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In the World of Warcraft game client you can access many of its configuration options through 'console variables' or 'CVars'. These variables affect many aspects of the game, including the graphics engine, sound system, and user interface.

The term 'CVar' predates WoW and originated with id Software's game Quake (the lead programmer of vanilla WoW was John Cash, a former programmer at idSoftware), and is meant to differentiate base game script variables from commands. 'CVars' should not be confused with the game's script variables, called vars. It's a bit of a misnomer because the base game scripting language is used for many things, and happens to be accessible through the game console. Here are several common ways accessing these vars and commands:

  • .wtf files - Config.wtf, in 'WTF', in WoW folder, stores game settings, like 'gxResolution', and 'locale' for the language.
  • '/console command' - chat slash command to run a base game script command, like setting a CVar.
  • 'wow.exe -Console' - allows you to open "the console" in-game, opening and closing by using ~ key
  • Configuration UI - WoW's normal in-game configuration interface. Hit Esc to get to it.
  • SetCVar() - WoW global API for changing settings using Macros or AddOns
Red exclamation mark icon Warning: changing CVars directly can cause issues. Like changing 'cameraDistanceMax' in Config.wtf may render the "Max Camera Distance" slider useless. In some cases you may have to quit the game, and manually remove the CVar line from the .wtf file. Any changes done though CVars are generally the same as setting them through the game Configuration UI and will be saved.

Reference[]

This is a categorized list of console variables, along with a short explanation for each CVar. The list is not complete; for a complete list, see Console variables/Complete list. See Category: Removed CVars for the deprecated/removed list.

The general text syntax for setting a variable:

SET variableName "value"

Startup[]

These are general variables that are only relevant for starting the game (or which are only read during startup).

accountList - Saves multiple account names for login screen
accountName - Saves 1 account name for login screen
accounttype - Saves what account type the user is playing on - Wow, BC, LK or CT
blizzcon - Used by Blizzard to prevent tampering on Blizzcon computers
checkAddonVersion - Disable loading of out-of-date addons
CinematicJoystick
coresDetected - # of CPU cores detected
decorateAccountName -
expansionMovie - Display Cataclysm intro at startup (This variable is reset to 0 after the video has been shown)
forceEnglishNames -
installType - Retail/Beta/PTR
lastCharacterIndex - Number of last character that was used for logging in (initial selection for character screen)
locale - Game language code (e.g. "enGB", "enUS", "deDE", "frFR" ...)
heapAllocTracking - Enables/disables allocation tracking & dumping in SMemMalloc
heapUsage -
heapUsage2 -
movie - Display intro movie at startup (doesn't work in Burning Crusade game client)
movieSubtitle - Display subtitles for intro movies
readContest - Whether the user has accepted the PTR contest rules
readEULA - Whether the user has accepted the EULA
readScanning - Whether the user has accepted the system scanning terms
readTOS - Whether the user has accepted the Terms of Use
realmList - Realm list server to use (e.g. "eu.logon.worldofwarcraft.com" or "us.logon.worldofwarcraft.com")
realmListbn - Battle.net realm list server to use (default: "") - wow still uses realmList
REMOVED 5.4.1 realmName - Name of most recently used realm, displayed in the lower right corner. (removed 5.4.1)
showToolsUI - Enable the WoW Launcher
timingMethod - Sets the CPU timing method used. 0 is none, 1 is normal precision(fps limited to 64), 2 is high precision
patchlist - Address of wow patch server
processAffinityMask - Which processor core to start WoW on

Console[]

These are commands that only affect the drop down menu

help - Displays help and information for any command. (Eg. Help debug)
fontcolor - Console Font Color
bgcolor - Backdrop color
highlightcolor - Console text highlight color
fontsize - Font Size
font - Name of Font to use in console
consolelines - How many lines to display on screen at once
clear - clears all console text
proportionaltext - Spaces text out to cover the entire screen (E x a m p l e !)
spacing - specifies inter-character spacing, in pixels
settings - lists current console settings
default - returns console to default settings
closeconsole - closes console
repeat - repeats a command when entered
cvarlist - lists all cvars with their current & default settings
cvar_default - sets all cvars to their defaults
cvar_reset - resets config.wtf file to the settings you use when you log in for the first time

Camera[]

