console commands

first of all we have to enable the console, in order to have it availabled whenever we need to use it ingame. this tutorial[www.esl.eu] describs the process of enabling the console very well.

the game itself has some handy console commands:

bind
let you bind a command to a key on the keyboard
bind "f12" "command"

openserverbrowser
opens the serverbrowser, which can be used to add
favorite servers to a list and see if people are
playing there at the moment.

disconnect
quits the game without having to hit esc and then
click on exit. it can also be used to cancel loading
screens and returning back to the
main menu instantly. requires a bind for that though.

connect
will connect you to a server.
connect ip:port

exec
let you execute a .cfg file from the
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\
common\left 4 dead 2\left4dead2\cfg directory.
you can make as many .cfg files as you want and
add all diffrent commands to them to execute per run.
its a great command for executing multiple commands
at once!

map
will start a local singleplayer game on a specific map.
if you type in the command you'll see a list with valid
maps that are installed on your computer.

record
will record a demo of the game you're currently playing.
it will only record your point of view.
you have to enter a filename behind the command.
record filename

demoui
opens a small window which works like a player for your
previously recorded demos.

status
shows informations about every player on the server.
right at the front after the nickname is the player id, its usually
a hashtag with a 2 digits number behind it, for example #53.
it can be used to target players ingame by puting thair
player id instead of the nickname, which sometimes consists of
of weird letters or special characters.


im now going to cover most of the servercommands.
every command can be used in chat or the console.
for the console almost every command starts with sm_.
for chat you write the commands without the sm_ infront
but put ! or / infront of the command.
!command

sm_admin
opens the adminmenu. many of the commands are accessable through this menu. it sure makes it alot easier for noobs, but for myself its very annoying.
it occupies the number keys, which makes you unable to switch weapons and its also important to mention, that on some commands this menu closes again.

sm_slay
kills a player on the map. also works on bots as long as thair
class exists only once on the map. if there are for example multiple
bot smokers the server wouldn't know which one to kill. thats also a
problem for many other commands which apply a effect on players.

sm_slap
applies damage to an existing player on the map. you add the amount
of damage to the end. sm_slap name 50
it only removes real health, temp health from pills cannot be lowered.

sm_kick
kicks a player from the game. it can also be used on survivor bots
to remove them.if someone is joining the game, the character
will reappear on the map.

sm_respawn
can be used to respawn survivorbots.should only be used if a survivor
died due to unfair behaviours. if for example a griefer jumps to his
death and quits afterwards. the bot will reappear at the exact spot, where the
admin aimed at when the command has been typed.
sm_respawn name

sm_zspawn
can spawn zombies into the map. if players from the infected team
are in spawn mode, they'll take control over that infected immediatly.

veto
its a votemanager command which allows admins to fill not yet voted boxes
on votes with X's. it can also be used in chat by typing !veto. you have to be quick with this,so i recommend all admins to make a bind for this to make it easily accessable.

passvote
similar to veto but turns all voting boxes that have not yet voted to yes.

sm_cvar
its used to change convars on the serverside. convars are commands that change a options ingame like for example the health values of specials or options from gamemodes like scavenge. here is a list with all known convars and command.some of them even have a description, but most of them are self-explanatory anyway.
sm_cvar convar value

sv_maxplayers
its a convar which can be changed with the sm_cvar command.
this convar sets the slotlimit for the server. the server starts by default with 9 slots, 8 of this slots are joinable through the lobbies matchmaking system.
the 9th can be joined through the group server list in the l4d2 main menu or through the connect command. the max amount of slots for the server is 10.

sm_execcfg
its the server version of the exec command. this command only works with custom .cfg files which are stored on the server. as of now theres only 1 config file to execute.
sm_execcfg scavenge/gamemode.cfg
i've created this config, because its possible that the server doesn't load the scavenge gamemode properly on startup. that could cause funky issues like massed up spawn distances and very long smoker toungue reloads after the toungue misses.
i recommend to load this config everytime you join the server from the lobby, to ensure that the scavenge gamemode has been properly loaded.

sm_map
the server version to the map command. it can load every map for the server.
you can use it to load my custom scavenge maps.
sm_map c1m1_hotel
sm_map c3m4_plantation
sm_map c5m5_bridge
sm_map c11m2_offices

and you can also load valves hidden crashcourse map.
sm_map c9m1_alleys

its important to mention that you'll ALWAYS have the no cans bug on the 1st scavenge round, if you use the sm_map command. on the next round they will spawn as they should.