We ran a feature when the Crysis 2 multiplayer demo hit Steam that allowed users to control graphical effects like motion blur and post processing effects that weren’t available in the game’s menus.  Now the game’s released with a day-one patch that includes a console, it’s even easier to access all manner of graphical detail options.

Changing settings is now as easy as bringing up the console (using the ~ key) and typing in any of the commands found here. In fact it’s exactly that easy, because that’s exactly what you need to do.

As well as simply lording it over our console cousins with increased scalability (still no DX11 though), it’s handy for setting your FOV just how you like it and removing blur effects for more clinical pwnage.

We’ve never been that amazed at Kinect, it’s clever and interesting but the roll-out of Xbox 360 games has been less than inspiring. But we’ve just seen something that made us sit up and pay it attention. With plans for Kinect to eventually hit the PC as an official add-on the YouTube video that’s after the jump suddenly makes the whole thing add up.

A clever chap has combined the Valve Source engine, Gary’s Mod and Kinect to create an impressively interactive environment that resembles nothing like the toy games you see on the Xbox 360. If you’re into Kinect hacking the code is available over here.

Call of Duty: Black Ops looks set to be another massive hit for Activision, even allowing for the company’s slightly reduced expectations for sales. Even so, on release the multiplayer performance has been less than stunning.

Many report poor frame rates and keyboard-pummelling lag. We’ve experienced similar frustrations ourselves, so here’s the PC Format quick guide for getting smoother frame rates out of your machine.

First, take your graphics settings out of the equation by setting everything to fugly. You’ll be able to dial all those settings up again later, but when it comes to trying to sort out your connection and general performance settings, it’s worth easing back on the ol’ GPU first.

• Turn ANTI_ALIASING OFF.
• Set SYNC EVERY FRAME is set to NO.
• Set TEXTURE FILTERING to BILINEAR.
• TEXTURE QUALITY to LOW.
• Turn SHADOWS OFF.
• Turn BULLET IMPACTS OFF.

Well done, you’ve just made Call of Duty: Black Ops looks ten years old. It should, however, now spin along at silly frame rates. Give it a go, and see if it runs any smoother.

The next stage is to get your hands dirty and throw yourself, hands flailing, at the configuration file, where you’ll find far more juicy sounding settings. The jury is still out on which settings actually have any real effect on your performance, but try the following and cross your fingers.

You’ll find the config file in your Steam folder (by default “C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam”) inside the “steamapps\common\call of duty black ops\players” folder.

Open the config_mp.cfg up in Wordpad and scroll down until you find the line:

• seta r_multiGpu “1”

Change the “1” to “0”.

IF, and only if you only have one video card. If you have multiple video cards (SLI mode), setting it to 0 will reduce performance.

Directly underneath it you’ll find:

• seta r_multithreaded_device “0”

Change the “0” to “1”.

Again, this is if, and only if you have a multi-core CPU.

There are plenty of other settings in here worth messing around with, including the all-important net code parameters – although with a rumoured overhaul in the netcode in the works, it’s not worth losing too much sleep over this.

The main value you need to mess around with is cl_maxpackets, which you should try setting to “100” to see if it makes any difference.

Also on PC Format:
Poll – Are you happy with Black Op’s multiplayer performance at launch?
QuickFix: Split screen Left 4 Dead 2
The Good, the Bad and the Plain Ugly of Black Ops Multiplayer by the PCF Clan

Call of Duty: Black Ops game tweak guides elsewhere: FragWorld

Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 smashes a cricket bat in the face off all the doubters and haters who planned a boycott when it was first announced. Those who feared there wouldn’t be sufficient content to justify a sequel were left to quietly eat their words as they fought off the horde with a chainsaw at a stadium rock show full of explosives. Told.

Along with new multiplayer modes, like the excellent scavenge, Valve included full working code for split-screen capability. Unfortunately for those who like their multiplayer of the same-screen variety, they never fully implemented it into the final release. Forgivable, given the level of polish and variety of gameplay modes that feature in L4D2. Still, it ain’t hopeless for us old school co-op’ers. With a well-placed text file and some fairly basic console wizardry, the split-screen code can be accessed and it’s perfectly playable.

