[2021 REMASTER] Setting up an autoexec.cfg for maximum control

I'll go through how to set up an autoexec to clean up the game and streamline controls.

VIDEO SHOWCASE

MY PERSONAL AUTOEXEC

My personal autoexec can be found here.

https://pastebin.com/eECv7yaW

REFERENCE MATERIAL

• A list of all the available commands and a description can be found here: https://steamlists.com/quake-kex-enhanced-cvar-and-command-list-guide/
  
• Your settings are saved to the file: C:\Users\[USERNAME]\Saved Games\Nightdive Studios\Quake\kexengine.cfg

CREATING A CFG FILE

To get started, you want to set up a config file to be read on startup.
It's the same as using the in-game console.

• Navigate to your Enhanced Edition directory steamapps\common\Quake\rerelease
  
• Create a blank text, name it autoexec.cfg
  
• In your Steam Library, right click Quake > Properties > General
  
• Under Launch Options, add "+exec autoexec.cfg" without quotes.

IMPORTANT STARTUP COMMANDS

//Set which graphics driver API to use
seta r_rhirenderfamily "vulkan";	//Selects Vulcan rendering
//seta r_rhirenderfamily "d3d11";	//Selects D3D rendering

//Remove visual junk
g_showintromovie	0;		//Play intro movies on startup
r_gpuCulling		0;		//Enables compute shader to backface cull triangles in world (better performance in Dimension of the Machine)
scr_polyblend		0;		//Enables screen flashes (powerups, damage, pickups, etc)
r_crtmode		0;		//Enables CRT emulation (Quake 64 only)
r_wateralpha		0.2;		//Sets alpha for all water surfaces
r_telealpha		0.2;		//Sets alpha for all teleport surfaces
r_slimealpha		0.2;		//Sets alpha for all slime surfaces
r_lavaalpha		0.2;		//Sets alpha for all lava surfaces
cl_backspeed		400;		//Fix backpedal speed

//Interpolation
cl_interpolation	1;		//Enables interpolation (for high FPS and 144hz)
cl_movelerping		1;		//Interpolates move stepping for certain entities
cl_animlerping		1;		//Interpolates alias model animations

//Base URL for the addons directory
//ui_addonsBaseURL https://d13lkw7j6mfai6.cloudfront.net/;	//Default
ui_addonsBaseURL https://q1-rerelease-addons.herokuapp.com/;	//Clan Arena addon

KEY NAMES

The key names are unintuitive and differs from other source ports/engines.
If you need to find out the name of a key, check kexengine.cfg.
kexengine.cfg will update whenever your settings are saved and will display the names of keys bound.

The mouse buttons are named:

mouse_left
mouse_right
mouse_middle
mouse_wheel_up
mouse_wheel_down
mouse_misc1
mouse_misc2

The "[" and "]" keys are named:

right_brack
left_brack

BINDING KEYS TO TOGGLE / HOLD

STANDARD BINDING:
if you wanted to bind middle mouse click to switch to your axe, you would add the following to your autoexec.cfg:

unbindkey [KEY];
bind [KEY] "Command";

TOGGLE BINDING:
Bind the key to a root alias, and within each child alias, rebind the root to the next child in the sequence.

unbindkey [KEY];
bind [KEY] "toggleAlias";
alias toggleAlias "toggleAlias1";
alias toggleAlias1 "Command 1;alias toggleAlias toggleAlias0";
alias toggleAlias0 "Command 2;alias toggleAlias toggleAlias1";

HOLD BINDING:
Historically, this was as simple as binding the key to a "+" alias and setting up "+" and "-" aliases for press and release respectively.
In KEX, the behaviour is different and a bit unintuitive. We need to bind the key within the binding, and unbind the release.

unbindkey [KEY];
bind [KEY] "bind [KEY] "+holdAlias";unbind KEY "-holdAlias"";
alias +holdAlias "Command run when key [KEY] is held";
alias -holdAlias "Command run when key [KEY] is released";

WEAPON COMMANDS

The weapon commands in KEX also differs from how it was done historically.
Instead of using impulse commands, we have a specialized command, "switchweapon."

