TF2 Configs for Newbies!

TF2s out-of-the-box settings are, well, out-dated. It's certainly a product of its time, but there are ways to improve these settings to make TF2 an overall more enjoyable experience.

Introduction

TF2 is many things; it's fun, it's outrageous, it's a timeless classic. However, it's also old. With this age, comes a few severely outdated gameplay elements, specifically its out-of-the-box settings.

If you're reading this, you probably look something like the gibus sniper in the thumbnail -- or maybe you're a seasoned veteran returning years later and your settings have reverted back to default. Either way, this guide is sure to help you get on your feet and be on a level playing-field with your opponents.

Some of these settings are preference, however some will have a newer player at a complete disadvantage in-game. I hope this guide helps you learn what you need to know to make TF2 a slightly more enjoyable experience :)

FOV [Field of View]

In most modern FPS games for PC, you have the option to alter the FOV of your character. For most games, the cap is somewhere around 90-120. In TF2, the default is 70 FOV, which puts you at a competitive disadvantage to most other players who have theirs adjusted to 90. This, of course, IS a preference, but it's worth knowing that you're not at a level playing field if you have not adjusted this setting.

The images below highlight the difference between the default setting of 70 FOV, compared to the altered 90 FOV.

70 FOV

90 FOV



As you can see in the first image with 70 FOV, there appears to be no enemies in-sight. However, once you adjust that setting to 90, you can see there are two enemies in-sight. It quickly becomes clear how much of a disadvantage this could create in an actual game setting.

The easiest way to change this setting is to access your Advanced Video Settings and adjust the Slider:

Congratulations! Your FOV is now at the appropriate value to put you at a level playing-field against other TF2 players! This is the simplest aspect of configuring TF2, the rest of the guide will go more in-depth into more complex quality-of-life changes.

Viewmodel FOV

So, we've adjusted your FOV, but did you know your weapon has its own FOV value? There is no setting for this in the options, so we'll have to use something called the Developer Console to get these settings up-to-scratch. Before that, let's take a look at WHY you should adjust this setting.

Two crucial settings to make sure our viewmodel takes up the smallest amount of our screen as possible, we need to adjust the FOV of our viewmodel which we've briefly touched on, and we need to put our viewmodel into min-mode, which we'll go through shortly.

The default value for our Viewmodel FOV is 54. Once again, the default setting is putting newer players at a disadvantage by taking up large portion of the screen with the viewmodel of our weapon. Take a look at the examples below to see the disadvantage this places us in.

Viewmodel FOV 54 (Default)

Viewmodel FOV 90 | Viewmodel min-mode enabled (Adjusted)

As you can see, a Scout was hiding behind our Minigun. Even if our vision is obscured for just a second or two, this Scout could easily get a few shots on us in that time which can make the difference between life and death.

One of the worst offenders for viewmodel obscurity is the Direct Hit:

Viewmodel FOV 54 (Default)

Viewmodel FOV 90 | Viewmodel min-mode enabled (Adjusted)

So, now that we understand why it's important for us to change these settings, how exactly do we do that? Well first we're going to need to enable the Developer Console. This can be done pretty easily in our settings:

First, open Settings > Advanced and tick 'Enable Developer Console'. Then click Apply.

Next, open Settings, and scroll to the bottom of our list of Keybinds. Make sure 'Toggle Developer Console' is bound to ` (the key under your Esc key). Remember when changing any setting to always click Apply once you're done.

Once you've made the appropriate changes to your settings, you should now be able to access the Developer Console by pressing the key we previously bound to this setting. In the command prompt, we'll want to enter the following commands:

• viewmodel_fov 90
  
• tf_use_min_viewmodels 1

You can adjust the viewmodel_fov value to whatever you prefer, 90 is a common choice.

Now that we've made these changes, we've once again brought ourselves further up-to-scratch with our opponents. Next, we'll take a look at how the default HUD can impact our game-sense and ability to take in the large amount of information TF2 gives us on our HUD.

Customizing your HUD

TF2's Default HUD is perfectly functional, and this step is completely optional and up to personal preference. Some people, such as myself, prefer to use a custom HUD. This changes almost every aspect of how we interact with TF2 from the minute we boot the game at the Main Menu, to adjusting our Loadouts and browsing our inventory. I'd like to reiterate once again that changing the HUD is totally optional and if you like the Default HUD that's great, keep it that way, but there's no harm in trying things out to see what fits best.

I'm going to use Medic as an example of a class who has information on their HUD to keep a close eye on.

TF2's Default HUD looks a little something like this:

Once again, it's serviceable. All of our information is available on screen, we have a health bar, and we can keep track of our Ubercharge percentage. However, on a Custom HUD, we can employ something called Minimal HUD, which looks something like this:

As you can see, all the information a Medic would need to read is right next to our crosshair, meaning we barely have to take our eyes off the battlefield to keep track of our Ubercharge.

Technically it IS possible to employ the 'Minimal HUD' setting on the Default HUD, I personally advise against this, as it puts the important information further into the corners of the screen and makes the information overall harder to access in a high-pressure situation.


I personally use FUNKeHUD Reloaded[huds.tf] (the one displayed in the above screenshot), however some popular HUD choices include eve HUD[gamebanana.com] and ToonHUD[gamebanana.com]. Most of this custom content is hosted on sites like gamebanana.com and huds.tf.

