What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

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ggrotz
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What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

Post by ggrotz »

The question came up recently, regarding the settings that the HDTP installer uses in conjunction with the renderers. The ones I used along with the loader, as well as the installer are ones that I've found and lifted from different places. The problem comes in that no one hardly ever unilaterally agrees on what the "good" settings are, and there are no statements from the authors of these alternative renderers (Kentie, Chris Donhal) regarding suggestions.

That said, since the question came up with numerous disagreement with other sources, I'd like to ask, what people suggest should be the "defaults" for the installer (specifically)? Also, are settings relatively universal for all the renderers or do they need to be specific for each one?

Also, what do you consider to be the "essential" settings? As far as I'm aware, not using DetailTextures=True and UseS3TC=True will break New Vision, and not using SceneNodeHack=True will break TNM. Are there any more that are absolutely necessary for a default installation?

Also, is there a way to simplify any of these?

Thanks for any help and suggestions.

The settings the installer puts into the INIs for renderers are posted below:

DirectX 10 (Updated 2014-09-07)

Code: Select all

[D3D10Drv.D3D10RenderDevice]
AlphaToCoverage=True
Anisotropy=8
Antialiasing=8
AutoFOV=False
BumpMapping=True
ClassicLighting=True
Coronas=True
DescFlags=0
Description=D3D10
DetailTextures=True
FPSLimit=60
HighDetailActors=True
LODBias=0
ParallaxOcclusionMapping=False
Precache=False
ShinySurfaces=True
simulateMultipassTexturing=False
unlimitedViewDistance=False
VolumetricLighting=True
VSync=True
DirectX 9 (Updated 2014-09-07)

Code: Select all

[D3D9Drv.D3D9RenderDevice]
CacheStaticMaps=False
ColorizeDetailTextures=False
Coronas=True
DescFlags=0
Description=D3D9
DetailClipping=False
DetailMax=2
DetailTextures=True
DynamicTexIdRecycleLevel=100
FrameRateLimit=200
GammaCorrectScreenshots=True
GammaOffset=0.000000
GammaOffsetBlue=0
GammaOffsetGreen=0
GammaOffsetRed=0
HighDetailActors=True
LODBias=0
MaskedTextureHack=True
MaxAnisotropy=16
MaxLogTextureSize=8
MaxTMUnits=0
MinLogTextureSize=0
NoAATiles=True
NoFiltering=False
NumAASamples=16
OneXBlending=True
RefreshRate=0
SceneNodeHack=True
ShinySurfaces=True
SinglePassDetail=False
SinglePassFog=True
SmoothMaskedTextures=True
SwapInterval=-1
TexDXT1ToDXT3=False
Use16BitTextures=False
Use565Textures=False
UseAA=True
UseFragmentProgram=True
UseMultiTexture=True
UsePrecache=False
UsePureDevice=True
UseS3TC=True
UseSoftwareVertexProcessing=False
UseSSE=True
UseSSE2=True
UseTexIdPool=True
UseTexPool=True
UseTrilinear=True
UseTripleBuffering=True
VolumetricLighting=True
ZRangeHack=True
OpenGL (Updated 2014-09-07)

Code: Select all

[OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice]
BufferTileQuads=True
CacheStaticMaps=False
ColorizeDetailTextures=False
Coronas=True
DescFlags=0
Description=Enhanced OpenGL
DetailClipping=False
DetailMax=2
DetailTextures=True
DynamicTexIdRecycleLevel=100
FrameRateLimit=200
GammaCorrectScreenshots=True
GammaOffset=0.000000
GammaOffsetBlue=0
GammaOffsetGreen=0
GammaOffsetRed=0
HighDetailActors=True
LODBias=0
MaskedTextureHack=True
MaxAnisotropy=16
MaxLogTextureSize=8
MaxTMUnits=0
MinLogTextureSize=0
NoAATiles=True
NoFiltering=False
NumAASamples=16
OneXBlending=True
RefreshRate=0
SceneNodeHack=True
ShareLists=False
ShinySurfaces=True
SinglePassDetail=False
SinglePassFog=True
SmoothMaskedTextures=True
SwapInterval=-1
TexDXT1ToDXT3=False
Use16BitTextures=False
UseAA=True
UseFragmentProgram=True
UseMultiDrawArrays=True
UseMultiTexture=True
UsePrecache=False
UsePureDevice=True
UseS3TC=True
UseSSE=True
UseSSE2=True
UseTexIdPool=True
UseTexPool=True
UseTrilinear=True
UseVertexProgram=True
UseZTrick=False
VolumetricLighting=True
ZRangeHack=True
DirectX 11 (2014-09-07) - this will not be included in the installer just yet, notice the naming inconsistency, which will likely be fixed if Kentie picks this renderer back up.

