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Updated
on November 04, 2001 by Thomas
McGuire
Graphics
Resolution.
Selecting a lower resolution can improve performance & maintain a
stabler, higher frame rate. Although higher resolutions will look better
(sharper & less jagged), they generally run slower. This all depends on how
slow/fast your system (Particularly Graphics card) is of course.
Bit Depth.
Select 16 bit for best performance, but reduced visual quality (More
apparent banding). Select 32 bit for best visual quality (Less apparent
banding), although performance will be reduced – especially on older Graphics
cards. Using a 32-bit colour depth can also reduce graphical errors as it uses a
high Z-Buffer precision for depth calculations.
Full Screen.
Tick this setting to display Tribes 2 in full screen mode, as opposed to
windowed mode if Unticked. You should leave this setting Ticked if
you intend to play Tribes 2 with a 3D graphics card.
Disable Vertical Sync.
Using this setting you may disable/enable vsync in Tribes 2. Vsync
effectively limits the frame rate to your current refresh rate at a given
resolution. Performance can improve by disabling vsync (Ticked),
as frames are rendered as fast as they can be regardless of refresh rate,
although you may experience image tearing &/or controller lag as a result of
this. With vsync enabled (Unticked) you won’t experience image
tearing or controller lag, although frame rate will be limited to your current
refresh rate. As such I’d recommend enabling vsync for best image
quality & disabling it when you intend to benchmark performance.
Hit Apply Changes
after you have made you changes in this tab. Now select the Graphics
button.
Terrain Detail.
This setting controls how detail scenery is in the game. This setting, in
conjunction with the Visible Distance & Shape Detail setting,
has the greatest effect on overall performance in Tribes 2. Moving this slider
to the Right will allow the use of increasingly complex meshes for
the landscape, which will result in more realistic appearing terrain but, this
will also need a increasingly higher amount of polygons rendered as a result.
Before you should adjust this slider you should consider the role that you
prefer to play in Tribes 2. Should you prefer sniper like tasks then you will
need a great viewing distance - scenery complexity shouldn't be an issue for
such a role. Sliding this bar to the Left will use less complex
meshes for scenery, which will give less detailed scenery shapes, although this
can improve performance – especially if your Graphics card can't handle a high
amount of polygons, or you a using a high Viewing Distance.
Gamma Correction.
This slider may be used to adjust the RGB colour intensity. Move this slider to
the Right to increase this level, although this can reduce texture
detail by brightening up textures too much, & vice versa. You may
want to experiment with this slider to find the best position for you.
Shadow Detail.
This slider controls the LOD (Level Of Detail) used
for shadows cast by models. The Higher this setting the more realistic
dynamic shadows in the game will appear, although performance can be lowered
(Especially with multiple shadow casting models visible). The Lower the
setting the less realistic shadows will appear in the game (Going from complex,
down to simple circular, to none), with moving this slider to the farthest Left
disables them altogether. The shots below illustrate the difference
between low quality (i.e. Disabled) & highest quality shadows.
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Disabled
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High Quality
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For best performance I'd
recommend disabling shadows, especially in larger scale Games.
Shape Detail.
This setting controls how detail shapes (e.g. Buildings & Vehicles) in the
game are. This setting, in conjunction with the Visible Distance & Terrain
Detail setting, has the greatest effect on overall performance in Tribes 2.
Moving this slider to the Right will allow the use of increasingly complex
meshes for shapes, which will result in more realistic/complex appearing shapes
but, this will also need a increasingly higher amount of polygons rendered as a
result. Before you should adjust this slider you should consider the role that
you prefer to play in Tribes 2. Should you prefer Engineer like roles then you
don't need a great viewing distance - shape complexity may be more of an issue
for such a role (So you can quickly identify deployed Equipment). Sliding this
bar to the Left will use less complex meshes for shapes which will
give less detailed shapes, although this can improve performance – especially
if your Graphics card can't handle a high amount of polygons, in large scale
battles (On average player models use well above 1000 polygons), or you a
using a high Viewing Distance.
Interior Detail.
Tick this setting to enable the rendering of optional objects in
the Buildings. These can add a bit of variety/atmosphere to Building interiors,
although, if you're on a Low-end system certainly Untick this setting for
better performance.
Visible Distance.
This setting controls how great your viewing distance is, beyond this threshold
models/scenery are no longer rendered. This setting, in conjunction with the Terrain
Detail setting (& to a lesser extent the Shape Detail setting),
has the greatest effect on overall performance in Tribes 2. Before you should
adjust this slider you should consider the role that you prefer to play in
Tribes 2. Should you prefer sniper like tasks then you will need a great viewing
distance, while those who only engage in close up combat, or don't see much
action shouldn't be noticeably effected with a reduced viewing distance. Move
this slider to the Right to increase the viewing distance &
vice versa.
Particle Density.
This slider controls the maximum number of particles to be drawn when
rendering particle effects. Those of you with slow CPUs/Older Graphics Cards
should move this slider to the Left for improved performance by reducing
the number of particles rendered, those with faster systems can move this slider
to the Right to increase the amount of particles rendered for
better image quality.
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