I have created a model of a log cabin to add to my ice level in which I have added a fireplace, logs and flames. I have added a single light to the fire area to enhance the scene....

This single light is the only one in the level.

Clearly I build the level in editor and test run in editor and adjust all settings to suit my game level. Yes.....

Thus my settings are adjusted so as to suit with a balance of quality/performance ratio based on my preferences - visual appearance and game play/performance balance....

In level creation/design in Test Mode to sustain credible performance I have to keep my quality settings low in order to add more objects and complexity to the level and I can do that. In the case of the single light I have to set entity quality to "Medium" for the sake of having the single light display in level, otherwise it does not display at all. All other quality settings are set to lowest. This medium entity setting means that I lose some fps which is then acceptable (just, given the current level complexity)....

In Editor Test Mode level run I have options to adjust the various quality settings (terrain, entity, veg and so on) to suit, based on my level design and content and game play performance (my system and how it responds, performs).....

However when compiled the resultant game does not reflect my (the game designers) preferences as set up in level editor so the result is different. In the compiled .exe I don't have the same performance/qualities I set in Editor. I have only three choices : Lowest/Medium/Highest which means that at Lowest I cant have the light display and choosing Medium so it does applies Medium quality to not only entities as it does in Editor, but presumably to everything else as well throughout : e.g. the terrain, veg and so on resulting in a further loss in performance/fps in the game as opposed to as set and chosen/returned during level design in Editor Test Run. At least I am getting less fps/performance in compiled .exe than in Editor test run.

No idea why in the final game .exe end user game players don't have the same/similar graphics quality and other settings choices as we do in Editor so they can more finely tune/ adjust the settings to their preferences and to suit their systems with greater flexibility in as far as is possible. At one time (Tab) settings were available inside the compiled .exe but were removed a long time back which has since been a bind in not being able to have the compiled game match with how one designs it with the aforementioned performance/quality balances in mind....

Nice it is and needless to say that the use of the higher qualities during game play is great but I just can afford to use them and still maintain acceptable game play performance speeds without refraining from further developing the level much further and or adding more content as things stand with the current game .exe end user options. I would have to play only in Editor Test Mode until I run out of performance there too.

How about an extra entry in SETUP.INI which defines what settings the LOW, MEDIUM and HIGH options in the standalone game menu represent. This way you can have your ideal settings tied to MEDIUM, then ramp it up for HIGH and reduce as you see fit for LOW. Something like:

[GAMEMENUOPTIONS]
graphicslowterrain=lowest
graphicslowentity=lowest
graphicslowgrass=lowest
graphicsmediumterrain=medium
graphicsmediumentity=medium
graphicsmediumgrass=medium
graphicshighterrain=high
graphicshighentity=highest
graphicshighgrass=high

Is there way that I can tweak other settings like that, for example bloom, shadows, lightrays, terrain quality, occlusion... For example bloom is disabled on Lowest, but enabled on Medium and Highest.

yeah that would be great......or even by scripting.

If these were exposed in the SETUP.INI then users could create a front-end UI to their game to tweak and save the settings before running their game.

Based on the request from 'Unknown Nomad Studio', how about a visuals.ini override system so you would have something like visuals-low.ini which contains a short list of fields you want to override globally, this way you can change the shader levels but also anything else in the visuals field list. An example of fields you might want to change per-graphics choice:

visuals.shaderlevels.terrain=3
visuals.shaderlevels.entities=2
visuals.shaderlevels.vegetation=3
visuals.shaderlevels.lighting=2
visuals.DistanceTransitionStart#=4000
visuals.DistanceTransitionRange#=400
visuals.CameraNEAR#=2
visuals.CameraFAR#=70000
visuals.TerrainLOD1#=4000
visuals.TerrainLOD2#=5000
visuals.TerrainLOD3#=5500
visuals.TerrainSize#=100
visuals.VegQuantity#=50
visuals.reflectionmode=0
visuals.shadowmode=60
visuals.bloommode=2
visuals.lightraymode=0
visuals.vegetationmode=10
visuals.occlusionvalue=100
visuals.VignetteIntensity#=0
visuals.MotionIntensity#=0
visuals.DepthOfFieldIntensity#=0
visuals.LightrayQuality=20

Yes, that would be great.
But it is possible now?

Hi Lee,



If I understand that correctly seems to be a valuable addition and if I don't - then any additional choices/options must be welcome.