[SUGGESTION] Advanced Options tweaks that should maybe be default

Starting a thread for posting tweaks made to the advanced options (stuff that isn't visible in the effects and video settings menus) that maybe should be default. Such tweaks would be something that increases the frame rate without noticeably removing quality or drastically increasing the quality without hurting the frame rate much.


Here's some I have at the moment:

cl_projectiles_sloppy 1 (Much like gibs sloppy, it may allow projectiles such as rockets to penetrate walls temporarily, however it's completely unnoticeable even when your looking for it.)

cl_gibs_lifetime 4 (They look cool when flying through the air and they look like crap when sitting still. Also the current default can cause maps to become cluttered at times, so I'd say it's probably best to keep these short/simple and to the point.)



In my opinion should be somewhere in the effects settings screen:

cl_playerdetailreduction (Character model LOD. Reduces the model detail when they're further away and increases the performance a bit.)

cl_particles_collisions (Current default value 1. Turning this off increases the performance quite a bit, especially if you have a lot of particles enabled, however it gets rid of the cool collisions that cause particles to bounce off of surfaces realistically)

r_viewfbo (There actually is an option in the effects screen right now, "enable high quality frame buffer", but it doesn't let you choose between 8 bit, 16 bit, or 32 bit frame buffers and just enables the 16 bit one.)

r_viewscale (The normal anti-aliasing method doesn't work with r_viewfbo, but this cvar can be used to achieve virtually the same effect, actually better effect. Instead of the anti-aliasing options in the effects setting screen disappearing entirely when you enable frame buffer, I think it should instead tie itself to this cvar.)

cl_decals_fadetime (Current default completely disables it. In my opinion the effects setting that controls decal time should instead be tied to this while cl_decals_time is set to 1. Doing this would make decals disappear in a much more subtle fashion.)

Last edit: January 5th, 2012

I gotta say, some of these actually are quite good ideas... especially cl_projectiles_sloppy and cl_playerdetailreduction (and maybe gib lifetime too, but not sure.)

I'm going to keep such stuff in mind when I work on the menu later

Also: You can't really change gl_max* stuff... well, you shouldn't, anyway... i'm not totally sure how that works, but I don't think it's as simple as you think.


r_motionblur_randomize is needed in darker rooms/settings, or else you'll easily see ghosting unless you have high precision fbo on

Don't the lightmap and texture size limits just restrict how much memory those two things have to work with causing them to get compressed where needed? From what I've seen the lightmaps tend to make the game stutter at times when you don't give them the additional memory, but I haven't noticed that with the textures. Also, I'm pretty sure there's a few other tweaks that may be worth looking at so I'll post them in this thread if and when I find them.

EDIT: I enabled the randomize effect and seems to have actually ruined the effect for me. Also with it turned off I can't notice any ghosting, even on dark maps, though this is probably due to me using a CRT instead of an LCD which doesn't suffer from input lag and unintended motion blur like nearly all LCD screens do. I'm not using any high-precision fbo or vsync either as enabling that will drop my frame rate like a bad habit.

cl_projectiles_sloppy why change it? does it improve something?

cl_playerdetailreduction +1 if the change is indeed unnoticable

cl_gibs_lifetime +1

i'm against any new option in the menu which is not related to a new feature. the menus should be cleaned up, and not be further cluttered.

cl_projectiles_sloppy why change it? does it improve something?

Can theoretically remove frame rate stutter. Enabling it is completely unnoticeable visually though, even when I look for it.

i'm against any new option in the menu which is not related to a new feature. the menus should be cleaned up, and not be further cluttered.

The only thing I suggested be added was cl_particles_collisions since disabling it DRASTICALLY improves performance, but does so at the cost of having sparks and stuff like that not bounce off of surfaces realistically. The other menu option I suggested was having the decal time tied to cl_decals_fadetime instead of cl_decals_time like it currently is.

Don't the lightmap and texture size limits just restrict how much memory those two things have to work with causing them to get compressed where needed? From what I've seen the lightmaps tend to make the game stutter at times when you don't give them the additional memory, but I haven't noticed that with the textures. Also, I'm pretty sure there's a few other tweaks that may be worth looking at so I'll post them in this thread if and when I find them.

EDIT: I enabled the randomize effect and seems to have actually ruined the effect for me. Also with it turned off I can't notice any ghosting, even on dark maps, though this is probably due to me using a CRT instead of an LCD which doesn't suffer from input lag and unintended motion blur like nearly all LCD screens do. I'm not using any high-precision fbo or vsync either as enabling that will drop my frame rate like a bad habit.

The ghosting doesn't come from LCD response times, it comes from the FBO not being able to properly represent the value of the fade, so the math continues on slightly off values leaving behind a small hint of the previous image.

There should also be an option to disable the texture/model/item reflection shine effects. I don't know how to disable them any other way than setting r_showsurfaces 3 which also takes out textures/warpzones and well everything. I would thank lots if anyone would tell me how to get rid of this while keeping the textures.

