Context:
localcmd/stuffcmd are delayed enough that we can't use it to load
difficulty settings from skill.cfg before the game objects have spawned.
readcmd worked around this, but its usage is buggy and discouraged.
loading config files from the root game directory is forbidden by the
engine for security reasons (being able to read passwords etc.)
but we're allowed to do so from sub-directories.
by emulating the source engine behaviour we become compatible with their
convention, while also working around said incompatibility.
Marco Cawthorne