Best Steam Launch Options – All Games Included – 2023

Steam launch options can change game settings before starting the game and change some settings that are not available to the users from the in-game settings panel. These Steam launch Options commands can help you troubleshoot issues, enhance your game’s performance, and even add extra functionality to the games that you play.

In this post, you will find a handful of Steam launch options with an explanation of how it can help you and combinations of Steam launch options for specific games to increase performance, boost fps, and generally enhance your gameplay.

To start optimizing Steam launch options, you’ll have to open your Steam Library, right-click on the game you wish to add launch options, and click Properties. Then depending on the game, you want to follow my instructions below to find the best Steam launch options for that specific game.

Best Steam Launch Options

Below you can find some of the most useful Steam launch options that will work on almost all games on Steam.

-con_enable 1

This enables the console so you can use it in-game

-high

Gives high-priority CPU usage to the game. It can help you increase performance and fix stuttering in some games.

-noforcemspd

This allows the use of Windows mouse speed settings, and it can come in handy in some games where the in-game settings overwrite your Windows mouse speed settings.

-fullscreen

Will force full screen when the game first starts.

-autoconfig

Restores default settings and ignores your configuration file.

-nomousegrab

This enables the alt-tab function where the game is running on full screen, and it won’t allow you to move the mouse out of the window.

-nod3d9ex

Disables the Windows Aero DirectX extensions. It can improve performance and functionality in some cases.

-nomicsettings

This stops the game from changing the microphone output values when the game launches. It can be useful when using Discord, Skype, etc., where their microphone value will get forcefully maxed out when you run the game.

-nosound

This turns off the sound in-game.

-dx9

This will force the game to run on DirectX 9

-dx11

This will force the game to run on DirectX 11.

+fps_max (Your preferred number) 

Set a maximum FPS limit.

+cl_showfps 4

Show FPS in-game.

Best Launch Options for Dota 2

Below you can find the best launch options for Dota 2 with explanations to optimize and gain even more performance and decrease loading times.

• -novid
  • Will disable the Valve intro whenever you launch the game.
• -high
  • Will allow Dota 2 to run on a higher CPU priority and possibly increase your FPS and performance.
• -useforcedmparms -noforcemaccel -noforcemspd
  • Use these three commands to prevent Dota 2 from changing mouse sensitivity and acceleration settings.
• -map dota
  • Will load the map along loading the game when you launch it, which will reduce the waiting time when joining a game.
• -dx11
  • Will force the game to run on DX11 API, which is the most used by most Dota 2 players. If you did test the different APIs as I told you above and it happens that a different API is giving you the best results, then instead of -dx11, add the API that gave you the best performance.
• +fps_max 0
  • This can set a custom FPS cap in Dota 2. I prefer to have it uncapped, so I choose 0.
• +cl_showfps 1
  • This command will show an FPS counter in the game.

The below line If you are like me then copy and paste the following line:

-novid -high -useforcedmparms -noforcemaccel -noforcemspd -map dota -dx11 +fps_max 0 +cl_showfps 1

Best Rust Launch Options for Rust

The following Steam Launch Options will give you an FPS & Performance boost in Rust. I will explain how to configure each of them depending on your hardware.

-high -maxMem=X -malloc=system -cpuCount=X -exThreads=X -force-d3d11-no-singlethreaded

• -high
  • Gives the game CPU priority over the rest of the apps.
• -maxMem= Change X depending on your RAM.
  • 4GB RAM = 3074
  • 8GB RAM = 6194
  • 16GB RAM = 14000
  • 24GB RAM = 22000
  • 32GB RAM = 30000
  • 48GB RAM = 46000
  • 64GB RAM = 62000

cpuCount=X . Your CPU cores number should replace the X.

Next, we have -exThreads=X, where X is the number of our CPU threads.

So the final best startup options for Rust(In my case) will be:

-high -maxMem=14000 -malloc=system -force-feature-level-11-0 -cpuCount=6 -exThreads=12 -force-d3d11-no-singlethreaded

Best Steam Launch Options for Apex Legends

• -high: Give your game higher priority than the rest of the apps running at the same time
• -preload: Will preload different aspects of the game, which is really helpful for low-med-end GPUs
• +fps_max 0: Will uncap the FPS limit in Apex Legends
• -fullscreen: Will make your game run on Fullscreen since many times, this setting changes automatically.
• -dev: Skip the intro of the game every time it launches

-high -preload +fps_max 0 -fullscreen -novid -dev

Best Steam Launch Options for CS: GO

• -high: Give your game higher priority than the rest of the apps running simultaneously. It can really help you with CS: GO latest stuttering issues.
• -preload: Will preload different aspects of the game, which is really helpful for low-med-end GPUs
• +fps_max 0: Will uncap any FPS limits on CS: GO
• -fullscreen: Makes sure CS: GO is running on exclusive full screen, which results in more FPS and less input lag.
• -dev: Skip the intro of the game every time it launches
• -tickrate
• +mat_disable_fancy_blending: This can help increase FPS and boost performance on LOW/Medium end computers in exchange for graphics quality.

-tickrate 128 -high -preload +fps_max 0 -fullscreen -novid -dev