Short JSON Description

Sets how far into the future to mix the sound. Every frame, the sound is mixed up to a certain point, under the assumption that the next frame will arrive before the entire mixed buffer of sound is played. So with the default value of 0.1 seconds, if your framerate dips below 10 fps, it will run off the end of the sound buffer and you'll get stuttering sound. To fix this, increase the value (e.g. a value of 0.2 will handle as low as 5 fps before stuttering). However, increasing the mixahead time means the CPU has to do that much more work mixing more sound (thus possibly lowering your framerate, defeating the purpose), so be reasonable.

Mixahead seconds; 0.1 default (~10 FPS min). If stutter, try 0.2 (~5 FPS). Higher = more CPU

These pm_ CVARs only apply when using the pmove physics system, which is enabled by setting sv_nqplayerphysics 0 or by having a custom QuakeC physics function. Multiplies friction when the player is near a ledge or drop-off. When moving near edges, this increases friction to prevent accidental falls. Default value of "2" doubles friction at edges compared to normal ground friction.

Pmove only (sv_nqplayerphysics 0/QC pmove). Edge friction multiplier: 2=double; 1=normal; 4=quad

These pm_ CVARs only apply when using the pmove physics system, which is enabled by setting sv_nqplayerphysics 0 or by having a custom QuakeC physics function. Sets the friction coefficient applied when in fly or noclip movement modes. Controls how quickly velocity decays when not actively moving in these special movement states. Lower values allow longer coasting, while higher values make movement feel more responsive.

Pmove only (sv_nqplayerphysics 0/QC). Fly/noclip friction; 0.2=coast, 1=default, 2=stop fast.

These pm_ CVARs only apply when using the pmove physics system, which is enabled by setting sv_nqplayerphysics 0 or by having a custom QuakeC physics function. Controls how fast the player sinks when idle in water without any movement input. Sets the downward velocity applied when standing still in water. Higher values make you sink faster, while lower values allow more floating behavior.

Pmove only (sv_nqplayerphysics 0/QC). Idle water sink speed; 0=float, 20=default, 40=sink faster

Auto-download missing bsp/lit/loc from QSS server. 0=off, 1=QSS only, 2=allow FTE-style downloads

Allow skybox downloads. 0=off, 1=on (auto-fetch missing skyboxes from server)

Ambient fade speed; higher = faster fade. Examples: 0.5=slow, 1=default, 2=fast.

How loud ambient sounds are. This includes wind, water, and other ambient sounds. O nly effects the sky/lava/water/slime sounds. See cl_ambient

Ambient volume for sky/lava/water/slime. Examples: 0=off, 0.3=quiet, 1=default, 2=louder. See cl_ambient

This variable allows you to define the highest weapon that the client should switch to upon a backpack pickup. The possible arguments of "b_switch" refer to the impulse that is used to switch to a certain weapon: 1-8 (the weapon numbers). Most common is b_switch 2. The server quakec controls this behavior and this sends the info to the server if supported via a infokey. Also see w_switch

Use external music files instead of CD audio. Examples: 1=enabled (default), 0=disable external music

For the 2021 rerelease. Used to track whether the game was started from start.bsp as opposed to warping to a single map, in order to avoid giving you the achievement for completing the game if you just skip ahead to end.bsp. Think of it as an extra cvar that you can use for level transitions. Without the cvar declared in the engine then u get a spamfest in the console stating “unknown cvar campaign when playing mg1

Toggle the use of a chase camera. This command can be used to enable a chase camera so that the view is actually behind the player from a 3rd person perspective instead of the default 1st person perspective. Currently this command has a problem that when enabled the player will only see the weapon and the firing graphic moving around the level and not the player figure.

The cl_aliasoverlap variable controls whether aliases can override existing console variables (cvars). When enabled (1), aliases take precedence over cvars, meaning if an alias is created with the same name as a cvar, the alias will execute instead of the cvar. This allows users to define custom shortcuts or scripts that mask cvars. However, when disabled (0), the system prevents aliases from conflicting with cvars to ensure that cvars remain accessible and function as intended. In this implementation, if cl_aliasoverlap is set to 0 and a user attempts to create an alias with the name of an existing cvar, the alias is automatically renamed by appending "_a" to avoid conflicts.

