Bullet Tracers – Mighty Xen

In Half-Life, tracers are visual lines that represent the trajectory of bullets or projectiles. Customizing tracers can make it easier to track shots during gameplay. This tutorial explains how to adjust tracer colour, length, speed, and transparency using console commands.

Step 1: Change Tracer Colour

Tracer colour is set using RGB values (0–255):

tracerred – Red component
tracergreen – Green component
tracerblue – Blue component

Example: set tracers to yellow

tracerred "255"
tracergreen "255"
tracerblue "0"

Step 2: Adjust Transparency

Use traceralpha to set transparency (0.0 = invisible, 1.0 = solid).

traceralpha "0.2"

Step 3: Adjust Length and Speed

traceroffset – Controls tracer length.
tracerspeed – Controls how fast tracers move.

Examples:

// Long, slow tracer
traceroffset "5"
tracerspeed "1000"

// Short, fast tracer
traceroffset "1"
tracerspeed "3000"

Example Configurations

Here are some ready-made tracer setups. Add Gallery or Image blocks below and pair them with the configs:

Step 4: Applying Settings

To apply settings, open the console (~) in Half-Life and type the commands. Example:

tracerred "0"
tracergreen "255"
tracerblue "255"
traceralpha "0.3"

You can also add these commands to userconfig.cfg for automatic loading each time you launch the game.

Green Tracer
tracerred "0"
tracergreen "255"
tracerblue "0"
traceralpha "0.2"
traceroffset "3"
tracerlength "2"
tracerspeed "2000"

Red Tracer
tracerred "255"
tracergreen "0"
tracerblue "0"
traceralpha "0.2"
traceroffset "3"
tracerlength "2"
tracerspeed "2000"

Yellow Tracer
tracerred "255"
tracergreen "255"
tracerblue "0"
traceralpha "0.2"
traceroffset "3"
tracerlength "2"
tracerspeed "2000"

Blue Tracer
tracerred "0"
tracergreen "0"
tracerblue "255"
traceralpha "0.2"
traceroffset "3"
tracerlength "2"
tracerspeed "2000"

Pink Tracer
tracerred "255"
tracergreen "0"
tracerblue "255"
traceralpha "0.2"
traceroffset "3"
tracerlength "2"
tracerspeed "2000"

Fun Fact

Did you know that adding these tracer commands to your userconfig.cfg in Counter-Strike 1.6 will also change the colour of the sparks when bullets hit a wall?

Summary

Adjustable colour via RGB values
Transparency range: 0.0 (invisible) to 1.0 (solid)
Length and speed are fully customizable
Works in Half-Life and partially in Counter-Strike 1.6
Settings can be stored in userconfig.cfg