Q2RTXPerimental Client Manual

June 11, 2025 · View on GitHub

Andrey Nazarov skuller@skuller.net
and
Copyright (c) 2019, NVIDIA Corporation. All right reserved.

About

Quake II RTXPerimental is my 'playing field' and an attempt to improve the engine in various parts where I see fit. This can range from implementing possible scripting language as a game replacement, improving the actual network protocol to support fragmenting, implement an API to deal with skeletal models, etc..

Q2RTX is built upon Q2VKPT and Q2PRO source ports of Quake 2 and inherits most of their settings and commands, listed in this manual. It also adds many settings and commands of its own, also listed here. Many of them are primarily intended for renderer development and debugging.

Q2PRO is an enhanced, multiplayer oriented Quake 2 client, compatible with existing Quake 2 ports and licensed under GPLv2. This document provides descriptions of console variables and commands added to or modified by Q2PRO since the original Quake 2 release. Cvars and commands inherited from original Quake 2 are not described here (yet).

Variables

Netcode

Q2PRO client supports separation of outgoing packet rate, physics frame rate and rendering frame rate. Separation of physics and rendering frame rates is accomplished in R1Q2 cl_async style and is enabled by default.

In addition to this, Q2PRO network protocol is able to pack several input commands into the single network packet for outgoing packet rate reduction. This is very useful for some types of network links like Wi-Fi that can't deal with large number of small packets and cause packet delay or loss. Q2PRO protocol is only in use when connected to a Q2PRO server.

For the default Quake 2 protocol and R1Q2 protocol a hacky solution exists, which exploits dropped packet recovery mechanism for the purpose of packet rate reduction. This hack is disabled by default.

`cl_protocol`

Specifies preferred network protocol version to use when connecting to servers. If the server doesn't support the specified protocol, client will fall back to the previous supported version. Default value is 0.

0 — (removed support for this, we now rely on hard-setting it. 34 = default. ): automatically select the highest protocol version supported
34 — use default Quake 2 RTXPerimental protocol

`cl_maxpackets`

Number of packets client sends per second. 0 means no particular limit. Unless connected using Q2PRO protocol, this variable is ignored and packets are sent in sync with client physics frame rate, controlled with cl_maxfps variable. Default value is 0.

`cl_fuzzhack`

Enables cl_maxpackets limit even if Q2PRO protocol is not in use by dropping packets. This is not a generally recommended thing to do, but can be enabled if nothing else helps to reduce ping. Default value is 0 (disabled).

`cl_instantpacket`

Specifies if important events such as pressing +attack or +use are sent to the server immediately, ignoring any rate limits. Default value is 1 (enabled).

`cl_async`

Controls rendering frame rate and physics frame rate separation. Default value is 1. Influence of cl_async on client framerates is summarized in the table below.

0 — run synchronous, like original Quake 2 does
1 — run asynchronous
2 — run asynchronous, limit rendering frame rate to monitor's vertical retrace frequency (supported only by X11/GLX drivers)

Rate limits depending on cl_async value:

Value of `cl_async`	Rendering	Physics	Main loop
0	`cl_maxfps`	`cl_maxfps`	`cl_maxfps`
1	`r_maxfps`	`cl_maxfps`	unlimited
2	vertical refresh	`cl_maxfps`	unlimited

`r_maxfps`

Specifies maximum rendering frame rate if cl_async is set to 1, otherwise ignored. Default value is 0, which means no particular limit.

`cl_maxfps`

Specifies client physics frame rate if cl_async 1 or 2 is used. Otherwise, limits both rendering and physics frame rates. Default value is 60.

`cl_gibs`

Controls rendering of entities with EF_GIB flag set. When using Q2PRO protocol, disabling this saves some bandwidth since the server stops sending these entities at all. Default value is 1 (enabled).

`cl_gun`

Controls rendering of the player's own gun model. When using R1Q2 or Q2PRO protocol, disabling this saves some bandwidth since the server stops sending gun updates at all. Default value is 1 (enabled).

`cl_footsteps`

Controls footstep sounds. When using Q2PRO protocol, disabling this saves some bandwidth since the server stops sending footstep events at all. Default value is 1 (enabled).

`cl_updaterate`

Specifies the perferred update rate requested from Q2PRO servers. Only used when server is running in variable FPS mode, otherwise default rate of 10 packets per second is used. Specified rate should evenly divide native server frame rate. Default value is 0, which means to use the highest update rate available (that is, native server frame rate).

Network

`net_enable_ipv6`

Enables IPv6 support. Default value is 1 on systems that support IPv6 and 0 otherwise.

0 — disable IPv6, use IPv4 only
1 — enable IPv6, but prefer IPv4 over IPv6 when resolving host names with multiple addresses
2 — enable IPv6, use normal address resolver priority configured by OS

`net_ip`

Specifies network interface address client should use for outgoing UDP connections using IPv4. Default value is empty, which means that default network interface is used.

`net_ip6`

Specifies network interface address client should use for outgoing UDP connections using IPv6. Default value is empty, which means that default network interface is used. Has no effect unless net_enable_ipv6 is set to non-zero value.

`net_clientport`

Specifies UDP port number client should use for outgoing connections (using IPv4 or IPv6). Default value is -1, which means that random port number is chosen at socket creation time.

`net_maxmsglen`

Specifies maximum server to client packet size client will request from servers. 0 means no hard limit. Default value is conservative 1390 bytes. It is nice to have this variable as close to your network link MTU as possible (accounting for headers). Thus for normal Ethernet MTU of 1500 bytes 1462 can be specified (10 bytes quake header, 8 bytes UDP header, 20 bytes IPv4 header). Higher values may cause IP fragmentation which is better to avoid. Servers will cap this variable to their own maximum values. Please don't change this variable unless you know exactly what you are doing.

`net_chantype`

Specifies if enhanced Q2PRO network channel implementation is enabled when connecting to Q2PRO servers. Q2PRO netchan supports application-level fragmentation of datagrams that results is better gamestate compression ratio and faster map load times. Default value is 1 (enabled).

Triggers

`cl_beginmapcmd`

Specifies command to be executed each time client enters a new map. Default value is empty.

`cl_changemapcmd`

Specifies command to be executed each time client begins loading a new map. Default value is empty.

`cl_disconnectcmd`

Specifies command to be executed each time client disconnects from the server. Default value is empty.

See also trigger client command description.

Effects

Color specification

Colors can be specified in one of the following formats:

#RRGGBBAA, where R, G, B and A are hex digits
#RRGGBB, which implies alpha value of FF
#RGB, which is expanded to #RRGGBB by duplicating digits
one of the predefined color names (black, red, etc)

`cl_railtrail_type`

Defines which type of rail trail effect to use. Default value is 0.

0 — use original effect
1 — use alternative effect, draw rail core only
2 — use alternative effect, draw rail core and spiral

NOTE: Rail trail variables listed below apply to the alternative effect only.

`cl_railtrail_time`

Time, in seconds, for the rail trail to be visible. Default value is 1.0.

`cl_railcore_color`

Color of the rail core beam. Default value is "red".

`cl_railcore_width`

Width of the rail core beam. Default value is 3.

`cl_railspiral_color`

Color of the rail spiral. Default value is "blue".

`cl_railspiral_radius`

Radius of the rail spiral. Default value is 3.

Bitmasks

TIP: Bitmask cvars allow multiple features to be enabled. To enable the needed set of features, their values need to be summed.

`cl_explosion_frametime`

Specifies the time, in milliseconds, between consecutive animation frames for the sprite explosion effects. Default value is 25 ms.

`cl_explosion_sprites`

When this variable is set to 1, regular mushroom explosion models are replaced with sprites. Affects both OpenGL and RTX renderers. Default value is 1.

`cl_gunalpha`

Specifies opacity level of the player's own gun model. Default value is 1 (fully opaque).

`cl_gunscale`

Specifies the scale for the gun model. It should be set to something less than 1.0 so that the gun wouldn't intersect with walls and other objects in RTX mode.

`cl_gunfov`

Specifies custom FOV value for drawing player's own gun model. Default value is 75. Set to 0 to draw with current FOV value.

`cl_gun_x`, `cl_gun_y`, `cl_gun_z`

Specifies custom gun model offset. Default value is 0.

`cl_particle_num_factor`

Multiplier for the count of particles generated for various effects such as water splashes. Default value is 1.

Sound Subsystem

`s_enable`

Specifies which sound engine to use. Default value is 2.