Code: Select all

[D3D11Drv.D3D10RenderDevice]
AlphaToCoverage=True
Antialiasing=8
Anisotropy=8
Coronas=True
DescFlags=0
Description=D3D11
DetailTextures=True
HighDetailActors=True
LODBias=0
ParallaxOcclusionMapping=False
Precache=False
ShinySurfaces=True
VolumetricLighting=True
VSync=True
Last edited by ggrotz on Sun Sep 07, 2014 4:24 am, edited 7 times in total.
ggrotz
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Re: What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

Post by ggrotz »

Some guides...

http://www.dxalpha.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12873

http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-nameless- ... -with-mods


Another question: Should I put the ENBSeries renderer into the HDTP installer?
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Re: What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

Post by ggrotz »

I updated the settings with those two guides and a couple of other things. Any comment on these is very welcome if I have something set that shouldn't be. Or if I'm using extraneous settings that the renderers don't honor.
DDL
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Re: What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

Post by DDL »

I'd be tempted to leave ENB out, since it's pretty dramatic...but since it's all optional anyway (right?) I see no reason NOT to give people options. As long as it's documented properly.

Also, thank you so much for making the installer. Hope to upload the latest build in the next couple of days so I'll let you know when it's up.
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Re: What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

Post by Cybernetic pig »

DDL wrote: Also, thank you so much for making the installer. Hope to upload the latest build in the next couple of days so I'll let you know when it's up.
What can we expect from this latest build? New models, animations & skins or is it all bugfixes?
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Re: What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

Post by DDL »

Bugfixes (reload mods, lamps, footstep sounds etc) and a few skins that daveyboy made that I took ages to actually integrate.

I doubt I have the ability to make models for anything beyond simple stuff like flares (case in point, I made the flares), and I sure as hell don't have the ability to animate anything complicated (getting the autoturret to rotate took me hours), nor do I have anything like enough free time.

Sadly.

Haven't managed to fix the MJ12 trooper yet, either.

But hey.
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Re: What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

Post by bjorn98009_91 »

Oh progress! :)

Will be nice to get some bugfixes to HDTP. Heh, beta testers report those as "our" bugs when testing Revision.
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Re: What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

Post by ggrotz »

DDL wrote: Also, thank you so much for making the installer. Hope to upload the latest build in the next couple of days so I'll let you know when it's up.
Alright. Shouldn't be a problem.

Meanwhile I'm working on these renderer settings. I found documentation for what settings *exist* for each of the renderers. I'll probably pare down each of them - try to get rid of the extraneous settings and the ones that are defaults anyway, and get the settings to match between the renderers. If anyone sees any settings in the lists above that are poison pills, please let me know so I don't include them as defaults for the installer.
DDL wrote:I'd be tempted to leave ENB out, since it's pretty dramatic...but since it's all optional anyway (right?) I see no reason NOT to give people options. As long as it's documented properly.
Me too, actually. But if there's a number of particular fans of it, I can always throw it in instead of Donhal's D3D9 renderer. If you turn the ENB part off, it's a pretty good D3D9 renderer (2027 installs it by default). That said, the D3D10 renderer has simulated bump mapping that can be turned on, as well.
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Re: What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

Post by bjorn98009_91 »

My contributions for the D3D9 renderer settings.

