RED ORCHESTRA UNOFFICIAL TWEAK GUIDE v1.1

[Divinehammer]

DISCLAIMER: This guide is a compilation of the original Red Orchestra: Oostfront Tweak Guide. Aside from a few small tweaks I have entered in the original post the rest of the information was generated by other forum members. Divinehammer is not responsible for what you do or how you implement the information found below. Please make it your common practice to backup your RedOrchestra.ini file before attempting any edits. This is good practice for all INI file editing on any software. If you need assistance with the tweaks please post to the thread and someone will assist you.
THANKS: Thanks to all of the contributors to the tweak guide, past, present, and future. Keep contributing to the community.
FUTURE REVISIONS: I will make every attempt to keep this guide up to date. New additions to the first post should be submitted via PM to Divinehammer. There is no way that I will be able to keep up with all of the posts if this thread takes off like the other.

RED ORCHESTRA UNOFFICIAL
TWEAK GUIDE v1.1

For those of you interested in getting the very best out of RO and exploring some options you may never knew to exist I have started this thread. Most tweaks listed are from Koroush Ghazi from http://www.tweakguides.com/and his UT2004 tweak guide (RO runs on almost the exact engine). He has done all the hard work finding and compiling the threads for UT2004 so all credit goes to him and his sources. I just simply reiterate them and add some RO-specific tweaks. The purpose of the thread is to compile any known tweaks into one thread to be supplemented by new ones so, by all means, post yours as well!

Also be aware that I am not posting tweaks that make the game have any less quality for performance increase. All tips either increase graphics at slight performance loss, no performance loss, or just increase performance with no loss of eye candy.

All tweaks done are at your own risk.

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Basic Ingame Tweaks:


-Turn off mouse-smoothing- This has been known to actually cause more lag than smoothing. Unless it has changed from the mod to Ostfront, go ahead and disable this feature.


-(For ATI Users) Turn off HDR Bloom- If your textures seem blurred and you have an ATI card, it is most likely from the Bloom effect RO uses. There is a problem with ATI cards at lower resolutions. If you fit into this category turn it off.

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RedOrchestra.ini Tweaks:


You can find the .ini by going to C:/Program Files/Valve/steam/SteamApps/common/red orchestra/system/RedOrchestra.ini

Open with notepad.

This controls the amount of RAM used for caching models and other game related data. Helps alleviate the stutter associated with loading of new models and other game data. May help with FPS if your game stutters due to loading game data. Defaults to 32.
　
CacheSizeMegs=32 (tweak taken from http://ucguides.savagehelp.com/Tribe...FPSVisuals.htm)


Listed under [Engine.GameEngine].

256 Megabytes of RAM or less
CacheSizeMegs=32

512 Megabytes of RAM
CacheSizeMegs=64

768 Megabytes of RAM
CacheSizeMegs=128

1 Gigabyte of RAM or more
CacheSizeMegs=256

　
2 Gigabyte of RAM or more
CacheSizeMegs=512
(This tweak entered by Divinehammer, there seems to be some debate over whether you should use more than 256. This is the setting though that I use.)
　
Turn off PreCaching
Also in your redorchestra.ini under [ALAudio.ALAudioSubsystem]
Change UsePrecache=True to UsePrecache=False
and under [Engine.LevelInfo]
Change bNeverPrecache=false to bNeverPrecache=true
and under [Engine.NullRenderDevice]
Change UsePrecaching=True to UsePrecaching=False
and under [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]
Change UsePrecaching=True to UsePrecaching=False
and under [D3D9Drv.D3D9RenderDevice]
Change UsePrecaching=True to UsePrecaching=False
and under [OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice]
Change UsePrecaching=True to UsePrecaching=False
and under [PixoDrv.PixoRenderDevice]
Change UsePrecaching=True to UsePrecaching=False

Brightness=.8, Contrast=.7, Gamma=.8
"...the best video config is Brightness = .70 , gamma = 1.00 , and Contrast = .70"