Set to 1 in order to scale forward/side/up speed by "cl_movespeedkey" (usually 2), and to make "speedkey" act as "slowkey". This is a new QS cvar, for vanilla/traditional set this to 0. Not needed if speed settings for maxed. 3 variables - cl_forwardspeed, cl_backspeed, cl_sidespeed. Forward and back are set to 200. Side is set to 350. Another variable, sv_maxspeed is 320. With “always run” off, then you “walk”. If you don’t walk diagonally, then forward/back speed is 200qu/s, but sidespeed is 320qu/s because it tries to go 350 qu/s but gets clamped by sv_maxspeed. If you walk diagonally, the forward and side speed vectors are added, and then velocity clamped to sv_maxspeed. Diagonal walking is thus a lot faster than forward.With “always run” off, you hold a certain key to run. When running in this way, forward/back/side are doubled to 400/400/700, but sv_maxspeed stays the same at 320, so you will move at 320qu/s in all directions because of the speed clamping. Diagonal direction is heavily weighted to the side because the side speed is so high. With “always run” on, you don’t need to hold a key to run. You are always running. However, the behaviour is a bit different - forward and back get doubled, but side stays the same, so effective speeds are 400/400/350. Clamping to sv_maxspeed still occurs so you still move 320qu/s in all directions, but diagonal movement is now slightly weighted to the forward direction. The difference in behaviour between “always run off, but hold the run key” and “always run on” is most likely an unintended bug with the original design. In Quakespasm, there’s a third option, which is like “always run” in that you don’t hold a key, but the movement speeds are the same as vanilla “always run off, but hold run key”, so 400/400/700 (and then clamped to 320). Unlike vanilla’s “always run”, you can now hold the run key to walk. So really, the Quakespasm mode is just like a run-key inverted vanilla “always run off” aka power bunnyhopping. Power bunny hopping is bunny hopping but also briefly holding forward when landing to avoid loosing speed due to friction. Power bunny hopping can increase speeds to about 700. Ground friction is still a problem because the required view angle have to be so precise at high speeds. Power bunny hopping is not required for QuakeWorld. There is no ground friction so regular bunny hopping in QuakeWorld is faster than power bunny hopping in Netquake. Power bunny hopping is easier when "Always run" is off and the run is always pressed. To ensure this is the case, disable "always run" and run the command +speed. Power bunny hopping is still speed turning. But speed turning is different in the air vs. on the ground, and we are only on the ground for one game tick. The optimal view angle when on the ground, and moving forward, and strafing, and moving above 450 is turning slightly into the strafing direction. The optimal view angle when in the air, and not moving forward, and strafing is continually turning into the strafing direction. So power bunny hopping requires quickly and precisely switching between these two types of speed turning.The more speed you have the more ground friction reduces speed. This means that getting a single power bunny hop can take away all speed increases from several perfect speed power bunny hops. The faster you move the more friction reduces speed and the harder it is to hit good landings. This makes power bunny hopping difficult to use in general Quake situations.

Send "stopsound" when connected to a server to disable ambient sounds. For all ambient sounds NOT sky/lava/water/slime. Set ambient_level 0 to stop other ambient sounds. DM3 computers is an example of sounds that ambient_level 0 will not disable.

Multiplier for +speed. See alwaysrun. The speed at which you turn when running. This command allows the player to turn faster when he’s running. This is kind of a reverse of real world physics, but it works very well in the game world.

Auto-record settings: 0 = No auto-recording (default); 1 = Record every new map, with or without server; 2 = Record only in official CRMOD/CRCTF matches; 3 = Like 1, online only; 4 = Like 1, but splits at map change.

The speed at which the player moves backward. You can set this variable to a much higher value such as 500 just in case you join a server on which the administrator allows the players to move at a faster speed.

The distance that you weapon moves up and down on the screen when running. If you want your weapon to stay steady when running set this variable to 0. Most hardcore players use this setting to give them a better aim when shooting on the run.

