1 Topic by Heisenberg (edited by Heisenberg 2014-07-12 23:21:41)

  • Registered: 2014-03-28
  • Posts: 24

Topic: CVAR Help

Hello my fellow hardcores :

I've always been interested in the RTCW CVARS and what they do. I'm on a quest to educate myself about everything that can be tweaked on the client and server side. I'm putting together descriptions for each one so I understand what they do.

I have some questions, hopefully somebody can help me out.

1. How many CVARS currently exist that can be tweaked? I'm interested in cheat protected ones as well. The "cvarlist" command lists 532. I realize some of these are client and server commands.  Just to be sure I understand, are the "g_" and "sv_" and "bot_" are server related only? What others are server and client only? Are there more to the list than just the "532" the "cvarlist" shows? If so, where can I find those? I feel there are many more server CVARs than what the cvrlist command produces. Where can I find a comprehensive list with description on of those? So far I've just been googling different sources. I haven't found a 1 stop shop for anything yet

2. For CVARS like "r_intensity", "r_picmip" etc. how can I find the allowable ranges? For example r_intensity I think the range is 0 being the lowest and 5 being the highest but not sure how to verify that.

3. I'm trying to find descriptions for a couple of CVARs but the Google is results are sparse and I get conflicting results on some. Is there a one stop shop for all of the available CVARS (client and server) with descriptions? I've been gathering info from different sources but not sure my descriptions are correct. Can someone fill in a couple of mystery ones with a description? I've attached a text file with what I think I know about them so far.

Hopefully I'm not boring you guys tongue

Any help would be mucho appreciated!

EDIT : is it possible to make walls transparent with a CVAR? I would assume if there is, it would be cheat protected but I'm still interested in experimenting with it. It seems like "r_showtris 1"seems to do that type of thing.

Post's attachments

mystery_cvars.txt 2.32 kb, 2 downloads since 2014-07-12 

You don't have the permssions to download the attachments of this post.
RTCW
will
NEVER
die!
  • nate
  • Addict
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2012-10-08
  • Posts: 202

Re: CVAR Help

I see you replied on few threads so I'll just sum it up here.
Quake (or idTech) engine cvars are usually separated in "logical blocks". Prefixes start with common sense labels...

cg_ // client game
ui_  // user inferface (UI + CG form a client based mod if you'll ever go in moding and address (mod) logic)
g_  // game
sv  // server (engine)
cl_ // client (engine)
r_  // renderer
s_ // stereo

This are generally all the default cvars you can get with exception of few (/help etc). Most of other cvars are added on top of default game (mods have no limitation or control how they're labelled so it's a wild guess and dev's choice how to name them).

Cvars (settings) itself, have no 'designated' exploits tied to them, but due share amount of them they can and usually do form some sort of exploit. I wont go into particulars but I will reply to your other threads so you get an idea.


1) http://www.rtcwcoop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=172
Primitives only work on pseudo "quantum" state. 1 is SP (single pass) and 2 = MP (multi pass). Quantum element is 0, which stands for auto...problem is that 0 (auto) always revert to 1 since choice of auto is either 1 or 2. Auto in this case is broken because it's assumed that "AUTO" would have some sort of a check where, it would establish what's the best option for a computer that is running on....in this case auto is always 1 thus, 0 is same like 1 and as such, renders auto completely useless because it's always 1...

Anything above will kill the renderer...there's simply no "code handling" and no "value handling" for this cvar, so if you set it to 3 or more..game will not know what it is, as it has no error handling and as a result, you will end up with black screen.

2) http://www.rtcwcoop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=83
High, low..are just configs that are dumped into game distribution. They're not guides or anything, it's just a dump from testers and QA team, and based on what seemed at that time a reasonable choice...so do not bother with them much because they're simply obsolete.

----------------------------------------------
As for rest of the cvars or in general.

No, there's no cvar or currently known combination of cvars that would remove the walls. What you can do is remove certain elements of the map..like you can remove tree branches completely - with rmse + picmip etc..as well as other tweaks that can help you a lot in game..like r_depthbits 16 will create a wallhack effect for when you're snipping in mp_beach map and player is on upper bunker- I do not know for when/where it happens in SP/COOP but it's surely there in some form...as well as other problems.

Bottom line is; Yes. cvars can do shit load of a difference, but no, default settings generally only offer mediocre advantage- one that skilled player can always overcome.

If you want to dive into 'cvar world'. I suggest you spent a day or two figuring out what abbreviations stand for and how they show up in game..once you get your foothold, you'll easily handle any unknowns...8 years ago or so I've spent whole day tweaking my (simple) config, but that was time well spent as it given me insight into how things are done.

  • Registered: 2014-01-09
  • Posts: 86

Re: CVAR Help

Not all are covered here...but this is a good chunk of them:

http://www.terta.de/lwt/docs/q3commands.html

http://wiki.ioquake3.org/Console_Reference

4 Reply by Heisenberg (edited by Heisenberg 2014-08-07 21:54:38)

  • Registered: 2014-03-28
  • Posts: 24

Re: CVAR Help

nate wrote:

..

MAN-AT-ARMS wrote:

..

Thanks guys, I've been studying them hard and taking notes that make sense to me.

Powerful stuff indeed.

Since I've brought this post back to life, I've got a few more cvar questions. Hopefully you can help.

Is it possible to uncap the voice chat limit with a cvar variable?

In the past I've used g_voiceChatsAllowed but that CVAR is not applicable. I'm already using sv_floodprotect 0 but it does not seem to have the effect I'm looking for. I'm trying to enable spam capabilities to test some CFGs.

Is it possible to give the weapons more ammo by default with a server variable?

I'm using cg_gibs "0" but it still leaves behind scraps of bodies. Does this variable work?

Can I use a server variable to give players unlimited sprint?

Is it possible to change the crosshair color? I see that it auto changes with health levels but I'm would like to use a specific color at all times.

Is it possible to disable to flash from gunfire? The only way I have found is to disable the gun all together with cg_drawgun "0". It sounds like cg_muzzleflash "0" would do this but that CVAR does not exist.

Am I able to disable screenshake with a server variable? I'm trying to disable the kickback from enemy fire. g_knockback "0"  does have an effect but I still get some screen shaking / movement when getting hit. It sounds like the variable sv_screenshake "0" is what I'm looking for but that one does not exist either.

Is there a way to increase the recharge time for weapons like Sten so you don't have to wait as long after overheating?

RTCW
will
NEVER
die!

5 Reply by nate (edited by nate 2014-08-14 10:04:06)

  • nate
  • Addict
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2012-10-08
  • Posts: 202

Re: CVAR Help

- Screenshaking is always present. Cvar can be added to reduced it or it can be replaced with more et friendly version (NQ mod).
- Muzzle flash is not added in but it's a minor thing really.
- Knockback is used to push player back, there's no way to remove the nudge (gun shaking when getting hit) and it's really bad to do so, since one has to relay on the sound in that case to figure out where hit is coming from (I've done it in past and wasn't that good..).
- Crosshair colors were ported a while ago I just never committed it, it's trivial to add it tho.
- cg_gibs is not meant for bodies, it's animation related if memory serves me right.

Rest of the stuff may already have game default cvars, otherwise it's trivial to add it but I don't think anyone is going that way since that's generally (with exception of flooding related stuff) modding of the game, which is basically what modders should do, but it's as I said, really easy and more or less just a simple cvar and patching of specific function.