Best CS:GO Launch Options [FPS & Gameplay]

WHY ARE STEAM LAUNCH OPTIONS USEFUL?

They allow you to adjust the game so it launches in a certain way such as without the intro video or with a specific resolution. There’s a lot more to these of course including the ability to play CSGO in a different language to what your Steam Client uses and even turn on low violence mode if you wish.
Making this change might not sound significant but for some players, these adjustments could mean the ability to play with the highest FPS possible.

Using CS:GO Launch Options isn’t just something for people who have performance issues, they can also improve the overall experience. Removing the starting video allows players to start games faster and there’s also a way to get the game to clear all custom settings to return to the default.

HOW TO IMPLEMENT CSGO STEAM LAUNCH CODES TO YOUR GAME

Inputting Launch Options is quite simple. Just go to Steam, right-click the game you want to add a command to then click properties to open a new box. After this, you can click the “Set Launch Options” button to start entering commands.

Here’s a full step-by-step guide of how to implement CS:GO Launch Options Commands:
Open Steam
Go to the Library and right-click on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Select Properties
Click the “Launch Options” button on the General page
This opens another smaller single-line box for inputting codes.
Input the codes you want then click “ok”

There are some simple rules for setting CS:GO Launch Options to Steam which are important to follow otherwise the options won’t work. These rules are the same for all games on Steam. They’re standard for all Launch Options on Steam so remembering these rules is vital. No matter if you type codes in yourself or copy-paste them from articles.
Start commands using a – or +
Don’t use quotes around the commands like this “-nojoy”
Use a single space to separate commands

WHAT ARE THE BEST CSGO LAUNCH OPTIONS?

When it comes to CSGO, there’s a wide variety of codes that can be used with the game but not all the Steam Launch options are that useful. These are the best CSGO Launch options that we have put together regarding the general aspect of the game and not just FPS wise.

-novid -tickrate 128 -high -threads 6 +fps_max 0 +cl_interp 0 +cl_interp_ratio 1 +rate 128000 +cl_updaterate 128 +cl_cmdrate 128 +mat_queue_mode 2 -freq 144 -refresh 144 -d3d9ex -nojoy
This means that the codes we have listed here might not be the “best” codes for you but in a general sense, these are very useful codes all players can use. There are a lot of more launch options that can also be helpful like the ones listed down below:

-CONSOLE
This Launch Option will make the game start with the Console Command box already open and ready to use. If you’re looking to test a variety of different commands to change then having the Console Command box open at launch is incredibly useful.

-console
This is also true if you intend to launch maps like this as well. This comes really handy if you want to customize your crosshair or your viewmodel or if you want to use sv_cheats to have fun in custom games.

-NOVID
This one causes the game to skip the Valve/Counter Strike Global Offensive intro video at the start of the game when loading it up.

-novid
While useful for people who just want to go straight into the game as fast as possible, this also could have performance benefits for some players. So there are two benefits to using this and is one that everyone should be using.

-TICKRATE 128
This command sets the tick rate of any server or single-player game that you run from your client to that specific number. You can change the 128 if you wish to another number such as 100 or 60 and this command still works.

-tickrate 128
The number at the end if just the number that the tick rate is being set to. Setting the tick rate to 128 is considered to be the best. The tick rate means how often you receive updates from the server per second so setting this to 128 gives you 128 updates per second. This makes the game more accurate and so the game will register things more.

-HIGH
Using the High command forces the CSGO process to run at High Priority on your computer so that anything else open is given a lower priority rating. This can help improve performance if you find that other processes are draining the resources of your computer.

-high
It can be used with a variety of games including CSGO and means that anything else running in the background will be taking up less processing power. It’s handy for people with performance issues playing or if they have issues while having streaming or recording software open too. Most players will find this useful even if they can’t see the effects of it visually.

-THREADS <NUMBER OF CORES/THREADS>
To use this you would type “-threads 4” as an example which would then forces Counter Strike Global Offensive to use four CPU cores. This is something that would be used for games that don’t use CPU cores or threads very well but can be used for CSGO as well.

-threads <number of cores/threads>
Keep in mind however that this can cause instability and other performance problems. So while this might improve performance for some players, it could also make the issues worse.

-REFRESH <RATE> / -REFRESHRATE <RATE> / -FREQ <RATE
These three commands might look like different things but these are all for the same thing. It refers to the refresh rate of your client which is how many times per second your monitor will update the image on the screen.

-refresh <rate> / -refreshrate <rate> / -freq <rate>
This depends on your monitor, if it’s a 60hz monitor then the refresh rate should be put to 60 while a 144hz monitor should have a 144 refresh rate.
+CL_FORCEPRELOAD 1
This one is not a Steam Launch Option but is commonly mislabeled as one so we’ve included it here. It’s a Console Command line to be entered into the console instead.

+cl_forcepreload 1
hat this is doing is forcing your client to preload models before getting into a game. This can also increase performance by giving your computer less to do once the game has started.
-NOBORDER
If you like to play in windowed mode then this CSGO Steam Launch Option will be very useful for you.

-noborder
It removed the border around the game in Windowed Mode which means no Windows UI is displaying the close and minimize options.
-NOD3D9EX
This strange jumble of letters and numbers is not something someone has just made up to confuse CSGO players. It disables Direct X 9Ex which results in fast alt+tabs for getting out of the game and doing something else while waiting for a match to start.

