Portal 2: How to Fix Your FOV and Viewmodel FOV 2021

Before you start actually doing anything you’ll want to know what FOVs you want. If you do know exactly what you want already then skip this step and go straight to the next one.

Finding Your FOV
Launch Portal 2 and open the developer console, then type in the line-

sv_cheats 1

For your FOV you’ll want to type in the line

cl_fov

followed by a space and whichever double or triple digit number you want.

For example I have my FOV set to 115 so I would type in ‘cl_fov 115’. You can keep entering the same command with different values until you find an FOV you’re comfortable with. Keep in mind that whenever you adjust your FOV you’ll want to adjust your mouse sensitivity accordingly. For a higher FOV you’ll want higher mouse sensitivity, for a lower FOV you’ll want less.

Finding Your viewmodel FOV
For your viewmodel FOV you’re going to enter the line-

viewmodel_offset_y

followed by a space and a single digit number of your choosing.

I have my viewmodel FOV set to ‘viewmodel_offset_y 5’ because it looks consistent with Portal 1, and I can move around as much as I want without the viewmodel being so far out that I can see Chell’s invisible arm.

With all of this you’re just experimenting until you find something you’re comfortable with. Once you have an FOV and viewmodel FOV you want, close Portal 2 and move on to the next step.

Take your FOVs

Create an auto executable file by making a new text document and renaming it from ‘New Text Document.txt’ to-

autoexec.cfg

‘.cfg’ is going to be replacing the ‘.txt’ file extension because you don’t want a plain text document, you need a configuration file. The whole file name is just going to be ‘autoexec.cfg’ not ‘autoexec.cfg.txt’

Open your auto executable and type in your new FOVs. Again mine are-

cl_fov 115
viewmodel_offset_y 5

if you just want to copy and paste that and try it. It’s whatever you’re comfortable with.

Now you’re going to take your new auto executable and you’re going to cut and paste it in Portal 2’s files. If you don’t know how to get there you can head over to Portal 2’s page in your Steam library, click on the gear on the right hand side, click ‘Manage’, then click ‘Browse Local Files’. Doing that will bring you straight to Portal 2’s files.

Once in Portal 2’s file you’re going to open a folder called ‘portal2’. It should be between two other folders called ‘platform’ and ‘portal2_czech’. Inside the portal2 folder you’re going to open another folder called ‘cfg’. Inside the cfg folder is where your auto executable is going to live. Paste your file in, (probably leave the folders open for the moment), and launch Portal 2.

Everything should work smoothly now and Portal 2 will accept your new FOVs by default every time you launch it. If something’s not right you can go back to your auto executable to re -adjust anything, if else you can go through this guide again to check if you made any errors. If you’re FOVs are fine then you can go ahead and close Portal 2’s file directory folders if you left them open.