@Persephone, you didn't make it clear before the the cvar does not have an effect after changed. The video now shows your issue. I'm sure that now tschumann will get what you meant.
In the mean time I have a suggestion that I haven't tested but... Try again to change the cvar but do not use the 'restart' command, just issue 'changelevel map_name' where map_name is the current map you are playing. I just guess that tschumann tested it in this way.