ET:QW for beginners › Tweaking

Back to FPS. As I said earlier your FPS is locked by default in QW, which is pure stupidity. First of all go to Options -> Settings -> Advanced and uncheck Vertical Sync. vSync will sync you FPS to your screen hz that is set in windows, so if you have 60hz in windows you will have 60 FPS in-game. Then connect to an empty server and write com_ShowFPS: in the console. Now if you deactivate the console you should see your FPS in the right corner, and if I’m not mistaken you have about 60 FPS? This is because a couple of cvars with default values have locked your FPS to 60. Activate your console again and write ”com_unlock” and then Tab. Now you can see 5 different cvars that has something to do with your FPS. I´m no expert on the different methods and if you want to know more you should read this: http://community.enemyterritory.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2042 . To make things simple I´ll describe the three commands that you need to change.

”com_unlockFPS 1”
– This command will unlock your FPS.
”com_unlock_timingMethod 0”
– In QW you can lock your FPS to a certain value, even with unlockFPS 1. If you use timingMethod 1 or 2 another cvar will affect your FPS: “com_unlock_maxFPS”. With maxFPS you decide how high your FPS can be. I use timingMethod 0 which fully unlocks the FPS.
”com_unlock_maxFPS 0-999”
– This command locks your FPS to a certain value, but it will only affect you FPS with timingMethod 1 or 2. There are advantages and disadvantages with locking you FPS to a certain value.


When you have entered these values and deactivate your console you can see your FPS. For those of you that still have low FPS: you probably have an older PC or set have your graphics settings too high. I´m playing with all on low settings except Antialiasing (AA) which I have at 2x. Shader level decides how advanced the shaders are and this setting has a major impact on the graphics and your FPS. Diffuse, Bump and Specular are all different types of textures that the shaders use. I use max Diffuse and min Bump and Spec. You won’t see Bump or Spec with lowest shader level and max Diffuse is for more details. Anisotropy decides how the engine filters the textures. You can try different values for more/less sharpness, this won’t affect your FPS much. Smooth Foliage is a setting that has to do with Alpha-texture rendering, I can’t see much of a difference if I turn this on/off and I don’t think it will affect your FPS that much, I have it unchecked. The rest of the settings speak for themselves. Remember that Valley is an FPS-eater and you will probably have higher FPS on the other maps.

To you who want to play around with your .cfg. I will show you a simple way to change you cvar values. Make a new .txt-file in your Base folder and name it e.g. autoexec.cfg. Write a couple of commands with “seta” in front of them in you file, try with “seta com_unlockFPS 0”. In your console, write “exec autoexec.cfg” and then “com_unlockFPS” + Tab. As you can see the value has been changed from 1 to 0. In your autoexec.cfg you can put all cvars you want to change, but also binds. If you reinstall the game later you can save you autoexec and execute it in you newly installed game and you will have all your old settings. Very useful! Now go away and play around with all cvars and know that QW has much more to offer.

Here is a small part of my autoexec.cfg if anyone is interested.

/ Overall binds

Unbind z

// Bind - Movement
bind "e" "_forward" "" "default"
bind "s" "_moveleft" "" "default"
bind "d" "_back" "" "default"
bind "f" "_moveright" "" "default"
bind "t" "_leanright" "" "default"
bind "q" "_leanleft" "" "default"
bind "SPACE" "_moveup" "" "default"
bind "c" "_prone" "" "default"
bind "v" "_movedown" "" "default"

// Bind - Mouse
bind "MOUSE1" "_attack" "" "default"
bind "MOUSE2" "_altattack" "" "default"
bind "MOUSE3" "_activate" "" "default"
bind "MWHEELDOWN" "_stroydown" "" "default"
bind "MWHEELUP" "_weapprev" "" "default"

// Bind - Misc
bind "SHIFT" "_sprint" "" "default"
bind "CTRL" "_speed" "" "default"
bind "ALT" "_teamVoice" "" "default"
bind "w" "_weapnext" "" "default"
bind "r" "_reload" "" "default"
bind "b" "_vehiclecamera" "" "default"
bind "g" "_usevehicle" "" "default"
bind "F11" "screenshot" "" "default"
bind "x" "kill" "" "default"
bind "ESCAPE" "_menuCancel" "" "menu"

// Name
seta ui_name "^7Numse"
// Say1
bind "KP_HOME" "say '^7| visit us @ #Copenhagen-eSport or www.Copenhagen-eSport.dk'"
// Say2
bind "KP_PGUP" "say '^7| ^2S^7crim - ^2S^7pec or ^2l^7eave'"

// FPS
com_unlock_avgFrames 4
com_unlock_maxFPS 120
com_unlock_safetyMargin 0.1
com_unlock_timingMethod 0
com_unlockFPS 1
com_showFPS 1

// Bob
seta pm_runbob 0
seta pm_runpitch 0
seta pm_runroll 0
seta pm_bobpitch 0
seta pm_bobroll 0
seta pm_bobup 0
seta pm_crouchbob 0
seta pm_walkbob 0


If you have any questions just contact me on irc @ #Copenhagen-eSport or #QWL