Sorry, didn't see a section for AA2.8.5. So I figured this was close enough.

I figured this out on my own. So if this is already common knowledge, byte me.

To play AA2.8.5 without seeing smoke do the following...

1. Start game
2. Open a map in offline mode. Example: "open bridge"
3. mpcheat yourself the Javaline by typing "mpcheat class j"
4. Switch to your CLU by pushing your binoculars key. Default is "B"
5. Right click to look through the CLU.
6. Turn on your nightvision. Default key is "N"
7. Then type "suicide" in the console.

To be perfectly clear, you need to die while looking through the CLU, in nightvision mode. If you've done it correctly you should be able to see right through smoke until your game is restarted.

Enjoy!