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Posted on
April 02, 2002 by Thomas
McGuire
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Now
select the Performance tab.
Detail.
This slider is used to automatically configure the settings
using several pre-defined configurations. Don’t both using
this.
Expert
Mode. Tick
this option to enable the display of several more
configuration options for you to adjust, as described in
more detail beneath. Unticking this will disable
adjusting them. Be sure to Tick this.
Auto
Config.
This button will configure the options here based on your
particular PC. Again, similar to the Detail option
I’d recommend you ignore this & set the options
yourself.
Geometry
Detail.
This option controls the LOD to be used for rendering Models
in the Game world, with moving this slider to the Right
allowing for more polygons to be used in Models, which will
yield more detailed Models & polygon counts in Models
not be reduced for greater distances. Moving this to the Left
will use a reduced number of polygons in Models, with more
being taken away over shorter distances from you. The
screenshots beneath illustrate this effect, e.g. pay
attention to the Weapon barrel on the right-hand Tank. You
should lower this setting on Graphics cards which aren’t
overly capable of processing too many polygons, e.g. TNT 2
or if you have a slow CPU.
Character
Shadows.
This slider defines the LOD (Level Of Detail)
used for shadows cast by Models, if any. Moving this slider
to the Right will enable the use of more detailed
shadows & vice versa. Setting this to Low will
disable them altogether & would be recommended for those
with older Graphics cards. Though newer Graphics cards
should perform well with any of the more detailed options in
use.
Texture
Detail.
This slider controls the resolution of textures used in the
Game. Setting this to High will enable the use of
sharper, more detailed textures, although performance can be
lowered (Especially on low Video memory Graphics Cards). The
Lower the setting the more blurred textures in levels
will appear. If you intend to use High resolution
textures be sure you have AGP Texturing enabled in the BIOS
&/or a Graphics Card with 32MB or more of Video memory.
Particle
Detail.
This slider sets the LOD used for various particle effects
that are rendered in the Game, e.g. Flamethrowers &
snow. Those of you with older Graphics cards &/or CPU
should use a lower setting for this option though those with
newer Graphics cards should be able to use a higher value
with little adverse effect to the frame rate at all, though
in some of the larger battles it might be wise to lower
setting a notch to keep the frame rate smooth.
Surface
Effect Detail.
This slider sets the LOD used for ground/wall surfaces in
the Game. Moving the slider to the Right will enable
the use of more detailed textures for improved visual
quality & vice versa. You should set this to High
if your Graphics card features 16MB Video memory or greater
& supports AGP Texturing.
Lighting
Mode.
This option specifies the lighting method to be used in the
game. Options available being Vertex, Multi-Pass
Lightmaps & Multi-Texture Lightmaps. Vertex
will provide static lighting in levels, which will as you
can also be the least visually appealing, though should
provide a great frame rate boost to those on old Graphics
cards. This may be of use to those with dated on-board Video
solutions (Or other similarly dated Graphics cards), though
no-one else should really need to consider this option. Multi-Pass
Lightmaps would be recommended to those whose Graphics
cards can’t perform Multi-texturing & Trilinear
filtering simultaneously, e.g. 3dfx Graphics cards. While
all others should be able to use Multi-Texture Lightmaps
for best lighting quality.
Texture
Filter. Trilinear
texture filtering operates by taking 4 samples (texels) from
2 neighbouring Mipmaps, applies a bilinear filter to them
& then interpolates the results. This results in
improved image quality, with more seamless transitions
between Mipmap levels & enhanced texture detail compared
to Bilinear
filtering. Most modern Graphics cards should
be able to use Trilinear with little performance
problems, except for those (still, unfortunately) with 3dfx
Graphics cards which should set this to Bilinear for
best performance (As they cannot simultaneously perform
Multi-texturing & Trilinear filtering).
Terrain
Casts Shadows.
Ticking this option will enable certain terrain
features to cast a shadow onto the ground, which will
improve visually realism slightly, though consumes more fill
rate. You should leave this Unticked if you are using
an old Graphics card which is fill rate limited, e.g. TNT 2.
The
screenshots beneath illustrate the effects of Geometry
Detail, Character Shadows, Texture Detail
& Surface Effect Detail set at Low or High
respectively. The Terrain Casts Shadows option is
also visible here, though the option was reversed, i.e.
It’s enabled n the Low detail shot & disabled
in the High detail one.
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Low detail |
High detail |
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Be sure
to take a look at the TNT/GeForce,
Voodoo3,
Voodoo4/5
or Kyro
1/2 Tweak guide for information on how to optimize the
performance/visual quality with those Graphics cards in the
Game. These can help you improve image quality/performance
mire than Renegade Config options can.
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