0 — sound is disabled
1 — use DMA (software mixer) sound engine
2 — use OpenAL sound engine if available, DMA otherwise

`s_ambient`

Specifies if ambient sounds are played. Default value is 1.

0 — all ambient sounds are disabled
1 — all ambient sounds are enabled
2 — only ambient sounds from visible entities are enabled (rocket flybys, etc)
3 — only ambient sounds from player entity are enabled (railgun hum, hand grenade ticks, etc)

`s_underwater`

Enables lowpass sound filter when underwater. Default value is 1 (enabled).

`s_underwater_gain_hf`

Specifies HF gain value for lowpass sound filter. Default value is 0.25.

`s_auto_focus`

Specifies the minimum focus level main Q2PRO window should have for sound to be activated. Default value is 0.

0 — sound is always activated
1 — sound is activated when main window is visible, and deactivated when it is iconified, or moved to another desktop
2 — sound is activated when main window has input focus, and deactivated when it loses it

`s_khz`

Specifies the sound sampling rate, in kHz. Default value is 44.

`s_mixahead`

Specifies the amount of time between sound being mixed and played, in seconds. Lower values make sound more responsive, but it may become unstable. Higher values add more delay. Only affects the DMA sound engine. Default value is 0.1.

`s_swapstereo`:

Swap left and right audio channels. Only effective when using DMA sound engine. Default value is 0 (don't swap).

`s_driver`

Specifies which DMA sound driver to use. Default value is empty (detect automatically). Possible sound drivers are (not all of them are typically available at the same time, depending on how client was compiled):

wave — Windows waveform audio
sdl — SDL2 audio

`al_driver`

Specifies the name of OpenAL driver to use. Default value is soft_oal on Windows, and ‘libopenal.so.1’ on Linux.

`al_device`

Specifies the name of OpenAL device to use. Format of this value depends on your OpenAL implementation. Default value is empty, which means default sound output device is used.

TIP: On Windows, there are two well-known OpenAL implementations available: OpenAL32 from Creative, with support for harware acceleration on certain audio cards, and an open source software implementation named OpenAL Soft. Both should work with Q2PRO, but to get the results most perceptually close to original Quake 2 sound, I recommend using OpenAL Soft. Creative's implementation seems to perform some default effects processing even when not requested, and that makes it sound somewhat differently. With OpenAL Soft in stereo configuration I can't really tell if I'm using OpenAL or default Quake 2 sound engine. Of course you can install both implementations and switch between them by changing al_driver variable between openal32 and soft_oal.

`ogg_enable`

Enables playback of OGG Vorbis music tracks. Please refer to the Readme for additional instructions. Default value is 1.

`ogg_shuffle`

Enables shuffle playback of music tracks. Default value is 1.

`ogg_volume`

Controls the volume of music playback, between 0 and 1. Music volume is also multiplied by master volume s_volume. Default value is 1.

Graphical Console

`con_clock`

Toggles drawing of the digital clock at the lower right corner of console. Default value is 0 (disabled).

`con_height`

Fraction of the screen in-game console occupies. Default value is 0.5.

`con_alpha`

Opacity of in-game console background. 0 is fully transparent, 1 is opaque. Default value is 1.

`con_scale`

Scaling factor of the console text. Takes effect in OpenGL mode only. Default value is 1. Automatically scales depending on current display resolution when set to 0.

`con_font`

Font used for drawing console text. Default value is "conchars".

`con_background`

Image used as console background. Default value is "conback".

`con_notifylines`

Number of the last console lines displayed in the notification area in game. Default value is 4.

`con_history`

Specifies how many lines to save into console history file before exiting Q2PRO, to be reloaded on next startup. Maximum number of history lines is 128. Default value is 0.

`con_scroll`

Controls automatic scrolling of console text when some event occurs. This variable is a bitmask. Default value is 0.

1 — when new command is entered
2 — when new lines are printed

Game Screen

`scr_draw2d`

Toggles drawing of 2D elements on the screen. Default value is 2.

0 — do not draw anything
1 — do not draw stats program
2 — draw everything

`scr_showturtle`

Toggles drawing of various network error conditions at the lower left corner of the screen. Default value is 1 (draw all errors except of SUPPRESSED, CLIENTDROP and SERVERDROP). Values higher than 1 draw all errors.

Types of network errors:

Code	Meaning
`SERVERDROP`	Packets from server to client were dropped by the network.
`CLIENTDROP`	A few packets from client to server were dropped by the network. Server recovered player's movement using backup commands.
`CLIENTPRED`	Many packets from client to server were dropped by the network. Server ran out of backup commands and had to predict player's movement.
`NODELTA`	Server sent an uncompressed frame. Typically occurs during a heavy lag, when a lot of packets are dropped by the network.
`SUPPRESSED`	Server suppressed packets to client because rate limit was exceeded.
`BADFRAME`	Server sent an invalid delta compressed frame.
`OLDFRAME`	Server sent a delta compressed frame that is too old and can't be recovered.
`OLDENT`	Server sent a delta compressed frame whose entities are too old and can't be recovered.

`scr_demobar`

Toggles drawing of progress bar at the bottom of the screen during demo playback. Default value is 1.

0 — do not draw demo bar
1 — draw demo bar and demo completion percentage
2 — draw demo bar, demo completion percentage and current demo time

`scr_showpause`

Toggles drawing of pause indicator on the screen. Default value is 1.

0 — do not draw pause indicator
1 — draw pic in center of the screen
2 — draw text in demo bar (visible only during demo playback)

`scr_showitemname`

Toggles display of the name of the currently selected inventory item in the status bar next to the item icon.

0 — do not show the item name
1 — show the name for a second after the item is changed, then hide
2 — always show the name

`scr_scale`

Scaling factor of the HUD elements. Takes effect in OpenGL mode only. Default value is 2. Automatically scales depending on current display resolution when set to 0.

`scr_alpha`

Opacity of the HUD elements. 0 is fully transparent, 1 is opaque. Default value is 1.

`scr_font`

Font used for drawing HUD text. Default value is "conchars".

`scr_fps`

Enables the FPS and, optionally, resolution scale display in the upper right corner of the screen. The same effect can be obtained with draw commands, but a separate cvar makes the setting accessible from the game menu. Default value is 0.

0 — do not draw anything
1 — draw the FPS counter
2 — draw the FPS counter and resolution scale

`scr_lag_draw`

Toggles drawing of small (48x48 pixels) ping graph on the screen. Default value is 0.

0 — do not draw graph
1 — draw transparent graph
2 — overlay graph on gray background

`scr_lag_x`

Absolute value of this cvar specifies horizontal placement of the ping graph, counted in pixels from the screen edge. Negative values align graph to the right edge of the screen instead of the left edge. Default value is -1.

`scr_lag_y`

Absolute value of this cvar specifies vertical placement of the ping graph, counted in pixels from the screen edge. Negative values align graph to the bottom edge of the screen intead of the top edge. Default value is -1.

`scr_lag_min`

Specifies ping graph offset by defining the minimum value that can be displayed. Default value is 0.

`scr_lag_max`

Specifies ping graph scale by defining the maximum value that can be displayed. Default value is 200.

HUD

Heads up display configuration cvars.

`hud_chat`

Toggles drawing of the last chat lines on the screen. Default value is 0.

0 — do not draw chat lines
1 — draw chat lines in normal color
2 — draw chat lines in alternative color

`hud_chat_lines`

Specifies number of the last chat lines drawn on the screen. Default value is 4. Maximum value is 32.

`hud_chat_time`

Specifies visibility time of each chat line, counted in seconds. Default value is 0 (lines never fade out).

`hud_chat_x`

Absolute value of this cvar specifies horizontal placement of the chat HUD, counted in pixels from the screen edge. Negative values align graph to the right edge of the screen instead of the left edge. Default value is 8.

`hud_chat_y`

Absolute value of this cvar specifies vertical placement of the chat HUD, counted in pixels from the screen edge. Negative values align graph to the bottom edge of the screen intead of the top edge. Default value is -64.

`hud_crosshair_red`, `hud_crosshair_green`, `hud_crosshair_blue`

These variables specify the color of crosshair image. Default values are 1 (draw in white color).

`hud_crosshair_alpha`

Opacity level of crosshair lines. Default value is 1 (fully opaque, though inside fill is always partially transparent.).

`hud_crosshair_scale`

Scaling factor of the crosshair lines. Default value is 1 (original size).

Video Modes

Hard coded list of the fullscreen video modes is gone from Q2PRO, you can specify your own list in configuration files. Vertical refresh frequency freq and bit depth bpp can be specified individually for each mode.