There should also be an option to disable the texture/model/item reflection shine effects. I don't know how to disable them any other way than setting r_showsurfaces 3 which also takes out textures/warpzones and well everything. I would thank lots if anyone would tell me how to get rid of this while keeping the textures.

Don't you just mean disabling gloss? That's what it looks like and there is an option for that in the effects screen. It does look like crap like that if you really have to play that way.

No it does not go away after checking off everything in the effects screen.

In that case you've got some other settings running that causes that. I certainly don't have that. I would suggest you back up your config.cfg and autoexec.cfg (if you have one) and start from scratch.

What hardware are you running on which means you need to run settings that low?

In that case you've got some other settings running that causes that. I certainly don't have that. I would suggest you back up your config.cfg and autoexec.cfg (if you have one) and start from scratch.

Started from scratch and still can't get rid of the effects, nothing in the menu seems to disable those.

What hardware are you running on which means you need to run settings that low?

Very shitty and old hardware (with newest drivers) I've done everything I could there already. I normally play Xonotic in simple graphics with almost everything turned off with average of 120 fps. I could also play it with medium/low settings too only if I just could get rid of this one specific effect. This effect alone gives a drop of 40 fps, take that out from 60 fps which it usually drops to in presence of open areas/high polycount and the experience sure is bad.

Very shitty and old hardware

Anything more specific than that? Very old is arbitary, some 'enthusiast' websites would consider a Core i7 920 very old, other people of a certain age might consider a DEC10 very old.

Bearing in mind that I have Xonotic running on 10 year old hardware very playably either you have something of a similar age but of lower performance or newer but much much worse. As I know you have OpenGL 2.0 support from a previous thread, it can't be THAT bad.

So if you could give me some detailed hardware specifications then I might be able to tell more. Perhaps have a read of this thread I wrote some time ago:
http://forums.xonotic.org/showthread.php?tid=2685

I got Acer x1930 set with

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Intel Premium processor G630
Intel HD Graphics Family
4GB DDR3 Memory

Anyway even if you had a way to boost my specs, I'm still just looking for an answer to how to configure Xonotic itself.

I got Acer x1930 set with

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Intel Premium processor G630
Intel HD Graphics Family
4GB DDR3 Memory

That is neither old nor shitty, it's less than 18 months old so should be able to play Xonotic OK on lower settings with the onboard graphics.

Take a look at this wiki page, all of the systems you see listed as 'Sandy Bridge' are the same generation CPU/iGPU as yours. OK, some may be a little faster but it should give you some idea of what is possible:
http://dev.xonotic.org/projects/xonotic/...quirements

What I would however suggest if you are serious about playing games is to upgrade to a separate graphics card. This does not need to be expensive, a Geforce GTX650 is €100 and would allow you to play the game on Ultra settings. If you do not want to spend so much money then even a €30 card will allow you to run the game on high settings. You have a fast enough CPU that the performance increase will be massive and Xonotic will feel like a whole new game for less than the price you'd pay for a commercial game.

Your CPU is roughly as powerful as my 5 year old E8200 which with a 9600GT (also 5 years old) can get over 300fps on Low settings and over 80 on Ultra. This is the sort of performance difference you could be getting for not much money.

Tweaking r_wtf and cl_make_everything_look_like_it_was_drawn_in_paint will only get you marginal increases, a hardware upgrade will give you massive improvements.

Thank you for your input, but 'Buy new graphics card' is not the answer I was looking for here. And I did not really understand the point in "the big benchmark", does it give people advice for updates/configs for specs or just simply show whats possible with their gear? I do pretty much grasp whats possible with my gear, I don't need to see the exact calculation in exchange to hour of my time. I'll buy new graphics card someday for sure, but for the time being I'm still more curious to how to get rid of these particular surface effects. Would be very thankful if someone would guide me there. If there is currently no way to disable it, then may I humbly request it to be possible in the next release?

You guys should swap configs and see if that works. Just to make sure it's nothing hardware / driver dependant.

Right, now I can see what's going on. The gloss you see on items is separate from gloss on surfaces and is enabled when the OpenGL 2 path is used. As we've gone through before, you need the OpenGL 2.0 path to be able to see through warpzones. So you can either have your warpzones and see the gloss or see no warpzones and no gloss. Is it hitting performance? No, the OpenGL 2 path is normally slightly quicker so don't worry about that.

The trouble I see here is that Xonotic is aiming for a realistic visual style with advanced rendering as you might expect to see in FPS games of the last decade. OMG and gl_picmip 1337 might be there but they don't look good and aren't supposed to be used to gain a visual style as such if that is what you are looking for. You will then notice the gloss effects seeming bad but the game is not really supposed to be played on those detail levels. Use the low details and you will not see this as a problem as the textures will be rendered properly instead of the gl_picmip 1337 shading. Alternatively there has been some development on simple items which might be more to your taste in visual style.