Console Variables

Here is a list of DOOM Retro’s console variables (CVARs). To get the value of a CVAR, type its name in the console and press ENTER. To change the value of a CVAR, type its name followed by its new value and then press ENTER. Changes to CVARs are saved in doomretro.cfg.

alwaysrun	off	Toggles you to always run instead of walk.
am_allmapcdwallcolor	109	The color of unmapped lines in the automap indicating a change in a ceiling’s height once you have a computer area map power-up (0 to 255).
am_allmapfdwallcolor	110	The color of unmapped lines in the automap indicating a change in a floor’s height once you have a computer area map power-up (0 to 255).
am_allmapwallcolor	108	The color of unmapped solid walls in the automap once you have a computer area map power-up (0 to 255).
am_antialiasing	off	Toggles anti-aliasing in the automap.
am_backcolor	0	The color of the automap’s background (0 to 255).
am_bloodsplatcolor	124	The color of blood splats in the automap when you cheat (0 to 255).
am_bluedoorcolor	162	The color of doors in the automap unlocked with a blue keycard or skull key (0 to 255).
am_bluekeycolor	112	The color of blue keycards and skull keys in the automap when you cheat (0 to 255).
am_cdwallcolor	162	The color of lines in the automap indicating a change in a ceiling’s height (0 to 255).
am_corpsecolor	116	The color of corpses in the automap when you cheat (0 to 255).
am_correctaspectratio	on	Toggles aspect ratio correction in the automap.
am_crosshaircolor	4	The color of the crosshair in the automap when follow mode is off (0 to 255).
am_display	2	The display used to show the external automap.
am_dynamic	on	Toggles dynamically updating the automap while it is open.
am_external	off	Toggles showing the automap on an external display.
am_fdwallcolor	64	The color of lines in the automap indicating a change in a floor’s height (0 to 255).
am_followmode	on	Toggles follow mode in the automap.1
am_grid	off	Toggles the grid in the automap.
am_gridcolor	6	The color of the grid in the automap (0 to 255).
am_gridsize	128×128	The size of the grid in the automap (width×height).
am_markcolor	89	The color of marks in the automap (0 to 255).
am_path	off	Toggles your path in the automap.
am_pathcolor	89	The color of your path in the automap (0 to 255).
am_playercolor	4	The color of your arrow in the automap (0 to 255).
am_playerstats	off	Toggles your stats in the automap.
am_playerstatscolor	4	The color of your stats in the automap (0 to 255).
am_reddoorcolor	162	The color of doors in the automap unlocked with a red keycard or skull key (0 to 255).
am_redkeycolor	112	The color of red keycards and skull keys in the automap when you cheat (0 to 255).
am_rotatemode	on	Toggles rotate mode in the automap.
am_teleportercolor	184	The color of teleporter lines in the automap (0 to 255).
am_thingcolor	112	The color of things in the automap when you cheat (0 to 255).
am_tswallcolor	104	The color of lines in the automap indicating no change in height (0 to 255).
am_wallcolor	180	The color of solid walls in the automap (0 to 255).
am_yellowdoorcolor	162	The color of doors in the automap unlocked with a yellow keycard or skull key (0 to 255).
am_yellowkeycolor	112	The color of yellow keycards and skull keys in the automap when you cheat (0 to 255).
ammo	50	The amount of ammo you have for your currently equipped weapon.
animatedstats	on	Toggles animating your health, armor and ammo in the status bar and widescreen HUD when they change.
armor	0%	Your armor (0% to 200%).
armortype	none	Your armor type (none, green or blue).
autoaim	on	Toggles vertical autoaiming as you fire your weapon while using mouselook.
autoload	on	Toggles automatically loading the last savegame when you die.2
autosave	on	Toggles automatically saving the game at the start of each map.
autotilt	off	Toggles automatically tilting your view while going up or down a flight of stairs.
autouse	off	Toggles automatically using doors and switches in front of you.