Note
Note: This list is NOT complete due to the increasing number of cvars for this category. See Complete list for the full list of camera settings.
cameraBobbing
cameraBobbingFrequency
cameraBobbingLRAmplitude
cameraBobbingSmoothSpeed
cameraBobbingUDAmplitude
cameraCustomViewSmoothing
cameraDistance - Fixed value?
cameraDistanceD - Camera distance (zoom). May or may not show forced camera movements from camera-world collisions (untested).
cameraDistanceMax
cameraDistanceMaxFactor - Sets factor by which cameraDistanceMax is multiplied
cameraDistanceMoveSpeed - Default is 8.33.
cameraDistanceSmoothSpeed - Default is 8.33. Values range from 0.002778-50. Changes speed at which you scroll-wheel zoom in/out.
cameraDive - Default is 1.
cameraFlyingMountHeightSmoothSpeed
cameraFoVSmoothSpeed
cameraGroundSmoothSpeed
cameraHeightIgnoreStandState
cameraHeightSmoothSpeed
cameraPitch - Fixed value?
cameraPitchD - Camera pitch. Doesn't seem to take forced camera movements because of camera-world collisions into consideration.
cameraPitchMoveSpeed
cameraPitchSmoothSpeed
cameraPitchSmoothMin
cameraPitchSmoothMax
cameraPivot - Default is 1. Controls if your camera will stop when it hits the ground so you can look up without being blocked by your character model.
cameraPivotDXMax
cameraPivotDYMin
camerasmooth
cameraSmoothPitch
cameraSmoothStyle - Default is 0. Possible values 0-2.
cameraSmoothTrackingStyle
cameraSmoothYaw
cameraSmoothTimeMin
cameraSmoothTimeMax
cameraSubmergeFinalPitch
cameraSubmergePitch
cameraSurfacePitch
cameraSurfaceFinalPitch
cameraTargetSmoothSpeed
cameraTerrainTilt
cameraTerrainTiltTimeMin
cameraTerrainTiltTimeMax
cameraView
cameraViewBlendStyle - Default is 1. Possible values 1-2. Camera moves from saved positions smoothly or instantly.
cameraWaterCollision
cameraYaw - Fixed value?
cameraYawD - Camera yaw. May or may not show forced camera movements from camera-world collisions (untested).
cameraYawMoveSpeed - Default is 230. Possible values 1-360. Changes the speed at which the camera can spin.
cameraYawSmoothMax
cameraYawSmoothMin
cameraYawSmoothSpeed

Controls[]

assistAttack - Start attacking automatically after using /assist
autoClearAFK - Clear AFK upon movement
autoDismount - Dismount when trying to use an ability
autoDismountFlying - ...even when flying
AutoInteract - Right-click to move
autoRangedCombat - Automatically switch between ranged and meelee attack
autoSelfCast - Automatic self-casting
autoStand - Stand up when trying to use an ability [Introduced in Patch 2.3]
autoUnshift - Unshift/Unstealth/Leave shadowform when using an ability only usable "unshifted" [Introduced in Patch 2.3]
deselectOnClick - Sticky targeting
enableWowMouse - Enables the Steelseries Gaming Mouse
Joystick - Enable Joysticks
mouseInvertPitch - Invert up-down mouse motion
mouseInvertYaw - Invert left-right mouse motion
mouseSpeed - Mouse speed
stopAutoAttackOnTargetChange - Stop attacking when switching targets


Engine[]

asyncHandlerTimeout - A test of the engine - aka you're loading into instance, click out of wow, click back & wow has stopped responding.
asyncThreadSleep - Engine option: Set based on asyncHandlerTimeout
dbCompress - Database compression (?)
Errors -
ErrorFileLog -
ErrorLevelMin -
ErrorLevelMax -
ErrorFilter -
MemUsage -
ShowErrors - Enables/Disables errors from being shown
timingTestError -


Graphics[]

