Configuration files have been a feature in competitive gaming for decades, and CS:GO is no different. These simple files are commands that augment features of your User Interface and people have used these to customize the game (and imitate pro-players) for a long, long time. In CS these take the form of a file called autoexec.exe found directly in your CS directory, which is generally:

Your path may differ, depending on where Steam is installed.

Lets look at making your own autoexec with a few basic but powerful commands to modify your layout. There are more commands than this, but these are some of the most useful. At the end of each section I will list the most important commands, and what they control, in a relatively copy friendly format. There will be an example of a basic configuration you can build off of at the end.

Crosshairs

When we talk about crosshairs it's kind of like talking about favourite foods: everyone has one and everyone has different reasons for their decisions. Crosshairs are one of the most individual and widely varying concepts in CS:GO and I highly advise you take some time to check out the websites below and try out as many different crosshairs as you can.

Crashz' Crosshair Generator v2 – Perhaps the greatest crosshair map ever made? Crashz' knocks it out of the park with this custom map that not only allows you to modify your crosshair in real-time, but also has so many pro crosshairs it's kind of crazy. Have a favourite streamer? He has many, many of their crosshairs as well. Bravo sir.

Can't find one that feels right? Make your own!

Dathost Crosshair Generator – An online crosshair generator that gives you a real-time text output of changes you make so that you can copy them into your autoexec file. Extremely handy for quick changes if you don't want to boot up CS and download Crashz' map.

cl_crosshairstyle “1-5” : Chooses your overall style of crosshair, from the classic dot and triangles to a modern, dynamic line setup.
cl_crosshairalpha “1-500” : Sets the alpha channel (brightness) on your crosshair. I recommend a high number.
cl_crosshaircolor”1-9” : Sets the overall colour of your crosshair. More select colours can be chosen with the individual colour commands
cl_crosshaircolor_b "1-300" : Controls the blue channel.
cl_crosshaircolor_r "1-300" : Controls the red channel.
cl_crosshaircolor_g "1-300" : Controls the green channel.
cl_crosshairdot “0-1” : Toggles the middle dot.
cl_crosshairgap”-10-10” : Controls the gap between the lines and the central dot.
cl_crosshairsize "0-999" : Controls the length of the crosshair lines.
cl_crosshairusealpha "1" : Toggles between default crosshair alpha and custom crosshair alpha.
cl_crosshairthickness "1" : Controls the thickness of each line.
cl_crosshair_drawoutline "1” : Toggles an outlines around all elements of the crosshair
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness "1" : Controls the thickness of the outline.

Benefits of certain crosshairs

Certain crosshairs are advantageous for certain firing styles. These vary widely from person to person, but some generally agreed upon beliefs are:

- Dot: set your crosshairsize to 0 to completely remove the outside lines, leaving only a dot. Great for tap firing but can get lost in a spray down.
- Classic: If you are from a 1.6 background, this crosshair will make you feel right at home
- Dot + Cross: Good for spraying/bursting, heads can get lost while tapping.
- Dynamic vs. Stationary: Dynamic crosshairs are great for learning how a gun recoils, but can become very distracting. Generally a stationary crosshair is considered superior

Viewmodel

Your viewmodel is the model that you see in game; essentially your hands and your weapons. Much of this comes down to personal preference, however there are some inherent advantages to changing from the standard view model. The standard viewmodel tends to take up quite a bit of the screen, so it is recommended you at least change the offset to cover less of the screen. A commonly held belief is that having your gun set to the opposite side of your dominant eye will lead to less distraction and more accuracy.

viewmodel_presetpos "0" : This disables the default viewmodel so it doesn't replace yours when you restart.
host_writeconfig : This make the game construct your viewmodel from the autoexec, ensuring you get your viewmodel when you restart.
cl_righthand "0-1" : Toggles right or left hand. (0 is the left hand)
viewmodel_offset_x "-2-4" : Controls the x axis of your viewmodel.
viewmodel_offset_y "-2-4" : controls the y axis of your viewmodel.
viewmodel_offset_z "-2-4" : controls the z acid of your viewmodel.
viewmodel_fov "55-100" : Controls the FOV on our viewmodel.
cl_bobamt_lat "0.1-1" : Controls the laterally movement of your weapon when moving.
cl_bobamt_vert "0.1-1" : Controls the verticle movement of your weapon when moving.
cl_bobcycle "0.1-1" : Controls the speed of your weapon bob.
cl_viewmodel_shift_left_amt "0.5-1" – The amount of left shift the model makes when firing.
cl_viewmodel_shift_right_amt "0.5-1" – The amount of right shift the model makes when firing.

