UT2003/UT2004 D3D commands, etc.?

[SkaarjMaster]

I just reinstalled UT2003 on my new system and UT2004 will be next.

1. What are the best D3D settings in the UT2003.ini (UT2004.ini) file for new systems these days? Here's what I have so far as well as part of another section:

[D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]
DetailTextures=True
HighDetailActors=True
SuperHighDetailActors=True
UsePrecaching=False
UseTrilinear=True
AdapterNumber=-1
ReduceMouseLag=False
UseTripleBuffering=False
UseHardwareTL=True
UseHardwareVS=True
UseCubemaps=True
DesiredRefreshRate=60
UseCompressedLightmaps=False
UseStencil=False
Use16bit=False
Use16bitTextures=False
MaxPixelShaderVersion=255
UseVSync=False
LevelOfAnisotropy=16
DetailTexMipBias=0.000000
DefaultTexMipBias=-0.500000
UseNPatches=False
TesselationFactor=1.000000
CheckForOverflow=False
AvoidHitches=False
OverrideDesktopRefreshRate=False
DecompressTextures=False
UseXBoxFSAA=False
TerrainLOD=0
SkyboxHack=False
LowQualityTerrain=False

[WinDrv.WindowsClient]
WindowedViewportX=1280
WindowedViewportY=960
FullscreenViewportX=1920
FullscreenViewportY=1200
MenuViewportX=1024
MenuViewportY=768

2. What the heck does WindowedViewport and MenuViewport do and what settings should they be with a widescreen 1920x1200 fullscreen setting? I changed them a little from the default of 640x480, is this bad?

3. Should I use D3D9 for UT2004 with the same settings?

4. How do I set this to 2X AA and 4X AF without forcing it in the Nvidia control panel settings?

NOTE: above settings have been modified to keep it up to date.

 

[hyrulian]

I think I can answer two of your questions to some degree; the other two are probably better answered by someone else who's taken the time to tweak their systems.

2. What the heck does WindowedViewport and MenuViewport do and what settings should they be with a widescreen 1920x1200 fullscreen setting? I changed them a little from the default of 640x480, is this bad?

FullscreenViewport, as you probably guessed, is the resolution the game runs at when it's running fullscreen.

WindowedViewport determines the size of the window when the game is running windowed.

I would guess (since I haven't actually tried) that MenuViewport specifies the minimum resolution/window size that should be used when working with the menus. My guess is because, if you have the resolution set lower than 640x480 (such as 320x240), when you go hit Esc to return to the menus while in-game, the resolution changes to 640x480 as long as the menus are visible.

I would leave the MenuViewport setting alone, and as for WindowedViewport, it's all up to your taste, how big you want the game window to be when it's windowed. If you never play the game windowed, it won't matter what this is set to.

3. Should I use D3D9 for UT2004 with the same settings?

Last I checked, using the D3D9 renderer didn't make much difference, and I think it was even sort of a bad idea. Something like it was accidentally included with one of the patches but it is actually buggy/incomplete/unstable. It was removed in the next patch, but if your system already had the file, it won't take it off. I guess I'll chalk it up to a "use it at your own discretion" sort of thing. Try it out and see how it works for you.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

2. I tried the game and the menu didn't look any different, so I'll just leave it to what my settings are now until I have problems.

3. Well, if they took it out for UT2004, then that's one more thing I don't have to worry about.
Yep, here it is at tweakguides:
"The D3D9 (Direct3D DirectX9) mode was included in the 3204 UT2004 patch, so you can use this mode by using the appropriate line in the section above if you have installed the 3204 patch on your system at some point. However if you've only installed the latest patch, you may not have the D3D9 renderer and hence can't use this mode. Using the D3D9 renderer may result in the occasional tiny glitches (it is an experimental renderer after all), but in my testing I found the performance and image quality on my Radeon 9800 Pro to be similar to that under the default Direct3D mode. If you have a card which is not built around the latest DirectX9 features (i.e. older Radeons, and GeForce4 and below) then you may see a drop in performance and/or problems using the D3D9 mode. Experiment for yourself. Note that I've been informed the D3D9 mode may not work properly with the 3323 patch installed, so be aware of this if you notice animation problems and missing effects."