centerweapon	on	Toggles centering your weapon when fired.
crosshair	none	Toggles your crosshair (none, cross, or dot).
crosshaircolor	112	The color of your crosshair (0 to 255).
english	american	Toggles the use of American or British English (american or british).
episode	1	The currently selected DOOM episode in the menu (1 to 6).
expansion	1	The currently selected DOOM II expansion in the menu (1 or 2).
facebackcolor	5	The color of your face’s background in the status bar (0 to 255).
fade	on	Toggles a fading effect when transitioning between some screens.
flashkeys	on	Toggles flashing the keycard or skull key that is needed when you try to open a locked door.
freelook	off	Toggles freely looking up and down using the mouse or a controller.
gametime	00:00	The amount of time DOOM Retro has been running.3
groupmessages	on	Toggles the grouping of identical player messages.
health	100%	Your health (-99% to 200%).
infighting	on	Toggles infighting amongst monsters once you die.
infiniteheight	off	Toggles giving you and everything else in the current map infinite height.
joy_analog	on	Toggles whether movement using a controller’s thumbsticks is analog or digital.
joy_deadzone_left	15%	The dead zone of a controller’s left thumbstick (0% to 30%).
joy_deadzone_right	15%	The dead zone of a controller’s right thumbstick (0% to 30%).
joy_invertyaxis	off	Toggles inverting the vertical axis of a controller’s right thumbstick when you look up or down.
joy_rumble_barrels	100%	The amount a controller rumbles when you are near an exploding barrel (0% to 200%).
joy_rumble_damage	100%	The amount a controller rumbles when you take damage (0% to 200%).
joy_rumble_pickup	on	Toggles rumbling a controller when you pick something up.
joy_rumble_weapons	100%	The amount a controller rumbles when you fire your weapon (0% to 200%).
joy_sensitivity_horizontal	64	The horizontal sensitivity of a controller’s thumbsticks (0 to 128).
joy_sensitivity_vertical	64	The vertical sensitivity of a controller’s thumbsticks (0 to 128).
joy_swapthumbsticks	off	Toggles swapping a controller’s left and right thumbsticks.
joy_thumbsticks	2	The number of thumbsticks on a controller (1 or 2).
m_acceleration	on	Toggles the acceleration of mouse movement.
m_doubleclick_use	off	Toggles double-clicking a mouse button to perform the +use action.
m_invertyaxis	off	Toggles inverting the vertical axis of the mouse when using mouselook.
m_novertical	on	Toggles no vertical movement of the mouse.
m_pointer	on	Toggles the mouse pointer in the menu.
m_sensitivity	16	The mouse’s sensitivity (0 to 128).
maptime	00:00	The amount of time you have been in the current map.
melt	on	Toggles a melting effect when transitioning between some screens.
menuhighlight	on	Toggles the highlighting of selected items in the menu.
menushadow	on	Toggles items in the menu casting a shadow.
menuspin	on	Toggles spinning the player’s view in the menu’s background.
messages	on	Toggles displaying player messages at the top of the screen.
movebob	75%	The amount your view bobs as you move (0% to 100%).
negativehealth	on	Toggles allowing your health to be less than 0% when you die.
obituaries	on	Toggles displaying obituaries when you or monsters are killed.
playergender	male	Your gender (male, female or other).
playername	“”	Your name.
r_althud	off	Toggles an alternate heads-up display when in widescreen.
r_antialiasing	off	Toggles anti-aliasing when the graphic detail is low.
r_berserkeffect	3	The intensity of the red effect when you have a berserk power-up and your fists equipped (0 to 8).
r_blood	nofuzz	The colors of the blood spilled by you and monsters (all, none, red, green or nofuzz).
r_blood_gibs	on	Toggles spawning blood when monsters are gibbed.
r_blood_melee	on	Toggles spawning blood during melee attacks from monsters.
r_bloodsplats_max	131,072	The maximum number of blood splats allowed in each map (0 to 1,048,576).
