Command Line Parameters (Launch Options) - HWRM/KarosGraveyard GitHub Wiki

Command line parameters are also known as options/switches/flags. Below is a long list of parameters, some of them are older and may not work with the latest version of Homeworld Remastered.

1. Go to your Steam Library
2. Right click on Homeworld Remastered Collection
3. Click Properties, and click Set Launch Options
4. Type in the desired parameters. For example: -nomovies -luatrace
5. Note that capitalization does matter for some parameters.

1. Create a shortcut to this location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Homeworld\HomeworldRM\Bin\Release\HomeworldRM.exe
2. Add the desired parameters to the end of the target location. For example: -nomovies -luatrace
3. Note that capitalization does matter for some parameters.

• -params <path\params.txt> - Loads a text file containing a list of parameters, with each parameter on a separate line. This is useful to go beyond the character limit in Windows shortcuts. If the path contains spaces, you will need to surround the path with double quotes (Example: -params “c:\users\\<user name\>\Desktop\params.txt”).
  • Note, this command does not work with the steam auto load instructions and must be called from a desktop shortcut. Other commands may be affected as well, but most seem to work with the steam auto load method.

• -locale <language> - Loads the specified language .big instead of your default language

• -CameraDragX mouse speed multiplier
• -CameraDragY mouse speed multiplier
• -freeMouse Free the mouse from being constrained by the window boundaries. Press Ctrl+F11 once or twice to toggle edge-of-screen pan
• -noMouseCap The game won't capture the mouse into on the first frame
• -hardwareCursor enable hardware cursor. Likely no longer works.
• -smCentreCamera Focuses the camera at the center of the map when Home is pressed
• -noMinimise Overrides Alt+Tab command when process is running
• -noPause The game will not be auto-paused when Alt+Tab or the WinKey is pressed.

• -windowed Windowed mode. May need to specify a w and h resolution.
• -window Starts the game in a window
• -freeWindow or -freeWindow=1 Don't apply any rules to the cmd-line’s window properties. Things like ‘dont go off screen’ or ‘don’t be wider than all screens’, etc.
• -noborder Disables window borders
• -fullscreen Full screen mode
• -fakeFullscreen Fullscreen without any border, doesn't respond to window focus changes the same way either. Handy for using fullscreen on a multi-monitor system.
• -forceResolution -w <horizontal-width> -h <vertical-height> Custom resolution (i.e -forceResolution -w 1910 -h 1010)
• -w <width> Screen resolution width. Has to be used in conjunction with correct height.
• -h <height> Screen resolution height. Has to be used in conjunction with correct width.
• -x <horizontal pos> Horizontal screen position in pixels. Has to be used in conjunction with vertical position.
• -y <vertical pos> Vertical screen position in pixels. Has to be used in conjunction with horizontal position.
• -800 800x600 Resolution
• -640 640x480 Resolution
• -1024 1024x768 Resolution
• -1280 1280x980 Resolution
• -1600 1600x1200 Resolution
• -refresh <refresh rate> Changes the refresh rate. Set it to your desktop resolution and refresh rate for quick alt-tabbing.
• -facetCount <count> Draws screen in vertical slices to prevent distortion, ‘bends’ the view. Can allow for 360 degree rendering, etc.
  • For 3 screens, use multiples of 3 up to 24. Using 3 will make each screen a unique view side by side.
  • Ideal formula: width_in_pixels_for_360_degrees = [ tan(180/number_of_facets) / tan(default_FOV/2) ] * height_in_pixels * number_of_facets
  • More information is here.
• -BACK_FOV=<degrees> Changes the background FOV. The foreground FOV stays the same, and so wraps around. Use with facecount to prevent the background/foreground from being visually separate. Max 70.
• -facetAutoFOV=<degrees> Use with facetcount to limit total horizontal FOV. Can use any number like 90, 120, 180, 360 etc.
  • This pulls down your vertical FOV to whatever is required for the width of your views to be that many degrees. If you know, sitting at your desk, that relative to where your head usually is the ‘arc’ of your monitors is a specific amount (usually something like 120-140), setting this near that will result in your screens suddenly looking like a port in to actual space. It’s a bit creepy. At least with facetCount=24. This can also be used to limit those cases where the ultra-wide view (5:1 and up) are seeing more than 360 (where ships repeat on the edges). Now they can be exactly 360, by having the vertical FOV pulled down a small bit.
• -uiLeft=<position> UI left border position (useful for triple monitor setups). Range 0-1
• -uiRight=<position> UI right border position. Range 0-1
• -uiTop=<position> UI top border position. Range 0-1
• -uiBottom=<position> UI bottom border position. Range 0-1

