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Team Fortress 2

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Revision as of 03:04, 22 December 2012 by Dr jackd (talk | contribs) (→‎See Also)

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Team Fortress 2 is a multiplayer first-person-shooter from Valve Software, launched in 2007. Since release, the game has continually received patches fixing known bugs, exploits, glitches, implementing balance-changes to the game's weapons and game-modes, and adding new content (maps, items, or whole new features). Team Fortress 2 is a sequel to Team Fortress Classic (1999) - a standalone version of the Quake modification, Team Fortress (1996).

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
    • Delete the entire content of
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Source\tf\Settings
      in the Windows registry using RegEdit.
  2. Re-install Steam
    • 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.
  3. Contact Steam Support
    • 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).
  4. Fully re-install Team Fortress 2
    • 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

  1. More than likely, you have DirectX issues. Try the following:
    • Reinstall the latest DirectX
    • In Steam, right click TF2 > Properties > Set Launch Options > -dxlevel 80. 80,81,90,95,98 are all valid options, corresponding to Shader Models. Lower is more compatible.
    • Try setting -nod3d9ex. This will disable some DirectX 9 extensions used in Windows Vista/7.

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/

[1]

Graphical Tweaks

Multimonitor Support

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

Field Of View (FOV) Fixes

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.

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

Save Game Data

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

Folder Location

  • Steam Cloud data
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\SteamID\440\remote
  • Configuration files -
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\SteamID\Team Fortress 2\tf\cfg\
  • Demo files - the .dem files residing in
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\SteamID\Team Fortress 2\tf\

Cloud Support

Steam Cloud

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

Other Technical Information

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.

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\SteamID\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.

Options

These are found in each tab listed, in the "Options" section.

Tab Option Notes
Video - Advanced Multicore rendering Will grant a massive performance boost on multicore machines. Always enable unless it's incompatible with your system. If you're working with in-game demos it may cause crashes even though it works when playing.
Video - Advanced Windows Aero extensions Direct3D 9Ex (introduced in Windows Vista) is known to cause problems with the Mumble and possibly other overlays. Disable this option if you are experiencing problems. Doing may degrade alt-tab functionality, see the borderless window launch option for a remedy.

These are found in each tab listed, in the "Advanced..." section.

Tab Option Notes
Keyboard 'Fast weapon switch' This option makes weapon switching not require a left click.
Video 'Field of view' slider Changes the camera FOV to a desired value between 75 and 90 degrees, as it would be for a 4:3 monitor. This value will be adjusted transparently depending on your aspect ratio. For example, if FOV is set to 90 but you use a widescreen monitor instead of a letterbox monitor the FOV will effectively be approximately 110 degrees.
Multiplayer 'Automatically reload weapons when you're not firing' Reloads even if gun not empty. All reloads can be aborted by firing while reloading. Potentially problematic for the spy, whose reload animation blocks the screen. Change viewmodel field of view to adjust this.
Multiplayer 'Viewmodel field of view' slider Changes the perspective of weapons in your hands. A higher value makes the weapon look like it's extended further from the body. Modifying this value may result in graphical bugs depending on how high it's set, since the models are designed only for use with the default 54. This setting is completely separate and has nothing to do with standard camera FOV.
Multiplayer 'Display damage done as text over your target'
Multiplayer 'Play a hitsound everytime you injure an enemy' Volume can be adjusted by entering the console command "tf_dingaling_volume #", where # is a number between 0 and 1, such as 0.4 for 40% volume. To change the pitch depending on how much damage was dealt, adjust tf_dingaling_pitchmindmg and tf_dingaling_pitchmaxdmg. The hitsound itself can be replaced by a custom sound by installing it as
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\SteamID\Team Fortress 2\tf\sound\ui\hitsound.wav
in your TF2 directory.
Multiplayer 'MEDIC: Medigun continues healing without holding down fire button'
Multiplayer 'MEDIC: Auto-call Health percentage' Adjust to HP percentage level of when you would like teammates to automatically display a red cross on screen for healing.

Low FPS fix

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\
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.

Improvements

Skip Introductions, Cutscenes and Videos

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

Borderless Windowed Fullscreen

Supported with the launch commands: -sw -noborder

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.

System Requirements

Template:SysReq

Template:System Requirements

Real World PC Requirements

  • OS: Windows XP SP2 or later. Windows Vista/Windows 7 supports extra features (better ALT+Tab support). Also runs on OS X and Wine.
  • CPU: Dual-Core Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon X2. Updates since the game's release have allowed the game to take limited advantage of dual-core CPUs.
  • GPU: DirectX-9 capable card with SM2.0 or higher. GeForce 8600GT or Radeon HD 4650 recommended for high visual settings.
  • Memory usage: Around 1 GB.
  • Storage usage: 12 GB and room to grow.

References

Useful Links

  • Official Team Fortress Wiki - great resource run by the Team Fortress 2 community, and hosted by Valve.
  • 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.

See Also