Wolfenstein : ET Tweaks Ultimate - Enemy Territory

[GhostHope]

Credits go to Ifurita for writing This tutorial

Do to request by DareDevil i decided to put this into one Gigantic Thread of Awesome

The only real Credit i take is posting this on the website for all to use

 

Cvar's

 

Ok lets start out with the basics. Client Variables AKA Cvars. CVARs are variables that affect how your game is viewed and played. Just keep in mind that there are other CVARs that are totally configurable, but don't necessarily make targets stand out better or eliminate shadows. we'll focus on variables which affect frame rates, visuals, and some game action. Here's an example of what you can do with CVARs

Public config vs. a very tweaked configs (Ice)

 

OK, everyone take a deep breath. As I just mentioned, this is what is possible if there are NO limits placed on what you can tweak. Realistically, all leagues (CAL, TWL, STA) have drawn up a list of cvars and the range of values they feel are appropriate. Additionally, just about every server I've played on set some sort of limits on the values they think are "fair" (very subjective term here). Here's an example of 3 configs - pub, match (CAL), and unlimited - to show the vast difference in visual quality between an unlimited config and what CAL lets me do. I should also note that I DO NOT have my CAL config maxed out, but it is still a good example.Public vs. CAL vs. unlimited configs (Assault)

 

CVARs, when altered, as you have obviously seen, can limit or increase the visual quality of how textures and models are rendered in the game. When a CVAR is tweaked so as to limit/lower the quality, it usually increases the frame rate (FPS = frames per second) and that means smoother game-play; more snapshots of the map as you see it are drawn. So with a frame rate of 135, there are 135 frames being drawn in one second. Some low end computers with older hardware (ie graphics card, processor, etc.), can be very challenged to generate even minimal FPS. This in turn can make for a very choppy game. Obviously, the higher the FPS, the smoother the game and is easier for the eyes to process info compared to the twitching one's eyes can do with a frame rate of 10 FPS. Tweakers tend to tweak CVARs that greatly affect FPS because their hardware can't reach reasonable FPS with default settings; hence, their lack of capable hardware warrants them to alter the game's default graphics in order to make it playable. But even then, they can't achieve that much of a boost in FPS without taking CVAR values to extreme.

 

Now some people think that Messing With Cvars is cheating but its not, at least not in my opinion. CVAR tweaking is available to anyone who can open a configuration file, copy, and paste - this is simply not rocket science limited to the upper strata of l33t players. Furthermore, in my version of the world, server admins set the rules. They set boundaries around what they consider to be acceptable play (CVAR limits, use of profanity, mods used, mod settings, etc). To enforce their game standards, they have a couple of tools (WAB, RCON, Punkbuster, personal presence etc) with which to "police" and moderate their server, I stress their. As players, we have two obligations: 1) play nice according to their rules and 2) if you don't like the rules, then leave and find another server more to your liking.

 

So what does this mean to the tweaker? Each server admin will set the range of "acceptable" CVAR values for their server and use Punkbuster to control observation of the limits. Players are allowed to modify CVAR values within those limits, but no more. Tweakers who find the stated limits unacceptable, simply get to find another server. Cheating? Hardly - it's just a matter of knowing the rules and exercising your choice to accept them or not - on a server by server basis.

 

OK, so what does each CVAR do?

Here's a quick and dirty guide. I've classified a couple of the most common CVARs according to what they do for you:

Increase FPS

CVARs such as the following increase FPS by drawing less of the intended map or less objects (the less you have to draw, the faster your rates). Weaker computers can get a needed boost by eliminating unncessarily drawn items:

