Gold Rush is a mod about the good old days, the true heart and the soul of TF2. But many players might find the mod's default settings dated. The old experience is mechanically different from Live TF2 - but fear not! It is, in fact, easier to learn, better, and guarantees a solid experience!




This is not an official guide from the TF2 Gold Rush Team. The author of this guide is not affiliated with the creators of Gold Rush, nor should the statements presented in this Steam Guide be recognized as official words from the developers. This is a fan-made work.

For questions about Gold Rush - visit our Discord server.

From the Menu, go to Options and:

1. Keyboard - Advanced, enable Dev Console and fast weapon switch
   
2. Go to Mouse settings, set your sensitivity to what you're normally using. Recommended: disable Mouse acceleration.
   
3. Set your Audio settings to your liking.
   
4. Go to Video and adjust brightness (gamma). The game is a bit too dark for me by default.
   
5. In the Video tab, go to Advanced, and set your FOV to 90.
   
6. Navigate to the Multiplayer tab, here's where you'll do most of the changes.
7. Go to Advanced;
   
8. • Enable: Play a hit sound everytime you injure an enemy (adjust to your liking) (very optional)
     
   • Enable: Play a last hit sound when one of your attacks kills an enemy
     
   • Enable: Display damage done as text over your target
     
   • Enable: Accumulate combat text damage events into a single number
     
   • MEDIC: Display a marker over the player you're healing
     
   • MEDIC: Injured teammates automatically call out
     
   • Enable: Enable mouse input on scoreboard (So that you can mute players, check their profiles etc!)

There are more if you'd like, such as Minimized Viewmodels, Disable Sprays and Disable Hats (hats can be also disabled by cl_nohats 1

(as of 22 XI 2025)

However, you can consider the following, ...

You get weapons by completing achievements. (Milestones)
For some weapons, you have to also own them on normal TF2. These weapons, which you have to additionally have in live tf2 are: Gunboats, Homewrecker, Loch-n-Load, Ullapool Caber and Your Eternal Reward.

https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Scout_achievements#Milestones

https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Soldier_achievements#Milestones

https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Pyro_achievements#Milestones

https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Demoman_achievements#Milestones

https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Heavy_achievements#Milestones

https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Engineer_achievements#Milestones

https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Medic_achievements#Milestones

https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Sniper_achievements#Milestones

https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Spy_achievements#Milestones




For hats, the way to use them in the mod is to have them in your normal TF2 inventory. They can be of any quality, and of any paint, these attributes won't be visible in Gold Rush.
There are 18 hats in the mod. You can only wear one hat at a time.
Picture credit: Yea!Gore! (yea1gore1)

Scout:
• Batter's Helm
  
• Baker Boy
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Soldier:
  
• Soldier's Stash
  
• Gentle Manne's Service Medal
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Pyro:
  
• Brigade Helm
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Demoman:
  
• Demoman's Fro
  
• Glengarry Bonnet
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Heavy:
  
• Football Helmet
  
• Officer's Ushanka
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Engineer:
  
• Mining Light
  
• Texas Ten Gallon
  
• Engineer's Cap
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Medic:
  
• Prussian Pickelhaube
  
• Otolaryngologist's Mirror
  
• Physician's Procedure Mask
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sniper:
  
• Trophy Belt
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Spy:
  
• Fancy Fedora
  
• Backbiter's Billycock
  

Kradsile, a prominent member of our community, compiled a list of the changes to weapons in Gold Rush:

Sandman: Pre-JI, the ball can stun players (NOT Ubers though!)
Bonk! Atomic Punch: Pre-JI, no slowdown if you're hit during invincibility
Force-a-Nature: Unchanged, basically

Direct Hit: Damage boost only affects players, not buildings
Gunboats: Unchanged
Buff Banner: Unchanged
Equalizer: Original model (looks like the Escape Plan), identical to how it functions in Live TF2 (damage boost)

All Flamethrowers: Flames work as they did post-JI, but with the old fire effects. Extinguishing does not replenish +20 HP.
Backburner: May 19, 2010 Patch version. +15% damage bonus, crits from behind, no airblast.
Flare Gun: Unchanged
Axtinguisher: Release version. Full crits against burning players

Loch-n-Load: Pre-Smissmas 2014. -50% clip size, two-shots sentries, +10% damage bonus (all sources. No, it will not one-shot 125 HP Scouts)
Scottish Resistance: Release version. +0.4 second bomb arm time, same firing speed as the Stickybomb Launcher
Ullapool Caber: Does 126 damage

Natascha: Release version
Sandvich: Unchanged
KGB: Unchanged

Frontier Justice: Unchanged
Wrangler: No shield, but sentry re-activation delay has been reduced to 1 second from the original 3 seconds

Blutsauger: Unchanged
Kritzkrieg: Unchanged
Übersaw: Unchanged

Huntsman: Unchanged
Jarate: Unchanged
Razorback: Pre-JI, no recharge

Ambassador: Pre-JI, 102 headshot damage from all ranges, along with the range not being limited
Your Eternal Reward: Pre-JI, No cloak penalty, no disguise kit
Dead Ringer: Pre-Gun Mettle, with the added penalty of not being able to recharge it with ammo packs
Cloak & Dagger: You can't pick up ammo packs to restore your cloak.

Spy is also generally moving slower.
Reloads are slightly slower for all classes. As is weapon switch speed.


Images credit: lennard (full res remake of Xbox 360 gamerpics)