CS:GO Launch Options Guide 2019

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a huge game with vast possibilities. Enthusiastic CS:GO audience have a chance to prove their talent, develop their skills, and participate in professional Esports tournaments. Even if you don’t have such ambitious plans, CS:GO may become your source of daily fun and competitive excitement.

Even at the stage of making the game comfortable for you to the max, CS:GO surprises with available possibilities. There are lots of console commands to adjust many various aspects of the game. Also, players can use special Launch Options to make some changes to the game even before its start.

This guide explains the Launch Options in details – you’ll find here all the significant information on this topic.

What are CS:GO Launch Options?

The developers from Valve Corporation have left a few ways to make changes to the game:

• Settings Menu – this is the easiest method for everyone. Open the menu by clicking the icon in the left panel of new Panorama UI, explore the available tabs and items here, and use any setting you need.
• Developer Console – this is a “door” to the game code. Open it by pressing tilde (~) during the game and enter any counter strike command you want to.
• Launch Options – and here they are, special commands, which become active right after launching the game. This method is good for permanent changes.
• CS GO Autoexec file – create a file with your best CS:GO settings, and the game will use it instead of the default. This way is for advanced CS:GO players. You better get enough experience with the previous methods before delving into autoexec creation.

How to add various Launch options?

Everything here should be done through the Steam application, with the CS:GO game closed.

• Visit the Library section of the Steam app.
• Find Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in the list of all games (the left panel).
• Click it with the right mouse button, choose “Properties.”
• In the tab “General” look for the button “Set Launch Options.” Press it.
• Add options of your choice to the opened window.
• Press OK and close the properties. Launch CS:GO!

Remember to follow two simple rules: begin a new command with “–” as on the list below, and put spaces between your commands.

Pay attention to CS:GO console commands, which you also can add to the Launch Options – they should begin with “+”, like the command +sv_cheats 1 for enabling cheat command on your server.

The best CS:GO Launch Options

There are quite a few options, which you can set for the game launch. Using them absentmindedly is not the best decision – pay enough attention to what these commands do and use them if you really need them. It’s always a good idea to play enough of the “default” CS:GO, to feel how the game performs with unchanged settings. After getting some experience, you will easily understand whether you need a particular command or not.

Basic settings:

• -console – with this command, you’ll get the CS:GO developer console opened immediately after the game launch.
• -language French – to activate the French interface of CS:GO. Maybe you are learning this or another language and want to have an additional practice without changing your default language in the Steam application. Other reasons are entirely possible here, of course, so just add a language of your choice to this command.
• -full – to make the game launch in the full-screen mode. The same effect will be with the command -fullscreen.
• -window – to play CS:GO in a standard computer window. Other forms of this command are: -windowed, -startwindowed, and -sw.
• -w 1920; -h 1080 – these commands determine the best resolution for CS GO.
• -x 333; -y 333 – the position of the CS:GO window on the screen (x- and z-axis).
• -noborder – to play CS:GO in a window without borders.

CS:GO Launch Options FPS

• -novid – the game launches without starting videos. They are very short, but the process of playing them takes the computer resources and may unnecessary load your device. Also, if you add the lengths of all those videos you watch with every CS:GO launch, this might be a very impressing period of time – why don’t save it?
• -tickrate 128 – a tick rate for your offline server. The default value here is 64. Increase it to get the game information refreshed more often. Bigger tick rates might overload your computer.
• -refresh 144 – it’s CSGO 144hz command, use this command for monitors with the refresh CS:GO rate more than 60 Hz. Use the value of your particular monitor.
• -high – the computer gives the most top priority to CS:GO. Consider closing all applications before starting the game – this has the same effect.
• -threads 8 – the computer uses the specified number of CPU’s cores. Use the command if your CPU has three or more cores (it’s how to make CS GO faster via a single action). It might have no influence because the game often makes the same by its own.
• -nod3d9ex1 – to disable the technology Direct3D 9Ex. Try to experiment with this command to see its real effect on the performance of your computer.
• -nojoy – to disable joysticks. This slightly decreases the load on the computer.
• -lv – means low violence. Use this command to remove blood from the game. This also reduces the load on your computer.

Some CS:GO console commands to use as Launch Options for a better game performance:

• +cl_showfps 1 – always show FPS CS GO (frames per second);
• +fps max 0 – to remove limitations on the maximal CS:GO FPS. Use your value to set this limitation, for example, +fps max 60 (for week computers);
• +r_drawparticles 0 – disables particles animation, so the picture will be simpler, but the performance might improve.
• +cl_forcepreload 1 – the game will preload maps before matches. This prevents overloading your Internet connection and computer during shootouts.

Such CS:GO startup commands might open for you a way to better understanding the game and the processes in its programming code.