Video mode change no longer requires vid_restart and is nearly instant. In windowed mode, size as well as position of the main window can be changed freely.

`vid_modelist`

Space separated list of fullscreen video modes. Both freq and bpp parameters are optional. Full syntax is: WxH[@freq][:bpp] [...]. Default value is 640x480 800x600 1024x768. On Linux, freq parameter is currently ignored. Special keyword desktop means to use default desktop video mode.

`vid_display`

Index of the display that should be used for the fullscreen mode. Default value is 0.

`vid_displaylist`

Read-only cvar that contains a list of displays available in the system, as value-key pairs suitable for use with the "pairs" type menu item.

`vid_fullscreen`

If set to non zero value, run in the specified fullscreen mode. This way, value acts as index into the list of video modes specified by vid_modelist. Default value is 0, which means to run in windowed mode.

`vid_geometry`

Size and optional position of the main window on virtual desktop. Full syntax is: WxH[+X+Y]. Default value is 640x480.

`vid_flip_on_switch`

On Windows, specifies if original video mode is automatically restored when switching from fullscreen Q2PRO to another application or desktop. Default value is 0 (don't switch video modes).

`vid_hwgamma`

Instructs the video driver to use hardware gamma correction for implementing vid_gamma. Default value is 0 (use software gamma).

`vid_driver`

Specifies which video driver to use. Default value is empty (detect automatically). Possible video drivers are (not all of them are typically available at the same time, depending on how client was compiled):

sdl — SDL2 video driver

`vid_rtx`

Switches between the OpenGL (0) and Vulkan RTX (1) renderers. Default value is 1.

`vid_vsync`

Enables vertical synchronization. Default value is 0.

Setting video modes

The following lines define 2 video modes: 640x480 and 800x600 at 75 Hz vertical refresh and 32 bit framebuffer depth, and select the last 800x600 mode.

/set vid_modelist "640x480@75:32 800x600@75:32"
/set vid_fullscreen 2

Windows Specific

The following variables are specific to the Windows port of Q2PRO.

`win_noalttab`

Disables the Alt-Tab key combination to prevent it from interfering with game when pressed. Default is 0 (don't disable).

`win_disablewinkey`

Disables the default Windows key action to prevent it from interfering with game when pressed. Default is 0 (don't disable).

`win_noresize`

Prevents the main window from resizing by dragging the border. Default is 0 (allow resizing).

`win_notitle`

Hides the main window title bar. Default is 0 (show title bar).

`win_alwaysontop`

Puts the main window on top of other windows. Default is 0 (main window can be obscured by other windows).

`sys_viewlog`

Show system console window when running a client. Can be set from command line only.

`sys_disablecrashdump`

Disable crash dump generation. Can be set from command line only.

`sys_exitonerror`

Exit on fatal error instead of showing error message. Can be set from command line only.

Vulkan RTX Renderer

NOTE: The variables are listed here in a mostly alphabetic order. Many of them are intended for renderer development and tuning. Advanced parameters are not listed here, but they can be found in global_ubo.h.

`bloom_enable`

Enables the bloom post-processing effect. Default value is 1.

`bloom_intensity`

Controls the blending intensity of the bloom effect, with 0 meaning no bloom, and 1 meaning the image completely replaced with bloom. Default value is 0.002.

`bloom_intensity_water`

Controls the blending intensity of the bloom effect when the player is underwater. Default value is 0.2.

`bloom_sigma`

Controls the width of the bloom effect, in fractions of the screen height. Default value is 0.037.

`bloom_sigma_water`

Controls the width of the bloom effect when the player is underwater. Default value is 0.037.

`drs_enable`

Enables the Dynamic Resolution Scaling (DRS) system. When enabled, the renderer will try to keep the target frame rate specified as drs_target FPS by adjusting the resolution scale between drs_minscale and drs_maxscale percent. Default value is 0.

`drs_target`

Target frame rate for the DRS system, in frames per second. Default value is 60.

`drs_minscale`

Minimum resolution scale for DRS, in percents. If the current resolution scale is at that value and the frame rate is still lower than drs_target, the scale will not be reduced further. Default value is 50%.

`drs_maxscale`

Maximum resolution scale for DRS, in percents. If the current resolution scale is at that value and the frame rate is still higher than drs_target, the scale will not be increased further. Default value is 100%.

`drs_adjust_up`

Specifies the percentage of target frame time when the DRS system starts adjusting the resolution scale up. For example, when target frame rate drs_target is 60 and drs_adjust_up is 0.92, the resolution will be reduced if actual frame time exceeds (1000 / 60) * 0.98 = 16.33 ms. Default value is 0.98.

`drs_adjust_down`

Specifies the percentage of target frame time when the DRS system starts adjusting the resolution scale down. For example, when target frame rate drs_target is 60 and drs_adjust_down is 0.98, the resolution will be reduced if actual frame time exceeds (1000 / 60) * 0.98 = 15.33 ms. Default value is 0.92.

`drs_gain`

Multiplier for the actual to target frame time ratio that is used to compute the amount of resolution scale adjustment. Higher values mean quicker reaction to frame time changes. Default value is 20.

`flt_enable`

Enables the post-raytracing filter stack, including denoising and temporal antialiasing. Default value is 1.

`flt_fixed_albedo`

If set to a nonzero value, replaces surface albedo with that value after filtering. Use this setting for a "no-textures" mode. Default value is 0.

`flt_scale_lf`, `flt_scale_hf`, `flt_scale_spec`

Scales for the three lighting denoiser channels. Default values are all 1.

`flt_scale_overlay`

Scale for the overlay (transparency) channel that is not denoised. Default value is 1.

`flt_show_gradients`

Enables the display of inter-frame gradients that are used for temporal filtering. Red channel shows low-frequency (GI) gradients, green channel shows direct diffuse gradients, and blue channel shows direct specular gradients. Default value is 0.

`flt_taa`

Enables temporal anti-aliasing and primary ray direction jitter. Default value is 1.

`flt_fsr_enable`

Enables FidelityFX Super Resolution 1.0 ("AMD FSR 1.0") upscaling. Default value is 0. If enabled, upscaling is applied when the resolution scale is below 100%, either from dynamic resolution scaling or by setting a fixes resolution scale.

There's currently no UI to choose the AMD FSR 1.0 quality mode. You can closely approximate that setting by using an appropriate fixed resolution scale:

AMD FSR 1.0 Quality Mode	Fixed resolution scale
Ultra Quality	75%
Quality	65%
Balanced	60%
Performance	50%

`flt_fsr_sharpness`

FidelityFX Super Resolution 1.0 sharpening amount. Default is 0.2. Range is from 0.0 to 2.0, with lower meaning sharper.

`flt_fsr_easu`, `flt_fsr_rcas`

Individual control of the upscaling and sharpening steps of FSR. Both default to 1. Intended for testing purposes.

`gr_enable`

Enables the god rays (volumetric lighting) effect. Default value is 1.

`gr_eccentricity`

Controls the eccentricity parameter of the volumetric lighting effect's scattering function (Henyey-Greenstein scattering). The value can be between -1 and 1, where 1 means that all light is scattered in the direction of the incoming light or forward scattering, 0 means uniform scatter, and -1 means back scattering. Default value is 0.75.

`gr_intensity`

Controls the intensity of the volumetric lighting effects. Default value is 2.

`min_driver_version`

Minimum NVIDIA driver version for the game to run with the RTX renderer. When this variable is set to an empty string, the driver version is not checked. When the GPU manufacturer is not NVIDIA, driver version is also not checked, but the driver must implement the VK_NV_ray_tracing extension anyway. Default value is 430.86.

`physical_sky`

Selects the type of the environment to use. Default value is 2.

0 — original Quake 2 environment maps
1 — Earth atmosphere simulation
2 — Stroggos atmosphere simulation (obviously, fiction)

`physical_sky_brightness`

Brightness for the procedural simulated environment maps, in log-2 scale, between -10 and +2. Default value is 0.

`physical_sky_draw_clouds`

Enables rendering of clouds on the procedural environment maps. Clouds are rendered through ray marching and therefore are relatively expensive, when the environment is updated. Default value is 1.

`physical_sky_space`

Controls whether the space procedural environment should be used instead of the planetary one. Normally set from the map-specific scripts, like maps/space.cfg. When physical_sky_space is set to 1, god rays are disabled by the renderer. Default value is 0.

