r_picmip range

[Aciz]

Some people have asked if there's a reason why r_picmipis locked to 0-3 range. Well there really isn't, SD just changed the limit from 0-16 on RTCW to 0-3 for ET. Should we consider allowing higher values of picmip? Some comparison screenshots:

r_picmip 3, current max

r_picmip 5

r_picmip 10

r_picmip 16 (doesn't seem to differentiate from 10 really)

[jackeri]

The picmip values were clamped already in RTCW competitive due to them breaking the game with high picmip removing leafs and branches from trees and giving a really high visibility advantage to those using it.

[Aciz]

This has been fixed in ET by making the shaders used for leaves to have noPicMip as you can see in the images.

[jackeri]

On the other hand I also prefer forcing players to keep the game looking even something similar to what the map makers original design was since the main way to enjoy ET content in these days is twitch and other streaming services (outside of playing yourself of course). High picmips don't really do any favours to an already crappy looking game. I presume this somewhat the same reason why most other games these days with competitive scenes limit the graphical settings. I guess this is something that the whole team should give some feedback on.

[ETLIssues]

Since there are no problems with foliage disappearing, this seems like a simple decision to unlock. The game should not be designed based on what looks good on a stream.

[oheikk]

On the one hand, configs shouldn't provide a crazy visibility advantage as per conventions set by many modern games (Jacker makes a very good argument about this sort of thing).

On the other hand, ET/ETL already offers many options that improve visibility and general information gain if a player is good at using their config, and r_picmip 3 just feels like an extremely arbitrary limit.

IMO consider how this affects mods other than Legacy. If it does, don't change anything. If it can be done without affecting other mods, do it. :)

[ETLIssues]

On the one hand, configs shouldn't provide a crazy visibility advantage as per conventions set by many modern games (Jacker makes a very good argument about this sort of thing).

This is a fair argument, but I think it's addressed completely by the noPicMip implementation that Aciz describes. Or at least, I can't think of any scenarios where you'd be helped with the lower graphic quality. Definitely open to counter-examples.

EDIT: server admins and league configs could still easily force whatever settings are deemed reasonable by admins

[jackeri]

You can already downgrade the graphics to look like a dos game, and imho enough is enough. It's 2023 not 1993.