Does anybody understand this prog

[s.flow]

hi,

finally i'reached to install the s² grafic tool 1.2 on my pc.

but now, im a little bit perturbed by numerous options.

and the quickinfo does not always make me understand the function of the settings!

so, it would be very nice to get explained the following options (their function, effect and how they influence performance)

 

- cache lighting

- cl blur

- sky textures (i never seen the sky in s² :?: )

- static no overwrite (standard: on)

- block buffering

- fog (i never seen a fog in s", what is this?)

- cl cube res.

 

and: there isnt any difference in the effect ot the options "16 bit mode", "16 bit textures" and "use 16 bit terrain textures ", or?

 

thx for ur help!

 

 

mfg flo

[Biggles]

Hi. Most of the info is in this thread :

 

https://forum.nival.com/showthread.php?s=&t...&threadid=19910

 

Also, there are two articles on the S2HQ site that try and explain the graphics options:

 

https://www.s2hq.com/en_129.html

https://www.s2hq.com/en_105.html

 

I guess the reason that more detailed explanations are not included in te program itself is twofold. firstly I simply don't have the time to test and document them all, and secondly, Nival haven't felt it necessary to explain more.

 

There are a couple of threads on the NIval forums where I was asking for help with these settings, and you can see the responses that Nival gave me there.

 

But in the end the toiol is really for people who like to tweak. So experiment, and you will soon see the differences the many settings have.

 

Now... from memory here is a rough explantion of those specifi ones you asked about.

 

cache Lighting - This affects how the game process the lighting, and with it on a few extra options are enabled (all the CL_ ) ones. S2 doe sthe lighting on the fly, and this helps speed up calculation of shadows and stuff (I think)

 

cl blur - If CL is on, then this will give you nice soft shadows.

 

sky textures - I don't think they ended up being used, but the settings and even databse stuff is all there for them.

 

static no overwrite - I think this is a bit of a hack to get better performance with DirectX, may be unticked to help solve compatibility issues. (I think)

 

Block buffering - this is explained pretty well in the tooltip. With NVidia cards your frames are buffered to speedup output, but this can have the effect of making your mouse seem to lag. You can reduce mouselag at the expense of FPS by turning this on.

 

fog - Ohh there is definately fog! it's just not alwyas used in missions, but when it is it is very nice.