Now, this may not look as good as it would in the mod because some settings may have been changed when the transition was made to Ostfront. I havent tested it enough to be definite about better quality but its listed here nonetheless. Edit: After some testing, the default settings actually look better imo. Different monitors will give different results so theres no harm in testing out your own configuration.
　
Go into configuration and go in under the menu "Input" at the top. Then untick Reduce Mouse Lag. This feature is known to take up a lot of CPU and do absolutely nothing to the average user. If you, however, got problems with your mouse moving in odd ways, tick it back on.
Listed under [WinDrv.WindowsClient]. This tip was taken from StrangFrik so Ill just post his original words:
"Long load times or laggy keyboard response?
I played around with my redorchestra.ini file which is located here:
SteamApps\red orchestraSystemredorchestra.ini
The two things changed in the redorchestra.ini are:
UsePrecache=True - bNeverPrecache=False.
They are now UsePrecache=False - bNeverPrecache=True"



DesiredRefreshRate=60

Found under [D3DDrv.D3D9renderDevice]. Set to the highest refresh rate your monitor supports at the resolution you play at. You can check by right clicking and going to properties/settings/advanced and then looking in the monitor section. While some have reported they cant tell the difference, anything less than 75hz bothers my eyes. Prolonged use of 60hz can damage the eyes supposedly. This may be the cause of headaches or other such annoyance while playing games for a long time so make sure this setting is right. Update: 60hz is fine for LCD monitors and should not cause irritation. The above applies to CRT.

LevelOfAnisotropy=1

Found under [D3DDrv.D3D9renderDevice]. This is just a built in anistropic filtering settings. Unfortunately there is no setting for anti-aliasing so there really is no point in using this over your video card control center settings. Leave it to 1 unless you want to disable your video card settings and use this instead.

OverrideDesktopRefreshRate=False

Found under [D3DDrv.D3D9renderDevice]. Set to true.

Compressedlightmaps=True

Found under [D3DDrv.D3D9renderDevice]. Set to false for better lighting.
　