4. Just found this:"Note that UT2004 does not contain an in-game setting that controls the level of antialiasing. Antialiasing should be configured using the graphics control panel as shown in the image below"

Maybe this is why I forced it for all games on my old system. I guess all I need to know for this question is what number is equivalent to 4X AF. Right now I have it set to LevelOfAnisotropy=1.
EDIT: It looks like I need to set this to 4 for and AF of 4X.

5. I'm really confused on triple buffering now. I've been reading up on it and it seems a lot of people are saying leave it on if vsync is on for various reasons and I understand them. People also say leave it off if vsync is off and I sorta understand some of that. I always leave vsync off and have it forced off in the Nvidia control panel as a global option, so I'm not enabling vsync for any game unless I noticed tearing, which I never have. The strange part is a lot of places are saying triple buffering can only be enabled for OpenGL games (or games run in OpenGL) like Unreal, UT, Quake3, Doom3, Quake4, etc. and you have to run a 3rd party application for D3D games (or games run in D3D) like UT2003, UT2004, UT3, etc. to get it enabled in that game. So if I have triple buffering on in the Nvidia control panel and my D3D section of UT2003 shows "UseTripleBuffering=True", shouldn't triple buffering be on in this game (same for UT2004 and possibly UT3)? I'll just leave it off for now.

Since I just installed UT2004 (Unreal Anthology) also and have a handle on most of these D3D settings from this thread, I'll be starting a UT2004-specific thread mostly about menu settings soon.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

4. I'm enabling AA with profiles in the Nvidia CP for UT2003 and UT2004.

5. I'll leave triple buffering disabled, but for the sake of argument if it is enabled in the INI file do I have to also enable it in the Nvidia CP?

 

[SkaarjMaster]

OK, so for OpenGL I would set both the Nvidia CP and the INI, which makes sense.

I'm still confused on D3D. It seems like you said that triple buffering can't be enabled in the D3D panel and work properly, except for UT2003/UT2004; these can be set in the INI and triple buffering will work for these two games. Correct? If so, then should I just set it in the CP or just leave it off?

 

[SkaarjMaster]

One more time: I'm even more confused now. First, I'm probably not going to use triple buffering in these games because i do have vsync disabled. Second, it sounded like you said it would work fine in D3D for UT2004

"Many DirectX game renderers have their own Triple Buffer option (like UT2004), and that will work fine."

Third, since the Nvidia control panel won't enable it, then I was assuming you meant UT2004 would since it has that option. If not, then nevermind....it's not worth it and all D3D games must not be able to enable triple buffering without extra tweak programs.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

I searched there (and other places) a week ago and couldn't find a straight answer, but we'll see what happens this time. You're right though, it definitely sounds like a waste of resources, especially since not one place seems to mention anything about enabling triple buffering without vsync (even just to say they tried it and it does nothing or they tried it and it gives a slight improvement.......nothing).

EDIT: looks like we're getting somewhere in that HF thread, but still no answer to the "magical" question.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

No, I suck enough; I don't need input lag screwing me up even more. I think I'm starting to notice this tearing thing, but it doesn't bother me yet. I'm hoping to get a 120Hz LCD monitor to replace this one in a couple years.:tup:

 

[SkaarjMaster]

Why don't they (at HF) just tell us straight out that it works for L4D and it, theoretically, should work for UT2003/UT2004? It's like pulling teeth over there in that thread (I'm trying to get it back on track to the other question).

Pretty much done tweaking UT2003 and UT2004, except for AA and AF. I'll do some benchmarks to figure that out soon.