Weapons Shells: Is possible to make them always 3D and not sprite when far away?

[XenonF]

Hi there, this is my first post, so I would want to say "Hi all" and to thank you for this great game that make almost all good Q3A Mods playable on GPL-Only Stuff.

My question isn't too hard, but I didn't find any specific solution on any place, and since I'm not very used to every command on IDTech 3 console I would want to know if is possible to change the distance, better if being possible to disable the shell casings becoming sprites when you are far enough.

I know this is great to solve lag issues on low-end computer and is almost unnoticeable on the Vanilla Game, but when Playing tactics mods, like True Combat, the sprites just kill my eyes  .

So, I would want to know if is possible to change, or if it is hardcoded, since if my memory isn't wrong, when I played Q3A long ago, the shells casings on the vanilla game (and also the mods, of course) nerver used the sprite thing, or at least I never noticed it.

Thanks for your time, and I desire all you the est luck with this great game, have fun ^^.

[fromhell]

r_lodbias -3

They sprite because it was an awesome idea I had.

[XenonF]

Hey thanks for the fast response ^^.

So with that command it will stop being sprite, despite the distance? I did a search on google it seems to lower the polygon count on models to increase fps, then I though if doing this would impact on the game's performance too much, since I want to stay with the max. optimization possible, I mean, not sprite and not perfect 3d model loaded at 3 kilometers from it.

Sorry if I haven't clarify myself enough, hope you understand what I tried to ask ^^.

Again thanks for your time ^^.

[Gig]

Hi Fromhell, what about writing a section about this thing in the
(DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/Graphic_options
page, including some explainations?

 

[XenonF]

Hi Fromhell, what about writing a section about this thing in the
(DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/Graphic_options
page, including some explainations?

 

That would be awesome, would clarify all this and be able to help others easily ^^.

[Gig]

r_lodbias -3

They sprite because it was an awesome idea I had.

What is the full list of possible r_lodbias value?
In the documentation I found, the possible values are 0 (high geometric detail), 1 (medium), 2 (low).
If there is a "-3", I wonder if they exist -2 and -1, too?

And, more important, there is a problem: since this value is not selectable from the GUI, each time you change any video option from the gui and apply the changes, this value will be reverted to 0 (disabling the rendering mode XenonF likes - I don't have yet a my own opinion about the actual notable difference... but I'm not a True Combat user and I haven't test it!!!). Maybe this should have been integrated in the GUI somehow...

PS, for readers: r_showtris 1 (after devmap) helps to understand where a shell casing is rendered as a 3d model or as a sprite.

[Gig]

Hey, XenonF could you please post a couple of screenshots taken from OpenArena running that mod, with r_lodbias 0 and with r_loadbias -3?

Thank you!