`profiler`

Enables display of the GPU profiler, i.e. rendering time distribution between passes. Default value is 0.

`pt_accumulation_rendering`

Controls whether accumulation rendering (photo mode) should be used when the game is paused, and how to handle the UI in that case. Default value is 1.

0 — disable accumulation rendering
1 — enable accumulation rendering and fade out the UI when it's done
2 — enable accumulation rendering and immediately hide the UI

`pt_accumulation_rendering_framenum`

Controls the number of frames that will be accumulated in the photo mode. Default value is 500.

`pt_aperture`

Controls the size of the camera aperture for the Depth of Field effect, in world units.

`pt_aperture_angle`

Sets the rotation angle of the camera aperture.

`pt_aperture_type`

Sets the type of the camera aperture. 0-2 means circular aperture, 3 or more specifies the number of edges for a polygonal aperture.

`pt_beam_lights`

Enables and controls the intensity of polygonal lights attached to the laser beams. 0 means disabled, anything higher is treated as an intensity multiplier. Default value is 1.0.

`pt_beam_width`

Width of the laser beam geometry, in world units. Default value is 1.0.

`pt_bump_scale`

Global scale for normal maps, combined with the per-material scales. Default value is 1.

`pt_cameras`

Enables replacement of certain materials' (CAMERA type) emissive textures with live path traced security camera views. Default value is 1.

`pt_caustics`

Enables the water caustics and tinted glass transmission effects. The setting is shared because these effects use the same ray query to find the transparent surfaces. Default value is 1.

`pt_direct_polygon_lights`, `pt_direct_dyn_lights`

Switch for direct light sampling mode. Default values are 1.

-1 — sample direct lights with GI rays as regular emissive surfaces (only for polygonal lights)
0 — do not include direct lights
1 — sample direct lights with next event estimation

`pt_indirect_polygon_lights`, `pt_indirect_dyn_lights`

Switch for indirect light sampling mode. See above. Default values are 1.

`pt_direct_sun_light`

Enables direct lighting from the sun. Default value is 1.

`pt_dof`

Controls if the Depth of Field effect should be used in various rendering modes:

0 — always disabled
1 — enabled only in the photo mode (default)
2 — enabled in the photo mode and when the denoiser is disabled
3 — always enabled (NOTE: do not expect good image quality with the denoiser)

`pt_enable_beams`

Enables the laser beam effects. Default value is 1.

`pt_enable_nodraw`

When this cvar is set to 1, BSP surfaces marked with the CM_SURFACE_NODRAW flag will be removed from the world at map load time, with the exception of those with a "SKY" type material specified in the materials database. Should be enabled on some maps outside of the base Quake 2 game where such surfaces are used to provide fake indoor lighting, normally appearing as sky blocks in the middle of a room. If set to 2, removes all CM_SURFACE_NODRAW surfaces, including those with a "proper" sky surface. Should be used if such fake lighting blocks keep showing up. Default value is 0.

`pt_enable_particles`

Enables the particle effects. Default value is 1.

`pt_enable_sprites`

Enables the sprite effects, such as explosions and BFG. Default value is 1.

`pt_fake_roughness_threshold`

Materials with roughness above this setting will be rendered with fake indirect specular reflections in order to reduce noise. This setting does not affect the photo mode. Set pt_fake_roughness_threshold to 1.02 or higher to disable fake specular. Default value is 0.2.

`pt_focus`

Sets the distance to the focal plane for the Depth of Field effect.

`pt_freecam`

Enables free floating camera when the game is paused. Default value is 1.

`pt_light_stats`

Enables an experimental algorithm that improves light sampling quality by counting rays that hit or missed a particular light from a given BSP cluster. Default value is 1.

`pt_metallic_override`

Global override for metalness of all materials. Negative values mean there is no override. Default value is -1.

`pt_num_bounce_rays`

Number of indirect light sampling rays per pixel, also known as the Global Illumination setting in the menu. Default value is 1.

0 — no indirect lighting, it is replaced by flat albedo
0.5 — one diffuse ray for every other pixel (GI set to Low)
1 — one diffuse or specular ray for every pixel (GI set to Medium)
2 — one diffuse or specular ray, followed by one diffuse ray for the second bounce (GI set to High)

`pt_particle_emissive`

Intensity scale for emissive particle effects, such as blaster trail sparks. Default value is 10.

`pt_particle_size`

Size of new particles, before they fade out, in world units. Default value is 0.35.

`pt_projection`

Selects the projection to use for rendering. Default value is 0.

0 — regular perspective projection
1 — panini (cylindrical stereographic) projection
2 — stereographic projection
3 — cylindrical projection
4 — equirectangular projection
5 — mercator projection

`pt_reflect_refract`

Number of reflection or refraction bounces to trace. Default value is 2.

`pt_roughness_override`

Global override for roughness of all materials. Negative values mean there is no override. Default value is -1.

`pt_show_sky`

Enables visualization of skybox geometry, useful for tuning maps for the RTX renderer because one can use the cl_clusterthere macro to display the clusters for the sky and list those clusters in map-specific sky cluster file, maps/sky/<mapname>.txt. Default value is 0.

`pt_texture_lod_bias`

LOD bias for texture sampling. Negative values mean sharper textures, positive values mean blurrier textures. Default value is 0.

`pt_thick_glass`

Switch for the experimental thick glass refraction feature. Default value is 0.

0 — assume all glass is infinitely thin and single-sided, with normal map on the visible side
1 — enable physically accurate thick glass refraction and reflection in the photo mode only
2 — enable accurate thick glass refraction in the photo mode, and less accurate in the real-time mode

`pt_water_density`

Extinction coefficient scaler for water, slime and lava. Higher values make water thicker. Default value is 0.5.

`sky_amb_phase_g`

Controls the eccentricity of the scattering phase function for the ambient light scattering in the clouds. Default value is 0.3.

`sky_phase_g`

Controls the eccentricity of the scattering phase function for the direct sun light scattering in the clouds. Default value is 0.9.

`sky_scattering`

Controls the amount of light in-scattered by the clouds, i.e. cloud brightness. Default value is 5.0.

`sky_transmittance`

Controls the amount of light blocked by the clouds. Default value is 10.0.

`sli`

Enables the multi-GPU rendering support, when it is available on the system. Changing the value of sli will invoke vid_restart and can be done without restarting the game. Default value is 1.

`sun_angle`

Angular size of the sun in the sky, in degrees. This variable is set automatically when physical_sky is modified. Default value is 1.0.

`sun_animate`

When this cvar has nonzero value, the sun will move around the sky with speed proportional to the value. Default value is 0.

NOTE: Using the sun_animate mode makes the game slower because any change in sun direction results in an environment map update. Same argument applies to moving the sun in real time with a gamepad or through rcon.

`sun_azimuth`

Azimuth (horizontal direction) of the sun in the sky, in degrees. Only effective if sun_preset is set to 0. Default value is 345.

`sun_elevation`

Elevation (vertical direction measured from the horizon) of the sun in the sky, in degrees. Only effective if sun_preset is set to 0. Default value is 45.

`sun_bounce`

Scale for indirect illumination coming from sun light. Default and physically correct value is 1.0.

`sun_color_r`, `sun_color_g`, `sun_color_b`

Color of the sun light, three components. These variables are set automatically when physical_sky is modified.

`sun_brightness`

Scale for the brightness of the sun, and therefore sky because sun light is scattered in the atmosphere. Effectively, same as physical_sky_brightness but in linear scale. Default value is 10.

`sun_gamepad`

Enables controlling the sun direction with a gamepad. Set to 1 for the left gamepad stick, set to 2 for the right gamepad stick. Only effective if sun_preset is set to 0. Default value is 0.

`sun_latitude`

Latitude (on Earth) of the game location that is used to compute the direction of the sun in automatic presets, i.e. when sun_preset is set to 1 or 2. Default value is 32.9, which is the latitude of of former headquarters of id Software in Richardson, Texas.

`sun_preset`

Controls how the sun direction is set. Default value is 5 (morning).

0 — manual sun positioning using sun_elevation and sun_azimuth
1 — automatic sun positioning using the system clock
2 — automatic sun positioning using the system clock multiplied by 12
3 — night (elevation -90, azimuth 0)
4 — dawn (elevation -3, azimuth 0)
5 — morning (elevation 25, azimuth -15)
6 — noon (elevation 80, azimuth -75)
7 — evening (elevation 15, azimuth 190)
8 — dusk (elevation -6, azimuth 205)

`tm_enable`

Enables the tone mapper, otherwise the game shows the HDR image clipped to the display range. Default value is 1.