• -noVideoErrors Disables error messages caused by incompatible graphics cards, video settings, etc.
• -nopbuffer Disables pixel buffer. Effectively disables render to texture effects (shadows, the high quality hyperspace effect, you'll be able to see into your ship like HW1). More info.
• -quickLoad Loads the game without a lot of graphical 'perks', textures being one of them
• -truecolour Uses 24-bit colour with sharper rendering
• -d <int> Unknown, likely bits per pixel depth?
• -d8 8-bit Colors
• -d16 16-bit Colors
• -d24 24-bit Colors
• -d36 36-bit Colors
• -lowTex Unknown.
• -noS3TC Disables S3 Texture Compression.
• -noDisplayLists Disables display lists. Useful for troubleshooting geometry related glitches, more info.
• -noRenderToTexture Unknown.
• -noRenderToDepthTexture Unknown. crashes during load?
• -noRender Disables display rendering.
• -texLoadNoROT Sets preference of 2D DDS and TGA resources over ROTs
• -texLoadPreferROT Sets preference of 2D ROT resources over DDS and TGA resources
• -texLoadMostRecent Sets preference of 2D resources via file date?
• -texLoadAlwaysROT Forces loading of ROT files
• -noMipMap Disables mip-mapping. does not seem to work
• -nv_reg_combiners2 <int> Unknown. Nvidea shader spec for old cards -SC
• -nv_reg_combiners_up <int> Unknown. Nvidea Shader spec only -SC
• -nv_reg_combiners <int> Unknown. Nvidea shader all of above Nvidea cards
• -env_combine_up <int> Unknown. ATI range cards -SC
• -ATI_combine3 <int> Unknown. ATI range cards -SC
• -env_combine4 <int> Unknown. ATI range cards -SC
• -env_combine3 <int> Unknown. ATI Range Cards -SC
• -env_combine2 <int> Unknown. ATI range cards -SC
• -noVBO Disables support for Vertex Buffer Objects. Useful for troubleshooting geometry related glitches, more info.
• -d3d Uses direct 3D
• -gl Forces OpenGL
• -device <sw|fx|d3d> Uses RGL device
• -sw Resets renderers to default settings
• -noFilter Disables bi-linear Filters
• -noSmooth Disables polygon smoothing - may improve game performace
• -disablePacking Disables the packed textures
• -NoFETextures Disables front-end textures
• -stipple Stipples renderer alpha

• -nomovies Skips intro movies at game start. Likely to also skip campaign related movies.
• -disableAVI Auto-skips all cutscenes
• -noBG No backgrounds are shown
• -niltextures Disables wallpapers
• -CFG_LensFlare_Power=<value> - use values between 1.0 and 0.0
• -BACK_SwapTimer=XX - Every XX seconds, cycles through the backgrounds from M01 through M16
• -BACK_List=<background-list> - Define a list of backgrounds to cycle through, i.e -BACK_LIST=M01,EZ01,MyAmazingBackground,WetPonyGrotto
• -BACK_Fixed=<Background_Name> - Likely use with BACK_SwapTimer to reload one background over and over. Used for tweaking lighting and tuning.
• -BACK_EyeTest=1 -Cycles the background between solid colors. Allows a paused scene to be screen-capped, so you can use an image editing tool to change the solid background to anything you like.
• -CFG_Shadow_Size=X (0 = 512, 1 = 1024, 2 = 2048, 3 = 4096, 4 = 8192)
• -docklines Shows docking lines - is on by default
• -gunlines Shows the target line - is on by default
• -boxes All ships become boxier
• -NoATITOSetting Turn off all ATI and TO (the graphics that appear over units in game). does not seem to work
• -nohint Disables the hints from the sensors manager
• -slowblits Enables slow screen blips
• -noshowdamage Ships will not show damage effects
• -noBattleScar Unknown. May disable battle scar effects (scorch marks etc.)?
• -battleScar_noHealthCap Unknown.
• -battleScar_noTriCap Unknown.
• -noHSClip Unknown.
• -noHSRender Unknown. May turn off Hyperspace effect rendering?

