improvement to texture quality by a negligible performance impact.
gl_fixsurfsky: Some maps misuse sky surfaces for interior lightning. The original renderer had a bug that made such surfaces mess up the lightning of entities near them. If set to 0 (the default) the bug is there and maps look like their developers intended. If set to 1 the bug is fixed and the lightning correct.
gl_msaa_samples: Full scene anti aliasing samples. The number of samples depends on the GPU driver, most drivers support at least 2, 4 and 8 samples. If an invalid value is set, the value is reverted to the highest number of samples supported. Especially on OpenGL 3.2 anti aliasing is expensive and can lead to a huge performance hit, so try setting it to a lower value if the framerate is too low.
gl_nolerp_list: list separate by spaces of textures omitted from bilinear filtering. Used by default to exclude the console and HUD fonts. Make sure to include the default values when extending the list.
gl_retexturing: If set to 1 (the default) and a retexturing pack is installed, the high resolution textures are used.
gl_shadows: Enables rendering of shadows. Quake IIs shadows are very simple and are prone to render errors.
gl_zfix: Sometimes two or even more surfaces overlap and flicker. If this cvar is set to 1 the renderer inserts a small gap between the overlapping surfaces to mitigate the flickering. This may make things better or worse, depending on the map.

Graphics (OpenGL 1.4 only)

gl1_intensity: Sets the color intensity. Must be a floating point value, at least 1.0 - default is 2.0. Applied when textures are loaded, so it needs a vid_restart.
gl1_overbrightbits: Enables overbright bits, brightness scaling of lightmaps and models. Higher values make shadows less dark. Possible values are 0 (no overbright bits), 1 (more correct lighting for water), 2 (scale by factor 2) and 3 (scale by factor 3). Applied in realtime, does not need vid_restart.
gl1_particle_square: If set to 1 particles are rendered as squares.
gl1_stencilshadow: If gl_shadows is set to 1, this makes them look a bit better (no flickering) by using the stencil buffer.

Graphics (OpenGL 3.2 only)

gl3_debugcontext: Enables the OpenGL 3.2 renderers debug context, e.g. prints warnings and errors emitted by the GPU driver. Not supported on macOS. This is a pure debug cvar and slows down rendering.
gl3_intensity: Sets the color intensity used for 3D rendering. Similar to OpenGL 1.4 gl1_intensity, but more flexible: can be any value between 0.0 (completely dark) and 256.0 (very bright). Good values are between 1.0 and 2.0, default is 1.5. Applied in realtime via shader, so it does not need a vid_restart.
gl3_intensity_2D: The same for 2D rendering (HUD, menu, console, videos)
gl3_overbrightbits: Enables overbright bits, brightness scaling of lightmaps and models. Higher values make shadows less dark. Similar to OpenGL 1.4 gl1_overbrightbits, but allows any floating point number. Default is 1.3. In the OpenGL 3.2 renderer, no lighting fixes for water are needed, so 1.0 has no special meaning.
gl3_particle_size: The size of particles - Default is 40.
gl3_particle_fade_factor: "softness" of particles: higher values look less soft. Defaults to 1.2. A value of 10 looks similar to the OpenGL 1.4 particles.
gl3_particle_square: If set to 1, particles are rendered as squares, like in the old software renderer or Quake 1. Default is 0.

cvar operations

cvar operations are special commands that allow the programmatic manipulation of cvar values. They can be used for scripting and the like.

dec [val]: Decrements the given cvar by 1 or the optional value val.
inc [val]: Increments the given cvar by 1 or the optional value val.
reset : Reset the given cvar to it's default value.
resetall: Reset all known cvar to their default values.
toggle [val0] [val1]: Toggle the given cvar between 0 and 1. If the optional arguments val0 and val1 are given the given cvar is toggled between them.

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