The time in seconds that it takes the weapon to move up and down on the screen. If you want your weapon to stay steady when running set this variable to 0. Most hardcore players use this setting to give them a better aim when shooting on the run.

The time in seconds that the weapon stays in the up position. If you want your weapon to stay steady when running set this variable to 0. Most hardcore players use this setting to give them a better aim when shooting on the run.

A value of 1 will hide IPs in MP menu, and user name prints for condump and screenshots. A value of 2 will add filtering a variety of bad words from chat.

Shifts viewmodel orange tint on damage taken to let the player know they have recieved damage. Values: 0 - no shift, 1 - shift on, 2 - shift AND shift crosshair (Default: 1)

The cl_demoreel setting controls the game's attract mode, cycling through gameplay demos. When set to 0 (off), the attract mode is disabled, and the game does not automatically play demos. At 1 (startup only), a demo plays during startup but does not continue looping. For values greater than 1 (on), attract mode is fully enabled, continuously looping through demos indefinitely, creating a classic arcade-style experience.

The speed at which the player moves forward. You can set this variable to a much higher value such as 500 just in case you join a server on which the administrator allows the players to move at a faster speed.

Compensate viewmodel distortion at fov > 90 (based on code from Qrack, thanks to Andrei Drexler for the patch.) QSSM: Accept floats above and below 1 to adjust the amount of distortion and is not affected by fov. Makes weapon drawing immune to field of view settings.

Client will auto reconnect to a server (if disconnected) every "X", where X = 1 minute. cl_idle "5" will attempt to reconnect every 5 minutes after disconnect

Automatically cancels opposing movement keys when both are pressed simultaneously, preventing input lag or "dead zones" caused by conflicting inputs. For example, if you're holding the left movement key (A) and then press the right key (D), this feature will immediately release the A key, ensuring smooth directional transitions. Without this, both keys might cancel each other out, causing a momentary stop in movement. While similar behavior can be achieved using complex keybinding scripts, these solutions are often clunky and unreliable across different systems. Modern analog keyboards—such as those made by Wooting or Zaer—implement this behavior natively for seamless control. This feature is commonly referred to as SOCO (Simultaneous Opposing Cancel Output), and it's especially useful in fast-paced games where responsive directional movement is critical.

The multiplier value for the player movement speeds when using the +speed command. The value from this variable is used to multiply the values in the cl_backspeed and cl_forwardspeed variables when the +speed command is used. If you set this variable to a value lower than it is you can make the player walk slower or even crawl.

Toggle the prediction of movement of entities. This value is a reverse toggle where the values are actually reversed. When this toggle is enabled the game will not predict the movements of entities and all moving objects in the game will seem to jump from one point to another instead of moving in a smooth motion.

Prevent autodetection of protocol extensions, so that servers fall back to only their base protocol (without needing to reconfigure the server. Requires reconnect. Keep demo recordings cross compatible

If 0, clientside prediciton is enabled. Use iconjunction with sv_nqplayerphysics. cl_nopred 1; sv_nqplayerphysics 1 is very much the nq default

Customize the initial behavior of the game client based on user preferences stored in cl_onload. The function provides several ways to control startup behavior: basic commands like "menu" (default) to show the main menu, "console" to open the console, or "demo" for demo playback (which respects cl_demoreel settings). It also includes menu shortcuts where "browser" opens the server browser (menu_slist), "bookmarks" shows saved servers (menu_bookmarks), "save" opens the load game menu (menu_load), and "history" displays the game history (menu_history). Additionally, it supports any valid command that takes arguments, such as "connect server.com" to join a server or "exec config.cfg" to execute a configuration file. The cl_onload cvar determines which of these actions is taken when the game starts.

Keyboard movement. The speed at which the commands +lookup and +lookdown work. This command is basically used to control the speed at which the player looks up and down when using keys bound to the above mentioned commands. If you feel that player is not looking up and down fast enough you should increase this value. This variable is only used when using the keyboard and has no effect on the speed of other controllers when using a mouse or a joystick to control the player.

This cvar enables or disables a simple Pong mini-game that becomes active when the main game is paused. Setting cl_pong to a value greater than 0 activates the game, and the specific value acts as a speed multiplier for the Pong ball (e.g., 2 makes the ball twice as fast). A value of 0 completely disables this Easter egg feature.