bspcache - Binary Space Partition Caching
componentCompress - Fixes issues with characters being fully black caused by bad/old drivers.
componentTextureLevel - Changes the quality of player textures. Older textures seem to be unaffected. (1: low quality, 0: high quality)
componentThread -
DesktopGamma - Matches Windows' Gamma Settings
detailDoodadAlpha -
DistCull - Sets distance for culling of objects near farclip
extShadowQuality - Enables Dynamic Shadows (WoW 3.0)
environmentDetail - Controls model draw distance for doodads (WoW 3.0)
farclip - Set detailed draw distance; sets the fog distance. Only terrain will be visible past this distance.
farclipoverride - Allows overriding of preset limit for farclip (WoW 3.0)
ffx - Enable all pixel shaders
ffxDeath - Enable full screen death effect
ffxGlow - Enable full screen glow effect
ffxNetherWorld - Enable full screen "nether world" effect, e.g. for a Mage's Invisibility
ffxRectangle - Enables Widescreen Framebuffer
ffxSpecial - Enables alternative on screen effects. (WoW 3.0 Wrath-Logo-Small)
fixedFunction - Force fixed function pixel and vertex processing
footstepBias - ?
Gamma - Gamma level
groundEffectDensity -
groundEffectDist -
gxApi - Graphics API to use
gxAspect - Preserve aspect ratio for windowed mode
gxColorBits - Color bits
gxCursor - Enable hardware cursors
gxDepthBits - Depth bits
gxFixLag - Smooth mouse cursor
gxMonitor - Сhoice of main monitor that is used for game
gxMaximize - When using windowed mode, maximize the window
gxMultisample - Enable anti-aliasing (e.g. "4" for 4x multisampling)
gxMultisampleQuality - Quality for anti-aliasing (?)
gxOverride - ?
gxRefresh - Refresh rate in Hz
gxResolution - Screen resolution (e.g. "1280x1024")
gxRestart - Restarts the graphics engine
gxTextureCacheSize - Set the cache size
gxTripleBuffer - Enable Triple Buffering
gxVSync - Enable VSync
gxWindow - Windowed mode
horizonfarclip - Set draw distance for the horizon (terrain). When larger than farclip, will show 'shadows' of terrain in the distance.
horizonfarclip - Set draw distance for terrain closest to you.
hwDetect - Perform hardware detection for best values
hwPCF - Use hardware based Percentage Closer Filtering for shadows (Default on)
lod - Level of detail, toggles the level of detail option in the graphics menu
M2BatchDoodads - Enable handling of Detail Doodads in batches (combine doodads to reduce batch count)
M2BatchParticles - combine particle emitters to reduce batch count
M2Faster - end user control of scene optimization mode - (0-3)
M2FasterDebug - Enables developer dynamic control (programmer control of scene optimization mode)
M2UseClipPlanes - use clip planes for sorting transparent objects
M2UseThreads - multithread model animations
M2UseZFill - Enabled Z-Fill on transparent objects
mapObjLightLOD - ?
mapShadows - Toggle map shadows
MaxFPS - Framerate Limitation
maxFPSBk - Framerate Limitation while Wow isn't in focus
MaxLights - Maximum number of hardware lights
nearclip - Clipping range for small detail doodads
objectFade -
ObjectFadeZFill -
occlusion - Disables rendering of objects that are entirely blocked by other graphics
particleDensity - Particle density
pixelShaders - Enable pixel shaders
playerTextureLevels - Deprecated and replaced by componentTextureLevel
PlayerFadeInRate - fade in rate for player mouseover
PlayerFadeOutAlpha - min fade out alpha for player mouseover
PlayerFadeOutRate - fade out rate for player mouseover
shadowBias - Blob Shadow transparency levels
shadowcull - ?
shadowinstancing - Shadow optimization which prevents flickering
shadowLevel - Level of detail for shadow mip maps
shadowLOD - Enables or Disables Blob Shadows
shadowscissor - ?
showshadow - ?
showfootprints - Enable footprints
showfootprintparticles - ?
showsmartrects - Deprecated in WoW 3.0
SkyCloudLOD - Level of detail for Sky
SmallCull - Affects the hiding ('culling') of small objects. Setting to 0 disables.
specular - Enable specular shading
spellEffectLevel - Spell Effect level
SplineOpt - Loading Screen Spline for travel
texLodBias - Texture Level of Detail Bias (?)
terrainMipLevel - Terrain texture blending mode. (1: low quality, 0: high quality)
textureFilteringMode - Texture filtering mode (?)
textureCacheSize - Caches in memory textures when they are not in use for quick loading. (Min: 8388608, Max: 536870912, Default: 33554432)
triangleStrips - Deprecated in WoW 3.0
UIFaster - UI acceleration level
unitDrawDist - Unit draw distance
unitHighlights - Toggle model highlighting on targeted units
useWeatherShaders - Enable weather shaders
violenceLevel - Changes the violence level of the game
waterLOD - Level of Detail for water (Locked)
windowResizeLock - Locks so the game can't be resized while in windowed mode - see gxWindow
weatherDensity - Level of weather effects
worldBaseMip - Environment texture quality (2: low, 1: medium, 0: high)

Interface[]

