Pre-Load TF2 (start before the game)

Guide for slow PCs! — It works 100%

Using certain startup parameters the Steam client, allows you to reduce the consumption of computer resources as much as possible.

This method will help you reduce the consumption of your PC resources by the Steam client.

The method works with all Steam games! Not only Source games but other games too!

Detailed info

The Steam client has special startup options that help us optimize the Steam client and make sure that the Steam client does not consume a lot of resources on your computer. For example, RAM and others.

Note:

This method also works with other Steam games.

This guide on GameBanana — Pre-Load TF2 (start before the game)[gamebanana.com]

Create a BAT file

• Create a Text Document on Desktop
  
• Rename the Text Document like: Steam.bat
  
• Next, right-click on Steam.bat — And select: Edit

In the BAT file you need to specify the path to the Steam.exe file and add these launch options to it:

For example!

C:\Steam\steam.exe -dev -console -no-dwrite -nofriendsui -nointro -nobigpicture -nofasthtml -cef-disable-xcomposite-workaround -cef-disable-renderer-restart -nocrashmonitor -cef-disable-gpu -cef-disable-occlusion -cef-disable-js-logging -cef-disable-hang-timeouts -noshaders -no-shared-textures -cef-disable-seccomp-sandbox -disablehighdpi -cef-single-process -cef-in-process-gpu -cef-disable-delaypageload -single_core -cef-disable-d3d11 -cef-disable-sandbox -disable-winh264 -no-cef-sandbox -vrdisable -cef-disable-breakpad -vrskip -skipstreamingdrivers -cef-use-shell-exec -cef-disable-gpu-compositing -browser-offline -disable-overlay-gpu-pri -compat-disable-filtering -cef-disable-site-isolation -cef-disable-touch-focus-workaround

Now save the batch file. Press: Ctrl + S or File → Save.

P. S.

You also can use Text Editors like NotePad++[notepad-plus-plus.org] or others to edit bat files.

How to find the Steam.exe path?

In the example, I pointed out: C:\Steam\steam.exe — This is my path to the Steam.exe file.

To see your path to your Steam.exe file — Second click on Steam and choose: Properties. In the properties, you will see the path to your Steam.exe file.

What do these startup options do?

[+] Disables loading additional libraries
[+] Launch the Steam Client with only one process
[+] Minimum CPU load

Start Team Fortress 2 and continue Pre-Load before the game !

Start the game and before start searching for a server to play, open your inventory and load all the pages that have game items on them. Like this:



Once you have loaded all the inventory pages that have game items on them, you can start searching.

When you run a search — Open the Mann Co. Catalog. While the game searches for the game server. Check out the catalog pages and preload game items that are missing from your inventory.

More info in the Steam Guide — Steam Console Tab:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=873543244

The library with the games does not open!

• Press: Win + R
  
• Type a command: steam://open/minigameslist
  
• Then press: Enter

Game launch options (Steam Library)

To make the game's client consume less of your computer's resources, set the game's launch options via the Steam Library.

For example: -nojoy -nointro -dev

-nojoy — Disables joystick support.
-nointro — Disables intro movies.
-dev — Developer Mode in-game.

See more on Valve Wiki:
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Command_Line_Options

Recommendations by me

1. Launch the Steam Client with the additional startup options:

-dev -console -no-dwrite -nointro -nobigpicture -nofasthtml -nocrashmonitor -cef-disable-occlusion -cef-disable-hang-timeouts -noshaders -no-shared-textures -cef-disable-seccomp-sandbox -disablehighdpi -cef-single-process -cef-in-process-gpu -single_core -cef-disable-d3d11 -cef-disable-sandbox -disable-winh264 -no-cef-sandbox -vrdisable -cef-disable-breakpad -vrskip -skipstreamingdrivers -cef-disable-occlusion -cef-disable-hang-timeouts

2. Create a BAT file in the TF2 game folder and write commands in it:

hl2.exe -game "tf" -steam -nohltv -nojoy -nobreakpad -nocrashdialog -nominidumps -nosteamcontroller -novid

3. Save the BAT file next to the hl2.exe file

Save the BAT file and put it in a directory: Steam → SteamApps → common → Team Fortres 2

4. Launch the game via BAT file from the game folder and enjoy the game.

Double click on the BAT file inside the Team Fortress 2 folder to launch the game.



The more startup options you set, the less the game will consume resources on your PC.

In-Game Settings

Random objects and details

Grass, flowers, and such things don't really have any affect on your gameplay, but it do have an affect on performance. So if you really want more fps, turn them off with these commands:

r_drawdetailprops 0
cl_detaildist 0
cl_detailfade 0

Decals

Decals control sprays, bullet holes, and explosions. Turning them off, or just limiting them, has a great performance boost. Don't forget that sprays won't appear if you turn them off, so i recommend just limiting them:

mp_decals 200
r_decals 200

Gibs and Ragdolls

These things have a very high impact on performance, especially the burning ragdolls. By turning them off it will help a lot. But i only recommend turning off the gibs because TF2 has the funniest ragdolls!

