Testing Your Map with Console Commands

Created September 2004

This tutorial will show you how you can test your map using console commands. All of the info covered is to be used in a single player game mode. You don't have to have a fully functional single player game mode, just an insertion zone and a properly set up .ini file. You can test your Single Modes, Map Construction, Zoning, and other aspects of map building. Once your in the map in a single player mode, type the commands into the console. You open up the console by pressing the tilde key ` which is to the left of the standard 1 key. All commands will be in bolded. If a word is in brackets [ ], it means there can be other words that can be entered. With most of these commands, you can type the command again and it will be turned off.

Console Commands

The first set of commands will let you change the render mode. Most of these are very similar to the different 3D views in the editor. You can also zoom in with your weapon to return to the standard view.

rmode 1 will render the screen in wire frame mode. This is extremely useful in seeing what the engine is displaying at any given view. Use this to test your zoning (using portals and anti-portals). The brushes will be displayed as white lines, static meshes as greenish lines, and other actors as yellow lines. The computer will always see through doors and windows, but the player may not. Use this to see if the engine is displaying something behind a building or on the other side of your map.

rmode 2 will show the zones in your map. This can be used with rmode 1 to determine if you need to zone your map more or more wisely. This mode will also display the bsp triangles in different hues of a zone color.

rmode 3 will show textures that are being used. Each texture will be a different color.

rmode 5 will render the screen as you would see it in game.

rmode 7 will render the light map. This is the lighting information that is kept with the map that determines the shadows that will be displayed. The light map can greatly effect the file size if the actual map (.rsm file).

The next set of commands will give you different stats. Some of these stats are very useful because they give objective information on how much is being rendered in a given view. These stats toggle, so if you type the same command, it will turn that stat off.

stat render will show you a bunch of settings and their corresponding values. The two that I would pay attention to is the bsp triangles and static mesh triangles. TaLoN stated in a thread that you should keep your static mesh triangle count below 15,000 for a quality frame rate. Try not to go over 30,000, that should give you an useable frame rate. Frame rates depend on many, many settings, which is why you shouldn't rely on them too much.

stat fps will show your your current frames per second. Most of the time, there is some delay for the fps display to catch up with what you are looking at. Give it a few second if you are noting fps. You can also type in fps for the same stat.

stat none will remove all stats being displayed.

The next set of commands may make testing a bit easier. The God commands will allow you to test game modes among other things with out worrying about dying and having to start the round over again.

God will allow you to not die for any reason.

GodTeam will make your AI back up unstoppable.

GodHostage will make your Hostages unstoppable too.

GodAll will make you, AI back up, and hostages unstoppable all at the same time.

Ghost will make you float any where and every where in the map. This is very similar to ghost spectating in the game.

Walk will turn the Ghost command off.

Suicide will kill the player, which actually may be useful from time to time.

PlayerInvisible will make you invisible to the Terrorists. Use this to see what the map is like before the action starts. Some times a misplaced terrorist can be seen floating in the air with this command on.

FullAmmo will give you the max number (250) of rounds and grenades that you are carrying. No need to reload!

slomo [1] will set the speed of the entire game. 1 is the default, set a higher number to speed up the game and a lower number (example= .5) to slow it down. This can be used to get around your map quickly to see if a static mesh looks right with out having to take so long to get there.

hideweapon will hide your 1st person weapon. You must have it enabled in your HUD options for this to work. If you are using the stat render command and you are displaying your first person weapon, you maybe displaying 800-1500 more static mesh polygons than the player that never displays their weapon.

showweapon will show your 1st person weapon if you hid it using the hideweapon command.

The following will explain how to create a file that can be loaded with a simple command. This will allow you to have certain settings and key bindings active when you are testing the map.

exec [filename] (example= exec test.txt)

Create a text file and save it in your System folder with a specific name. Open up the file and enter a command. On the following line, enter another command and continue until you have all of the commands you will need when you are testing. You can also enter key binds that will only be activated when you load this file. That way, those keys won't be active during the game. Save the file and close it. Enter the above command once you are inside of the map. You can even bind this command to a key.

The following will show you how to bind a command to a key. This will make testing faster because you do less typing and more testing.

set input [key] [command] (example set input f stat fps)

You can also combine multiple commands to one key.

set input [key] [command] | [command] (example set input f stat render | stat fps)

Summary

These commands should give you many options to test your map effectively and efficiently. There are more commands that can be used, but I don't see much value in using them. Most won't help much and may just waste time, which should be spent testing! hehehe If you know of any other commands that will work and be useful, let me know.

Written by cwv_Odedge