BlockTrades - Block trade requests
ChatBubbles - Enable chat bubbles
ChatBubblesParty - Enable party chat bubbles
colorChatNamesByClass - name will change to a color to match their class. default is 0.
CombatDamage - Enable damage display over target
CombatHealing - Enable healing display over target
combatLogOn - Enable combat log (?)
CombatLogPeriodicSpells - Enable periodic spells in combat log (?)
flaggedTutorials - Enable/Disable tutorials for new players
gameTip - Determine which Loading Screen tip will display next (increments per character Login)
guildMemberNotify - Display notification when guild members log in or out
lfgSelectedRoles - your current LFG role selection information
minimapZoom - Minimap zoom level (?)
minimapInsideZoom - Minimap inside zoom level (return the same zoom level as Minimap:GetZoom() when in indoors)
ObjectSelectionCircle - Size of the targeting circle ('0' disables)
PetMeleeDamage - Show pet melee damage
PetSpellDamage - Show pet spell damage
predictedHealth - Enables the Smooth filling Health Bar ('0' disables)
predictedPower - Enables the Smooth filling Energy/Mana/Rage/Runic Bar ('0' disables)
profanityFilter - Enable profanity filter
rotateMinimap - Rotate minimap
secureAbilityToggle - Keeps players from accidentally toggling off by hitting the button more than once in a short (3 sec?) period of time
spamFilter - Enable spam filter
screenshotFormat - Screenshot format
screenshotQuality - Screenshot quality (0-10)
showGameTips - Toggles displaying of loading screen game tips ('0' disables)
showLootSpam - Show a message in the combat log with the amount of money looted when auto-looting
ShowTargetCastbar - Show your target's cast bar
ShowVKeyCastbar - Show target's cast bar under nameplates
scriptErrors - (0/1) Whether or not the UI shows Lua errors
scriptProfile - ?
statusBarText - Show the Player status bar values as text on top of the normal HP/MP/Energy/Rage bars
synchronizeSettings - Toggles the saving of UI settings to the server (0-1)
UberTooltips - Show "extended" tooltips
uiScale - Interface scale
UnitNameRenderMode - ?
UnitNameOwn - (0/1) Toggle Own Name
UnitNameNPC - (0/1) Toggle NPC Name
UnitNamePlayerGuild - (0/1) Toggle Guild Tags
UnitNamePlayerPVPTitle - (0/1) Toggle Titles
UnitNameFriendlyPlayerName - (0/1) Toggle Friendly Player Names
UnitNameFriendlyPetName - (0/1) Toggle Friendly Pet Names
UnitNameFriendlyCreationName - (0/1) Toggle Friendly Creation Names
UnitNameEnemyPlayerName - (0/1) Toggle Enemy Player Names
UnitNameEnemyPetName - (0/1) Toggle Enemy Pet Names
UnitNameEnemyCreationName - (0/1) Toggle Enemy Creation Names
UnitNameCompanionName - (0/1) Toggle Companion Names
useUiScale - Enable interface scaling

Sound[]

ChatAmbienceVolume - Volume setting for surroundings while in voice chat
ChatMusicVolume - Volume setting for game music while in voice chat
ChatSoundVolume - Volume setting for voice chat
EnableMicrophone - Enables the Microphone
EnableVoiceChat - Enables Voice Chat
FootstepSounds - Enables/Disables footstep sound
InboundChatVolume
OutboundChatVolume
Sound_ChaosMode - Plays random sounds depending on what it is set to (needs to be enabled)
Sound_EnableSoftwareHRTF - Enables headphone designed sound subsystem
Sound_VoiceChatInputDriverIndex - Device for voice input (Microphone)
Sound_VoiceChatOutputDriverIndex - Device for voice output (Headset or secondary speakers)
Sound_OutputDriverIndex - Audio Device Selected
Sound_DSPBufferSize - Sound buffer size
Sound_EnableSFX - Enables SoundFX
Sound_EnableErrorSpeech - Enable error sounds ("Can't cast that yet!")
Sound_EnableMusic - Enables Music
Sound_EnableAllSound - Enables All Sound
Sound_ListenerAtCharacter - Set sound center to player
Sound_EnableEmoteSounds - Enable emote voices
Sound_EnableArmorFoleySoundForSelf - Enable armor damage sounds for player
Sound_EnableArmorFoleySoundForOthers - Enable armor damage sounds for NPCs and other PCs
Sound_MaxCacheableSizeInBytes - Max sound size that will be cached, larger files will be streamed instead
SoundMemoryCache - Sound cache memory size in MB
Sound_EnableMode2 - Enables Alternate sound processing
Sound_EnableMixMode2 - Enables and controls PCM Audio Quality
Sound_EnableHardware - Enable Audio Hardware Acceleration
useEnglishAudio - override the locale and use English audio

Deprecated[]

Please see Category:Console variables/Removed CVars for the deprecated / removed cvars.

Removed[]

Please see Category:Console variables/Removed CVars for the deprecated / removed cvars.

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