`tm_exposure_bias`

Exposure bias for the tone mapper. Positive values make the image brighter. Default value is -1.0.

`tm_exposure_speed_up`, `tm_exposure_speed_down`

Tone mapper auto-exposure speed controls, higher values mean quicker response. Zero means instant auto-exposure. The up parameter is used when the scene becomes brighter, and the down parameter is used when the scene becomes darker. Default values are 2.0 and 1.0, respectively.

`tm_min_luminance`, `tm_max_luminance`

Minimum and maximum luminance values for the auto-exposure adjustment. Can be adjusted if some areas appear too dark although there is some light there. Default values are 0.0002 and 1.0, respectively.

`tm_reinhard`

This parameter is used to blend between the output of the adaptive curve tone mapper (0.0) and the Reinhard auto-exposure tone mapper (1.0). Higher values give more contrast, lower values give more detail in the shadows but also crush the highlights. More information about the tone mapper can be found in tone_mapping_histogram.comp. Default value is 0.5.

`viewsize`

Controls the resolution scale in percents. Default value is 100. The variable name is legacy for the setting that used to control viewport size, and it can be adjusted with the + and - keys. Also see the DRS cvars, such as drs_enable. Default value is 100.

OpenGL Renderer

`gl_gamma_scale_pics`

Apply software gamma scaling not only to textures and skins, but to HUD pictures also. Default value is 0 (don't apply to pics).

`gl_noscrap`

By default, OpenGL renderer combines small HUD pictures into the single texture called scrap. This usually speeds up rendering a bit, and allows pixel precise rendering of non power of two sized images. If you don't like this optimization for some reason, this cvar can be used to disable it. Default value is 0 (optimize).

`gl_bilerp_chars`

Enables bilinear filtering of charset images. Default value is 0 (disabled).

`gl_bilerp_pics`

Enables bilinear filtering of HUD pictures. Default value is 1.

0 — disabled for all pictures
1 — enabled for large pictures that don't fit into the scrap
2 — enabled for all pictures, including the scrap texture itself

`gl_upscale_pcx`

Enables upscaling of PCX images using HQ2x and HQ4x filters. This improves rendering quality when screen scaling is used. Default value is 0.

0 — don't upscale
1 — upscale 2x (takes 5x more memory)
2 — upscale 4x (takes 21x more memory)

`gl_texture_non_power_of_two`

Enables use of non power-of-two sized textures without resampling on OpenGL 3.0 and higher compliant hardware. Default value is 1.

`gl_downsample_skins`

Specifies if skins are downsampled just like world textures are. When disabled, gl_round_down, gl_picmip cvars have no effect on skins. Default value is 1 (downsampling enabled).

`gl_drawsky`

Enable skybox texturing. 0 means to draw sky box in solid black color. Default value is 1 (enabled).

`gl_fontshadow`

Specifies font shadow width, in pixels, ranging from 0 to 2. Default value is 0 (no shadow).

`gl_partscale`

Specifies minimum size of particles. Default value is 2.

`gl_partstyle`

Specifies drawing style of particles. Default value is 0.

0 — blend colors
1 — saturate colors

`gl_celshading`

Enables drawing black contour lines around 3D models (aka celshading). Value of this variable specifies thickness of the lines drawn. Default value is 0 (celshading disabled).

`gl_dotshading`

Enables dotshading effect when drawing 3D models, which helps them look truly 3D-ish by simulating diffuse lighting from a fake light source. Default value is 1 (enabled).

`gl_saturation`

Enables grayscaling of world textures. 1 keeps original colors, 0 converts textures to grayscale format (this may save some video memory and speed up rendering a bit since textures are uploaded at 8 bit per pixel instead of 24), any value in between reduces colorfulness. Default value is 1 (keep original colors).

`gl_invert`

Inverts colors of world textures. In combination with ‘gl_saturation 0’ effectively makes textures look like black and white photo negative. Default value is 0 (do not invert colors).

`gl_anisotropy`

When set to 2 and higher, enables anisotropic filtering of world textures, if supported by your OpenGL implementation. Default value is 8.

`gl_brightness`

Specifies a brightness value that is added to each pixel of world lightmaps. Positive values make lightmaps brighter, negative values make lightmaps darker. Default value is 0 (keep original brightness).

`gl_coloredlightmaps`

Enables grayscaling of world lightmaps. 1 keeps original colors, 0 converts lightmaps to grayscale format, any value in between reduces colorfulness. Default value is 1 (keep original colors).

`gl_modulate`

Specifies a primary modulation factor that each pixel of world lightmaps is multiplied by. This cvar affects entity lighting as well. Default value is 1 (identity).

`gl_modulate_world`

Specifies an secondary modulation factor that each pixel of world lightmaps is multiplied by. This cvar does not affect entity lighting. Default value is 1 (identity).

`gl_modulate_entities`

Specifies an secondary modulation factor that entity lighting is multiplied by. This cvar does not affect world lightmaps. Default value is 1 (identity).

TIP: An old trick to make entities look brighter in Quake 2 was setting gl_modulate to a high value without issuing vid_restart afterwards. This way it was possible to keep gl_modulate from applying to world lightmaps, but only until the next map was loaded. In Q2PRO this trick is no longer needed (and it won't work, since gl_modulate is applied dynamically). To get the similar effect, set the legacy gl_modulate variable to 1, and configure gl_modulate_world and gl_modulate_entities to suit your needs.

`gl_doublelight_entities`

Specifies if combined modulation factor is applied to entity lighting one more time just before final lighting value is calculated, to simulate a bug (?) in the original Quake 2 renderer. Default value is 1 (apply twice).

Entity lighting

Entity lighting is calculated based on the color of the lightmap sample from the world surface directly beneath the entity. This means any cvar affecting lightmaps affects entity lighting as well (with exception of gl_modulate_world). Cvars that have effect only on the entity lighting are gl_modulate_entities and gl_doublelight_entities. Yet another cvar affecting entity lighting is gl_dotshading, which typically makes entities look a bit brighter.

`gl_dynamic`

Controls dynamic lightmap updates. Default value is 1.

0 — all dynamic lighting is disabled
1 — all dynamic lighting is enabled
2 — most dynamic lights are disabled, but lightmap updates are still allowed for switchable lights to work

NOTE: Dynamic lights may noticeably hurt rendering performance on some video cards and drivers, therefore they are disabled by default.

`gl_dlight_falloff`

Makes dynamic lights look a bit smoother, opposed to original jagged Quake 2 style. Default value is 1 (enabled).

`gl_fragment_program`

Enables GL_ARB_fragment_program extension, if supported by your OpenGL implementation. Currently this extension is used only for warping effect when drawing liquid surfaces. Default value is 1 (enabled).

`gl_vertex_buffer_object`

Enables GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object extension, if supported by your OpenGL implementation. This extension allows world surfaces to be stored in high-performance video memory, which usually speeds up rendering. Default value is 1 (enabled).

`gl_video_sync`

On X11/GLX, enables GLX_SGI_video_sync extension. This extension allows synchronizing rendering framerate to monitor vertical retrace frequency. Default value is 1 (enabled). See also cl_async variable.

`gl_colorbits`

Specifies desired size of color buffer, in bits, requested from OpenGL implementation (should be typically 0, 24 or 32). Default value is 0 (determine the best value automatically).

`gl_depthbits`

Specifies desired size of depth buffer, in bits, requested from OpenGL implementation (should be typically 0 or 24). Default value is 0 (determine the best value automatically).

`gl_stencilbits`

Specifies desired size of stencil buffer, in bits, requested from OpenGL implementation (should be typically 0 or 8). Currently stencil buffer is used only for drawing projection shadows. Default value is 8. 0 means no stencil buffer requested.

`gl_multisamples`

Specifies number of samples per pixel used to implement multisample anti-aliasing, if supported by OpenGL implementation. Values 0 and 1 are equivalent and disable MSAA. Values from 2 to 32 enable MSAA. Default value is 0.

`gl_texturebits`

Specifies number of bits per texel used for internal texture storage (should be typically 0, 8, 16 or 32). Default value is 0 (choose the best internal format automatically).

`gl_screenshot_format`

Specifies image format screenshot command uses. Possible values are "png", "jpg" and "tga". Default value is "jpg".

`gl_screenshot_quality`

Specifies image quality of JPG screenshots. Values range from 0 (worst quality) to 100 (best quality). Default value is 100.