These Tweaks were found at the RaidersForum, much thanks.
UsePrecaching=True

This preloads graphics textures into memory before you actually see them to reduce in-game jerkiness when textures load "on the fly". If you have a newer video card with more video memory (64MB or more) then set this to True for smoother gameplay. Otherwise set to False for older video cards.
　
UseTripleBuffering=True
Set this option to True to reduce screen "tearing" (when VSync is off) and improve overall graphics performance. Using Triple Buffering may cause problems and glitches for those with less graphics memory (32MB or less), so turn off if you’re experiencing problems and/or you have an older card.
　
UseHardwareTL=True
If your graphics card has onboard Transform and Lighting (T&L) set this to True. Most recent graphics cards do feature T&L, so unless you have an older card don't set this to False for best graphics performance.
　
UseHardwareVS=True
Similar to T&L above, this option makes use of the hardware Vertex Shader on modern graphics cards. The most recent graphics cards feature VS, such as the GeForce3 and GeForce4 Ti cards (but not the GeForce4MX). If you have an older card set this to False, otherwise leave at True for best graphics performance.
　
UseCubemaps=True
This is a trick used to make some reflective surfaces (like the water puddles in DM-Antalus for example) look like they’re actually reflecting what’s around them in 3D. Turning it off (set to False) can improve graphics performance without any noticeable drop in image quality. If you have a faster system, set it to True for best visual quality at the cost of minimal fps.
　
DesiredRefreshRate=60
If you have VSync enabled (See UseVsync setting below for more info) then your refresh rate will be limited to whatever this setting is. However, to reduce monitor flickering and eyestrain, you should set this value to the highest refresh rate supported by your monitor at the desired resolution. For example, your monitor may support a maximum refresh rate of 85Hz (85fps) at 1280x1024 resolution. This setting is at 60 by default, but you could set it to 85 to make full use of your monitor's capabilities and ease the strain on your eyes.
　
UseCompressedLightmaps=True
Using compressed lightmaps can improve your graphics performance quite noticeably, however the colors and shadows in the game (based on these "lightmaps") will not be quite as nice or crisp. If you have a fast system with 128MB of VRAM or more, set this option to False for best image quality and slightly quicker loading times, but at the cost of a few fps.
　
Use16bitTextures=False
UT2003 can be run in either 16-bit or 32-bit (See In-game Settings section). While you can determine this in the settings screens, if you choose to run at 16-bit, there's no point in 32-bit quality textures being loaded for each game. Set this option to True to use the lower quality 16-bit textures to match the 16-bit color depth you've chosen. This will improve fps at the cost of visual quality and color banding.
　
UseVSync=False
Without going into too much detail, Video Synchronization (VSync) is the synchronization of your graphics card and monitors' abilities to redraw the screen a number of times each second. This is measured in Hz (which is the same as frames per second), and your monitor will have a maximum rating in Hz for each resolution – e.g 1280x1024 at 85Hz. When set to False, your fps will improve slightly, however, you may see some image "tearing" as your monitor and graphics card go slightly out of synchronization when the refresh rate exceeds the monitor's abilities. Turn off VSync (set to False) for best graphics performance, however if the image tearing is annoying then set to True. Setting TripleBuffering to True (See TripleBuffering above) will help reduce any tearing. (If you have at least midrange equipment then try UseVSync = true and TripleBuffering = true then edit if you want more FPS, but tearing)
(Ref.
The only way to get rid of visual tearing is to turn VSync ON.
　
If you turn VSync ON, however, setting "usetriplebuffer=true" will help uncap your framrate which would normally be stuck at your refresh rate speed when using simple double buffering. In effect, it should help things run more smoothly when VSync is enabled but it will use more video memory.
　
More info: http://www.ocworkbench.com/2006/articles/DXtweaker/
)
　
LevelOfAnisotropy=1
This setting controls the amount of Anisotropic Filtering in UT2003. Basically Anisotropic Filtering improves texture and general image quality, however it comes at the cost of some performance, particularly on older (e.g. pre-GeForce4 and Radeon 9500) cards. Setting this to 0 will improve performance on most machines without a noticeable drop in image quality. Of course increasing the value will improve image quality at a variable rate of performance loss based on your hardware.
　
AvoidHitches=False
Setting this to True might help those with graphics cards which have 64MB of VRAM and who have chosen high detail settings. It significantly reduces the occurrence of substantial hitches, but can reduce average framerate, so leave this option at default unless you have problems.
　
DecompressTextures=False
Just as with compressed lightmaps, compressed textures reduce image quality slightly, however they improve graphics performance dramatically (especially with Precaching set to True) as more textures can be loaded into video memory when compressed. Set this option to True only if you have a very fast machine and a graphics card with 128MB of VRAM or more, and you want the absolute highest quality of textures showing. Setting this option to True will cripple most machines' performance.
　
Display:
Resolution:
This setting determines how many pixels (the individual dots which make up a computer image) are displayed on the screen. A resolution of 800x600 implies 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high on your monitor. Obviously the higher the resolution (the more pixels), the more detailed and clearer the game image, but it takes more graphics card and CPU power and hence you will see less Frames Per Second (FPS). The highest resolution available in this list of resolutions is limited to what your graphics card and monitor are actually capable of rendering (drawing on screen). The resolution alone will have the biggest impact on your framerate, along with texture settings.
　
Color Depth:
This determines how many different colors can be displayed on screen. The two options are 16-bit and 32-bit, with 32-bit only shown if your graphics card supports it. 32-bit color looks the nicest, with 16-bit color showing more color "banding" – that is, the gradation between colors is more apparent. 32-bit color also resolves a lot of problems with flickering and missing textures, especially in OpenGL mode. However 32-bit color requires a bit more power than 16-bit, so if you need more FPS, switch to 16-bit.
