Launch arguments

From Cosmoteer Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Launch arguments are optional parameters that can be used when launching Cosmoteer to modify the default behavior. These are usually used alongside a shortcut, or Steam's own launch parameters section in the game's properties. These Launch Arguments can also be run on a Command line.

CalloutIconWarning.pngBeware
Advanced Users only. Not particularly useful for casual players.

Launch arguments that requires a string of text like rootsavepath may need a quotes to work. For example:

--caption "Evil Cosmoteer from hell"

--rootcachepath "C:\Cosmoteer Caches" --rootsavepath "C:\Cosmoteer Saves"

As for numbers, it may not require quotes to function.

CalloutIconNote.pngInfo
When using a shortcut, it's recommended to use Steam to run the parameters and launch the game for you, as this Skips Steam's popup warning about using Launch Parameters. For more information, see the Examples tab at the bottom of the Article.

Launch Argument List

Launch Arguments
Launch Argument Use and Effects
--rootsavepath Overrides the root Save path.
  • Note: The "Save path" includes your Settings.rules, Mods molder, Saved ships, Saved games, etc. Useful to have separate Settings and Mods loaded.
--rootcachepath Overrides the root Cache path.
  • Note: The "Cache path" is for saving Textures, Shaders and etc from your latest update and mods loaded. this is what gets overwritten when "Loading Assets for the first time" whenever updating or Modding.
--caption Returns the caption to display on the Window. (The caption saying Cosmoteer on Windows, there's some extra code to append DEVELOPER MODE and the PID afterwards if devmode is on.)
--devmode Runs Cosmoteer on Developer Mode.
--no-mods Runs Cosmoteer without mods.
--nomods
--nosteam Disables Steam. Useful to testing on LAN with mods as said by Captain Redstone.[1]
--no-steam
Launch Arguments (Unorthodox)
Launch Argument Use and Effects
--no-audio Runs Cosmoteer without audio.
--headless Runs Cosmoteer Headless. (It's assumed that it runs Cosmoteer without any visuals, as to run a server or similar, missing testing.)
--dottrace This handles dottrace stuff for tracking use lag data, useless to most users, and only used when requested by the Developers and when supplied the necessary files.
--no-planets Runs Cosmoteer without planets. Likely an old compatibility parameter.
--noplanets
--gfx-debug Returns whether a debug graphics device should be used.
--featurelvl Forces the game to run on a specified Direct3D feature level, primarily used for testing shaders. (GPU related [2])
--port Gets the port to use for network communication, which will be the DefaultPort unless it has been overridden on the command line. Multiplayer Related, likely for LAN Multiplayer, as it's now Steam Networking.
--broadcast-port Gets the port to which LAN messages are broadcast, which will be the DefaultPort unless it has been overridden on the command line.

Clarifications : (Quoting Captain Redstone)

  1. ↑ no-steam disables everything relating to steam networking; things like multiplayer, cloud sync, forced single instance, the steam overlay, etc are disabled, and it even uses a different user folder by default (since normally the user data path includes that user's steam ID). LAN still works fine though, which makes it (afaik) the only way to launch multiple instances of the game simultaneously, and the only way to join yourself in multiplayer without having bought the game multiple times across multiple steam accounts.
  2. ↑ Oh one other thing I somewhat know, the featurelvl probably refers to the level/version of pixel shader (the shader engine the game uses) that the GPU supports. It's mostly tied to DirectX. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/direct3dhlsl/dx9-graphics-reference-asm-ps-differences The game needs to know this so certain complicated shaders (like the TB warp effect) can revert to "simple" versions on older cards that don't support newer functions/instruction counts (see Data\shots\tractor_beam\tractor_beam.shader); if they tried to run it it'd actually crash the game instead of just messing with visuals.

Shortcut Examples:

Here are some examples of launch parameters used in shortcuts.

CalloutIconWarning.pngWarning
Your steam.exe Path may be different than "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" so you may need to change the shortcut in accordance to your installation.
  • Launches Cosmoteer through Steam to avoid Steam cancelling the shortcut from launching directly from the .exe path.
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" -applaunch 799600
  • The most common use for shortcut: Launches Cosmoteer on Developer Mode.
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" -applaunch 799600 --devmode
  • Uses a combination of Developer Mode, a defined Cache Path and Save Path. This setup for example would run a separate environment to test a mod without tampering with your original folders and caches. also has a Caption as a example.
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" -applaunch 799600 --rootcachepath "C:\CosmoteerCaches\Boring1" --rootsavepath "C:\CosmoteerSaves\Boring1" --devmode --caption "Cosmoteer 2000 Ultimate"
  • Basic use to have a separate Cache and Save to quickly open a version of Cosmoteer ready to run a Vanilla version. Since it does not use a --nomods it can double as a separate modpack version.
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" -applaunch 799600 --rootcachepath "C:\Cosmoteer Modern Vanilla Cache" --rootsavepath "C:\Cosmoteer Modern Vanilla Saves"
Retrieved from "https://cosmoteer.wiki.gg/index.php?title=Launch_arguments&oldid=11700"