`gl_screenshot_compression`

Specifies compression level of PNG screenshots. Values range from 0 (no compression) to 9 (best compression). Default value is 6.

`gl_screenshot_template`

Specifies filename template in "fileXXX" format for ‘screenshot’ command. Template must contain at least 3 and at most 9 consecutive ‘X’ in the last component. Template may contain slashes to save under subdirectory. Default value is "quakeXXX".

`gl_shadows`

Enables rendering of shadows under dynamic entities. Default value is 1.

`r_override_textures`

Enables automatic overriding of palettized textures (in WAL or PCX format) with truecolor replacements (in PNG, JPG or TGA format) by stripping off original file extension and searching for alternative filenames in the order specified by r_texture_formats variable. Default value is 1. - 0 — don't override textures - 1 — override only palettized textures - 2 — override all textures

`r_texture_formats`

Specifies the order in which truecolor texture replacements are searched. Default value is "pjt", which means to try ‘.png’ extension first, then ‘.jpg’, then ‘.tga’.

`r_texture_overrides`

Specifies what types of textures are affected by r_override_textures. This variable is a bitmask. Default value is -1 (all types). - 1 — HUD pictures - 2 — HUD fonts - 4 — skins - 8 — sprites - 16 — wall textures - 32 — sky textures

`vid_gamma`

Gamma setting for the OpenGL renderer. The RTX renderer uses a more sophisticated tone mapping system. Default value is 0.8.

.MD2 model overrides

When Q2PRO attempts to load an alias model from disk, it determines actual model format by file contents, rather than by filename extension. Therefore, if you wish to override MD2 model with MD3 replacement, simply rename the MD3 model to ‘tris.md2’ and place it in appropriate packfile to make sure it gets loaded first.

Downloads

These variables control automatic client downloads (both legacy UDP and HTTP downloads).

`allow_download`

Globally allows or disallows client downloads. Remaining variables listed below are effective only when downloads are globally enabled. Default value is 1.

-1 — downloads are permanently disabled (once this value is set, it can't be modified)
0 — downloads are disabled
1 — downloads are enabled

`allow_download_maps`

Enables automatic downloading of maps. Default value is 1.

`allow_download_models`

Enables automatic downloading of non-player models, sprites and skins. Default value is 1.

`allow_download_sounds`

Enables automatic downloading of non-player sounds. Default value is 1.

`allow_download_pics`

Enables automatic downloading of HUD pictures. Default value is 1.

`allow_download_players`

Enables automatic downloading of player models, skins, sounds and icons. Default value is 1.

`allow_download_textures`

Enables automatic downloading of map textures. Default value is 1.

HTTP Downloads

`cl_http_downloads`

Enables HTTP downloads, if server advertises download URL. Default value is 1 (enabled).

`cl_http_filelists`

When a first file is about to be downloaded from HTTP server, send a filelist request, and download any additional files specified in the filelist. Filelists provide a pushing mechanism for server operator to make sure all clients download complete set of data for the particular mod, instead of requesting files one-by-one. Default value is 1 (request filelists).

`cl_http_max_connections`

Maximum number of simultaneous connections to the HTTP server. Default value is 2.

`cl_http_proxy`

HTTP proxy server to use for downloads. Default value is empty (direct connection).

Locations

Client side location files provide a way to report player's position on the map in team chat messages without depending on the game mod. Locations are loaded from ‘locs/.loc’ file. Once location file is loaded, loc_here and loc_there macros will expand to the name of location closest to the given position. Variables listed below control some aspects of location selection.

`loc_trace`

When enabled, location must be directly visible from the given position (not obscured by solid map geometry) in order to be selected. Default value is 0, which means any closest location will satisfy, even if it is placed behind the wall.

`loc_dist`

Maximum distance to the location, in world units, for it to be considered by the location selection algorithm. Default value is 500.

`loc_draw`

Enables visualization of location positions. Default value is 0 (disabled).

Mouse Input

`in_direct`

On Linux, enables Evdev interface for direct mouse input. Otherwise, standard input facilities provided by the window system are used. Default value is 1 (use direct input).

`in_device`

On Linux, specifies device file to use for direct mouse input. Normally, it should be one of ‘/dev/input/eventX’ files (reading permissions are required). Default value is empty and needs to be filled by user.

`in_grab`

Specifies mouse grabbing policy in windowed mode. Normally, mouse is always grabbed in-game and released when console or menu is up. In addition to that, smart policy mode automatically releases the mouse when its input is not needed (playing a demo, or spectating a player). Default value is 1.

0 — don't grab mouse
1 — normal grabbing policy
2 — smart grabbing policy

`m_autosens`

Enables automatic scaling of mouse sensitivity proportional to the current player field of view. Values between 90 and 179 specify the default FOV value to scale sensitivity from. Zero disables automatic scaling. Any other value assumes default FOV of 90 degrees. Default value is 0.

`m_accel`

Specifies mouse acceleration factor. Default value is 0 (acceleration disabled).

`m_filter`

When enabled, mouse movement is averaged between current and previous samples. Default value is 0 (filtering disabled).

`m_forward`

Mouse sensitivity for forward and backward motion when mouse look is not used. Default value is 1.0.

`m_invert`

Enables inverted vertical aiming with the mouse. Default value is 0.

`m_pitch`

Mouse sensitivity in the vertical (pitch) direction. Default value is 0.022.

`m_side`

Mouse sensitivity for strafe motion when mouse look is not used. Default value is 1.0.

`m_yaw`

Mouse sensitivity in the horizontal (yaw) direction. Default value is 0.022.

`lirc_enable`

On Linux, enables input from the LIRC daemon, which allows menu navigation and command execution from your infrared remote control device. Default value is 0 (disabled).

`lirc_config`

On Linux, specifies LIRC configuration file to use. Default value is empty, which means to use the default ~/.lircrc file. This variable may only be set from command line. See README.lirc file for command syntax description.

Miscellaneous

`cl_chat_notify`

Specifies whether to display chat lines in the notify area. Default value is 1 (enabled).

`cl_chat_filter`

Specifies if unprintable characters are filtered from incoming chat messages, to prevent common exploits like hiding player names. Default value is 0 (don't filter).

`cl_noskins`

Restricts which models and skins players can use. Default value is 0.

0 — no restrictions, if skins exists, it will be loaded
1 — do not allow any skins except of ‘male/grunt’
2 — do not allow any skins except of ‘male/grunt’ and ‘female/athena’

TIP: With cl_noskins set to 2, it is possible to keep just 2 model/skin pairs (male/grunt and female/athena) to save memory and reduce map load times. This will not affect model-based TDM gameplay, since any male skin will be replaced by male/grunt and any female skin will be replaced by female/athena.

`cl_adjustfov`

Specifies if horizontal field of view is automatically adjusted for screens with aspect ratio different from 4/3. Default value is 1.

`cl_demosnaps`

Specifies time interval, in seconds, between saving snapshots in memory during demo playback. Snapshots enable backward seeking in demo (see seek command description), and speed up repeated forward seeks. Setting this variable to 0 disables snapshotting entirely. Default value is 10.

`cl_demomsglen`

Specifies default maximum message size used for demo recording. Default value is 1390. See record command description for more information on demo packet sizes.

`cl_demowait`

Specifies if demo playback is automatically paused at the last frame in demo file. Default value is 0 (finish playback).

`cl_autopause`

Specifies if single player game or demo playback is automatically paused once client console or menu is opened. Default value is 1 (pause game).

`cl_player_model`

Controls how the player character model appears in the game.

0 — no model or gun visible
1 — gun visible in first person view
2 — gun and character model visible in first person view
3 — third person view

`cl_show_lights`

Enables a debug visualization of dynamic lights (dlights) as particles. Default value is 0.

`ui_open`

Specifies if menu is automatically opened on startup, instead of full screen console. Default value is 1 (open menu).

`ui_background`

Specifies image to use as menu background. Default value is empty, which just fills the screen with solid black color.

`ui_scale`

Scaling factor of the UI widgets. Takes effect in OpenGL mode only. Default value is 2. Automatically scales depending on current display resolution when set to 0.

`ui_sortdemos`

Specifies default sorting order of entries in demo browser. Default value is 1. Negate the values for descending sorting order instead of ascending.

0 — don't sort
1 — sort by name
2 — sort by date
3 — sort by size
4 — sort by map
5 — sort by POV

`ui_listalldemos`

List all demos, including demos in packs and demos in base directories. Default value is 0 (limit the search to physical files within the current game directory).

