Effects and Display

From Armagetron

Effects and Displays

Armagetron has a variety of video settings that can be altered by the user. These settings influence the user's experience of the game; the optimal settings depend upon the machine. Less visual strain on the computer sums up for less lag and more FPS. So lower settings are for easier gameplay.

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Screen Mode

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  • Window Size A smaller window means greater FPS.
  • Screen Resolution Lower numbers mean greater FPS, but the graphics are not as sharp.
  • Fullscreen On or off.
  • Color Depth 16 bit or 32 bit or your computer's default. 16 bit looks fine because Armagetron does not use many blending effects.
  • Z Buffer Depth Determines the quality of the depth sorting. Default is the recommended setting.
  • Grab Mouse When not in fullscreen, if turned off, the mouse is able to go outside the window.

Preferences

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  • Sparks Sparks are generated whenever your cycle rubs against a wall. Many players prefer to turn off sparks because they figure they get a better sense of grinding, knowing where other players are, and a nice consistent boost in frames per seconds. Sparks are known to reduce your framerate substantially. Profiling shows that they can take over 10% of the CPU time Armagetron Advanced uses.
  • Explosion More necessary than sparks if you play without sound. However, if you are experiencing extremely low FPS, then it is suggested that you turn explosions off.
  • Sky Movement Toggles animation of lower sky plane. Turn off for better FPS if you are experiencing low FPS.
  • Show FPS Shows the frames per second on your screen during gameplay.
  • Lower Sky
  • Upper Sky Lower sky and upper sky together compromise the complete sky. Many players turn them both off, because the sky lowers FPS.
  • High Rim Only turn off if you are experiencing a lot of low FPS. When off the outside wall does not go all the way up.
  • HUD Options These only affect FPS minimally, and are self explanatory within the game.

Detail Settings

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  • Font The setting does not drag down FPS.
  • Object Textures Nearest is lowest setting without being off. Mipmap trilinear is highest setting.
  • Floor Textures See Object Textures
  • Wall Textures See Object Textures
  • Persp. Correction Should be turned on System Default.
  • Smooth Shading Makes edges appear round by adding a color gradient. Should not slow game.
  • Alpha Blending Used to display half-transparent objects. It may slow down game play.
  • Floor Detail The highest setting is dual texture plane, and it will cost you some FPS. It is possible to have no floor, and you will have a subsequent boost in FPS.
  • Dithering Turning it off might improve performance in some systems. Change if you are having drastic problems with FPS.
  • Floor Mirror Would you like a reflection of yourself on the floor? Warning, lowers FPS.

External Links

Wikipedia's page on Mipmap