Dota 2

Although this game has been released, it remains under active development - information may change frequently and could be outdated or irrelevant.

Dota 2

Developers   Valve Corporation

Engines   Source

Release dates Windows July 9, 2013 OS X July 18, 2013 Linux July 18, 2013

Key points

The game is still being updated with content from the original mod.

Free-to-Play

General information

Official forums

Developer forums - Information on ongoing development.

Steam Community Discussions

GitHub Issue Tracker for DOTA 2 on OS X and Linux

Dota 2 subreddit

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys
Steam

All versions require Steam.

Essential improvements

Performance tweaks

Lowering graphics settings Edit autoexec.cfg. Input the following code: dota_cheap_water "1" dota_embers "0" cl_globallight_shadow_mode "0" r_deferred_height_fog "0" r_deferred_simple_light "1" r_screenspace_aa "0" Save the file.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\dota\cfg\
OS X	~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/dota 2 beta/dota/cfg/
Linux	~/.steam/steam/SteamApps/common/dota\ 2\ beta/dota/cfg/

Video settings

In-game video settings.

Graphics option	Option	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			HUD is stretched awkwardly, affecting gameplay.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Available in Video Options or through Launch options.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		In-game FXAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
High frame rate		No frame rate or refresh rate cap.
Color blind mode		Limited native support; use the Dota 2 Colorblind Mode mod for best experience.

Input settings

Keyboard and camera settings.

Keyboard and mouse	Native	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		See Mouse acceleration.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Only supports Spectator Mode.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller Y-axis inversion

Mouse acceleration

Disable mouse acceleration Open the game's launch options. Input the following code: -noforcemaccel -noforcemspd -useforcedmparms Press OK and close the properties window.

Audio settings

Audio options	Native	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Can be changed in Audio Options.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	CC	Notes
English
Brazilian Portuguese
Bulgarian
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
French
German
Greek
Hungarian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Thai
Turkish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		10	Requires an internet connection for Steam authentication.
Online play		10

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Dedicated

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
UDP (outbound)	27015-28999

Issues fixed

Blurry graphics

Set render quality to highest

Missing health and mana bar

Console command: hud_sf_reload dota_sf_hud_actionpanel

2D sprites and effects displaying over geometry [AMD 7000 series)

Do not override catalyst control center, turning it off or overriding it with programs like "Radeon Pro" will cause graphical issues in Dota due to poor AMD GPU support, re enabling it should fix this issue.

Pixelated shadows

Instructions To make shadows smoother, go to <path-to-game>\dota\cfg\video.txt change "setting.cpu_level" "0" to "setting.cpu_level" "2".

Other information

Launch options

Launch options example.

To access the game's launch options: right click Dota 2 in Steam's library window > Properties > Set launch options...

If you use multiple launch options, separate them with a space (e.g., -novid -console).

Command	Notes
-console	Enables the in-game console.
-dashboard international_2012	Launches the game using the International 2012 theme.
-dashboard international_2013	Launches the game using the International 2013 theme.
-dashboard frostivus_2013	Launches the game using the Frostivus theme.
-dashboard spirits_2013	Launches the game using the Three Spirits theme.
-dashboard newbloom_2014	Launches the game using the New Bloom Festival theme.
-novid	Disables intro videos. (It will change your minimap resolution in-game!)
-noforcemaccel -noforcemspd -useforcedmparms	Disables mouse acceleration.
-high	Assigns a high CPU priority to the game's client.
-heapsize #	Changes the RAM memory usage for the game (e.g., -heapsize 2048)
-windowed -w # -h $ -noborder	Starts the game in a borderless window with the specified resolution (e.g., -windowed -w 1920 -h 1080 -noborder).
-override_vpk	Overrides the game's content files with content found in <path-to-game>\*\

General tweaks

To use these tweaks you need to create a file called <code>autoexec.cfg in the configuration file(s) location.

Each tweak must be in a separate line, and contain a string and a value (e.g., dota_screen_shake "0").

