Command line arguments

Command line arguments are directives which are added to the start up command of the game executable. There are directives which change the client's behavior, streamline player login and enable diagnostics.

Using command line arguments

Windows via shortcut

You can execute switches directly from your Guild Wars 2 shortcut:

1. Right click on your Guild Wars 2 shortcut and select 'Properties'.
2. In the 'Target Area' field you will see the location of your Guild Wars 2 executable file:

   ...\Guild Wars 2\Gw2.exe

3. Write the desired command line arguments after the quote marks, each beginning with a space:

   "...\Guild Wars 2\Gw2.exe" -perf -windowed

Windows via start/run

If you don't plan on using an argument frequently, it can be easier to use the Windows' Run command for a single invocation.

1. Click the "Start" button
2. Select "Run" (not required for Windows 7)
3. Enter the path to the GW2.exe in quotes followed by the arguments you wish to use (same as above, but in a single line).
4. Press enter.

Macintosh

1. Right/ctrl-click GuildWars2.app and choose ShowPackageContent
2. Find Contents>Resources>CiderSettings.plist
3. Using TextEdit find this line:
4. <string>--cmdline ""</string>
5. Add the command line arguments you want between the quotation marks like this:
6. <string>--cmdline "-testVerticalFov"</string>

Via PATH variables

An alternative is to add the GW2 directory to your user PATH environment variable. This allows gw2 to be executed as a command line command, enabling easy access to arguments. After performing the following, GW2 can be invoked as "gw2 -<argument string>" from the command line:

1. Start the "run" dialogue, either with Win-R, or by hitting the windows key, entering "run", and hitting enter.
2. Enter the following command, without quotes: "control sysdm.cpl", and hit enter to run it.
3. Go to the Advanced tab.
4. Press the "Environment variables" button at the bottom.
5. Double click the PATH variable under "user variables", the top section.
6. Prefix the list with "<install directory>;" (without quotes and with the semi-colon)

List of command line arguments

-authsrv <string>

Specifies the IP or DNS that can be used to connect to a login server.

-autologin

Launches the game automatically, if the client has been set to remember the Account Name and Password.

-bmp

Forces the game to create lossless screenshots as .BMP files. Use for creating high-quality screenshots at the expense of much larger files.

-copydat

^{[verification requested]}

Copies all the files in the current dat file to a new dat file.

-dat [string]

Uses the file specified in [string] instead of the default GW2.dat file.

-diag

Instead of launching the game, this command creates a detailed diagnostic file that contains diagnostic data that can be used for troubleshooting. The file, NetworkDiag.log, will be located in your game directory or "Documents\Guild Wars . It you want to use this feature, be sure to create a separate shortcut for it.

-email [string]

Used in conjunction with -password and -nopatchui to skip patching and login to the account with [string] as the username directly

note: does NOT change email address in Patcher-login screen. Thus it cannot be used WITHOUT -nopatchui.

-fps [number]

Sets maximum frames per second parameter, as specified in [number].

-image

^{[verification requested]}

Forces the game to download all known updates.

* This command updates gw2.dat, the game's data file. Remember to check Auto-Play, so that the program automatically closes after the update is completed.

* The exact size of the file can vary across installations, although you might have to download up to 25 gigabytes of data.

* The data file can be copied to other machines, instead of downloading via the internet.

* Recommended: Create an extra Guild Wars 2 shortcut (e.g. "Guild Wars 2 Updater") specifically to use this command line switch (you will not otherwise be able to play the game, since this program closes after completing the download).

-mce

Start the client with Windows Media Center compatibility, switching the game to full screen and restarting Media Center (if available) after the client is closed.

-nopatchui

Hides the user interface during the update process.

-nomusic

Disables music and background music.

-noui

Disables the user interface. This does the same thing as pressing Ctrl Shift H in the game.

-nosound

Disables audio system completely.

-password [string]

Enables auto-log-in if [string] is the correct password for the account, and either (A) is used with -email or (B) details have previously been saved using the "Remember Account Name" checkbox. This argument must not be preceded by any other argument other than -email. The -nopatchui argument must also be specified for this to work (as of Oct 13, 2012). This argument implies -autologin.

Warning: Putting your password in a shortcut or a batch file makes it easily accessible to everybody with access to your computer.

Never use this option if you are sharing your computer with other people whom you do not trust completely.

Example:

"<...>\Guild Wars 2\Gw2.exe" -email myname@myprovider.com -password 12345 -nopatchui

-repair

Start the client, checks the files for errors and repairs them as needed.

works as stated above on 13 January 2013

-shareArchive

Opens the GW2.DAT file in shared mode so that it can be accessed from other processes while the game is running.

-useOldFov

Disables the widescreen field-of-view enhancements and restores the original field-of-view.

-verify

Used to verify the .dat file.

-windowed

Forces Guild Wars 2 to run in windowed mode.

In game, you can switch to windowed mode by pressing Alt+Enter or clicking the window icon in the upper right corner.

-clientport 80

Runs game through port 80.

-umbra gpu

Forces the use of umbra's GPU accelerated culling.

In most cases, using this results in higher cpu usage and lower gpu usage decreasing the frame-rate.

Non-functional command line arguments

The following arguments are found in the client, but do not produce a verifiable effect. Some worked at one time, but were later removed from the game (usually without explanation).

-allowinstall

Used to display the installer dialog.

-audio <string>

Unknown effects.

-assetsrv <string>

Used to specify the IP or DNS to use for downloading assets.

-cinema <string>

Unknown effects.

-combatlog <string>

Unknown effects.

-cuda

Allowed the game to use Nvidia CUDA processing if available.

-defaultcharname <string>

Unknown effects.

-dx9single

Enabled the Direct3D 9c renderer in single-threaded mode. Solves issues with running in Wine, but may be slower.

-token

Unknown effects.

-defaultLang <string>

Specified the default language the client will use.

-enabledevice

Unknown effects.

-exit

Closes launcher or game client immediately after starting it.

-filesrv <string>

Once used to specify the file server.

-isRelaunch

Unknown effects.

-lang <string>

Unknown effects.

-localdat

Specified the location of the local data file.

performs the same function as -dat, does NOT specify the local.dat under My Documents\Guild Wars 2

-map <string>

Unknown effects.

-multi

Unknown effects.

-nodelta

Unknown effects.

-nopatch

Prevented the game from patching on launch (the launcher can get stuck at 0% during checking for updates however).

-perf

Displayed performance indicators such as; Triangles, memory usage, frames per second and transfer rate in bytes per second are displayed in multi-colored text in the middle of the right side of the Guild Wars 2 window. Support for this was removed in BWE2.

-portal <string>

Specified the IP-address or DNS-name to use to connect to a portal server.

-portalalias <string>

Unknown effects.

-token <string>

Unknown effects.

-tokenpassword <string>

Unknown effects.

-uninstall

Deleted the contents of the Guild Wars 2 installation folder, except GW2.EXE itself. Unknown effect on contents of any subfolders in the installation folder, if any is present.

-usenewbrowser

Unknown effects.

-usenewlauncher

Enabled by default. Was previously used to trigger the GUI launcher.

-useoldlauncher

Launched the game using an old style launcher which also allows users to see the old style login screen with music.

Allowed people to use the pre-July 2012 update launcher (which did not check hardware configuration and used a different set of logon fields); was primarily useful for people using Virtual Machine. Disabled as part of the August 21, 2012 update.

-userid <string>

Unknown effects.