Hello and welcome to my quick guide to downscale TF2.
Now i know about the copious amounts of fps boosting guides out there but I've yet to see any using this feature, which is a shame due to it using to boost my fps by quite a bit back when I was gaming on integrated graphics. Now this feature only boosts your fps if you run into a GPU bottleneck - aka people that play on integrated graphics. If your CPU is the issue then this most likely wont boost your fps that much / at all.

Now what is downscaling?
Downscaling is kinda like lowering your resolution, but only for the game's graphics - it doesn't affect the HUD. I liked it due to me liking to be able to see the HUD elements and at the same time be able to actually play the game at more than 20fps.

Now I'll show you how to do it:

DISCLAIMER: If you know how to open the console window please skip to part 2.

To open the console what you need to do is:

• Go into the tf2 options menu, as shown in the pic below.
  
  
• Click on advanced options
  
  
• tick the "Enable Developer Console" tickbox
  
  
• press the ~ key
  
  
• Voila! The console is open!
  

Now that you opened the console - proceed to the next step in which I show you the command you need to insert into it

the command you need is:
xx being the value that you want to put into it - the lower the number the worse the graphics

I took a few screenshots at different values so you can choose for yourself. I recommend using 0.5

Here are the screenshots:

mat_viewportscale 1 (default value - regular tf2, only here for comparison):

mat_viewportscale 0.7 - sniper main approved:

mat_viewportscale 0.5:

mat_viewportscale 0.1 (values equal to or below this one are not recommended for sniper mains):

mat_viewportscale 0.06 (only scout is a viable class at this point):

mat_viewportscale 0.01 (aka LegallyBlindVision (tm) ):


Now that you chose the right number for you, insert it into the console.
I chose:

the process should look like this:

Now that you inserted the command your tf2 will look like various types of a DOS game.
To revert your changes insert the following command:

I hope you enjoyed my guide and I really hope it helped you boost your fps!
Please leave any suggestions or corrections in the comment section, my English isn't perfect, neither it is my first language, so I'll be happy to fix whatever I did wrong.

Peace <3