r_bloodsplats_total	0	The total number of blood splats in the current map.3
r_bloodsplats_translucency	on	Toggles the translucency of blood splats.
r_brightmaps	on	Toggles brightmaps on some wall textures.
r_corpses_color	on	Toggles randomly colored marine corpses.
r_corpses_gib	on	Toggles some corpses gibbing when barrels or rockets explode nearby.
r_corpses_mirrored	on	Toggles randomly mirrored corpses.
r_corpses_moreblood	on	Toggles blood splats spawned around corpses at the start of each map.
r_corpses_nudge	on	Toggles corpses and the items they drop being nudged when walked over.
r_corpses_slide	on	Toggles corpses sliding when barrels or rockets explode nearby.
r_corpses_smearblood	on	Toggles corpses leaving blood splats behind as they slide.
r_damageeffect	on	Toggles the red effect when you take damage.
r_detail	high	Toggles the graphic detail (high or low).
r_diskicon	off	Toggles showing a disk icon when loading and saving.
r_ditheredlighting	on	Toggles dithered lighting cast on all textures and sprites.
r_fixmaperrors	on	Toggles fixing many mapping errors in the official DOOM and DOOM II WADs.4
r_fixspriteoffsets	on	Toggles fixing sprite offsets.
r_floatbob	on	Toggles some power-ups bobbing up and down.
r_fov	90°	Your field of view (45° to 135°).
r_gamma	0.90	The screen’s gamma correction level (off, or 0.50 to 2.0).
r_graduallighting	on	Toggles gradual lighting under doors and crushing sectors.
r_homindicator	off	Toggles a flashing “Hall Of Mirrors” indicator.
r_hud	off	Toggles a heads-up display when in widescreen.
r_hud_translucency	on	Toggles the translucency of the heads-up display when in widescreen.
r_levelbrightness	0%	The additional brightness applied to all of the lighting in the current map (0% to 100%).
r_linearskies	off	Toggles horizontally linear skies.
r_liquid_bob	on	Toggles the bobbing of liquid sectors.
r_liquid_bobsprites	on	Toggles the bobbing of sprites in liquid sectors.
r_liquid_clipsprites	on	Toggles clipping the bottom of sprites in liquid sectors.
r_liquid_current	on	Toggles a slight current being applied to liquid sectors.
r_liquid_lowerview	on	Toggles lowering your view when you are in a liquid sector.
r_liquid_swirl	on	Toggles the swirl of liquid sectors.
r_lowpixelsize	2×2	The size of each pixel when the graphic detail is low (width×height).
r_mirroredweapons	off	Toggles randomly mirroring the weapons dropped by monsters.
r_pickupeffect	on	Toggles the gold effect when you pick something up.
r_playersprites	on	Toggles showing your weapon.
r_radsuiteffect	on	Toggles the green effect while you wear a radiation shielding suit power-up.
r_randomstartframes	on	Toggles randomizing the start frames of certain sprites.
r_rockettrails	on	Toggles the trail of smoke behind rockets fired by you and cyberdemons.
r_rockettrails_translucency	on	Toggles the translucency of the trail of smoke behind rockets fired by you and cyberdemons.
r_screensize	7	The screen size (0 to 8).
r_shadows	on	Toggles sprites casting shadows.
r_shadows_translucency	on	Toggles the translucency of shadows cast by sprites.
r_shake_barrels	on	Toggles shaking your view when you are near an exploding barrel.
r_shake_berserk	on	Toggles shaking your view when you have a berserk power-up and punch something.
r_shake_damage	on	Toggles shaking the screen when you take damage.
r_sprites_translucency	on	Toggles the translucency of certain sprites.
r_textures	on	Toggles showing all textures.
r_textures_translucency	on	Toggles the translucency of certain BOOM-compatible wall textures.
s_channels	32	The number of sound effects that can be played at the same time (8 to 64).
