cg_switchToEmpty 1 iirc

thx but it is already set to cg_switchtoempty 1 and scrollwheel still doesn't let you choose empty items. Also i am aware you have to pick up the weapon before you can switch to an empty item in case anyone is wondering.

1 is the default value so that's not what you want... try 0.

doh, idiot moment, but cg_switchtoempty 0 still did not fix my problem. I think it only works with keys.

You cant switch to weapon you dont have.
Only to weapon with zero ammo.

So you have three solutions:
1. Dont use mwheel;
2. cg_weaponbar 0-2 to see what weapons you have;
3. Write script to change weapons.

Something like
set wnext "vstr weapon 2;"
set wprev "vstr weapon 1;"
set w1 "weapon 1; set wnext vstr weapon 2; set wprev vstr weapon 8;"
set w2 "weapon 2; set wnext vstr weapon 3; set wprev vstr weapon 1;"
...
set w8 "weapon 8; set wnext vstr weapon 1; set wprev vstr weapon 7;"

bind mwheelup wnext
bind mwheeldown wprev

I have tried this -

set wnext "vstr weapon 2"
set wprev "vstr weapon 1;"
set w1 "weapon 1; set wnext vstr weapon 2; set wprev vstr weapon 8;"
set w2 "weapon 2; set wnext vstr weapon 3; set wprev vstr weapon 7;"
set w3 "weapon 3; set wnext vstr weapon 4; set wprev vstr weapon 6;"
set w4 "weapon 4; set wnext vstr weapon 5; set wprev vstr weapon 5;"
set w5 "weapon 5; set wnext vstr weapon 6; set wprev vstr weapon 4;"
set w6 "weapon 6; set wnext vstr weapon 7; set wprev vstr weapon 3;"
set w7 "weapon 7; set wnext vstr weapon 8; set wprev vstr weapon 2;"
set w8 "weapon 8; set wnext vstr weapon 1; set wprev vstr weapon 1"

and unfortunately it doesn't work/ I've been thinking a lot about this and i don't think it may be technically possible because the script requires knowlefge of how many times i have scrolled in the scroll wheel steps and no matter how many times i scroll it will change to the same weapon that i set it to in the script.

I prefer changing weapons b scrolling because of the same reason dem0n does. For certain weapons you will sacrifice movement to switch to that weapon which can suck for +forward players like me

The wprev variables look pretty wacky. I would rethink them. Only weapon 1 and 5 look correct.

Just bind them to seperate keys.

I do like people said above me, use weaponbar command and bind weapns on diffrent binds. Takes a little time to get used to but its much faster then scrolling.