Mastercomfig

Mastercomfig[mastercomfig.com] is a community-made tool designed to help configure every nook and cranny of TF2's framework. Whether you are trying to boost your FPS to the highest possible number, or push the limits of TF2s graphics to look as good as possible, mastercomfig has plenty of presets made for what you need. On top of that, it's highly customizable (although I don't recommend changing too many settings if you're new to TF2 configs).

To install mastercomfig, head to their website (linked above) and pick a preset that suits you best. Once you've installed your preferred config, close TF2 if it's already running. Then you'll need to navigate your game files. The most common file path is "Local Disk (C:) > Program Files x86 > Steam > steamapps > common > Team Fortress 2". Alternatively, you can right click TF2 in your Steam Library, click 'Manage' and then 'Browse local files'.

Once you've downloaded the .zip folder, you'll simply want to drag the "tf" folder inside into the "Team Fortress 2" folder. This will put all the required files where they need to be to function correctly.

TF2 tends to perform pretty well with your stock settings, but if you're on a low-end PC, or just looking to boost your overall performance or graphics, this is by-far the best option for doing so.

Extras!

We've covered most of what's important for optimizing TF2 to your liking, but there are a few more options we have that may seem small, but go a long way in improving your TF2 experience.

Accumulative Damage Numbers

First, we have Accumulative Damage numbers and colours. This means damage numbers will not show individual based on how much damage you are doing, but they will add up overtime. This is particularly useful for weapons like Pyro's Flamethrower, Heavy's Minigun, and most other Hitscan weapons.

Take a look at the difference between the Default (Individual Dmg Numbers, Red) vs Adjusted (Accumulative Dmg Numbers, Green).


As you can see, it makes it much easier to keep track of how much damage you have dealt to the enemy. In the first screenshot, you would have to guess how much health the enemy has remaining. However, with this option enabled, you can see how much damage you have dealt, and we know the spy should only have approximately 16 HP left. This can help make a decision in a fight whether or not to back out or finish the job.

To change your damage to accumulative and also change the colour of your Dmg Numbers, you can access both of these settings on the Advanced Options:

Fast Weapon Switch

If you haven't already made this change, it is absolutely crucial you adjust this setting! TF2's default weapon switch is archaic and puts you at a massive disadvantage in combat. You can find this setting in the Combat section of the Advanced Settings. This will make an enormous difference to the way you play TF2.

Launch Options

Launch options are also a widely used feature across the TF2 community. Most launch options are used to help with performance, here's a couple common ones that I use:

-windowed -noborder (I recommend using this in tandem with one another if you have two monitors, it makes tabbing in-and-out of the game a little easier).
-novid (skips the valve intro on launch, saves a good couple seconds of time).
-nojoy (removes joystick support that runs in the background, slight FPS boost).
-nosteamcontroller (removes steam controller support, slight FPS boost).
-nohltv (increase in FPS and decrease in Ping).
-particles 1 (limits beam count, increase in FPS).
-precachefontchars (precaches font rendering).
-noquicktime (disables quicktime initialization).

To add these to your game, find TF2 in your Steam Library and right-click it, then go to Properties. You'll be greeted with the following screen where you can enter whichever Launch options you choose.

Keep in mind that none of the Launch options are permanent, and if you find that the options have impacted your game or you want to remove them, all you have to do is remove the text from that box.

I recommend checking out this mastercomfig guide[docs.mastercomfig.com] for a more in-depth explanation to each of these launch options. Once again all of these are entirely optional, and most of the time aren't necessary unless you really need that boost in performance, but it doesn't hurt to know the option is there!

Conclusion

I hope everything covered in this guide was able to help you configure TF2 to your needs, and I hope the evidence provided was substantial enough to convince you to change your settings if you weren't already certain!

You may not notice it straight away, but if you've followed the above guide, it may be worth it in a few months time to revert to TF2s default settings to realize just how awful they are. I promise you won't be able to go back!

While you're here, feel free to checkout my profile or workshop content, it would mean a lot!

Thanks for reading xx

[BOL4]

put the commands in an autoexec or change your /cfg folder properties' 'read-only' setting.

[bigcool3571]

Hey bro, i know this guide is a bit old and its cool and all but how do i make sure the settings stay locked in? Im very forgetful and notice it after abit for example the model FOV it reverts back to normal after i exit the game how do i make the option stay?

[float]

this guide helped cure my depression, it saved my dog from getting hit by a car and ♥♥♥♥♥♥ my mom. love this

[murder! ♡]

@Carver trade.tf I'm not entirely sure, I'm running all the same settings and configs from this guide. Your best bet might be to go through step-by-step and follow the guide one step at a time to figure out exactly what is causing the issue! Let me know how you go :)

[Carverer]

Hi, thanks, this helps a lot! Just one question: I entered the commands to make the weapon model smaller, and now, whenerver I spectate someone else and see one of their equipped items, there's a little thing that says 'Unknown' covering up part of the name. I copy-pasted the commands from your thing. Is this something that the commands might cause, and if so, how do I fix it?

[murder! ♡]

Sure thing @Обсидиан, if credit is provided go for it!

[Обсидиан]

Hi, can i translate this guide on russian?

[adsobi]

Thank you, semi-new to the game, and this helped.

[random bullshit go]

very nice guide brother

[KnowNow]

gaymer here. U don't need beeg viewport. Use 90 like any other chad