Creating autoexec.cfg Open Notepad. From the File menu, choose Save As... In the Save as type: field, choose All Files (*.*). In the File name: field, input autoexec.cfg Save it in the Configuration file(s) location. After editing the file with tweaks, simply use File > Save to apply.

Tweak	Notes	Default Value
dota_force_right_click_attack "1"	Deny creeps using right-click. Disables the ability to follow allies with right-click.	0
dota_disable_range_finder "0"	Shows range-finder when using targeted spells.	1
dota_camera_accelerate "49"	Controls camera acceleration (49 = camera behaves most accurately).	10
dota_ability_quick_cast "1"	Self-casts an ability when double-tapping the keyboard shortcut.	0
dota_screen_shake "0"	Disables the screen shake effect that triggers when certain spells are cast.	1
dota_player_multipler_orders "1"	Allows ctrl-clicking to order all controlled units.	0
dota_player_add_summoned_to_selection "#"	Summoned units are automatically added to the specified control group.	0
dota_minimap_hero_size "700"	Controls the size of hero symbols on the minimap (higher values = bigger symbols).	600
dota_unit_fly_bonus_height "10"	Controls elevation of flying units (higher values = farther from the ground).	150
dota_sf_game_end_delay "0"	Controls the end-game delay before the scoreboard appears (0 = appears immediately).	5
dota_gamescon_althack "1"	Allows using Alt+Q/W/E/A/S/D to use inventory items.	0
dota_minimap_misclick_time "#"	Controls the delay before minimap clicks are registered (# = seconds, 0 = no delay).	1
dota_minimap_ping_duration "#"	Controls the delay before minimap pings disappear (# = seconds).	3
dota_minimap_ping_tag_duration "#"	Controls the delay before attack/defend pings disappear (# = seconds).	10
dota_unit_use_player_color "2"	Colours players by team instead of assigning individual colours.	0
dota_minimap_simple_colors "1"	Changes minimap colour scheme to resemble the original DotA.	0
dota_shop_force_hotkeys "1"	Enables shop hotkeys (q/w/e/r/t/y selects a tab, 1,2,3... selects an item).	0
dota_hud_healthbars "1"	Removes the vertical lines on health bars (0 = health bars disabled).	3
dota_health_per_vertical_marker "#"	Defines the amount of health between vertical lines.	250
dota_always_show_player_names "1"	Shows player names above heroes.	0
bind "key" "command"	Allows a custom keybinding. (e.g., bind "p" "say_team Missing top!")
dota_sf_old_heropedia "1"	Switches the Learn interface to the old layout instead of the web-based version.	0
con_enable "1"	Enables the in-game console.	0
chat_join "name"	Automatically joins a chat channel upon launch.
tv_nochat "1"	Disables spectator chat by default.	0

Network tweaks

The following values tweak network usage. They may be beneficial in reducing lag.

Changing these settings may affect lag for the worse. Do not tweak these if you are unsure about what you're doing.

Tweak	Notes	Value for slow connections
rate "80000"	Total bandwidth Dota 2 can use.	40000
cl_updaterate "40"	Updates received from server per second.	20
cl_cmdrate "40"	Updates sent to server per second.	20
cl_interp "0"
cl_interp_ratio "1"
cl_smoothtime "0.01"

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	7
Processor (CPU)	Dual core from Intel or AMD at 2.8 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI/AMD Radeon HD2600/3600 nVidia GeForce 8600/9600GT

OS X
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.7
Processor (CPU)	Dual core from Intel
System memory (RAM)	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 GB
Video card (GPU)	nVidia 320M Radeon 7000 Intel HD 3000

Linux
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	Ubuntu 12.04
Processor (CPU)	Dual core from Intel or AMD at 2.8 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI/AMD Radeaon HD2600/3600 nVidia GeForce 8600/9600GT OpenGL 2.1 compatible

Tom's Hardware benchmarked Dota 2's performance and concluded that integrated Intel or AMD graphics should be enough for 30fps at 1920x1080 on low settings.