Team Fortress 2

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Team Fortress
Team Fortress (mod)	1996
Team Fortress Classic	1999
Fortress Forever (unofficial mod)	2007
Team Fortress 2	2007

Key points

Runs on low-end hardware.

Receives frequent updates.

General information

Official Team Fortress 2 Blog - Written by Valve

Official Team Fortress Wiki - Run by the Team Fortress 2 community and hosted by Valve

GitHub Issue Tracker for Team Fortress 2 and other Source-based games

Steam Users' Forums

Steam Community Discussions

Steam Workshop for Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 Subreddit

Availability

All versions require Steam, including retail.

Improvements

Skip Introductions, Cutscenes and Videos

The intro logo can be skipped by adding -novid to the launch options.

Console Commands

See also: List of useful console commands on the Offical TF2 Wiki

Games running on the source engine can utilize Source Engine Console Commands for various tasks. These commands can be saved into C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Team Fortress 2\tf\cfg\autoexec.cfg to be executed when the game launches.

Command	Notes
mat_dxlevel xx	Same as -dxlevel (above) but doesn't adjust other settings such as resolution.
net_graph 1	View in-game FPS, ping and more. A higher number (up to 4) shows more advanced information. This can result in a performance loss.
cl_showfps 1	Shows FPS only. 1 is real-time, 2 is averaged over the past second.
rate x	Max bytes/sec the host can receive data. A too low value may result in the server starving the client for data it could otherwise have received. A too high value may result in the server overwhelming the client with too much data and packets being lost. For example, if you can download data at 1 megabit/s, x should be 125000. However do not set higher than the maximum value of 1048576 (just over 8 megabit/s).
snd_async_fullyasync 1	May help if you are experiencing freezes when some sounds that aren't cached are playing. Allows sounds to play when ready if loading it is too slow, instead of freezing the entire game until it is.
bind "END" "hud_reloadscheme; snd_restart; record fix; stop"	Works around most common bugs that can be encountered TF2 by pressing the END-key (or any other key of your choice) in-game. This will usually fix invisible players, displaced or invisible props, erroneously looping sounds at full volume, the HUD having the wrong team color or being otherwise broken, and more.

Launch parameters

See also: Command-line parameters on the Valve Developer Community

You can launch Team Fortress 2 with launch parameters - these parameters dictating how certain aspects of the game behaves (outside of gameplay).

To add launch parameters:

• Right click Team Fortress 2 within Steam and select Properties
• Select Set Launch Options
• Add your launch parameters and click OK
• Close the properties window and launch the game with the specified launch parameters.

Launch parameters are typically prefixed with - (dash), however you can also set console commands by providing the console command with a + (plus) prefix.

Useful launch parameters

Parameter	Description
-autoconfig	Restores video and performance settings to default for the current hardware detected. Ignores settings inside any .cfg files until this parameter is removed.
-console	Starts the game with the developer console enabled.
-dxlevel xx	Forces the game to launch in a specific DirectX version, where xx is: 80 (DirectX 8 (buggy, use 81 instead for high performance)), 81 (DirectX 8.1), 90 (DX9 with Shader Model 2), 95 (DX9 with Shader Model 3) and 98 (DX9 on DX10 hardware (SM 4)). Remove this argument after starting TF2 once or it will keep reseting your other settings. The overridden DirectX version will still be saved (mat_dxlevel).
-noborder -window	Launches the game in a borderless fullscreen window (i.e. very alt-tab friendly). This may result in a minor performance loss. If you experience stuttering, disable Windows Aero.
-h height or -height height	Forces the engine to start with resolution set to height.
-w width or -width width	Forces the engine to start with resolution set to width.
-novid	Disables the intro video from playing.

Game data

Achievements are stored within the Steam Community, and are thus tied to specific Steam accounts.

The .local file in Linux is likely hidden. In Ubuntu go to your Home folder and press Ctrl+H to toggle hidden files.

Save game cloud syncing

Team Fortress 2 uses the Steam Cloud to store settings, users' in-game sprays and Steam Workshop submissions.

Video settings

File:TeamfortressGraphicsoptions1.jpg

Graphics settings. 1/2

File:TeamfortressGraphicsoptions2.jpg

Graphics settings. 2/2

Multi-monitor

See this Widescreen Gaming Forum article for a limited case script when using multiple monitors.

Field of view (FOV)

A FOV slider is available within the options which is limited to a value between 75 and 90. This sets the FOV for a 4:3 monitor. The actual FOV will be adjusted for other aspect ratios, meaning widescreens gain a higher than configured FOV.

Adjustments can also be made in the console with the command: fov_desired X. It is possible to increase the FOV limit up to 130 using plugins such as this one. However it is important to note that, while allowed by the ETF2l, these plugins are not officially supported by Valve so use at your own risk.

The TF2 Tactics video on FOV has more information about FOV in TF2 and in general.

Borderless fullscreen windowed

Instructions

Oculus Rift

Instructions

Input settings

File:Teamfortress2mouseoptions.jpg

Mouse settings.

Controller support

See also: Xbox 360 controls on the Official Team Fortress Wiki.

Team Fortress 2 can be played using an Xbox 360 controller, however (due to the large amount of PC-exclusive patches) the games menus are not able to be navigated with a controller. To enable full Xbox 360 controller support for gameplay and activate an Xbox-specific HUD, execute the Xbox 360 Controller configuration via the console command: exec 360controller; To disable the changes, input exec undo360controller using the same method.

