Soldier of Fortune 2 FAQ

Soldier of Fortune 2 is a great game, and I've spent a lot of time both playing it and tweaking it. There are a lot of cool little things you can do with SoF2, but it's not always easy to figure out how to do them. That's where this FAQ comes in - nothing here is my original creation, I am merely collecting into one central location all of the interesting tidbits about SoF2 that I've found in my web travels. Hopefully these answers will be as helpful to all of you as they were to me! If you have a question about SoF2 not listed here, drop me an email.

FAQ - How do I ...

... make sure my RATE is set correctly?
... show the Lagometer?
... show my FPS (frames per second)?
... change my crosshair?
... change my crosshair's color?
... NOT automatically switch when I pick up new weapons?
... take a screenshot?
... change the CROUCH so it toggles on and off instead of having to hold it?
... type in different colors?
... bind keys to "say" different things while I'm playing?
* Useful commands all server admins should know.

How do I make sure my RATE is set correctly?
There is a setting in Soldier of Fortune 2 related to your computer's connection speed; it is under Options -> Network Settings -> Rate. The available options for Rate are Modem 33.6K, Modem 56K, Single ISDN, Dual ISDN, DSL, Cable, T1, and LAN - it is important that you set this correctly, otherwise you may be causing problems for other players. It should match whatever your actual connection is, i.e., if you have broadband cable set your Rate to Cable, if you have DSL set your Rate to DSL, etc. I can check the Rate of any player on the server, and if I notice that your Rate is set incorrectly I will ask you to change it. If you do not, I will ask you to leave until your Rate is corrected (and if you don't leave voluntarily, then I will Kick you). It's a simple thing to do, it will smoothen out your gameplay, and it will help prevent lag issues for everyone else.

How do I show the Lagometer?
This one's easy - if you want to see the Lagometer (a graphic representation of your ping/conn speed), just go to Options -> Network Settings -> Show Lagometer. Set it to Yes to see it, No to not see it.

How do I show my FPS (frames per second)?
While in game, pull down the console (by pressing the ~ key, usually to the left of the number 1 key) and type cg_drawFPS 1. Note, it is case sensitive; also note that there is a space between cg_drawFPS and the number 1. To turn off the FPS, just go back to the console and type cg_drawFPS 0.

How do I change my crosshair?
You can change your crosshair at Options -> Misc. Setup -> Crosshair. Just click the crosshair to cycle through all available ones.

How do I change my crosshair's color?
To change the color of your crosshair, pull down the console (by pressing the ~ key, usually to the left of the number 1 key) and type cg_crosshairRGBA X,X,X,X. Note, it is case sensitive; also note that there is a space between cg_crosshairRGBA and the X,X,X,X, and commas between each of the numbers. The X values will be either 0s or 1s, and different combinations will give you different colors. Some examples are:

• 1,0,0,1 (red) This is the color Scaramanga uses
• 1,1,1,1 (white)
• 1,1,0,1 (yellow)
• 0,1,1,1 (light blue)
• 0,0,1,1 (blue)
• 1,0,1,1 (purple)
• 0,0,0,1 (black)

How do I NOT automatically switch when I pick up new weapons?
You can change this at Options -> Misc. Setup -> Auto Switch. The choices are Auto, Safe, and None - choose None if you don't want the game to automatically switch your weapons.

How do I take a screenshot?
First, you need to bind a key to take snapshots with - as an example, if you wanted to use the F12 key, pull down the console (by pressing the ~ key, usually to the left of the number 1 key) and type /bind F12 screenshot. Now whenever you hit the F12 key during a game it will take a .jpg screenshot! These pictures will be saved to the base\mp\screenshots folder of your SoF2 folder (that is, if your SoF2 is installed at C:\games\SoF2, the screenshots would be in C:\games\SoF2\base\mp\screenshots). Note that you can add the line bind F12 screenshot to your SoF2 autoexec.cfg file instead of typing it into the console every time (see the next few questions for more information about SoF2 autoexec.cfg files).

How do I change the CROUCH so it toggles on and off instead of having to hold it?
I've tried changing my crouch this way, and don't like it; however I know a lot of people do like it, so if you want to modify your crouch in the game so you don't have to keep the button pressed, this is how to do it. First, open the autoexec.cfg file in your SoF2 base\mp folder; if this file doesn't exist, simply create and save a file named autoexec.cfg to this folder using Notepad or a similar plain text editor. When SoF2 starts up it will look for an autoexec.cfg file in the base\mp folder and execute those commands before launching the game; this file holds any custom binds you've created.