DEFAULT QUAKE

switchweapon 7		//Axe
switchweapon 0		//Shotgun
switchweapon 1		//Super Shotgun
switchweapon 2		//Nailgun
switchweapon 3		//Super Nailgun
switchweapon 4		//Grenade Launcher
switchweapon 5		//Rocket Launcher
switchweapon 6		//Thunderbolt

SCOURGE OF ARMAGON

switchweapon 0;		//Shotgun
switchweapon 1;		//Super Shotgun
switchweapon 2;		//Nailgun
switchweapon 3;		//Super Nailgun
switchweapon 4;		//Grenade Launcher
switchweapon 5;		//Rocket Launcher
switchweapon 6;		//Thunderbolt
switchweapon 7;		//Laser Rifle
switchweapon 8;		//Mjolnir
switchweapon 9;		//Proximity Launcher
switchweapon 10;	//Axe

DISSOLUTION OF ETERNITY

switchweapon 0;		//Shotgun
switchweapon 1;		//Super Shotgun
switchweapon 2;		//Nailgun
switchweapon 3;		//Lava Nailgun
switchweapon 4;		//Super Nailgun
switchweapon 5;		//Lava Super Nailgun
switchweapon 6;		//Grenade Launcher
switchweapon 7;		//Multi Grenade Launcher
switchweapon 8;		//Rocket Launcher
switchweapon 9;		//Multi Rocket Launcher
switchweapon 10;	//Thunderbolt
switchweapon 11;	//Plasma Gun
switchweapon 12;	//Axe

PROPER WEAPON GROUPING:
You can set up multiple weapons to one binding, and running the command will cycle through the weapons listed.

SWITCHWEAPON WARNING:
- SwitchWeapon will get stuck if a weapon on the list is out of ammo.
- Best practice is to use with shared ammo types.
- Running an invalid weapon will result in an error prompt (Not a crash, click "Continue" to return to the game).

For best results, group based on ammo type. These are the bindings for each release:

Default

switchweapon 7;		//Melee
switchweapon 1 0;	//Shells
switchweapon 3 2;	//Nails
switchweapon 5 4;	//Grenades
switchweapon 6;		//Cells

Scourge of Armagon

switchweapon 8 10;	//Melee
switchweapon 1 0;	//Shells
switchweapon 3 2;	//Nails
switchweapon 5 4 9;	//Grenades
switchweapon 7 6;	//Cells

Dissolution of Eternity

switchweapon 12;	//Melee
switchweapon 1 0;	//Shells
switchweapon 5 3 4 2;	//Nails
switchweapon 9 7 8 6;	//Grenades
switchweapon 10 11;	//Cells

EXAMPLE AUTOEXEC

So, if you wanted to bind all of your weapon switching to your mouse, and set the [ and ] keys to cycle the releases,
with the added bonus of binding your right mouse button to a 1.5x zoom, you would do the following:

///////////
//WEAPONS//
///////////

//Launch with default states
zoom0;		//Zoom
weaponsDEF;	//Weapon set

//Reset Weapon States (in case we want to change up the HUD or anything)
alias resetWeaponStates "zoom0";

//Bindings: Weapon Switch
unbindkey mouse_wheel_up;
	bind mouse_wheel_up "NG";
unbindkey mouse_wheel_down;
	bind mouse_wheel_down "SG";
unbindkey mouse_middle;
	bind mouse_middle "RL";
unbindkey mouse_misc1;
	bind mouse_misc1 "LG";
unbindkey mouse_misc2;
	bind mouse_misc2 "AX";
	
//Weapon set: Select Previous
unbindkey left_brack;
	bind left_brack "weaponSetPrev";
alias weaponSetPrev "weaponSetPrev1";
	alias weaponSetPrev1 "alias weaponSetPrev weaponSetPrev3;alias weaponSetNext weaponSetNext2;weaponsDEF";
	alias weaponSetPrev2 "alias weaponSetPrev weaponSetPrev1;alias weaponSetNext weaponSetNext3;weaponsSOA";
	alias weaponSetPrev3 "alias weaponSetPrev weaponSetPrev2;alias weaponSetNext weaponSetNext1;weaponsDOE";

//Weapon set: Select Next
unbindkey right_brack;
	bind right_brack "weaponSetNext";
alias weaponSetNext "weaponSetNext1";
	alias weaponSetNext1 "alias weaponSetPrev weaponSetPrev3;alias weaponSetNext weaponSetNext2;weaponsDEF";
	alias weaponSetNext2 "alias weaponSetPrev weaponSetPrev1;alias weaponSetNext weaponSetNext3;weaponsSOA";
	alias weaponSetNext3 "alias weaponSetPrev weaponSetPrev2;alias weaponSetNext weaponSetNext1;weaponsDOE";

