Some fun and useful console commands that are not so well known

The console in Team Fortress 2 (and other source games) is usually seen as a handy tool for abusing cheats on servers with sv_cheats set to 1, or as a way to change graphics options and do other helpful tasks. Today I am going to shine some light on some console commands that don’t really help you, but are fun to use as gimmicks or as ways to gimp your game to make your gameplay harder and possibly more fun.

To start this article off, let’s talk about the console command “pda_click“. Pda_click is a silly command that can be used on spy and engineer, and it allows your class to play an animation when holding either the Disguise Kit or Building PDA. When you type “pda_click” into your console (or hit a bind for it) while holding either PDA, your class will push a button on the PDA in thirdperson. Unfortuneately, only other people can see this animation (even in thirdperson!) so you’ll just have to take my word for it that it works.

Next, I’d like to talk about the only command that is actually useful on this list. This command is eureka_teleport. If you have the eureka effect out and don’t want to open up the list with your reload key, you can bind a key to eureka_teleport 0 (which teleports you to your spawn) or eureka_teleport 1 (which teleports you to your teleporter exit). All it does is save a few seconds when teleporting to and from your exit and base. There are no known exploits with said command.

You know those commands that you never use? The commands that allow you to swim up (+moveup) and down(+movedown)? Turns out they have a use other than swimming in 2 directions. If you do either +moveup or +movedown whilst congaing, you will conga significantly slower. Useful for making quick 180 degree turns or if you want to confuse people on the server for moving so slowly. You move slow enough that you can stay on top of your mini sentry if you keep going in a circle. Go ahead and try it yourself!

The next command on the list is mat_color_projection. Mat_color_projection is a command that puts a colored overlay on top of your screen. It ranges from values 0-8. By default, it is set to 0. Most values make your game look really ugly (can’t really explain it, try all 8 values!), but some can be quite easy on the eyes. mat_color_projection 8 tones down a lot of bright color, so it makes the game really easy on the eyes. Mat_color_projection 4 makes your game black and white, which makes telling the two teams apart impossible and that can be a fun challenge for you. It also makes for great screenshots…

The last command on this list is mat_viewportscale. It can range from 0 to 1 (including decimals) and it allows you to pixelate your game and maybe get some more frames per second! There’s not much of a difference until you get to about 0.3 and lower, so feel free to set it to 0.8 if you want 5-6 more fps. Incredibly low numbers like 0.05 can make a great challenge when playing. Don’t worry about class recognition, Valve did a great job with it and you can still distinguish each class even when the game is extremely pixelated.

That would be the last command on this list! There might be a second article, but who knows! Team Fortress 2 has lots of hidden console commands that are fun to mess around with.