-nod3d9ex / -disable_d3d9ex
If you’re someone who likes to tab out of the game a lot then consider adding this Launch Option to Counter Strike Global Offensive as it will drastically improve your overall gameplay experience here. Both of these command options should have the same response but give them both a try separately and see if you notice any difference between them.

-FORCENOVSYNC
VSync is common in games but often causes more problems than it solves. It can also be turned off in the CSGO graphics settings which means there’s no need to use this Launch Option.

-forcenovsync
If you see this option anywhere, you don’t need it if you already turned this off in your graphics settings.

OTHER USEFUL CSGO LAUNCH OPTIONS

While the above ones are the best overall, there are many other options which can work brilliantly in CSGO. There are also some which are more situational according to your personal preferences with the game.

These are the type of CS:GO Launch Options we’ll be taking a look at for this next section:

+FPS_MAX 0 /FPS_MAX 0
This is another Console Command but it can also be used as a Launch Option which is why you might also see this included on lists for Console Commands. This command removes the FPS cap from CSGO which is enabled by default. Removing this FPS cap means you can go above 300 FPS which is the usual cap for this game. It also results in faster map loading times.

+fps_max 0 /fps_max 0
While some players will find this very useful, it is worth keeping in mind that some players report screen tears or some visual issues if their FPS goes too high. If you’re someone who has bad FPS spike or drops then you might want to consider placing an FPS cap then editing it to find your sweet spot.

Setting the number to 0 removes the FPS cap but you can also set this to 150 FPS or higher if you wish.

-NOJOY
This Steam Launch Option will remove joystick support from the game which is something most PC gamers don’t need or want. Removing this can free up RAM which can also give a performance a boost if you’re having issues.

-nojoy
This is one of the Launch Options that doesn’t always have a visual effect that most players can notice. It’s more of a long-term benefit that works quietly in the background.

-LANGUAGE ENGLISH
If you’re someone who wants your Steam client to be one language and then your games in another, this is a very useful Launch Option to know about.

-language English
It works for almost any game and not just CSGO. Using this allows you to set the in-game language to whatever one you choose (if the game supports it) which means you can set the game to English, French, Russian, German or any other language CSGO supports.

OTHER RESOLUTION OPTIONS

We mentioned the -noborder command earlier for Windowed mode but other launch options can be used for CSGO. If you’re only looking for adjustments related to the resolution of the game screen then these are perfect. They depend on how happy you are with the game at the moment and if any of them could benefit you. So don’t expect to find these useful unless these are what you’re already looking to get from this guide!

-FULLSCREEN
-fullscreen
If you’re someone who only wants the game to load in fullscreen but the game is being fussy or having issues after an update, this will fix it. Adding this to the “set Launch Options” Section forces the game to always launch in fullscreen mode. It’s not a necessary thing and most players who prefer this mode will never need to use this.

-WINDOWED
For players who like Counter Strike in a window, this is a good command. It forces the game to launch in windowed mode. There are different reasons why a player would want to use this but the most critical of them is the ability to then edit the width, height and position on the screen. Using the Windowed Launch Option gives you some extra freedom for further customization then.

-windowed
-W+X VALUE -H+Y VALUE
These two Steam Launch Options control the width and height of your windowed game which lets you make the window as small or large as you desire. It’s great for making it almost as large at your monitor screen or making it smaller so you can have something else open on your screen as well.

-w value -h value
These two parts of a Launch Option combination control the positioning of the game window on the screen. It will take some time to get this right depending on how you decide you want the window to be positioned. If you want it to take up the whole window and sit in the middle of the screen then this is much more simple to do.

This is a time-consuming task to get right if you want the window to do something different such as sit on the left side of the screen only.

It’s a trial and error thing that can feel very worthwhile for the people who only want the window to show in a certain way.

-x value -y value
It is also possible to do this for the windowed mode in a config file for the game. So there are other options if this seems too daunting. For windowed mode at full screen then you would select “fullscreen windowed” in your CSGO settings but for further editing, you may want to use the above Steam Launch Options.

-SOFTPARTICLESDEFAULTOFF
One other potentially important Steam Launch Command for CSGO can boost FPS at the cost of graphics quality:

-softparticlesdefaultoff
This causes the game to make particles be rendered without any feathering to add depth blending. It can give an FPS boost but this does decrease the overall graphics quality of Counter Strike. If you have serious FPS issues and are doing everything possible to fix this then using this in the Steam Launch Options for CSGO should give you a boost as well.

It’s not a necessary thing for everyone but if you have FPS problems it’s worth testing this one.

WHAT ARE THE BEST LAUNCH OPTIONS TO INCREASE FPS?

There are different FPS boost options available and for Launch Options, you can tweak them as much as you want to get the result you’re looking for. These are some of the top CSGO best Launch Options to increase FPS in the game.

Start commands using a – or +
Don’t use quotes around the commands like this “-nojoy”
Use a single space to separate commands
+fps_max 0 +cl_showfps 1 -high -novid -nojoy +cl_forcepreload 1 -nojoy -freq 144 -refresh 144 +r_dynamic 0 -threads 10 +cl_interp_ratio 1 -tickrate 128 +cl_interp 0 +rate 128000 +cl_updaterate 128 +cl_cmdrate 128 +mat_queue_mode 2
An important thing to remember is that using lots of launch options at once isn’t a great idea. Doing this makes it hard to know where the problem is if one of them doesn’t work or causes your game more problems. So while you definitely can copy and paste the above line of Launch Options, it’s a better idea to introduce them slowly.

These might be the best CS:GO Launch Options to increase FPS but this isn’t always the case for all computers.