//Weapon set: Default
alias weaponsDEF "alias SG "defSG";alias NG "defNG";alias RL "defRL";alias LG "defLG";alias AX "defAX";Weapon_Set_DEFAULT";
	alias defAX "resetWeaponStates;switchweapon 7";		//AXE
	alias defSG "resetWeaponStates;switchweapon 1 0";	//SSG / SG
	alias defNG "resetWeaponStates;switchweapon 3 2";	//SNG/ NG
	alias defRL "resetWeaponStates;switchweapon 5 4";	//RL / GL
	alias defLG "resetWeaponStates;switchweapon 6";		//LG

//Weapon set: Scourge of Armagon
alias weaponsSOA "alias SG "soaSG";alias NG "soaNG";alias RL "soaRL";alias LG "soaLG";alias AX "soaAX";Weapon_Set_SCOURGE_OF_ARMAGON";
	alias soaAX "resetWeaponStates;switchweapon 8 10";	//AXE / HAM
	alias soaSG "resetWeaponStates;switchweapon 1 0";	//SSG / SG
	alias soaNG "resetWeaponStates;switchweapon 3 2";	//SNG / NG
	alias soaRL "resetWeaponStates;switchweapon 5 4 9";	//RL / GL / PL
	alias soaLG "resetWeaponStates;switchweapon 6 7";	//LG / LR

//Weapon set: Dissolution of Eternity
alias weaponsDOE "alias SG "doeSG";alias NG "doeNG";alias RL "doeRL";alias LG "doeLG";alias AX "doeAX";Weapon_Set_DISSOLUTION_OF_ETERNITY";
	alias doeAX "resetWeaponStates;switchweapon 12";	//AXE
	alias doeSG "resetWeaponStates;switchweapon 1 0";	//SSG / SG
	alias doeNG "resetWeaponStates;switchweapon 5 3 4 2";	//LSNG / LNG / SNG/ NG
	alias doeRL "resetWeaponStates;switchweapon 9 7 8 6";	//MRL / MGL/ RL/ GL
	alias doeLG "resetWeaponStates;switchweapon 10 11";	//LG / PG

////////
//ZOOM//
////////

//Zoom states (assumes default FOV is 105 and default sens is 1.5)
alias zoom0 "r_drawviewmodel 1;r_fov 105;cl_sensitivity 1.5";
alias zoom1 "r_drawviewmodel 0;r_fov 70;cl_sensitivity 1";

//Zoom bindings
unbindkey mouse_right;
	//bind mouse_right "toggleZoom";
	bind mouse_right "bind mouse_right "+holdZoom";unbind mouse_right "-holdZoom"";

//Toggle zoom
alias toggleZoom "toggleZoom1";
	alias toggleZoom1 "zoom1;alias toggleZoom toggleZoom2";
	alias toggleZoom2 "zoom0;alias toggleZoom toggleZoom1";

//Hold zoom
	alias +holdZoom "zoom1";
	alias -holdZoom "zoom0";

[4sf4st4saiN]

able achieve alter asso approx available allied assault alliance / add asap

[tompa]

Finally found why. There is to many " in the alias. I deleted all but in the start and end of an alias.

Example:
alias weaponsDEF "alias SG "defSG";alias NG "defNG";alias RL "defRL";alias LG "defLG";alias AX "defAX";Weapon_Set_DEFAULT";

remove all " but the first and last one.

[tompa]

I cant get any alias to work. Commands and binds are there but the alias refuse to work. I have tripple checked everything. Frustating.

[RunForRest]

Can also confirm the intro movie skip doesnt work, rest of my cfg seems to be applied, although the console spews errormessages

[RunForRest]

Is there a way to have a proper crosshair through cfg or mods?
Crosshair overlay programs dont work since the shots hit offcenter and the default crosshair is also offcenter
*the only thing i found so far that helps is scr_screenscale 2

[levelworm]

Thanks. Not sure why but it is still showing the intro movies. I double checked the name and folder of the file. The contents were copied from this post. Any idea if Nigthdrive changed something?

[SPy109]

Great work. Would love to see some tweaking for CTF. Hook improvement...

[OMG My Profile Name Does Not Fi]

Thanks for putting all this info in one place!

[DUMFAYCE !!]

cool