Help:CommandLineArgs

Spring Command-line Arguments

Spring has several command-line arguments which have various uses from setting window size, choosing the starting map & game (as of 98.0 these can be specified as a rapid tag) and various developer debugging tools.

spring://

In Spring 97.0 a new syntax was added which should in the long term replace Script.txt for clients, so that it is only needed for hosts, without the need to create a file to start Spring as a client. Spring links spring:// URL scheme in the OS, so you can start such URLs from browser (as UT99 did). E.g. you can place a spectator link on your website to join your autohosts and/or you can use it for weblobbies.

The syntax is as follows: spring spring://username:passwd@hostname:port

All except hostname are optional, i.e. spring://localhost will work fine.

How to display possible arguments

Linux: ./spring --help

Windows: spring --help > out.txt

Possible Arguments

As of 104.0 (note that earlier one-letter commandline flags are removed in 104.0 onwards)

spring: Usage: spring [options] [path_to_script.txt or demo.sdfz]

  Flags from ../../rts/System/SpringApp.cpp:
    -benchmark (Enable benchmark mode (writes a benchmark.data file). The given
      number specifies the timespan to test.) type: int32 default: -1
    -benchmarkstart (Benchmark start time in minutes.) type: int32 default: -1
    -config (Exclusive configuration file) type: string default: ""
    -fullscreen (Run in fullscreen mode) type: bool default: false
    -game (Specify the game that will be instantly loaded) type: string
      default: ""
    -hidden (Start in background (minimised, no taskbar entry)) type: bool
      default: false
    -isolation (Limit the data-dir (games & maps) scanner to one directory)
      type: bool default: false
    -isolation-dir (Specify the isolation-mode data-dir (see --isolation))
      type: string default: ""
    -list-ai-interfaces (Dump a list of available AI Interfaces to stdout)
      type: bool default: false
    -list-ceg-classes (Dump a list of available projectile classes to stdout)
      type: bool default: false
    -list-config-vars (Dump a list of config vars and meta data to stdout)
      type: bool default: false
    -list-def-tags (Dump a list of all unitdef-, weapondef-, ... tags and meta
      data to stdout) type: bool default: false
    -list-skirmish-ais (Dump a list of available Skirmish AIs to stdout)
      type: bool default: false
    -map (Specify the map that will be instantly loaded) type: string
      default: ""
    -menu (Specify a lua menu archive to be used by spring) type: string
      default: ""
    -name (Set your player name) type: string default: ""
    -nocolor (Disables colorized stdout) type: bool default: false
    -oldmenu (Start the old menu) type: bool default: false
    -safemode (Turns off many things that are known to cause problems (i.e. on
      PC/Mac's with lower-end graphic cards)) type: bool default: false
    -server (Set listening IP for server) type: string default: ""
    -sync-version (Display program sync version (for online gaming)) type: bool
      default: false
    -test-creg (Test if all CREG classes are completed) type: bool
      default: false
    -textureatlas (Dump each finalized textureatlas in textureatlasN.tga)
      type: bool default: false
    -window (Run in windowed mode) type: bool default: false
    -write-dir (Specify where Spring writes to.) type: string default: ""

  Flags from ../../rts/lib/gflags/src/gflags.cc:
    -flagfile (load flags from file) type: string default: ""
    -fromenv (set flags from the environment [use 'export FLAGS_flag1=value'])
      type: string default: ""
    -tryfromenv (set flags from the environment if present) type: string
      default: ""
    -undefok (comma-separated list of flag names that it is okay to specify on
      the command line even if the program does not define a flag with that
      name.  IMPORTANT: flags in this list that have arguments MUST use the
      flag=value format) type: string default: ""

  Flags from ../../rts/lib/gflags/src/gflags_completions.cc:
    -tab_completion_columns (Number of columns to use in output for tab
      completion) type: int32 default: 80
    -tab_completion_word (If non-empty, HandleCommandLineCompletions() will
      hijack the process and attempt to do bash-style command line flag
      completion on this value.) type: string default: ""

  Flags from ../../rts/lib/gflags/src/gflags_reporting.cc:
    -help (show help on all flags [tip: all flags can have two dashes])
      type: bool default: false currently: true
    -helpfull (show help on all flags -- same as -help) type: bool
      default: false
    -helpmatch (show help on modules whose name contains the specified substr)
      type: string default: ""
    -helpon (show help on the modules named by this flag value) type: string
      default: ""
    -helppackage (show help on all modules in the main package) type: bool
      default: false
    -helpshort (show help on only the main module for this program) type: bool
      default: false
    -helpxml (produce an xml version of help) type: bool default: false
    -version (show version and build info and exit) type: bool default: false