Enable Developer Console for Source Games

What is the console?

The console is a command-line interface that you can use to access and issue commands directly through a prompt window inside your favourite games (Half Life, Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Source, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Day of Defeat, Left 4 Dead, Portal, Team Fortress, and so on) much like how you can use Command Prompt in Windows to perform tasks.

Why do I need it?

You don't necessarily need it, but sometimes you may want to configure your settings and/or perform tasks that aren't necessarily available from the Options menu, similarly to how you can execute tasks in Command Prompt in a more fine-tuned manner than using the Windows GUI.

Having the console enabled will allow you to:

• access and use the console, obviously
• execute RCON commands (which is vital if you plan on hosting/managing a server)
• configure your bind/game/graphic/sound configuration settings in a much more efficient way
• list the Steam IDs of all currently connected players on a server (this is essential when reporting players to us)
• enable server-side cheats when playing on a local server against bots
• and more...

How to enable your console

1. Start your game up (we'll be using Counter-Strike: Source in this example)
2. Click on the Options menu
3. Go to your Keyboard tab
4. Click on the Advanced... button
5. Check the Enable Developer Console (~) box
6. Click OK
7. Click Apply or OK