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Updated
on November 04, 2001 by Thomas
McGuire
Textures
Now select the Textures
tab.
Texture Quality.
This setting controls the quality of textures used in Tribes 2. 32 bit
will provide best quality for textures used in the game, although this will also
consume the greatest amount of video memory, as a result you shouldn't select
this option unless you have a Graphics card with 32MB video memory or greater
(Or supports AGP Texturing), even so you should also use some form of Texture
Compression on Graphics cards with only 32MB video memory (This includes the
Voodoo 5 5000/5500). Using 16 bit will provide the best texture
quality/performance trade off & will also consume less video memory as a
result. You shouldn't need to select Palletized unless you have a very
old Graphics card, this will use the least amount of video memory, although
provides the worst quality textures.
Texture Compression.
This option can be used to select the Compression algorithm to be for
compressing suitable textures in Tribes 2. Should you have a Graphics card with
less than 64MB video memory then it is essential that you use texture
compression for best performance in Tribes 2. Options available being Fastest
& Nicest. As you can probably guess selecting Fastest will use
an algorithm with a greater compression ratio (Which will save more video
memory), although there may well be more compression errors caused by this
(Hence, more noticeable degradation in texture quality in places, e.g. Sky),
while selecting Nicest will use an algorithm with a lower
compression ratio (Reduces texture memory required, but not as much as Fastest),
but less compression errors noticeable (Better overall texture quality than
Fastest).
Texture compression is
done via the ARB (Architecture Review Board) OpenGL
extension. If you have a Graphics card with 64MB video memory then you may be
able to set this to None for best texture quality in the game with
probably very little performance hit & fastest level loading times. NOTE –
Using texture compression will increase the loading time of Levels as
textures will need to be compressed before loading the level.
Terrain Texture Detail.
This setting controls the resolution of textures for textures used in the game.
The further this slider is to the Right the sharper the textures used for
terrain in the game will appear, although performance can be lowered (Especially
on low memory graphics cards). The Lower the setting the more blurred
terrain textures will appear in the game. Selecting a lower setting can
improve performance on graphics cards with low video memory.
Shape Texture Detail.
This setting controls the resolution of textures for textures used in the game.
The further this slider is to the Right the sharper the textures used for
terrain in the game will appear, although performance can be lowered (Especially
on low memory graphics cards). The Lower the setting the more blurred
terrain textures will appear in the game. Selecting a lower setting can
improve performance on graphics cards with low video memory.
Building Texture
Detail. This setting controls the resolution of
textures for textures used in the game. The further this slider is to the Right
the sharper the textures used for terrain in the game will appear, although
performance can be lowered (Especially on low memory graphics cards). The Lower
the setting the more blurred terrain textures will appear in the game. Selecting
a lower setting can improve performance on graphics cards with low video
memory.
Sky Texture Detail.
This setting controls the resolution of textures for textures used in the game.
The further this slider is to the Right the sharper the textures used for
terrain in the game will appear, although performance can be lowered (Especially
on low memory graphics cards). The Lower the setting the more blurred
terrain textures will appear in the game. Selecting a lower setting can
improve performance on graphics cards with low video memory.
Anisotropy.
This slider controls the level of anisotropy used in Tribes 2. Anisotropic
filtering can improve image quality as it can significantly reduce texture
aliasing & maintains texture sharpness over a greater distance. This option
is only available if your Graphics card supports this feature. Move this slider
bar to the Right to increase the level of anisotropy used, &
vice versa. Depending on your Graphics card you may find using higher
levels reducing performance a good deal. The screenshots beneath illustrate
Anisotropic filtering disabled & enabled – In particular pay
attention to the orange strips on the platform & to the lava in the upper
half of the images.
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Disabled
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Enabled
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As you can see texture
quality is greatly enhanced over further distances.
Environment Maps.
Tick this setting to enable Bump mapping of the outdoor
environment in Tribes 2. Bump mapping can be used to improve detail of the
environment by using light-calculations to add depth to the environment
(Reflective surfaces on objects). Untick this for optimal performance,
although visual quality will be reduced slightly (Less realistic).
Interior Env. Maps.
Tick this setting to enable Bump mapping of the indoor environment
in Tribes 2. Bump mapping can be used to improve detail by using
light-calculations to add depth to the environment (Reflective surfaces on
objects). Untick this for optimal performance, although visual quality
will be reduced slightly (Less realistic).
Hi-Res Player Skins.
Should your Graphics Card support textures sizes greater than 256 x 256 &
you have sufficient Video memory then Tick this setting to enable
the use of higher resolution textures for Player models. This will greatly
improve the texture detail of models, although will also increase Texture
memory requirements. Those with 32MB or less of Video memory should consider Unticking
this setting for improved performance.
Make sure to take a look
at the TNT/Geforce,
Voodoo3 or Voodoo4/5
or Kyro 1/2 Tweak
guide for information on how to optimize the performance/visual quality of
each of those Graphics cards. These may help you improve image
quality/performance even further than in-game tweaks can.
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