Issues and fixes

Generic fix for issues

A generic way of solving the majority of Team Fortress 2 related problems is as below, proceed down the list if the previous list item fails; or search for your exact problem and find an exact solution.

1. If you're currently experiencing the problem in-game, try these console commands
   • Reload the hud: In console, hud_reloadscheme
   • Resync the game state with the server (start/stop an in-game demo): In console, record something;stop
   • Reload sound resources: In console, snd_restart
   • Re-connect to a server: In console, retry
2. Restart the game
3. Validate the game files
   • Right click Team Fortress 2 in Steam and select Properties. Navigate into the Local Files tab and select Verify integrity of game cache. Steam will then (re)download any missing or corrupt files.
4. Delete your Team Fortress 2 user folder
   • TF2's main game files are stored in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\

   • multiplayer ob binaries.gcf
   • orangebox media.gcf
   • source 2007 binaries 2.gcf
   • source 2007 binaries.gcf
   • source 2007 shared materials.gcf
   • source 2007 shared models.gcf
   • source 2007 shared sounds.gcf
   • source engine.gcf
   • source materials.gcf
   • source models.gcf
   • source sounds.gcf
   • team fortress 2 client content.gcf
   • team fortress 2 content.gcf
   • team fortress 2 materials.gcf

The items under your steamid are just game cache and are automatically created when you start Team Fortress 2.

So you won't need to re-download ~10GB. Delete or rename (to keep a backup) your Team Fortress 2 folder. The folder will be automatically re-created the next time you launch Team Fortress 2.

1. Delete your Team Fortress 2 registry settings
2. *Delete the entire content of HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Source\tf\Settings in the Windows registry using RegEdit.
3. Re-install Steam
4. *Delete (or move/back up) all of your steam directories content excluding the steamapps folder and steam.exe. Launch steam.exe and all the relevant Steam files will be re-downloaded.
5. Contact Steam Support
6. *Open a new support ticket here, and document your problem and your attempted solutions in as much detail as possible. Steam Support can be slow to respond to tickets, and by providing as much information as you can you negate the need for Support to contact you for more information (and thereby take longer to help solve the problem).
7. Fully re-install Team Fortress 2
8. *This is pretty extreme, and it is therefore recommended you try and find a case of your problem happening to somebody else and see how they solved it. You will usually never need to do this, unless Steam Support themselves are unable to help with your case.

Game Crashes at Valve Logo on Startup

Instructions

Cosmetic items do not appear on a player

This is a bug caused by the dynamic-model-loading system implemented in Team Fortress 2. Once a player touches a resupply cabinet the cosmetic items should appear.

Getting disconnected while playing on a LAN with multiple players

This is caused by multiple players trying to connect to a server using the same client port. To fix, each player needs a different client port, by adding this to the launch options: "+clientport N", where N is a number between 27005 and 27032, but not 27015 or 27020.

Game cache files are stuck validating

Close Steam and delete ClientRegistry.blob in the Steam directory:

• Windows:

  32 Bit: C:\Program Files\Steam\

  64 Bit: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\

• OS X: /Users/Username/Library/Application Support/Steam/

Low FPS fix

Linux (Ubuntu 12.10)

Once the game has loaded and the FPS have dropped below playable:

1. Press Esc. to return to the game menu.
2. Go to Options -> Video
3. Switch Display Mode from Fullscreen -> Windowed

From here on, the game should increase dramatically in performance.

1. Optional: Switch back from Windowed -> Fullscreen

Anti-Virus Exception

Anti-virus software can interfere with a file in TF2's folder, which gets updated constantly during gameplay.

1. Open anti-virus program.
2. Select settings > exceptions/exclusions.
3. Add the following folder to the scan exceptions: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\appcache\stats\

• Source thread on the Steam forums from 2009.
• YouTube guide by MafiaGuy76.

Disabling Aero

Alternatively if you are using -noborder -window or just windowed mode:

Windows 7/Vista:

1. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\*Your Steam Username*\team fortress 2
2. Right click on hl2.exe.
3. Go to the compatibility tab.
4. Select Disable Visual Themes and Disable Desktop Composition

This will disable Windows Aero when playing TF2 in noborder mode, the same way it would disable it if you were playing in proper fullscreen, this can gain you some FPS.

Issues and fixes (Linux)

Performance

Disable desktop composition while playing a full screen game Linux Install the latest graphics drivers Linux

No audio

It might happen if there is no PulseAudio in your system. If you want to use Alsa, you need to launch the Steam or game directly with "SDL_AUDIODRIVER=alsa". (From SteamCommunity).

Black screen on launch

There are various possible reasons Team Fortress 2 is booting into a black screen on Linux.. Most of the following steps require you to exit out of Steam beforehand.

Instructions

If none of these work, it may be that your graphics card is unsupported. Various AMD and Intel chips will not working with Team Fortress 2 on Linux despite working on Windows.

Useful Links

• FPS problems article on Whisper's Wiki - a very detailed guide on how to tweak the Source engine and Steam platform, on which TF2 runs.
• Chris' FPS Configs for TF2 - Different configuration files to automatically set all settings to their absolute lowest or highest. It is recommended to troubleshoot before resorting to these as they can cause problems.
• TF2Mate - a TF2 configuration generator with support for various FPS configs, configurable key bindings, and other miscellaneous settings.