Classic: Look at how pretty that gun is. Too bad it could be concealing an enemy!

Pulled-back: So-long pretty skins, hello survivability. Look at that clearance!

Quake: Coming from a Quake background, I have used this since day one.

ADS: For the modern FPS gamers that just can't get over that Aiming Down Sights is not in the game. (Kappa)

Radar

The standard radar in CS:GO is extremely zoomed in for the amount of space it takes up on your screen. I've heard people claim that the close view allows for easier wall-bangs and smoke shots, but I don't buy it. I personally think being able to see what's going on across the map if you need to is far more useful, so here are some commands to do that. Note, if you like the radar the way it is, don't enter these commands into your auto exec.

cl_radar_always_centered "0" : allows the minimap to rotate with your character which can allow for quicker visual recognition.
cl_radar_scale "0.3" : Zooms the radar out signifcantly.
cl_hud_radar_scale "1.15" : Makes your radar slightly larger.
cl_radar_icon_scale_min "1" : Removes the round border from the radar.

Original radar: Good for a solid eighth of the map, but what about all that stuff you can't see?

Radar 2.0: Say goodbye to hitting tab to see the whole map!

Frames Per Second Max

An FPS max is quite simply the maximum frames per second you want CS:GO to run at. I generally like to cap my FPS 20 frames above my monitors refresh rate (in my case, I set it to 140 for a 120HZ monitor). Some people like to leave their FPS uncapped to get the most out of their system. Either way has no real effect on game-play as long as you can reach a stable FPS that matches your monitor's refresh rate.

fps_max 140 : Sets your frames per second cap to 140.

Buy Binds

Binds are useful for buying multiple items at once at the start of a round, but can force you to accidentally buy items you did not intend. I recommend using your number for binding standard weapons and items individually, allowing you to bypass the buy screen entirely if you wish

bind "kp_end" "buy vest;"
bind "kp_downarrow" "buy vesthelm;"
bind "kp_pgdn" "buy ak47; buy m4a1;”
bind "kp_leftarrow" "buy defuser;"
bind "kp_rightarrow" "buy flashbang; buy smokegrenade;"
bind "kp_home" "; buy molotov;"
bind "kp_uparrow" "buy hegrenade;"

The Basic Auto Exec

Here's a basic autoexec. you can copy and paste this into notepad to start your own autoexec:

//Crosshair//
cl_crosshair_drawoutline "0"
cl_crosshair_dynamic_maxdist_splitratio "0.35"
cl_crosshair_dynamic_splitalpha_innermod "1"
cl_crosshair_dynamic_splitalpha_outermod "0.5"
cl_crosshair_dynamic_splitdist "7"
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness "1"
cl_crosshairalpha "500"
cl_crosshaircolor "1"
cl_crosshaircolor_b "251"
cl_crosshaircolor_g "208"
cl_crosshaircolor_r "0"
cl_crosshairdot "1"
cl_crosshairgap "0"
cl_crosshairgap_useweaponvalue "0"
cl_crosshairscale "4"
cl_crosshairsize ""
cl_crosshairstyle "5"
cl_crosshairthickness "1.5"
cl_crosshairusealpha "1"
cl_fixedcrosshairgap "0"
//Viewmodel//
viewmodel_presetpos "0"
host_writeconfig
cl_righthand "0"
viewmodel_offset_x "-2"
viewmodel_offset_y "-2"
viewmodel_offset_z "-2"
viewmodel_fov "54"
cl_bobamt_lat "0.1"
cl_bobamt_vert "0.1"
cl_bobcycle "0.1"
cl_viewmodel_shift_left_amt "0.5"
cl_viewmodel_shift_right_amt "0.5"
//Radar//
cl_radar_always_centered "0"
cl_radar_scale "0.3"
cl_hud_radar_scale "1.15"
cl_radar_icon_scale_min "1"
//FPS//
fps_max 130
//Binds//
bind "kp_end" "buy vest;"
bind "kp_downarrow" "buy vesthelm;"
bind "kp_pgdn" "buy ak47; buy m4a1;”
bind "kp_leftarrow" "buy defuser;"
bind "kp_rightarrow" "buy flashbang; buy smokegrenade;"
bind "kp_home" "; buy molotov;"
bind "kp_uparrow" "buy hegrenade;"


I hope this helps you start to customize your CS:GO experience to better suit you. If you have any questions of comments feel free to contact me through here! Join me later this week where I'll be looking at the various methods you can utilize to maximize your grenade effectiveness.

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