Steam Game Launch Options: How to Set Them and Common Commands

Game launch options can be used to change game settings before running the game. Launch options let the user change the game's preset options. This is an effective method for fixing incompatible display options and many different problems.

How Do You Set Game Launch Options? 2022

Setting Launch Options

• Open your Steam library.
• Right-click the game's name and select Properties.
• Under the General tab you will see the Launch Options section.
• Enter the launch options you want to apply (make sure you separate each code with a space).
• Close the game's Properties window and run the game.

Common Launch Options

Most commands can be used as a launch option by adding a "+" sign in front of the console command, but some can't be used this way. The most common launch options are listed below.

• -autoconfig - Resets display and performance settings to defaults for the detected current hardware. Settings inside .cfg files are ignored until this parameter is removed.
• -dev - Enables developer mode. Prevents the automatic loading of menu background maps and the display of the exit message that appears when closing.
• -condebug - Saves all console output to the console.log text file.
• -console - Starts the game with the developer console enabled.
• -toconsole - Starts the engine directly in the console unless a map is specified with +map.
• -dxlevel [level] - Makes the game use the specified DirectX version when it runs. This option is very useful if your graphics hardware is old and shows a noticeable performance gain on earlier DirectX versions. Commonly used modes are below:
  • -dxlevel 80
  • -dxlevel 81
  • -dxlevel 90
  • -dxlevel 95
  • -dxlevel 98

• -fullscreen - Makes the engine start in fullscreen mode.
• -windowed or -sw - Makes the engine start in windowed mode.
• -16bpp or -32bpp - Starts the game with the selected color mode (bit depth).
  GoldSource only.
• -w [width] - Makes the engine start with the set resolution width.
• -h [height] - Makes the engine start with the set resolution height. This launch option isn't needed if the -w command is present. The width value automatically sets the height.
• -refresh [rate] - Makes the specified refresh rate be used.
• -heapsize [kilobytes] - Sets the load size (in kilobytes) the game will use.
• -nocrashdialog - Suppresses some of the unexpected
  memory could not be read

  errors.

• -novid or -novideo - When the game is loaded with this parameter, the Valve intro video isn't played.
• -lv - Enables some low-violence options in Left 4 Dead.
• -sillygibs - Enables low violence for Team Fortress 2.

Launch Options Used to Set Detail Levels and Graphics Rendering

• +r_rootlod # - Changes model detail. The # symbol is replaced with 0 for high, 1 for medium and 2 for low.
• +mat_picmip # - Changes texture detail. The # symbol is replaced with 0 for high, 1 for medium and 2 for low.
• +mat_reducefillrate # - Changes shader detail. The # symbol is replaced with 0 for high and 1 for low.
• +r_waterforceexpensive # - Changes water detail. The # symbol is replaced with 0 for low and 1 for high.
• +r_waterforcereflectentities # - Changes water reflections. The # symbol is replaced with 0 for low and 1 for high.
• +r_shadowrendertotexture # - Changes shadow detail. The # symbol is replaced with 0 for low and 1 for high.
• +mat_colorcorrection # - Changes color correction. The # symbol is replaced with 0 for low and 1 for high.
• Filtering Modes:
  • +mat_trilinear 0 - Use bilinear mode (lowest system load).
  • +mat_trilinear 1 - Use trilinear mode (higher system load).
  • +mat_forceaniso # - Use trilinear mode (the # symbol is replaced with 2, 4, 8 or 16. System resource usage increases as the filtering level rises.).
• +mat_hdr_level # - Changes High Dynamic Range (HDR) lighting effects. When the # symbol is replaced with 0 it is "off" (lower resource requirement); when replaced with 2 it is "full".