 

r_picmip (default 1) [high picmip alone eliminates tree limbs]

r_picmip2 (default 2)

r_mode (default 3) [changes screen resolution]

r_rmse (default 0) [note]

r_subdivisions (default 0) [adjusts the granularity of faces drawn in curved surfaces]

r_lodbias (default 0) [adjusts level of detail]

r_texturebits (default 16 or 32)

r_colorbits (default 16 or 32)

r_dynamiclights (default 1) [can be turned on and off from the in-game menu]

cg_marktime (default 1250) [can be turned on and off from the in-game menu]

cg_brassTime (default 1250) [can be turned on and off from the in-game menu]

cg_gibs (default 1)

cg_drawgun (default 1) [can be turned on and off from the in-game menu]

cg_shadows (default 1)

cg_simpleitems (default 0) [causes 3d items to be rendered as 2d stencils]

 

 

Now there are some Cvar's that allow a person to remove Map elements. many of these are restricted by the leagues and most servers simply because they remove elements that were not intended to be removed:

 

r_uifullscreen 1 (default 0) [will remove fog on some maps. However on tram and some custom maps, which use fogclipping, it won't be useful. test it and you will see why]

r_fastsky (default 0) [can be turned on and off from the in-game menu, also improves FPS]

r_drawsun (default 1) [can be turned on and off from the in-game menu]

cg_wolfparticles (default 1) [can be turned on and off from the in-game menu, also improves FPS]

 

Now these below will increase brightness and help eliminate shadows. Sometime older monitors are very dark and some tweaking of visual CVARs can help make the game playable.

 

r_gamma (default 1.3 - in game max value 2.0)

r_intensity (default 1)

r_mapoverbrightbits (default 2)

r_overbrightbits (default 1)

r_vertexlight (default 0)

 

A good rule of thumb, if you are hopping on an unknown server, is to ensure that more restrictive settings (I use the Evenbalance config limits) would load no matter what so as to avoid punkbuster warnings before I could check the restrictions. Then, check the punkbuster limits of that server, using the pb_cvarlist command and then if you can use higher settings, press a key that would toggle between my pub and competition settings (look at my scripting section to see how you can set this up as a script and a bind). Each time I changed settings, the game would do a vid_restart (video restart) to make them take effect.

 

Other Cvars and the max and Min(credit to Daredevil) :

 

cg_bobpitch in 0 0.002

cg_bobup in 0 0.005

cg_fov in 90 120

cg_thirdperson in 0

cl_maxpackets in 30 100

cl_timenudge in -20 0

com_maxfps out 0.000001 43

com_maxfps out 251 1000

m_pitch out -0.011 0.011

r_flares in 0 1

r_intensity in 0 2

r_mapoverbrightbits in 0 3

r_overbrightbits in 0 2

r_picmip in 0 3

rate in 4000 45000

snaps in 20 40

r_allowextensions IN 1

r_drawentities IN 1

r_drawworld IN 1

r_ext_texture_filter_anisotropic IN 0

r_nv_fogdist_mode INCLUDE NV

r_primitives IN 0 2

r_showmodelbounds IN 0

r_showtris IN 0

r_znear IN 3

Edited March 30, 2018 by Fearless Staff

[daredevil]

This tutorial need some fixes.

 

We/all present PB streaming server use this as their cvar value check. These are recommended cvar check from PBBANS.

 

 cg_bobpitch in 0 0.002
cg_bobup in 0 0.005
cg_fov in 90 120
cg_shadows in 0 1
cg_thirdperson in 0
cl_maxpackets in 30 100
cl_timenudge in -20 0
com_maxfps out 0.000001 43
com_maxfps out 251 1000
m_pitch out -0.011 0.011
r_flares in 0 1
r_gamma in 0 3
r_intensity in 0 2
r_mapoverbrightbits in 0 3
r_overbrightbits in 0 2
r_picmip in 0 3
rate in 4000 45000
snaps in 20 40
r_allowextensions IN 1
r_drawentities IN 1
r_drawworld IN 1
r_ext_texture_filter_anisotropic IN 0
r_nv_fogdist_mode INCLUDE NV
r_primitives IN 0 2
r_showmodelbounds IN 0
r_showtris IN 0
r_znear IN 3

 

You need to fix your toturial since gamma more then 3 is not allowed and same goes for another cvars.

 

Thanks for posting all together.