• -screenshotcam
• -superZoom
• -ssBW Take black & white screenshots.
• -ssBoth Take black & white, and colour screenshots.
• -ssJPG Take screenshots in JPG format.
• -ssTGA Take screenshots in TGA format.
• -ssNoLogo Take screenshots without logo.
• -ssSetSuperSample
• -ssSetCompression

• -closeCaptioned Subtitled Cutscenes
• -dsound Uses direct sound driver
• -nosound Runs the game without sound. Useful if trying to rule out sound problems.
• -noSoundData Unknown.
• -noSpeech Disables all voices
• -waveout Output converted to WAV
• -reversestereo Reverses stereo - Left becomes Right and vice versa

• -campaign <campaign name> Select a campaign to be used.
• -startinglevel <level name> Select a level to load at start up like M05_Gehenna
• -persist Persist uses default persist files

• -mpbeta no longer needed, used to launch multiplayer
• -startFleet <int> Default scripts\startingfleets\Hiigaran00.lua. Create new starting fleets with different contents like Hiigaran01.lua. Now you can use the -startFleet 1 for skirmishes.
• -port <port number> Force the game to use the given port.
• -useRandomSeed Used to eliminate MP sync errors, probably deprecated with hw2c 1.1 patch
• -unitCapsMode <str> Unknown. Probably the name of a DATA:scripts/unitcaps .lua to load?
• -noWinLose <bool> Unknown.
• -forceLAN Allows you to play a LAN game with other versions
• -maxplayers <int>

• -GameRules <str> Brings the requested gamerule to the top of the list, in skirmishes and MP (handy if you're doing alot of editing). Requires the gamerule filename, without the extension.

• -lvlPassTags=<tag-names> Include specific map level tags, comma seperated
• -testmaps Enables testing maps

Note, demo's do not work. These are legacy parameters:

• -demorecord Records a demo
• -demoplay Plays a demo
• -packetrecord Records packets during multiplayes skirmishes. Possibly use in conjunction with demorecord
• -packetplay Plays packet recordings
• -debugsync Records packets and auto-saves frequently

• -superTurbo Makes the in-game speed go extremely fast

• -logfilename=<path> - Custom log file name and path, i.e -logfilename=C:\Test\test.log
• -filelog Unknown.
• -logfiles <path?> Unknown
• -logfileloads Logs data files loaded
• -logonverbose Enables verbose logging files
• -saveOutputFile
• -textfeedback All feedback you receive is stored in a text file in the main game directory
• -aiplayerlog Logs AI player data in text files
• -logOn Enables the text files after a multiplayer match
• -logOff Disables Multiplayer Logs
• -captaincyLogOff Disables end-of-match text reports
• -captaincyLogOn Enables the text files after a battle
• -statlogon Enables the Stats text files. Possibly use in conjunction with captaincyLogOn?
• -gatherstats Gathers statistics
• -dumpPlayBalanceStats Outputs a CSV file containing additional end-of-game stats to the "\Bin\LOGFILES" directory. May cause the game to lock up when entering multiplayer.