The angle in degrees at which the player tilts when strafing right and left. Some hardcore players set this variable to 0 in order to prevent the player from tiling when he’s moving left and right. This enables them to switch rotations during circle strafing battles without throwing off their aim. If 0, cl_rollspeed will is not applicable

The speed at which the player recovers to a straight posture after tilting left or right. If you feel that the player is not recovering fast enough after strafing left and right you should set this variable to a lower value.

cl_rot is an archived client-side cvar that stores your custom spin rules for specific models so they rotate locally without any QC or server changes. Its value is a semicolon-separated list of entries in the form "ax ay az mdl1[,mdl2...]; ...", where ax ay az are degrees per second around the X/Y/Z axes (right, up, forward) and mdl is the model name exactly as model->name (for example: cl_rot "0 180 0 progs/armor.mdl; 0 90 0 progs/backpack.mdl,progs/g_shot.mdl"). You normally edit this via the rotatemodel command: rotatemodel <ax> <ay> <az> <mdl1[,mdl2...]> to add/update entries, rotatemodel list to see the current runtime list and the raw cl_rot string, rotatemodel reload/revert to re-parse cl_rot, and rotatemodel save to serialize the current runtime list back into cl_rot so it’s persisted to your config. An empty cl_rot string means no client-side rotations are applied.

If turned on (1), everything that Quake can't interpret (not command or cvar or alias) is sent as chat. Similar to QW clients, you don't have to type "say " every time you wanna say something. Default value is "1". A value of 2 will add a leading space to every console line so you will not run into commands/aliases/cvars and can type freely. cl_say 3 acts like cl_say 2 but if a console string does not have a leading space it performs the normal search for string that happens when cl_say is 0

Toggle the display of information about network packet transmissions. This toggle was basically used during the game’s development to gather information about network packets.

The speed at which the player moves left and right. You can set this variable to a much higher value such as 500 just in case you join a server on which the administrator allows the players to move at a faster speed.

Spawning in mutliplayer with +attack is bad, you may accidently shoot a teammate. A value of 1 will not allow you spawn using +attack so as to train you to use spacebar

The speed at which the player moves up and down. You can set this variable to a much higher value such as 500 just in case you join a server on which the administrator allows the players to move at a faster speed.

Volume multiplier applied while capturing, to avoid your audio from being heard by others. Does not affect game volume when other speak (minimum of cl_voip_capturingvol and cl_voip_ducking is used).

Scales game audio by this much when someone is talking to you. Does not affect your speaker volume when you speak (minimum of cl_voip_capturingvol and cl_voip_ducking is used).

The cvar cl_warncmd, internally known as cmd_warncmd, primarily manages the client's communication protocol with game servers. When enabled (set to "1", its default), it instructs the client to avoid auto-detecting and using any advanced protocol extensions the server might support, forcing a fallback to the server's basic protocol. This behavior can enhance compatibility or stability without requiring server-side reconfiguration, though a client reconnect is necessary for changes to this setting to take effect.

Web download URL for maps/etc. This is a much faster method of downloading than from servers. If blank it will only try from the connected server

Second web download URL for maps/etc. This is a much faster method of downloading than from servers. If blank it will only try from the connected server

The speed at which the +left and +right commands make the player turn left and right. This command is basically used to control the speed at which the player looks left and right when using keys bound to the above mentioned commands. If you feel that player is not looking left and right fast enough you should increase this value. This variable is only used when using the keyboard and has no effect on the speed of other controllers when using a mouse or a joystick to control the player.

Display the parameters used on the command line to start the game. With this command you can take a look at the parameters that were used to start the game. If you started the game with the command ‘game.exe -nosound +map mymap +volume 0.7‘, this command would give you output like ‘ -nosound +map mymap +volume 0.7‘.

If 1, centerprint messages will be logged to the console in sp/coop. If 2, they will also be logged in deathmatch. Default 1. condump or -condebug can write the console log to a file.

When these words are mentioned in the console, the client will flash your attention if in the background. Your name may be long, and people refer to you by your short name