To disable gibs, use these commands:

cl_phys_props_enable 0
cl_phys_props_max 0
props_break_max_pieces 0
r_propsmaxdist 1

And to disable ragdolls, use these commands:

g_ragdoll_fadespeed 10000
g_ragdoll_lvfadespeed 10000
ragdoll_sleepaftertime 0
cl_ragdoll_fade_time 0
cl_ragdoll_forcefade 1
cl_ragdoll_physics_enable 0

Level Of Detail (LOD)

The detail level has a massive affect on your performance. The closer you are to a player, the more detail you see. If you change the quality to always see the lowest, you can increase the performance a lot:

r_lod 2
lod_TransitionDist -1

High Dynamic Range (HDR)

HDR is a big eye candy that requires a compatible setup, and monitor. But this doesn't really change much in TF2, only makes the golden wrench look like glowing cheese. So i recommend to turn it off, and save some fps:

mat_hdr_level 0

Vertical Sync (VSync)

This feature locks the fps to your monitors refresh rate, making your pc work hard as it needs to. In other games this is a great feature, but in source games, it can be a big problem. Enabling causes high input lag, making air strafing hard. You should turn this off, if it was on.

mat_vsync 0

Textures

Some textures appear low quality for a sec, then slowly showing the high quality one. This actually causes lower performance. So setting this to always show the better quality one, you can save some time and fps.

mat_mipmaptextures 0

Networking

So even tho you are pretty close to a server, you always get killed, or your hits just won't register. There are commands that control how much information is sent and received from the server you're playing on. These commands are very user based, so maybe these settings won't be for you:

cl_cmdrate 66
cl_interp 0
cl_interp_ratio 1
cl_updaterate 66
rate 196608
cl_smooth 1
cl_lagcompensation 1
cl_pred_optimize 2

Improvements

These are just some settings that can make your gameplay easier:

cl_autoreload 1 — Enables autoreload
cl_vote_ui_active_after_voting 1 — Show results after voting
cl_timeout 60 — Seconds before auto-disconnecting from a not responding server
tf_medigun_autoheal 1 — Leave this enabled, so you don't have to hold m1 to heal
tf_scoreboard_ping_as_text 1 — Show ping in text instead of the bars
tf_sniper_fullcharge_bell 1 — Plays a sound when the sniper charged
mat_motion_blur_enabled 0 — Disables the annoying motion blur
cl_hud_playerclass_use_playermodel 0 — Disables 3D character hud model

hud_fastswitch 1 — Leave this enabled, so you don't have to use the hl2 styled weapon switching

mat_queue_mode 2 — Allows to use all cores that your cpu has (if you have a multicore cpu)

These and other settings can be found in Game Menu → Advanced Settings.

Security

If you ever played on community servers, there's a high chance that you encountered an ad when you got killed. These servers are using ads to get revenue so they can cover server costs. But some servers using these very aggressively. So there are some commands to block them. Put these in your autoexec.cfg file!

alias unbindall "echo BLOCKED an attempted unbindall"
alias closed_htmlpage "echo BLOCKED an attempted wait timer"
alias cl_spec_mode "echo BLOCKED cl_spec_mode"
alias rpt_connect "echo BLOCKED rpt_connect"
alias r_screenoverlay "echo BLOCKED r_screenoverlay"

Do not use the Microphone in-game !

Using a microphone in Source Engine games can indeed put a strain on system resources, particularly if you're using applications that process audio or if your system is on the lower end of performance. This can lead to audio lag, input lag, and decreased overall performance during gameplay, especially in fast-paced matches where reaction time is critical.

Here are some useful console commands:

voice_enable 0 — This command disables voice communication in the game. When set to 0, you will not be able to hear voice chat from other players, nor will your microphone transmit your voice to others.

snd_mixahead 0 — This command controls the audio mixing buffer. Setting snd_mixahead to 0 can reduce input lag in audio playback, but it may come at the cost of audio stability. In some cases, this setting may cause audio stuttering or other issues, especially in systems with lower performance. It's usually set to a higher value for more consistent audio performance.

voice_mute 1 — This command mutes the voice communication from other players. When set to 1, it will prevent you from hearing any voice chat, similar to voice_enable 0, but this command is typically used in conjunction with other settings to selectively mute players while still allowing other audio.

Adjusting Voice Quality. You can set the voice quality lower to minimize resource usage by changing the following command — voice_scale 0.5







You can complete this guide in the comments. Write useful commands that disable this or that function in the game.

[catgirlprostate]

master bating

[Смайл]

That's right, you disabled the Steam browser. When the browser is off, only the friends list and bilaterals work in Small Mode.

To return to the working tabs, run the Steam client without -no-browser option.

[Scover]

Steam show a black screen for all tabs (shop, library, community...) with the launch options example you provided.

[xbox360]

давно использую способ, он хорош

[PoorPocketsMcNewHold]

Rename your guide to "compatibility guide for old PC" instead, as a lot of launch commands actually hurt performance, on slow, but modern PC's (Like a lot of laptops for example).
One simple example, is to forceably disable 64 bit support, when it in fact, allow you to unlock more memory to use for Steam. You are forcibly restricting it, when it's not needed. Even for Team Fortress 2 which is still a 32bit limited game.
You also tend to break a lot of features that a clueless person following your guide will not be able to debug themselves.
Not everything is bad however, as i do think preloading all of your items is an actual great thing to do, and maybe even something i'll try doing on my powerful machine even.

[Смайл]

It seems that it is time to create a guide on system optimization.

[Смайл]

Yes this help with FPS

[Green]

Does this help with FPS?

[Marszala]

i use arch btw

[house fly gaming]

only works for windows users. big L for linux users.