Call of Duty 2 Tweak Guide

[Page 7] Advanced Tweaking



There are three main ways in which you can apply advanced tweaks in Call of Duty 2. These are the Command Console (or simply Console for short), using Config files, or in the Target box of the Call of Duty 2 launch icon. These are each covered in detail below. Please read these instructions carefully if you want to apply COD 2's advanced tweaks. Note that where differences apply between Singleplayer and Multiplayer, they will be noted - otherwise they work the same way:


Click to enlarge

Command Console


Call of Duty 2 allows us to get into some advanced tweaking, because the game's command console is easily accessible, and a wide range of commands can be brought up and used to further refine the game. To access the console, under the Options screen go to Game Settings and make sure the 'Enable Console' setting is set to Yes. Now you can access the console at any time by pressing the '~' key (the key above ESC) to open and close it. To get the expanded console, press the SHIFT key and ~ key together (SHIFT+~). The expanded console is particularly useful for seeing the output of your commands, system warnings, errors, etc.


The console is the main place to input a range of Development Variables (dvars) as well as Commands, which do everything from change the way certain objects behave in the game, through to controlling all aspects of the game's graphics, audio and control settings. Note that although technically there is a difference between a command and a dvar, I generally refer to all of these as 'commands' in this guide for the sake of convenience. See the Commands section on the next page to see a list of useful commands along with descriptions of their functionality. If you simply type the first few characters of a command into the console, it will provide you with a list to choose from. For example, type "cg_" (without quotes) into the console and all the commands starting with cg_ will be shown. Typing further characters of a command's name will provide you with the full command and its current and default settings. Note that the default settings will differ on various systems depending on your hardware.


Multiplayer Note: To use console commands during multiplayer, you must place a "/" (without quotes) in front of the command. For example, the command cg_showfps must be typed as /cg_showfps to work in multiplayer, otherwise any text you type into the console will simply be shown as chat text on the screen and not implemented.


Config Files


Config.cfg, Config_mp.cfg


Another way of using commands is to edit the game's .cfg (config) files. The main config files for Call of Duty 2 are called config.cfg and config_mp.cfg, and are stored in your Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\players\[Profilename] directory. These file can be opened and edited with any text editor, although it is best to use Windows Wordpad to edit these .cfg files, as they may not appear in an easy to read/edit format in other text editors such as Notepad. These files store your main game settings, such as your key configurations, graphics and audio settings, etc. Config.cfg holds your singleplayer settings, while config_mp.cfg holds your separate multiplayer settings. They are the main configuration file used by Call of Duty 2 each time it launches the game in singleplayer or multiplayer mode, so before editing either of these files make sure to create backups.


Generally, editing the config.cfg and/or config_mp.cfg file is not wise because most of the changes will be overwritten the next time the game is launched, or if you change the game's settings in the in-game menus. If necessary, you can make the config.cfg/config_mp.cfg file read-only to prevent the changes being overwritten, but this is not recommended. It is much better to store your custom commands in another .cfg file and have Call of Duty 2 execute this file each time it launches. The common filename given to this custom config file is autoexec.cfg, but you can give it any name you like as long as it ends with .cfg.


Autoexec.cfg


Create a new text file in your \Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main directory, and rename it to autoexec.cfg (not autoexec.cfg.txt). Now you can add custom commands and key bindings to this file, and they will not be overwritten or altered by the game engine. However, unlike most games using .cfg files, Call of Duty 2 doesn't automatically run the autoexec.cfg file, regardless of where it is placed in the COD 2 directory structure. So to have it run automatically each time you launch COD 2, you must place it in the directory above, and you will need to add "+exec autoexec.cfg" (without quotes) to your relevant COD 2's launch icon Target box (See Command Line/Target Box below). This works for either multiplayer or singleplayer. In fact you may want to have separate autoexec_sp.cfg and autoexec_mp.cfg files, and execute the relevant one when launching singleplayer or multiplayer.


Note that some of the commands you add to autoexec.cfg will be added to the main config.cfg/config_mp.cfg file by the game when it executes them. If you want to undo any of your custom commands, just removing them from autoexec.cfg may not work. You might have to manually reset the setting to its original or default value in the game console. To see any command's default value, just type the name of the command in the console without anything else and its current and default values will be shown.


Command Line/Target Box


Another place to enter command is in your Call of Duty 2 launch icon's Target box. You can access this by going to the desktop icon you use to launch COD2, right-clicking on it and selecting Properties, then in the properties box which opens, look at the 'Target' box. You should see something like this (the value shown below is for launching singleplayer COD2):


"C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\CoD2SP_s.exe"


Your path may vary, depending on where you installed the game - that's fine, don't edit the path text inside the quotes; add commands at the end of this line to force Call of Duty 2 to do various things at launch. All you need to do is insert a space to separate each command, and insert the words +set in front of the command. For example, to skip the startup movies (com_introplayed 1) and automatically execute a custom .cfg file (exec autoexec.cfg) the target box should look similar to this:


"C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\CoD2SP_s.exe" +set com_introplayed 1 +exec autoexec.cfg


Note that the first command lies outside the quote marks ("") and is one space away from the last " mark. For each additional command, make sure there is a single space between it and the previous character in the box. Most commands can be inserted into the Target box in this way, however this is best used for options which need to be implemented at launch time for the game, such as removing the intro movie, setting memory sizes, altering resolutions, etc. Also keep in mind that if you want to apply custom tweaks to COD 2 multiplayer, you need to do the same thing for the COD 2 Multiplayer launch icon.


Cheat Mode


Some commands are considered cheats, and as such can't be used during Multiplayer gameplay, or even in normal Singleplayer mode. Aside from the usual God and Noclip type of cheats, certain commands such as fx_enable and cg_drawgun which affect performance by removing certain special effects are also considered cheats. Therefore you should only try them in single player mode, and only after enabling cheat mode by doing the following:


Enabling Cheat Mode: Enter the game menu screen - cheat mode can't be enabled while playing. In the menu, open your console by pressing ~ (or SHIFT + ~), and then type seta thereisacow 1337 and press Return. Then type spdevmap [mapname] and press Return (e.g. spdevmap eldaba). The specified map level will load up, and you can now enter cheat commands in the console and they will work during gameplay.


I don't have a full list of mapnames you can use to jump to various levels in cheat mode, but some examples include: demolition, eldaba, elalamein, libya, moscow, rhine, and toujane. Keep in mind that commands designated with the (cheat) tag in the Command List on the next page can only be run in cheat mode, and should not be run on a Multiplayer server unless the server specifies that it is "cheat enabled".



The next page starts the listing and full descriptions of the major commands for Call of Duty 2.