If you have being playing CS:GO for a while then you might have come across the two words “config” and “autoexec”. But what does it even mean exactly? You’ll most likely have heard the terms come in play when people talk about CS:GO settings or some pro players configs.
There’s more to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive than what you see on the outside. There’s multiple ways to tweak the settings in CS:GO and each tweak has it’s own advantage and disadvantage. Let us dive into what they are, what they do and how to set it up.
An autoexec is a file hidden deep into your CS:GO folders on your computer. The file contains the game settings that you wish to auto apply to the game every time you launch it.
Since you have to have STEAM installed to play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive there will be a folder called STEAM that contains all your STEAM games as well as the CS:GO folder.
This is obviously so that you can play the game from your computer, but it also contains the settings of the game. You probably also know that CS:GO allows you to change and tweak your settings. Even though CS:GO allows you to change a bunch of basic as well as advanced settings then there’s still some tweaks you can’t do straight from the settings tab within the game.
To give you an example of what some of those settings could be then think of “fps_max” or “net_graph” which are two very popular additions to CS:GO. Net_graph allows you to see your current FPS, packet loss, network settings, and so on. Fps_max allows you to change how much FPS the game can potentially run as a max value.
If you have played the game for a long time, then you have probably also heard about those two settings and might even use them yourself. But then you also know that those settings can only be enabled through the developer console. Sometimes when you use settings you need to enable them in the console and then they can reset the next time you open the game.
The autoexec will fix this issue. The autoexec file basically tells CS:GO to load these specific settings every time you launch the game so you never have to remember and redo those settings manually. The autoexec file in CS:GO is a personal file that only applies to your steam account specifically and only to CS:GO. You can put any command in there that you wish to always stay the same.
Such as sensitivity, crosshair settings, internet settings, and so on. Many grenade lineups require you to use a “jump throw bind” for the grenade to land correctly. The jump throw bind can only function if you put that bind command into your autoexec. Another great feature of an autoexec file is that you can bring it with you anywhere and use it on any computer.
This is very useful if you are playing on LAN on another computer or account and you want your specific settings. Just put it on a USB stick and take it with you. When the pro players go to LAN event, they never play on their own computer which is why they all have a USB stick with them that contains their autoexec and config files.
Unless you have had an autoexec file on your account before then there won’t exist a file named “autoexec” in your CS:GO folder yet. You must create that. It can be a bit tricky navigating to the correct folder where you need to create that file. Since the autoexec file is exclusively linked to one user/STEAM account then you need to locate the correct folder within the STEAM folder that belongs to your STEAM account. This will be easier if you only have been logged into one STEAM account on your computer.
To locate where to create your autoexec file navigate to your STEAM folder:
“Local Disc (C:) ➤ Program Files (x86) ➤ Steam ➤ Userdata ➤ your STEAM ID ➤ 730 ➤ Local ➤ cfg”
The path to said folder should look like this. If STEAM and the game are not installed on your C drive, then go to the drive it is installed.
Your STEAM ID folder is named after the ID of your STEAM account and it consists of a bunch of numbers. If you have had multiple accounts used on your computer then there might be more than one folder consisting of these numbers. That is because there are multiple STEAM IDs and you need to find the number that represents the account you want to add these settings to. If you are still not sure how to locate the “cfg” folder then you can see the picture below for a reference of the path.
Inside of the cfg folder you will find files such as “config.cfg” and “video.txt”. Right click somewhere inside of the folder and choose “New” and “Text document”. Open the text document and here you can add the settings you want such as a jump throw bind or fps_max value.
Save the file and rename it “autoexec.cfg”.
Now you need to add the autoexec to your CS:GO launch options for it to work. Open the STEAM client and go to your STEAM library. Right-click on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and choose “properties”. Add “-exec autoexec” to your launch options so CS:GO will apply the settings every time you boot the game.
You did it! You can now launch your game with your desired commands.
What about the config file, what is it? The config file is somewhat the same or at least similar to the autoexec file. They are both personal files that contain the CS:GO game settings for your specific STEAM account. But the difference between autoexec and config is that the autoexec file cannot be overwritten by the client, but the config file can. This means that when you change a setting in the game then it changes in the config file.
If you change your sensitivity in the CS:GO client then it will change in the config file as it is where all the game settings are located. If you have your sensitivity command written in your autoexec and you change it in-game, then it will change in your current session but the next time you open the game the sensitivity will match the one in your autoexec.
The config file is in the same folder (cfg) as the one you create the autoexec in. The config file is already there so you do not need to create your own for this one. But since it is a .cfg file you need to open it with notepad to edit the content inside of it. You’ll be able to see all the settings that CS:GO contains within that file. Config is a popular topic because a lot of players want to play with the settings of the pro players in Counter-Strike. To copy a pro players settings, you simply just replace your config file with theirs.
And voila! That’s everything there is to know about config and autoexec files in CS:GO.
If you want to get better at throwing grenades and using the utility, then head over to our utility guide for small and efficient tutorials.
And if you just like everyone else wants to become a better CS:GO player then go get our CS:GO guide now.
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