The best thing about split-screen is the ease of communication. Gone are the reams of ‘omg lol’, ‘help me dumb n00b’ chatter. No more must you blast infected to a soundtrack of French teenagers fuzzily mumbling over voice chat. You can discuss tactics at the loading screen, cry for help without having to press a button first, and physically high-five each other when you slay a tank. It’s a fiddly, but rewarding outcome adding a new dimension to team play. Wonder how difficult a ‘players: 2’ option would have been in the campaign menu though.

Step 1
Download and drop in

Your first step is to download the ‘Splitmode.txt’ file from here. Then simply drop it into the ‘cfg’ folder of your Left 4 Dead 2 directory. This enables the split-screen mode and controller configurations for each player. Before you load up L4D2, make sure your game is fully updated; earlier versions had some graphical artefacts that made the game pretty much unplayable.

Step 2
Controller beware

Make sure ‘enable developer console’ is selected in the ‘options>keyboard/mouse’ menu in-game. To load a map, you’ll need to bring down the console using the tilde key and type ‘ss_map ’ followed by the map you want to play, e.g. ‘ss_map c5m5_bridge’. The console suggests maps so you can just cycle through them. At the loading screen, unplug then plug in your 360 controller making sure the light is set to player 2 rather than 1.

Step 3
Split-screen joy

Now that you’re in the game world, bring up the console again typing ‘exec Splitmode.txt’. You’ll see another loading screen then you’ll be back in split-screen mode. To set each player to a specific character, you’ll need to activate cheats by typing ‘sv_cheats 1’ into the console. Then ‘sb_takecontrol Nick’ to assign Nick to player one, and ‘cmd2 sb_takecontrol Ellis’ to assign Ellis to player two, for example.

Phil Iwaniuk

Maximise your frags with our guide to optimising BC2

Not many games make the PC Format master pooter fall over. But Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has done just that. It doesn’t matter too much in the single player campaign, but if you’re taking on angry 12-year-old Americans online you don’t want to be let down by low frame rates and general bugginess.

Of course, it’s still a wonderful game at core, even if the multiplayer eclipses the ploddy single player campaign. We’ve experienced problems of our own, from bizarre graphical glitches like humungous black areas on screen to simply not being able to find servers. The former was fixed with a graphics driver update, the latter remains problematic – but we’re promised that EA is working on it.

Fortunately, there are a number of fixes. DICE’s Frostbite engine scales incredibly well, but the settings are hidden away in the GameSettings ini file. There are also mouse and server problems, but we’ve managed to change our Bad Company 2 installation from a rusty tank to a well-oiled machine. Follow our advice and you’ll be able to do the same.

Step 1

Gossamer’s Bad Company 2 Launcher (make sure you get 1.2a, as he’s updated it recently) is a free app that modifies BC2’s settings that the game doesn’t show. You can adjust your DirectX version – set it to ‘9’ if you’re having problems. You can also change things like undergrowth density, terrain and soldier detail levels. More importantly, you can adjust the Field of View – use Rulesy’s FOV calculator to work out the optimum for your screen.

Step 2

One of the chief complaints with BC2 is that the mouse doesn’t work quite like it should. There’s a reason for this: DICE has included negative acceleration in BC2’s mouse tracking, which means if you move the mouse too fast it’ll automatically compensate. Luckily, there’s a fix: open the GameSettings.ini in the BFBC2 folder in your Documents, and change the Sensitivity1, Sensitivity2 and Sensitivity3 entries to 0. Magic mouse!

Step 3

Now we’ve got it all set up, we face the rather tricky task of actually finding servers. The Server Browser used to take an age to find anything, but the recent patch has fixed that (at least for us, some people are still having trouble according to the forums). We’d suggest checking that your router is forwarding ports correctly – visit portforward.com and look up your router, then grab the settings for BC2. Easy peasy.