It does increase CPU load and affects performance. Vantavimeow has a 6700K so the performance impact is negligible there.

I had the same problem with Feliks' config when connecting to Skial servers. The culprit turned out to be net_queued_packet_thread 581304, setting it back to the default (1) allowed me to join Skial again.

I investigated the CVar further, and have concluded that the network benefits are nonexistent. I've now set it to 1. Thank you for pointing me to this.

net_queued_packet_thread is ideal to be at 0, however there is a bug/oddity with Windows where packets need to be queued or else they are ignored sometimes.

I would like to take a moment to copyright Stabcebo™ with regards to cl_setupallbones 0 which defaults to 0 and decreases fps by 15 when enabled, Papa Bless.

Thoughts on expanding the comp.cfg preset into two presets: compperformance.cfg and compquality.cfg?

compperformance.cfg would be basically the same as it is now, reduces quality except where it would extensively decrease advantage/playability

compquality.cfg would enable any effects that would give you an advantage, even if they decreased FPS. For example, muzzle flashes, shadows and enhanced sound spatialization/effects.

Hi, thought I might share my list of all TF2 launch options: https://gist.github.com/mastercoms/12c51b171e2d3589eedc6bc9905e8f5e

I was hesitant to share this as it might cause a new wave of snake oil and harmful tweaks, but I figured it could help some people. So PLEASE do not just assume what something does and roll with it. It could do nothing or harm your game in some way! (or else I will find you and tell you mean words.)

Thanks to aveyo from the Dota 2 config community for the help.

This is more of a technical question, but I noticed you use -usetcp as a command line parameter. This is a command line parameter that to the best of my knowledge has approx. 0 explanation or documentation behind it anywhere on the internet. I looked really, really hard.

One would assume this forces TF2 to use TCP over UDP for networking traffic 100% of the time (which would be...really bad), but you say it optimizes networking traffic to use TCP in situations where it would be more ideal?

But TF2/Steam already seems pretty well optimized in this respect, using a combination of TCP & UDP very well.

I was wondering if you could explain where and how this parameter uses TCP over UDP? Thanks. :)

-usetcp simply allows TCP to be used. Game networking will still use UDP. You can confirm this by setting net_showudp 1.

The reason that I was curious is mostly because from my understanding the game already utilizes a mix of TCP & UDP as connecting to the server and all in-game Steam connections (item server, game coordinator, etc) are already pulled over TCP. It's great that it doesn't replace UDP for game networking, but I guess my question is what this command line actually uses TCP for when it allows it to be used?

To be honest, I don't know the exact answer to that question. All I know is that systems will explicitly request a TCP stream socket and if one is successfully created, it will use it. Therefore, my logical conclusion is that this launch option allows systems that prefer TCP over UDP to use TCP, and it seems to be disabled by default due to the extra memory usage it requires.

Alright, fair enough, might require some personal investigating at some point to see if the game ever actually uses it and for what to see if it's actually useful. :)

I'd like to imagine it's common knowledge at this point but DX8 support has been axed by Nvidia/AMD in their newer drivers, particles and other things will now fail to load etc.

For people who prefer the DX8 Visual style over dx9, this will get you much closer to it:

r_ambientboost 0
r_rimlight 0
r_worldlights 0
mat_phong 0
mat_specular 0
mat_disable_lightwarp 1
mat_hdr_level 0
mat_monitorgamma 1.9

Also the windows 10 creators update completely breaks m_rawinput 0 so that it completely ignores slow mouse inputs, this applies to CS:GO as well. Welcome to 2017.

This is the config I think most people want, preferably with enough detailing so that we can look through it and disable anything we don't deem worth the fps loss.

On a side note do you know of any commands which make it harder to find cloaked spies, a while back I changed my config and I think spies blink differently which makes them harder to see.
Thanks for the config I've taken a lot from it and added it to my autoexec :)

pls do <3

Alright sounds good. And I will definitely be adding detail, that's probably the whole point of my config.

I think mat_phong, mat_bumpmap will affect it, as well as the -nops2b launch option.

I'm really glad to hear you like it! <3

Thanks a lot :D

As requested, 4.1.8 comes with a compquality.cfg, as well as a few updates here and there.

also side note: I noticed that mat_dxlevel 100 is a valid dxlevel. Not sure if it does anything yet.

you can put -dxlevel <anything> and itll show up

https://i.imgur.com/UKqSgli.png

this is -dxlevel 690

also, what does dsp_facingaway do?

Can you set mat_dxlevel 690 in console or does it go back down?

I meant that mat_dxlevel 100 has some code for it, but I needed to investigate if that code is used.

Applies a DSP effect to sounds you are facing away from. 30 is the facing away effect that should be used for dsp_facingaway.

Does r_occlusion 0 affect fps if I have a strong enough GPU? e.g. GTX 960

It depends on your CPU and GPU. If you have a relatively weaker CPU and a stronger GPU, you'll likely get more FPS with it off, but it is just best to test it.

yes you can also do mat_dxlevel 690 in console and it will give you the same result

by entering the command mat_dxlevel 98 into the console, tf2 will set me back to mat_dxlevel 95
on the other hand, if I entered mat_dxlevel 100, it will stay at 100.

is there a way to start tf2 with realtime priority instead of high?

also why dont u have any dxlevel in ur launch options

Realtime is not recommended, as TF2 will be the same priority as OS level tasks.

There is no dxlevel because the default dxlevel determined by the Source Engine for your hardware is usually the best one. However, I am investigating the impact of each dxlevel to see what options the config should control.

realtime works fine for me when i do it manually. i just want to know if there is a launch option to always set tf2 to realtime

i5 4590
GTX 1060 6GB
Dx 98 1920x1080

Benchmark mastercoms CFG

Run 1 2639 frames 20.839 seconds 126.64 fps ( 7.90 ms/f) 10.713 fps variability
Run 2 2639 frames 20.420 seconds 129.23 fps ( 7.74 ms/f) 9.077 fps variability
Run 3 2639 frames 20.189 seconds 130.71 fps ( 7.65 ms/f) 8.517 fps variability
Average fps 128.86 fps
Average variability 9.43566 fps

Benchmark Comanglia maxperf CFG

Run 1 2639 frames 17.900 seconds 147.43 fps ( 6.78 ms/f) 10.618 fps variability
Run 2 2639 frames 17.838 seconds 147.95 fps ( 6.76 ms/f) 11.538 fps variability
Run 3 2639 frames 17.994 seconds 146.66 fps ( 6.82 ms/f) 10.748 fps variability
Average fps 147.34 fps
Average variability 10.968 fps

There is not.

Comanglia
2639 frames 20.556 seconds 128.38 fps ( 7.79 ms/f) 12.501 fps variability

Maxperf
2639 frames 17.826 seconds 148.04 fps ( 6.75 ms/f) 12.855 fps variability

compquality
2639 frames 21.791 seconds 121.11 fps ( 8.26 ms/f) 9.268 fps variability

comp performance
2639 frames 18.079 seconds 145.97 fps ( 6.85 ms/f) 12.881 fps variability

comp performance + launch options
2639 frames 17.887 seconds 147.54 fps ( 6.78 ms/f) 12.929 fps variability

CPU i5-4590
GPU GTX970

Besides the FPS improvement, I have noticed the game is much smoother now. Can't thank you enough for that, keep up the amazing work!