　
Full Screen:
Tick this option to run UT2004 in full screen mode, for the least likelihood of errors or crashes. If unticked, UT2004 will run in a window on your Windows desktop and this may cause problems.
　
Gamma, Brightness, Contrast:
These three settings affect how bright/dark and crisp/soft your image looks. Set these to taste, using the picture provided in the Gamma Test window below these settings as a guide to how it will impact on the in-game images. It really depends on your monitor's brightness/contrast settings as well. For reference, my monitor's Brightness is 70% and Contrast 100%, while my UT2004 settings are: Gamma of 0.90, Brightness of 0.70, and Contrast of 0.70.
　
Texture Detail:
This determines how detailed the in-game textures (the images that cover the surface of every 3D object) will look. The options range from Lowest to Highest. The higher the setting, the crisper and more detailed the textures around you will look. Higher texture settings primarily impact on loading times and loading pauses in-game, and less on FPS. The more Video RAM your graphics card has (ideally 128MB or more), and the more system RAM you have (ideally 512MB or more) the less stuttering and freezing you will get with higher texture settings, as these are loaded into and out of RAM from your hard drive.
　
Character Detail:
Similar to the Texture Detail setting above, from Lowest to Highest this determines how detailed the textures on all the characters look. The higher the setting combined with the number of players in a match determines the performance impact, particularly on loading times.
　
World Detail:
Options are Low, Normal and High. The higher this setting the richer your surroundings, as more optional 3D objects are loaded onto the landscape, but the higher the computing power required (and hence the lower your FPS) especially on levels where you can see further and/or there are more optional objects to see. If you have a slower graphics card and/or CPU lower this setting to improve your FPS.
　
Physics Detail:
Options are Low, Normal and High. This setting changes the level of detail for the simulation of physics in the UT2004 gaming world. The higher the setting the more CPU effort required to crunch the numbers to show more realistic effects ranging from the basic "ragdoll" effects through to effects such as water ripples. I would recommend that the slower your CPU (i.e the closer to the 1GHz minimum spec), the lower your Physics setting, as this can really affect your FPS.
　
Dynamic Mesh LOD:
This setting controls the degree to which the Level of Detail (LOD) on Dynamic Mesh objects (i.e. animated objects like characters and vehicles) is affected by distance. The higher this setting, the less quickly the level of detail (number of polygons) on such objects is removed as they move into the distance. Put another way, the higher the setting, the better the visual quality but the greater the impact on your FPS depending on how many dynamic objects are on screen. A setting of Normal is recommended for most people.
　
Decal Stay:
This setting, if the Decal option is ticked (and Projectors is also ticked), will determine how long decals (scorch marks and the like) will remain on surfaces. The three settings are Low, Normal and High, and unless you are a stickler for detail, Normal or even Low should be just fine. Setting it to High may negatively impact your FPS, especially with lots of weapons fire on screen.
　
Character Shadows:
This setting determines the type of shadows cast by animated characters, and can have a major impact on performance. When set to None, characters do not cast a shadow. This provides the fastest performance. When set to Blob, characters cast a generic, low detailed 'blob-like' shadow. This setting is recommended for most people. Setting Character Shadows to Full provides full-detailed shadows but can impact FPS quite noticeable, especially when there are many characters onscreen.
　
Decals:
Decals are the dynamic marks left on surfaces by weapons fire, explosions and the like. Ticking this option turns them on to improve the realism of the game, but may affect FPS negatively, especially on levels where there are lots of players firing lots of weapons. I recommend leaving Decals on unless you're really struggling for FPS.
　
Dynamic Lighting:
Ticking this option allows the various lights in the game to react realistically with objects, shining at different angles off weapons, characters and walls based on the light's position. This makes for great effects but can decrease your framerate, so untick it if you need more FPS.
　
Detail Textures:
Adds a level of fine detail or "grain" to certain textures (such as pitted or brushed metallic surfaces) when examined close up. However this can reduce your FPS and use up more RAM, so untick it if you need better performance.
　
Coronas:
A corona is the halo of glare given off from light sources, such as lamps and shock-combo explosions. Unticking this option will give you slightly more FPS, especially if you also have Dynamic Lighting ticked.
　
Trilinear Filtering:
This rendering method makes the graphics and colors seem smoother and cleaner, but can reduce performance noticeably if you have an old (e.g GeForce2) video card. Most newer systems should notice little if any performance drop from having this enabled. If you're unsure about this setting, or are struggling for performance then leave it unticked.
　
Projectors:
Projectors covers a range of images projected onto textures, such as shadows from characters and objects (like tree shadows) and Decals (see above). The noticeable effects of unticking this option include removal of such shadows and decals, even if Character Shadows are enabled and the Decals option is ticked. Only untick Projectors if you really need a few extra FPS, as it makes things look fairly unrealistic.
　
Foliage:
As the setting name suggests, ticking this option enables grass and other decorative foliage. Unticking it will improve your FPS by reducing foliage details, particularly on maps like ONS-Prim#eval#si which have a lot of trees and grassland.
　
Weather Effects:
Ticking this option enables the various weather effects found on several maps, like raindrops, lightning, etc. Unticking this option will improve FPS on such maps by reducing the load on your CPU and graphics card.
Mindesiredframerate = 0
If you are not seeing any blood effects etc, then you might need to change this in the RedOrchestra.ini file, it keeps all the gore effects even if your FPS drops low.