To modify your crouch, add the following four lines to your autoexec.cfg:

set crouchswitch "vstr duck"
set duck "+movedown; set crouchswitch vstr stand"
set stand "-movedown; set crouchswitch vstr duck"
bind YOURKEY "vstr crouchswitch"

How do I type in different colors?
To type in different colors, all you need to do is preface whatever you want to say with ^X, where X is one of the values below (the ^ is the little hat symbol you get when you press shift and 6:

^1 red
^2 olivegreen
^3 yellow
^4 midnight blue
^5 cyan 
^6 pink 
^7 white 
^8 black 
^9 light blue 
^0 black 
^a darkturquoise 
^b orange 
^c redorange 
^d dodgerblue 
^e deeppink 
^f skyblue 
^g limegreen 
^h redpurple 
^i steelblue 
^j lightgreen 
^k moccasin 
^l lightblue 
^m magenta 
^n forestgreen 
^o lightpink 
^p springgreen 
^q whitepink 
^r lightpink 
^s purple 
^t redpink 
^u purple 
^v green 
^w black 
^x darkblue 
^y lightblue 
^z darkorange 
^- darkgray 
^= darkcyan 
^[ darkcyan 
^] darkcyan 
^; black 
^' yellow 
^\ darkpink 
^/ black 
^, gray 
^. purple 

How do I bind keys to "say" different things while I'm playing?
You can bind keys in the game so that they will cycle through pre-set comments you've prepared; for example, your 'Thank You' key might say 'Thanks', 'Thank you', or 'TY' when it's pressed. The way to do this is to add the following lines to the autoexec.cfg file in your SoF2 base\mp folder (if this file doesn't exist, simply create and save a file named autoexec.cfg to this folder using Notepad or a similar plain text editor):

bind leftarrow "vstr good00"
bind uparrow "vstr kill00"
bind rightarrow "vstr laff00"
bind downarrow "vstr dead00"
bind F12 "vstr thnk00"

set good00 "say GOOD GAME MESSAGE ONE; bind leftarrow vstr good01"
set good01 "say GOOD GAME MESSAGE TWO; bind leftarrow vstr good02"
set good02 "say GOOD GAME MESSAGE THREE; bind leftarrow vstr good00"

set kill00 "say GOOD KILL MESSAGE ONE; bind uparrow vstr kill01"
set kill01 "say GOOD KILL MESSAGE TWO; bind uparrow vstr kill02"
set kill02 "say GOOD KILL MESSAGE THREE; bind uparrow vstr kill00"

set laff00 "say LAUGH MESSAGE ONE; bind rightarrow vstr laff01"
set laff01 "say LAUGH MESSAGE TWO; bind rightarrow vstr laff02"
set laff02 "say LAUGH MESSAGE THREE; bind rightarrow vstr laff00"

set dead00 "say GOOD DEATH MESSAGE ONE; bind downarrow vstr dead01"
set dead01 "say GOOD DEATH MESSAGE TWO; bind downarrow vstr dead02"
set dead02 "say GOOD DEATH MESSAGE THREE; bind downarrow vstr dead00"

set thnk00 "say THANKS MESSAGE ONE; bind F12 vstr thnk01"
set thnk01 "say THANKS MESSAGE TWO; bind F12 vstr thnk02"
set thnk02 "say THANKS MESSAGE THREE; bind F12 vstr thnk00"

To customize these settings, simply replace all the MESSAGES I've used with your own; for example, change THANKS MESSAGE ONE to Thank you!, change THANKS MESSAGE TWO to Thanks!, and change THANKS MESSAGE THREE to Thanks a lot!. You can also change the key bindings to whatever you want; for example, if you want to use the F11 key for laughing instead of the right arrow, change ALL instances of rightarrow to F11. Lastly, as long as you're careful to leave the numbering scheme in place, you can add as many lines of comments as you want (for example, my 'gotcha' binding has about 50 comments to cycle through). If you wanted five different thank you messages instead of just three, the thank you section would look like:

set thnk00 "say THANKS MESSAGE ONE; bind F12 vstr thnk01"
set thnk01 "say THANKS MESSAGE TWO; bind F12 vstr thnk02"
set thnk02 "say THANKS MESSAGE THREE; bind F12 vstr thnk03"
set thnk03 "say THANKS MESSAGE FOUR; bind F12 vstr thnk04"
set thnk04 "say THANKS MESSAGE FIVE; bind F12 vstr thnk00"

Useful commands all server admins should know.

rconpassword PASSWORD

Allows you to remotely access a server by entering the correct PASSWORD.
Note there is no space in 'rconpassword', and that if the command is typed
incorrectly it may broadcast your password to the server.

rcon g_password PASSWORD

Sets a PASSWORD on the game

rcon status

Provides info about players (ID, Rate, etc.)

rcon kick NICK

Kick the player named NICK

rcon clientkick ID

Kick the player with ID

rcon quit

Reboot the server (IF the server has an auto-reboot enabled;
otherwise it will just shut down)

rcon map_restart

Restart the current map

rcon map NAME

Play map NAME

rcon mapcycle

Play the next map in the cycle

rcon exec server.cfg

Execute the server.cfg file (or any file on the server)

rcon extendtime MINUTES

Extend the current game by MINUTES

rcon g_gravity XXX

Set the gravity – default is 800, lower is less, higher is more

rcon g_speed XXX

Set the game speed – default is 280

rcon g_gametype XXX

Set the game type – CTF, DM, TDM, etc.

rcon cg_drawGun X

Choose to draw gun on screen or not – 1 is YES, 0 is NO

rcon cg_drawFPS X

Draw Frames per Second (FPS) on screen or not – 1 is YES, 0 is NO

pb_sv_plist

Shows the PunkBuster player list, and info needed for kicking/banning

pb_sv_getss ID

Takes a screenshot from player ID; saves to the PB/svss folder

pb_sv_kick ID

Kicks player ID

pb_sv_ban ID

Bans player ID

pb_sv_banlist

Shows the list of banned players, with ID

pb_sv_unban ID

Unbans player ID (from banlist, above)