Code: Select all

[D3D9Drv.D3D9RenderDevice]
SmoothMaskedTextures=True  //Should be true for increased quality. - The SmoothMaskedTextures option will use alpha to coverage if AA is enabled with 4 or more samples.
NumAASamples=16 //Supports higher values then 4, so if you have the graphics card you can bump it up to 16 for improved AA. For Default values leaving it at 4 is probably a good idea.
Use565Textures=False //Set this to False if you're using 32-bit color. If you're using 16-bit color this changes the way textures are done, and may or may not provide a speed boost.
UseFragmentProgram=True //Set to true for increased quality/performance. Dug around and found out that this probably improves quality and performance.
UsePrecache=True // If true it increases initial load time when loading the map, but prevents slowdown during play as stuff is cached. For default it should probably be false and then users can turn it on if they experience slowdown.
UseTrilinear=True // Should be true for increased quality. May or may not be irrelevant if using Anisotropic filtering. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilinear_filtering
UseTripleBuffering=True //Should be true for improved FPS, might consume more VRAM if Vsync is turned off though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_buffering
Last edited by bjorn98009_91 on Fri Sep 05, 2014 11:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

Post by bjorn98009_91 »

My contributions for the OpenGL renderer.

Code: Select all

BufferTileQuads=True //Enables buffering in the DrawTile path. May improve text rendering performance.
DetailMax=2 //Enables a second detail texture layer. Same setting as D3D9.
MaxAnisotropy=16 //Supports up to 16. Can probably be on 16 by default.
NumAASamples=16 //Supports up to 16, should probably be 4 by default as it's quite intensive.
UseAA=True //To actually turn on AA.
UseAlphaPalette=True //Was created as a hack for old GeForce drivers, should be true on modern hardware.
UseDetailAlpha=True //Must be enabled for proper detail texture support.
UseFragmentProgram=True //Can improve performance/quality on cards that support it.
UseMultiDrawArrays=True //Improves performance.
UsePrecache=True //Same as D3D9, will increase load time for the benefit of lower FPS in the game. Probably should be disabled by default.
UseTNT=False //Workaround for old buggy TNT drivers. Should be false for modern cards.
UseTrilinear=True //Improves performance, may or may not matter if Anisotropy filtering is enabled.
UseVertexProgram=True //Must be true if UseFragmentProgram is true.
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Re: What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

Post by bjorn98009_91 »

For D3D10. You can remove SceneNodeHack=True and UseS3TC=True as they are not settings valid for that renderer, D3D10 is not based on Chris' renderers.

Also turn on AlphaToCoverage as it gives a smoother alpha.
Disabled: http://kentie.net/article/d3d10drv/noa2c.jpg
Enabled: http://kentie.net/article/d3d10drv/a2c.jpg
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Re: What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

Post by ggrotz »

bjorn98009_91 wrote:My contributions for the D3D9 renderer settings.
Thanks for your help. I'll add these settings to my testing. If I don't hear anymore or find any more guides with settings to consider, I'll likely just compare the sets and make sure each of the renderers are set the same way and call it done.
bjorn98009_91 wrote: UsePrecache=True // If true it increases initial load time when loading the map, but prevents slowdown during play as stuff is cached. For default it should probably be false and then users can turn it on if they experience slowdown.
Yeah, this is one I know I'll leave false simply because of the lengthened load times on slower systems. It also causes a stutter on the menu which kind of bothers me. Performance for slower systems is a concern on these settings, and I really can't tell because I got video hardware here that more than handles Deus Ex. So that was one of the reasons why I asked here.
bjorn98009_91 wrote:For D3D10. You can remove SceneNodeHack=True and UseS3TC=True as they are not settings valid for that renderer, D3D10 is not based on Chris' renderers.
Yes, I'll take those out for the DX10 renderer.
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Re: What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

Post by bjorn98009_91 »

I used this page for OpenGL: http://forums.beyondunreal.com/showthre ... 250&page=5
and this one for D3D9: http://forums.beyondunreal.com/showthre ... 50&page=14

Along with info on Chris settins page: http://www.cwdohnal.com/utglr/settings.html

Also dug around a bit in the source to search for settings that were no longer supported and so on.
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Re: What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

Post by ggrotz »

bjorn98009_91 wrote: Also dug around a bit in the source to search for settings that were no longer supported and so on.
Thanks again.

In general for anyone who doesn't know, you can type "preferences" without the quotes and get a lot of the "advanced" settings including the valid options for the renderers.
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Re: What Should Be The Default Renderer Settings?

Post by bjorn98009_91 »

Yeah. I know, but I wanted to verify some stuff myself. Anyhow the thing I posted are for a "best possible quality" scenario rather then what's best performance wise. Although I think that the settings I posted should be pretty good by default as it's mostly AA that determines the sys req.
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