• -luatrace Adds lua trace debugging information to the HwRM.log file to debug scripts and issues
• -traceHODs Adds HOD trace information to the HwRM.log file, useful for debugging .HOD files
• -fullMiniDump Full dump crash file, useful for Gearbox
• -ignorebigfiles
• -allowProgramReloads
• -produceHODMemoryInfo Unknown.
• -silentErrors Disables popup debug windows.
• -fragment_program <int> Seems to disable scar and utility scripts in some cases
• -debug Debug mode, useful after a crash. Possibly disabled.
• -debugName <?>
• -r2DDebug
• -noInt3 Turns off debug code. May cause game to crash.
• -nodebugInt Disables 3rd Mode Error
• -outOfSync <int> Unknown.
• -intonsync Makes an integer 3 when a sync. error occurs
• -syncCheckingLevel <int> Unknown.
• -notForPublic Displays the not for public display ui in game, from mission 3 onwards in the campaign. There's a disabled UI screen called NotForPublicDisplay that could be related. Perhaps something related to Beta versions.
• -heap <int> Global memory size heap setter - set to a number in MB
• -lightlines Light lines are shown in debug mode
• -testNIS NIS testing
• -testnisscript NIS testing using the SCRIPT files
• -luaplayer_console
• -skeletonShip
• -showCasts Shows UI raycast markers, likely for debugging ship selection.

• -load <mapname> - Loads the game directly into a map. See here for more info.
• -Camera_Target=<x, y, z> - Point camera is looking at.
• -Camera_Eye=<x, y, z> - Camera origin.
• -Spawn_Back=<background> - Background to use for map.
• -Spawn_Ship_<N>=<shipname> - Ship to be spawned in map.
• -Spawn_Pos_<N>=<x, y, z> - Initial location of spawned ship.
• -Spawn_Rot_<N>=<x, y, z> - Initial rotation of spawned ship.
• -Spawn_Team_<N>=<iTeam> - Possible values are 0 for friendly or 1 for enemy.

• -workshopmod <path\mod.big> - Loads a mod .big file from HomeworldRM\Workshop\<path\mod.big>. You can load multiple files comma seperated like this: <path1\mod1.big>,<path2\mod2.big>
• -mod <mod.big> - Loads a mod .big file from HomeworldRM\Data\<mod.big>.
• -moddatapath <path> - Loads uncompressed files from HomeworldRM\<path> to override all other .big files.
• -overridebigfile - Loads uncompressed files from HomeworldRM\Data\ to override all other .big files and moddatapath.
• -datapath <path> - Sets the data path, where data will be loaded from. By default, it is the HomeworldRM\Data\ folder.
• -scriptFile <file?> - Unknown.
• -exec <str> - Unknown. Probably executes commands through the command shell (e.g. MS-DOS), like the "execute" function. Possible proxy to the Lua exec function?
• -gameendexec <str> - Unknown. Perhaps execute a script at game end.

• -Init \<?\>
• -prepath <path> Sets path to open files, i.e C:\Test
• -cdpath <drive> Sets path of CD drive. Likely obsolete in HWR.
• -movieRecord <?>
• -movieFPS <float>
• -dp8sim Possibly for network testing?
• -dpsim
• -todo load defaults from teamcolours.lua
• -bunny Unknown, may not exist. Turns out there's an actual Easter egg in the game files though, unrelated to this command.
• -conin
• -starfield
• -absCoord <bool>
• -disableKatmai Disables KNI
• -forcekatmai Use KNI
• -noShadowBatch
• -bgSim Unknown.
• -deathshake Aggressively shakes the camera when a ship dies.
• -lawnmower Seems to make the game world not render. UI still appears.

These features are available only on the developer/internal beta versions of HWR:

• -developer enables developer menus in game
• -balance Enables the in game balance screen. Be sure to set player 1 and player 2 to the races you want to test, and enable "Complete Research". If player 1 is vaygr, and you spawn Hiigaran units, the proper research will not be applied. An improved balance screen is being worked on here.

Updated Formatting? Yes
Updated for HWRM? Partially