DetailLevel

A graphics detail level: the one the player has chosen, or the lowest one at which an animation is drawn.

Animation detail threshold

Specification — Animation detail threshold

Applies to: AnimType
File: art.ini
Section: [<ObjectType ID>]
Value: integer
When omitted: 0

The animation is drawn only when the player’s detail setting is at least this value. The detail setting runs from 0, the lowest, to 2, the highest. A value of 1 hides the animation at the lowest setting, 2 shows it only at the highest, and any value above 2 hides it at every setting. At 0 or below, the animation is always drawn. Give purely decorative animations a higher value so that they are the first to disappear on a slow machine.

The setting controls drawing only. A hidden animation is still created, still advances through its frames and loops, and still deals its damage, leaves craters and scorch marks, and spreads Tiberium.

The picture of a structure’s animation remembered under the fog of war uses the same test, so an animation this setting hides is missing there as well.

TranslucencyDetailLevel separately decides at which settings the animation is drawn translucent. This setting decides only whether it is drawn at all.

[MYPILE_A] ; an idle animation for a barracks
Image=MYPILE_A
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=8
LoopCount=-1
Rate=300
Surface=yes
DetailLevel=1 ; not drawn at the lowest detail setting

Chosen detail level

Specification — Chosen detail level

Applies to: client settings
File: SUN.INI
Section: [Options]
Value: integer
When omitted: 2

The player’s graphics detail level, from 0 for low to 2 for high. A value outside that range is read as the nearer end. The Game Controls dialog offers the three levels and saves the choice to sun.ini when the player closes the dialog with any button except Cancel.

Each level changes specific drawing work:

Effect	`0`	`1`	`2`
Smoke and spark particles	Not drawn	Drawn	Drawn
Laser beams	Flat lines in their full color	Blended onto the terrain	Blended onto the terrain
Cell lighting	Coarsest steps	Finer steps	Finest steps
Glow wave along a laser beam	Not drawn	Not drawn	Drawn
Ion cannon blast effect	Not drawn	Not drawn	Drawn
Particle translucency	Opaque	Opaque	Translucent
Spotlight from a `Spark` particle system’s burst	Not drawn	Not drawn	Drawn

Cell lighting is quantized at every level, including 2. A OneFrameLight glow is drawn at every level.

An animation is drawn only when this setting is at least the animation’s own threshold, which DetailLevel on the animation sets. The picture remembered under the fog of war uses the same test.

See also — TranslucencyDetailLevel, Translucency, GameSpeed