Bullet Tracers Tutorial

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. Click an image to view full size.

Green Tracers
Green Tracer 
tracerred "0"
tracergreen "255"
tracerblue "0"
traceralpha "0.2"
traceroffset "3"
tracerlength "2"
tracerspeed "2000"
Red Tracers
Red Tracer 
tracerred "255"
tracergreen "0"
tracerblue "0"
traceralpha "0.2"
traceroffset "3"
tracerlength "2"
tracerspeed "2000"
Yellow Tracers
Yellow Tracer 
tracerred "255"
tracergreen "255"
tracerblue "0"
traceralpha "0.2"
traceroffset "3"
tracerlength "2"
tracerspeed "2000"
Blue Tracers
Blue Tracer 
tracerred "0"
tracergreen "0"
tracerblue "255"
traceralpha "0.2"
traceroffset "3"
tracerlength "2"
tracerspeed "2000"
Pink Tracers
Pink Tracer 
tracerred "255"
tracergreen "0"
tracerblue "255"
traceralpha "0.2"
traceroffset "3"
tracerlength "2"
tracerspeed "2000"

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 to userconfig.cfg for automatic loading each time you launch the game.

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 somewhat in Counter-Strike 1.6
  • Settings can be stored in userconfig.cfg