COMMON FIXES - BEGINNER GUIDE

Hi everyone!

Ever since W:ET was moved to Steam, it is having it's renaissance, involving more and more new people. And since these are the typical, reoccuring questions in pretty much every match, I thought I would cobble toggether a little guide about how to set up this almost-20-years old game to today's standards.

You've most probably already seen that you can create an autoexec.cfg file, which will automatically run the commands in it when you start the game. It is important to note, that when in-game, you need to use the / symbol (slash symbol) when typing a command, but when you write it in an autoexec.cfg file you use the word seta instead of / . Don't worry, it will become clear once you made your first changes in the game.

So let's get going.
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CREATING THE AUTOEXEC.CFG FILE

First, you need to create a file, that the game (et.exe) will read every time you run it. It is called autoexec.cfg. Go to [...]\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Wolfenstein Enemy Territory\etmain and create a new file (preferably a simple .txt file), and name it autoexec.cfg . You need to change the file extension manually. I'll assume you already know how to do this - otherwise just google "change file extension in Windows" or something.

After that you can just open that .cfg file with notepad (or notepad++, or anything you like). I personally prefer not to associate .cfg with notepad, so I unselect the associate option every time I open the autoexec.cfg file.

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NOW ON TO THE COMMANDS

These are some of the commands I personally use, and I advise beginners to use as well. Below I will post a link of all the available commands, so you can check out what other parameters you can change - though keep in mind, many of them are already available in-game, through the Options menu.

As I mention above, I use the word seta to tell the game to "run this command". Also, make sure to leave an empty enter (an empty line) after the last command.

seta r_mode -1
seta r_customwidth "2560"
seta r_customheight "1440"
seta r_customaspect 1
seta r_primitives "2"
seta com_maxfps 125
seta cl_wwwDownload "1"
seta com_hunkmegs 512
seta com_soundmegs 128
seta com_zonemegs 128
seta b_chatFlags "1"
seta cg_teamChatHeight "15"
seta cg_teamChatTime "50000"
seta cg_fov "105"


So, the first couple of commands is to let you set the resolution to a custom number, let you provide the exact width-height resolution, and also to let you change the aspect ratio. The menu will always appear streched, but hey, the game is old, it was developed with 4:3 in mind, - once you are in a match, 16:9 will work correctly, don't worry. If you are using an 1080p monitor, you obviously need to change r_customwidth 1920 and r_customheight 1080 .

The next one, com_maxfps is obviously for setting up the FPS limit. When setting this up, keep in mind you monitor's refresh rate. It's pointless to enter 500 fps, you're not gonna gain any benefits. I personally have a 144Hz monitor, but I usually leave it between 125 and 150.

The next cl_wwwDownload is for allowing HTTP downloads. The reason I leave this in is just in case your game's internet-option is set up incorrectly. 20 years ago, when this game came out, changing to DSL / LAN / Cable / Modem / HTTP might made sense - not so much nowadays. Changing this to 1 (enabled) will ensure the fastest downloadspeed from the internet (for maps, mods, etc).

The next ones, the "megs" are for allowing the game to use up more RAM for certain things, such as the actual level, the maximum, overall number of sounds, and max textures loaded in. By default, these are something like 56 / 24 / 24 MBs, and the game runs just fine, so setting it to 512 / 128 / 128 is a bit of an overkill, but it might be useful for a custom map that is extremely RAM-hungry (tho' most custom maps are fin with the default value - again, this is a 20 y.o. game)

The next 3 are for the chat. I always find it useful to make the chat more visible, so you can actually read what other people write - even if you are currently in the middle of a fight. b_chatFlags 1 is for showing faction flags (Axis - Allies) in chat. cg_teamChatHeight is for how many rows are shown of the chat. cg_teamChatTime is the fade-out time, after a line of text disappears.

The last one is for the Field of View (FoV). The cg_fov by default is 90. If you have a bigger monitor, you might wanna set this just a tiny bit higher. I believe the max is 120, but I think around 100-110 is more than enough.

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USEFUL STUFF, AND THE COMMAND CONSOLE

You can make changes in-game too! By default, the button below Esc, left to the number 1 button (~ on the English keyboard) is used for showing the command console.

When using the command console, you need to put a / symbol (slash symbol) before the actual command. For example /com_maxfps 155
Obviously, here you don't need to use the seta word - that one is only for the autoexec.cfg file.

You can re-bind keys, including the console's key, for example /bind X "toggleConsole" (for setting the letter x to opening it) however, I found it rather buggy, and doesn't work properly. If you messed this up (or another command+key combo) just use / unbind X "toggleConsole" and it will unbind it. This was an example.

If you are making changes to video or graphical settings, or messed up the aspect ratio, screen size, etc. or cannot go 16:9 after Alt+Enter-ing use this: /vid_restart
This will restart the rendering engine (restart the "graphics"), and this will probably solve your problem. ALT+TAB DOES NOT WORK! You might want to use Alt + Enter instead, or use a minimizer addon (or ET Legacy).

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MORE COMMANDS

Here you can find more commands. Checking out forums of Quake 3 engine might also be a good idea, as W:ET uses the same engine.

https://antman.info/wolf/cvar/

So that's it!
Let me know if you have any questions!

And I'm also asking veterans to help me out, and recommend me other commands to include in this list, or to help out new players setting up their game properly.

Bye!

***Frag like it's 2004 all over again!!***

#1

[Red Sun in the Sky]

Where to download the mods to join the server?

[Juunås42]

@Max Stirner
Linux users can use the Steam version of ET using Proton (check ProtonDB website). Another option is to use ET: Legacy. Either install the Flatpak (check ET: Legacy website) or a package (if your Linux distribution has it packaged). For example, Arch Linux has AUR package for it. Keep in mind that you want the 32-bit (sometimes called "multilib") version of ET Legacy, so you can play mods.

[Frieseke]

what about linux users?

[xSHXDEx]

Or you could just install ETLegacy, which fixes pretty much all of this

[Sampsy]

Is there anything else needed to get autoexec.cfg to run on startup? Mine doesn;t.

[GMan]

I can't boot it after doing this I get the following error: GL_StartOpenGL () - Could not load OpenGL Subsystem.

[Paper Angel]

I still get framerate dips down into the 20s with this.

[::OG:: Whiskey]

Many thanks!