The Q3A Guide - Basic Console Commands and tricks

Like the previous games in the Quake series, Quake III contains lots of "console" commands that can perform useful functions not described in the manual. Below are some of the more useful ones, along with instructions on how you can browse the commands yourself.

Console Basics

First things first: to access the console, press the tilde ("~") key at any time (even from the main menus).

From there, put a "/" in front of any command you want to execute, or Q3 will interpret it as a simple chat message. (There isn't anything more embarrassing that letting people know you were trying to use cheats during a game. :)

In the console, you can use the cursor, 'home' and 'end' keys just like you would in any other text editor, as well as the 'page up' and 'page down' to scroll through pages of text.

Many of these commands can be hard to remember, so you may want to use the handy "autocomplete" feature. If you type in the beginning of a command and hit the

TAB key, Q3 will offer up all the commands that start with that series of letters. So if you forgot what the FOV command was, but remembered it starts with "/cg_", you could type that in, hit TAB, and the console would show you all the commands that start with"/cg_".

Useful, no?

Tricks & Tips

A few select commands are considered "cheats", and can only be activated under certain conditions. To activate cheats, type:

 /sv_cheats 1

from the console. From there, load any map using the /devmap command. For instance:

/devmap q3dm15

will load "Demon Keep" with cheats enabled. You can only use cheats when using the

"/devmap" command -- using the standard "/map" command will not allow cheats.

Once you've got cheats enabled, some other useful commands:

/god - "God" mode. You are invincible and cannot be hurt by weapons.

/noclip - "no clip" mode. You can fly through walls and floors, and basically go anywhere you want in the level. (Great for taking screenshots.)

Console Commands

There are a LOT of commands and variable you can play with in Quake III. These only begin to scratch the surface, but are some of the more useful and interesting ones.

Keep in mind that some of these can only be used while in "cheat" mode, and other settings may be locked on certain servers, in the interest of keeping al players equal.

If you want to see the complete lists:

/cmdlist - will produce a list of commands

/cvarlist - will produce a list of console variables

You can also output this to a text file by typing

/condump filename.txt

This will output the contents of the console to a text file in the Quake3/baseq3 directory.

/reconnect

Will reconnect you to the last server you were connected to. Useful if Q3 dumps you to the main menu during a map change for no apparent reason.

/bindlist

Will produce a list of all currently bound commands.

/bind

One of the most basic commands, this will "bind", or assign a command to a particular key.

Usage: /bind " "

Example: /bind space "+zoom"

/say

Will produce a chat message onscreen. Used with the /bind command, this is an easy way to set up chat messages.

Example: bind F5 say "ouch! that hurt!"

Do NOT abuse this command. Spamming servers with lots of useless chat is an easy way to get kicked off a server.

/say_team

Allows you to send private messages to your teammates. VERY useful for Capture the Flag matches.

Example: bind I say_team "Defense: Incoming Enemy!"

/messagemode 2

Bind this command to a key to enter "team chat" mode. Anything you type after this command will only be sent to your teammates.

/kill

Will cause you to commit suicide. A handy way to lose a frag.

/callvote [proposed vote]

This command can be used to propose changes on a server, and allow all the players on the server to vote on it. This can be used to change maps, game modes, settings, and even kick players if necessary. To vote on a proposed change, press F1 to vote "yes" and F2 to vote "no".

Examples:

callvote map q3dm9

callvote g_gravity

100 callvote kick sluggo

/quit

Quits the game.

Viewing Options

/cg_draw2d (deafult: 1)

Will turn your HUD on and off (0=off, 1=on)

/cg_fov (default: 90)

Will alter your on-screen field of vision. Lower settings are more zoomed in; higher #'s give you a wider view, but can get skewed at anything above.

/cg_zoom fov (default: 22.5)

Will alter your FOV when in "zoom" mode.

/cg_drawFPS (deafult: 0)

Will display your framerate in the upper right of the screen. (0=off, 1=on)

/cg_drawGun (deafult: 0)

Will toggle your gun model on and off the screen. (0=off, 1=on)

/cg_drawTimer (default: 0)

Will display elapsed game time in the upper right of the screen. (0=off, 1=on)

/cg_gibs (default: 1)

This activates the splatter that is so much a part of shooters these days. Setting to "0" can help keep things clean in heavily trafficked games. (0=off, 1=on)

/cg_simpleItems (default: 0)

Will turn all items into 2D sprites. Can help improve performance on slower systems. (0=off, 1=on)

/cg_drawTeamOverlay (default: 0)

Will toggle the very useful "team overlay" on your HUD, which will allow you to see the health, armor, and current selected weapon of all your teammates. (0=off, 1=on)

/cg_thirdPerson (0/1; default: 0)

/cg_thirdPersonAngle (0-360; default: 0)

/cg_thirdPersonRange (default: 40)

These three commands will allow you to play with Quake IIIs "third-person" view. Setting /cg_thirdPerson to 1 will activate the view, and /cg_thirdPersonRange will set how far behind you view your player from. /cg_thirdPersonAngle will rotate the camera around your player; set the angle to 180 and you'll get a good head-on look at your model.

Useful Server Commands

These are some useful commands you might want to use when running a server.

Some of the variables require the map be restarted before taking effect; use the "/map_restart" command to accomplish this.

/serverinfo

Will produce a list of current server settings.

/map

Will load any map with your current server settings.

/map_restart

Will reload current map. You may have to use this command before various server settings can take effect.

/sv_hostname

Change or view the current server name with this command.

/g_gametype

Will display or set the current game type:

"0" - free-for-all DM

"1" - Tournament 1-on-1

"2" - Single-Player

"3" - Team Deathmatch

"4" - Capture the Flag.

Example: /g_gametype "3"

/sv_maxclients

Will display or set the maximum # of players on a server.

Example: /sv_maxclients "10"

/timelimit

Displays or sets the server time limit.

/fraglimit

Displays or sets the server frag limit.

/bot_minplayers

This command can be used to keep a server populated with random bots when empty. Bots are kicked when players join.

Example: /bot_minplayers "4"

/addbot

Can be used to manaully add bots to a game.

/kick

Will kick any specified player from the game.

/g_gravity (default: 800)

Set or display the world gravity with this variable. (Lower number is less gravity.)

/g_speed (default: 320)

Set or display player running speed with this variable. Setting to 1000 will produce highly interesting results.