Rendering – PowerVR SGL support

If you’ve selected PowerVR SGL then the options are as follows.

ColorDepth. Set this to 16 (bit) for optimal performance, although with slightly worse image quality (more banding). Set to 24 (bit) for best image quality, although with slower performance. I’d highly recommend setting it to 16 when playing online.

Coronas. Set this to True. This is the haze of light that appears around light sources in the game, such as lamps in the game. It has little effect on performance.

FastUglyRefresh. As the title suggests; setting this to True will improve performance at the cost of image quality & setting it to False will improve image quality at the cost of performance.

HighDetailActors. Set this to True for better visuals. Setting it to False will improve performance.

ShinySurfaces. Shiny surfaces are the reflective surfaces in the game, e.g. on some floors you can see your (& others) reflections. Setting it to False will improve your frame rate in such areas. Setting it to True will give you a nice visual enhancement in such areas.

TextureDetailBias. Use this to set the range at which detail is applied to textures, Near or Far. When set to Far textures will appear sharper further away than Near & when set to Near textures will sharpen when you are close to them. Set it to Near for improved performance & Far for improved image quality.

VertexLighting. When set to False, Lightmap lighting is used – which results in vastly improved lighting of a level as it is done in real-time. When set to True Vertex lighting is used – which is static (i.e. not real-time), which may improve performance a lot, although visual quality will suffer.

VolumetricLighting. Setting this to False amay mean the difference between a playable & an unplayable game. Although setting this to True will improve visuals significantly, with effects such as fog & space-filling.

Rendering - Software

If you’ve selected Software then the options are as follows.

If you really must use the Software renderer then you really should set everything to False, with the exception of Fast translucency. This will ensure software rendering is running optimally.

Also make sure that SlowVideoBuffering is set to True, in the Display section of Advanced options.

Also set the game to run in 32-bit colour, this gives optimal performance in Software rendering. This is not the case with hardware rendering modes though. See the General console commands section for how to enable 32-bit colour.

Consider purchasing a new(er) graphics card also. Most games now require a 3d card to work, such as Quake 3 or Soldier of Fortune.

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