`ui_sortservers`

Specifies default sorting order of entries in server browser. Default value is 0. Negate the values for descending sorting order instead of ascending.

0 — don't sort
1 — sort by hostname
2 — sort by mod
3 — sort by map
4 — sort by players
5 — sort by RTT

`ui_colorservers`

Enables highlighting of entries in server browser with different colors. Currently, this option grays out password protected and anticheat enforced servers. Default value is 0 (disabled).

`ui_pingrate`

Specifies the server pinging rate used by server browser, in packets per second. Default value is 0, which estimates the default pinging rate based on rate client variable.

`com_time_format`

Time format used by com_time macro. Default value is "%H.%M" on Win32 and "%H:%M" on UNIX. See strftime(3) for syntax description.

`com_date_format`

Date format used by com_date macro. Default value is "%Y-%m-%d". See strftime(3) for syntax description.

`backdoor`

Enables running the UDP server in single player mode. Mostly useful to enable the remote console for game or renderer configuration with external tools, for example korgi. When backdoor is enabled, also set rcon_password to be nonempty. Default value is 0.

`uf`

User flags variable, automatically exported to game mod in userinfo. Meaning and level of support of individual flags is game mod dependent. Default value is empty. Commonly supported flags are reproduced below. Flags 4 and 64 are supported during local demo playback. Flags 4-64 are supported in MVD/GTV client mode.

1 — auto screenshot at end of match
2 — auto record demo at beginning of match
4 — prefer user FOV over chased player FOV
8 — mute player chat
16 — mute observer chat
32 — mute other messages
64 — prefer chased player FOV over user FOV

Macros

Macros behave like automated console variables. When macro expansion is performed, macros are searched first, then console variables.

Macro expansion syntax

Each of the following examples are valid and produce the same output:

/echo $loc_here
/echo $loc_here$
/echo ${loc_here}
/echo ${$loc_here}

List of client macros

Macro	Meaning
`cl_armor`	armor statistic seen in the HUD
`cl_ammo`	ammo statistic seen in the HUD
`cl_weaponmodel`	current weapon model
`cl_timer`	time since level load
`cl_demopos`	current position in demo, in timespec syntax
`cl_server`	address of the server client is connected to
`cl_mapname`	name of the current map
`loc_there`	name of the location player is looking at
`loc_here`	name of the location player is standing at
`cl_ping`	average round trip time to the server
`cl_lag`	incoming packet loss percentage
`cl_fps`	main client loop frame rate footnote: This is not the framerate `cl_maxfps` limits. Think of it as an input polling frame rate, or a `master` framerate.
`cl_mps`	movement commands generation rate in movements per second footnote: Can be also called "physics" frame rate. This is what `cl_maxfps` limits.
`cl_pps`	movement packets transmission rate in packets per second
`cl_ups`	player velocity in world units per second
`r_fps`	rendering frame rate
`com_time`	current time formatted according to `com_time_format`
`com_date`	current date formatted according to `com_date_format`
`com_uptime`	engine uptime in short format
`net_dnrate`	current download rate in bytes/sec
`net_uprate`	current upload rate in bytes/sec
`random`	expands to the random decimal digit
`cl_cluster`*	BSP cluster that contains the player
`cl_clusterthere`*	BSP cluster that contains the surface at the crosshair
`cl_hdr_color`*	pre-tone-mapping HDR color of the pixel in the screen center
`cl_health`	health statistic seen in the HUD
`cl_lightpolys`*	number of light polygons visible from the surface at the crosshair
`cl_material_override`*	path to the actual diffuse texture of the surface at the crosshair, including overrides
`cl_material`*	path to the base texture of the surface at the crosshair
`cl_resolution_scale`*	current resolution scale, regardless of whether it's static or coming from DRS
`cl_viewdir`*	view direction of the camera
`cl_viewpos`*	position of the camera

* RTX renderer only

List of special macros

Macro	Meaning
`qt`	expands to double quote
`sc`	expands to semicolon
`$::`	expands to dollar sign

Commands

Client Demos

`demo [/]<filename[.ext]>`

Begins demo playback. This command does not require file extension to be specified and supports filename autocompletion on TAB. Loads file from demos/ unless slash is prepended to filename, otherwise loads from the root of quake file system. Can be used to launch MVD playback as well, if MVD file type is detected, it will be automatically passed to the server subsystem. To stop demo playback, type disconnect.

`seek [+-]<timespec>`

Seeks the given amount of time during demo playback. Prepend with + to seek forward relative to current position, prepend with - to seek backward relative to current position. Without prefix, seeks to an absolute position within the demo file. See below for timespec syntax description. Initial forward seek may be slow, so be patient.

NOTE: The seek command actually operates on demo frame numbers, not pure server time. Therefore, ‘seek +300’ does not exactly mean ‘skip 5 minutes of server time’, but just means ‘skip 3000 demo frames’, which may account for more than 5 minutes if there were dropped frames. For most demos, however, correspondence between frame numbers and server time should be reasonably close.

Demo time specification

Absolute or relative demo time can be specified in one of the following formats:

.FF, where FF are frames
SS, where SS are seconds
SS.FF, where SS are seconds, FF are frames
MM:SS, where MM are minutes, SS are seconds
MM:SS.FF, where MM are minutes, SS are seconds, FF are frames

`record [-hzes] <filename>`

Begins demo recording into demos/_filename_.dm2, or prints some statistics if already recording. If neither --extended nor --standard options are specified, this command uses maximum demo message size defined by cl_demomsglen cvar.

-h or --help: display help message
-z or --compress: compress demo with gzip
-e or --extended: use extended packet size (4086 bytes)
-s or --standard: use standard packet size (1390 bytes)

TIP: With Q2PRO it is possible to record a demo while playing back another one.

`stop`

Stops demo recording and prints some statistics about recorded demo.

`suspend`

Pauses and resumes demo recording.

Demo packet sizes

Packet size options limit maximum demo message size and thus define compatibility level of the recorded demo. Original Quake 2 supports just 1390 bytes (standard size), while Q2PRO and R1Q2 support message sizes up to 4086 bytes (extended size). When Q2PRO or R1Q2 protocols are in use, demo written to disk is automatically downgraded to protocol 34. This can result in dropping of large frames that don't fit into standard protocol 34 limit. Demo packet size can be extended to overcome this, but the resulting demo will be playable only by Q2PRO and R1Q2 clients and will be incompatible with other Quake 2 clients or demo editing tools. By default, standard packet size is used. This default can be changed using cl_demomsglen cvar.

Cvar Operations

`toggle <cvar> [value1 value2 ...]`

If values are omitted, toggle the specified cvar between 0 and 1. If two or more values are specified, cycle through them.

`inc <cvar> [value]`

If value is omitted, add 1 to the value of cvar. Otherwise, add the specified floating point value.

`dec <cvar> [value]`

If value is omitted, subtract 1 from the value of cvar. Otherwise, subtract the specified floating point value.

`reset <cvar>`

Reset the specified cvar to its default value.

`resetall`

Resets all cvars to their default values.

`set <cvar> <value> [u|s|...]`

If 2 arguments are given, sets the specified cvar to value. If 3 arguments are given, and the last argument is u or s, sets cvar to value and marks the cvar with userinfo or serverinfo flags, respectively. Otherwise, sets cvar to value, which is handled as consisting from multiple tokens.

`setu <cvar> <value> [...]`

Sets the specified cvar to value, and marks the cvar with userinfo flag. Value may be composed from multiple tokens.

`sets <cvar> <value> [...]`

Sets the specified cvar to value, and marks the cvar with serverinfo flag. Value may be composed from multiple tokens.

`seta <cvar> <value> [...]`

Sets the specified cvar to value, and marks the cvar with archive flag. Value may be composed from multiple tokens.

`cvarlist [-achlmnrstuvw:]`

Display the list of registered cvars and their current values with filtering by cvar name or by cvar flags. If no options are given, all cvars are listed. Supported options are reproduced below.

-a or --archive: list archived cvars
-c or --cheat: list cheat protected cvars
-h or --help: display help message
-l or --latched: list latched cvars
-m or --modified: list modified cvars
-n or --noset: list command line cvars
-r or --rom: list read-only cvars
-s or --serverinfo: list serverinfo cvars
-t or --custom: list user-created cvars
-u or --userinfo: list userinfo cvars
-v or --verbose: display flags of each cvar
-w or --wildcard=<string>: list cvars matching wildcard string

`macrolist`

Display the list of registered macros and their current values.

