This is a quick picture guide to help beginners activate the Developer Console (or simply Console) inside Dota 2.

What is the Console?

The Console is a command-line interface that lets users set advanced configurations for the game with the use of console variables (a.k.a convars). Console variables are also often referred to as console commands.

If you want to avoid the technical side of things and want to keep things simple, jump to Step 5 to figure the easy way of enabling the console.

Go to your Steam Library. Right Click Dota 2. Select Properties.


Under the General Tab in the Properties window, click "Set Launch Options" button.



Type -vconsole in the Launch Properties window and press OK.


That's it. You've enabled the Console. Let us start the game and try it out.

Note: Launch Properties are just commands that get executed when the game launches. Enabling the console is but one command of many that ship with Dota 2.

When you launch the game, you can now press the "grave accent ( ` )" key (the button next to number 1; the tilde (~) key) to open the Console.



Note: If the grave accent ( ` ) key does not open your console, it is possible that your hotkey is set to something else. You can go to Settings > Hotkeys > Advanced Hotkeys > Interface in Dota 2 to either check or reassign your hotkey.



Note: Your console may have more text in it. Do not worry. This is perfectly normal. It is just the game logging out information.

You can enter the console command you need in the "Command" input column at the bottom.



Additionally, the console has auto completion support that might help you with picking the console command you need.

Alternatively, you can enable the console directly from within the game.

Go to Settings > Options > Advanced Options > Game and check Enable Console. You will need to restart the game for this option to take effect. Do note that any option you have in your launch setting such as -dev or -vconsole will override this option.




Note: Enabling the console through the game might give you the older UI on the console window. Do not worry. It will function similar to Vconsole. You can enter your commands at the bottom.



Similar to the Vconsole, you can now toggle the console window with the grave accent ( ` ) key or the hotkey you have it assigned to.

One primary advantage of the Vconsole is that it loads up as an independent window. It does not lock your game as the general console does. Additionally, it has more features and feedback information when compared to the regular console.

It is recommended that you do not mess with these settings and configurations if you do not understand what they are. You can visit the Dota 2 Wiki Console Commands[dota2.gamepedia.com] page to learn more about these console commands.

Good luck! For any doubts and queries, you can contact me on my Facebook Page[www.facebook.com], Twitter or Instagram[www.instagram.com].

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