s_lowermenumusic	on	Toggles lowering the music’s volume in the menu and console.
s_musicinbackground	off	Toggles continuing to play music in the background when DOOM Retro’s window loses focus.
s_musicvolume	100%	The volume level of music (0% to 100%).
s_randommusic	off	Toggles randomizing the music for each map.
s_randompitch	off	Toggles randomizing the pitch of sound effects made by monsters.
s_sfxvolume	100%	The volume level of sound effects (0% to 100%).
s_stereo	on	Toggles playing sound effects in mono or stereo.
savegame	1	The currently selected savegame in the menu (1 to 8).
secretmessages	on	Toggles displaying a message when you find a secret.
skilllevel	3	The currently selected skill level in the menu (1 to 5).
stillbob	0%	The amount your view and weapon bob up and down when you stand still (0% to 100%).
sucktime	1	The amount of time you must complete a map before you “SUCK” (off, or 1 to 24 hours).
tossdrop	on	Toggles tossing items dropped by monsters when they die.
turbo	100%	The speed you move (10% to 400%).
units	imperial	The units used by certain stats (imperial or metric).
version	5.6.2	DOOM Retro’s version.3
vid_aspectratio	auto	The aspect ratio of the display when in widescreen (16:9, 16:10, 21:9, 32:9 or auto).
vid_blue	0%	The intensity of blue on the screen (-100% to 100%).
vid_borderlesswindow	on	Toggles using a borderless window when fullscreen.
vid_brightness	0%	The screen’s brightness (-100% to 100%).
vid_capfps	200	The number of frames at which to cap the framerate (off, or 35 to 1,000). There is no interpolation between frames when this CVAR is 35.
vid_contrast	0%	The screen’s contrast (-100% to 100%).
vid_display	1	The display used to play DOOM Retro on.
vid_fullscreen	on	Toggles between fullscreen and a window.
vid_green	0%	The intensity of green on the screen (-100% to 100%).
vid_motionblur	0%	The amount of motion blur when you turn quickly (0% to 100%).
vid_pillarboxes	off	Toggles using the pillarboxes either side of the screen for certain effects when not in widescreen.
vid_red	0%	The intensity of red on the screen (-100% to 100%).
vid_saturation	0%	The saturation of the colors on the screen (-100% to 100%).
vid_scaleapi	“direct3d9”	The API used to scale every frame (“direct3d9”, “direct3d11”, “opengl” or “software”).
vid_scalefilter	“nearest_linear”	The filter applied when scaling every frame (“nearest”, “linear” or “nearest_linear”).
vid_screenresolution	desktop	The screen’s resolution when fullscreen (desktop or width×height).
vid_showfps	off	Toggles showing the number of frames per second.5
vid_vsync	off	Toggles vertical sync with the display’s refresh rate (on, off or adaptive).
vid_widescreen	off	Toggles widescreen.
vid_windowpos	centered	The position of the window on the desktop (centered or (x,y)).
vid_windowsize	854×480	The size of the window on the desktop (width×height).
wad	“”	The last WAD to be opened by the WAD launcher.3
wadfolder	“C:\”	The folder the currently loaded WAD is in.
warninglevel	1	The console’s warning level (0, 1 or 2).
weapon	pistol	Your currently equipped weapon (fists, chainsaw, pistol, shotgun, [supershotgun], chaingun, rocketlauncher, [plasmarifle] or [BFG9000]).
weaponbob	75%	The amount your weapon bobs up and down as you move (0% to 100%).
weaponbounce	on	Toggles the bounce of your weapon when you land after a fall.
weaponrecoil	off	Toggles the recoil of your weapon when you fire it.

¹This CVAR is reset to its default at the start of each map.
²This CVAR has no effect while pistol starts are enabled using the pistolstart CCMD.
³This CVAR is read-only.
⁴Changing this CVAR won’t be effective until the next map.
⁵This CVAR is reset to its default during startup.