Message Triggers

Message triggers provide a form of automatic command execution when some game event occurs. Each trigger is composed from a command string to execute and a match string. When a non-chat message is received from server, a list of message triggers is examined. For each trigger, match is macro expanded and wildcard compared with the message, ignoring any unprintable characters. If the message matches, command is stuffed into the command buffer and executed.

`trigger [<command> <match>]`

Adds new message trigger. When called without arguments, prints a list of registered triggers.

`untrigger [all] | [<command> <match>]`

Removes the specified trigger. Specify all to remove all triggers. When called without arguments, prints a list of registered triggers.

Chat Filters

Chat filters allow messages from annoying players to be ignored. Each chat filter is composed from a match string. When a chat message is received from server, a list of chat filters is examined. For each filter, match is wildcard compared with the message, ignoring any unprintable characters. If the message matches, it is silently dropped.

`ignoretext [match ...]`

Adds new chat filter. When called without arguments, prints a list of registered filters.

`unignoretext [all] | [match ...]`

Removes the specified chat filter. Specify all to remove all filters. When called without arguments, prints a list of registered filters.

`ignorenick [nickname]`

Automatically composes and adds two chat filters: _nickname_: * and (_nickname_): *. This command supports nickname completion. When called without arguments, prints a list of registered filters.

`unignorenick [nickname]`

Automatically composes and removes two chat filters: _nickname_: * and (_nickname_): *. This command supports nickname completion. When called without arguments, prints a list of registered filters.

Draw Objects

Draw objects provide a uniform way to display values of arbitrary cvars and macros on the game screen. By default, text is positioned relative to the top left corner of the screen, which has coordinates (0, 0). Use negative values to align text to the opposite edge, e.g. point with coordinates (-1, -1) is at the bottom right corner of the screen. Absolute value of each coordinate specifies the distance from the corresponding screen edge, counted in pixels.

`draw <name> <x> <y> [color]`

Add console variable or macro identified by name (without the $ prefix) to the list of objects drawn on the screen at position (x, y), drawn in optional color.

`undraw [all] | <name>`

Remove object identified by name from the list of objects drawn on the screen. Specify all to remove all objects.

Drawing FPS and a clock

/draw cl_fps -1 -1  // bottom right
/draw com_time 0 -1 // bottom left

Screenshots

`screenshot [format]`

Standard command to take a screenshot. If format argument is given, takes the screenshot in this format. Otherwise, takes in the format specified by gl_screenshot_format variable. File name is picked up automatically from the screenshots/quakeNNN.EXT template.

`screenshotpng [filename] [compression]`

Takes the screenshot in PNG format. If filename argument is given, saves the screenshot into screenshots/_filename_.png. Otherwise, file name is picked up automatically. If compression argument is given, saves with this compression level. Otherwise, saves with gl_screenshot_compression level.

`screenshotjpg [filename] [quality]`

Takes the screenshot in JPG format. If filename argument is given, saves the screenshot into screenshots/_filename_.jpg. Otherwise, file name is picked up automatically. If quality argument is given, saves with this quality level. Otherwise, saves with gl_screenshot_quality level.

`screenshottga [filename]`

Takes the screenshot in TGA format. If filename argument is given, saves the screenshot into screenshots/_filename_.tga. Otherwise, file name is picked up automatically.

Locations

`loc_add <name ...>`

Adds new location with the specified name at current player position.

`loc_delete`

Deletes location closest to player position.

`loc_update <name ...>`

Changes name of location closest to player position.

`loc_write`

Saves current location list into locs/<mapname>.loc file.

NOTE: Edit locations on a local server and don't forget to execute loc_write command once you are finished. Otherwise all changes to location list will be lost on map change or disconnect.

Miscellaneous

`vid_restart`

Perform complete shutdown and reinitialization of the renderer and video subsystem. Rarely needed.

`fs_restart`

Flush all media registered by the client (textures, models, sounds, etc), restart the file system and reload the current level.

`r_reload`

Flush and reload all media registered by the renderer (textures and models). Weaker form of fs_restart.

TIP: In Q2PRO, you don't have to issue vid_restart after changing most of the settings, a fs_restart or r_reload usually suffice. This helps to avoid main window recreation and changing video modes back and forth, and is much faster.

`passive`

Toggle passive connection mode. When enabled, client waits for the first passive_connect packet from server and starts usual connection procedure once this packet is received. This command is useful for connecting to servers behind NATs or firewalls. See pickclient [[server]] command for more details.

`serverstatus [address]`

Request the status string from the server at specified address, display server info and list of players sorted by frags. If connected to the server, address may be omitted, in this case current server is queried.

`followip [count]`

Attempts to connect to the IP address recently seen in chat messages. Optional count argument specifies how far to go back in message history (it should be positive integer). If count is omitted, then the most recent IP address is used.

`ogg <info|play|stop>`

Execute OGG subcommand. Available subcommands:

info: Display information about currently playing background music track.
play <track>: Start playing background music track number <track>.
stop: Stop playing background music track.

Renderer

`reload_shader`

Reloads the shader binaries from compiled files. The files should be located in the shader_vkpt folder within the game file system. Typically, they will be found in the shaders.pkz package, which can be overridden by loose files in the baseq2/shader_vkpt folder if the game is built from source. The command will also invoke the compile_shaders.bat script (on Windows) before reolading the shaders.

`reload_textures`

Reloads the textures that were modified since the map load or previous use of this command. Note that some aspects of the textures are not affected by this reload, specifically the direct lighting information will not be recomputed on reload. Also, sometimes texture coordinates break after reloading the textures and then switching maps - in that case, restart the game.

`mat <command> <arguments...>`

The mat command provides an interface to the engine's material system and allows inspecting, modifying and saving the materials. It has multiple sub-commands: help, print, which, save, and all the material attributes. Use mat help to get usage information.

`show_pvs`

Applies color coding to the map geometry that shows the surfaces within the same BSP cluster as the surface pointed to (red) and surfaces within the PVS of that cluster (yellow). To clear the display, look at the sky and execute show_pvs again.

`next_sun`

Switches to the next sun location preset, between night and dusk. See sun_preset for more information.

`drop_balls`

Moves the shader balls model to the current player location. See cl_shaderballs for more information.

Incompatibilities

Q2PRO client tries to be compatible with other Quake 2 ports, including original Quake 2 release. Compatibility, however, is defined in terms of full file format and network protocol compatibility. Q2PRO is not meant to be a direct replacement of your regular Quake 2 client. Some features are implemented differently in Q2PRO, some may be not implemented at all. You may need to review your config and adapt it for Q2PRO. This section tries to document most of these incompatibilities so that when something doesn't work as it used to be you know where to look. The following list may be incomplete.

Q2PRO has a built-in renderer and doesn't support run-time loading of external renderers. Thus, vid_ref cvar has been made read-only and exists only for informational purpose.
Q2PRO supports loading system OpenGL library only. Thus, gl_driver cvar has been made read-only and exists only for compatibility with tools like Q2Admin.
Default value of gl_dynamic variable has been changed from 1 to 2. This means dynamic lights will be disabled by default.
Changes to gl_modulate variable in Q2PRO take effect immediately. To set separate modulation factors for world lightmaps and entities please use gl_modulate_world and gl_modulate_entities variables.
Default value of R1GL-specific gl_dlight_falloff variable has been changed from 0 to 1.
gl_particle_* series of variables are gone, as well as gl_ext_pointparameters and R1GL-specific gl_ext_point_sprite. For controlling size of particles, which are always drawn as textured triangles, Q2PRO supports its own gl_partscale variable.
ip variable has been renamed to net_ip.
clientport variable has been renamed to net_clientport, and ip_clientport alias is no longer supported.
demomap command has been removed in favor of demo and mvdplay.
Q2PRO works only with virtual paths constrained to the quake file system. All paths are normalized before use so that it is impossible to go past virtual filesystem root using ../ components. This means commands like these are equivalent and all reference the same file: exec ../global.cfg, exec /global.cfg, exec global.cfg. If you have any config files in your Quake 2 directory root, you should consider moving them into baseq2/ to make them accessible.
Likewise, link command syntax has been changed to work with virtual paths constrained to the quake file system. All arguments to link are normalized.
Cinematics are not supported.
Joysticks are not supported.
Single player savegame format has been rewritten from scratch for better robustness and portability. Only the baseq2 game library included in Q2PRO distribution has been converted to use the new improved savegame format. Q2PRO will refuse to load and save games in old format for security reasons.
CD music is not supported, only OGG Vorbis music is supported.