^
Hmm.. I not very sure, but I think you can set the gamma of your actual desktop via driver settings. In windowed mode, SC2 probably adopts the gamma of your desktop -or- in fullscreen mode, SC2 actually overrides the driver gamma settings.

I remember back when I had those old Gefrorce 7800 AGPs, you could set profiles per executable. I particularly remember having The Chronicles of Riddick automatically run with gamma settings pretty low (Oh how I loved shadows in that game).

I haven't tried this with my Radeon now though.

Chamie

Sweden40 Posts

November 28 2011 10:20 GMT

#43

Just making sure since blizzard don't like cfg changes that can't be made in-game, is this 100% safe to do?

WinteRR

Australia201 Posts

November 28 2011 10:35 GMT

#44

On November 28 2011 19:20 Chamie wrote:
Just making sure since blizzard don't like cfg changes that can't be made in-game, is this 100% safe to do?

Yes, all of these settings can be changed safely. Half of them you can change in-game anyways. It's pure graphics settings that you're changing - nothing more, nothing less.

Ruscour

5233 Posts

November 28 2011 10:36 GMT

#45

On November 28 2011 19:20 Chamie wrote:
Just making sure since blizzard don't like cfg changes that can't be made in-game, is this 100% safe to do?

It's the Blizzard config text file, of course it's safe to do...if you're familiar it's the exact same as modifying the config.wtf in WoW. You're just using options that Blizzard integrated into the game, there's just no UI for it because these settings are for advanced users and 99% of people would never change them

Don.681

Philippines189 Posts

November 29 2011 04:09 GMT

#46

Yes, its very safe, you can play around with it.

The only setting that is marginally unsafe is the "height" and "width" settings. They control in-game resolution, and if you set to something your monitor cant handle, you wont see the game at all.

Other settings, if you set them to high, all you will get is lag.

Make sure to make a copy your old variables.txt so you can go back to old settings if needed.

XenoX101

Australia729 Posts

November 29 2011 08:53 GMT

#47

On November 25 2011 06:02 dbddbddb wrote:
imo best way to play the game is with everything set to lowest possible.
many pro gamers use this setting because it's easiest on the eyes to distinguish all the units and everything looks clearer.

simplifiedCloaking=0
simplifiedShaders=0

set those 2 settings in the variables text and you get this major improvement on forcefields as they are kinda hard to see on lowest shaders

[image loading]

I think this should be the actual OP, the point of playing on low graphics is to minimize clutter and in that regard it does wonderfully, the only issue people generally have is with forcefields and other effects that are difficult to see on low, and the above settings fix this nicely.

Don.681

Philippines189 Posts

November 29 2011 10:27 GMT

#48

Okay, I will add this point to the OP.

But my original point is that between Low and Medium, there is no gradient of how much the game takes details away.

In terms of clutter, its like:

Low - 5%
Medium - 75%
High - 80%
Ultra - 90%
Extreme - 92%

You have to tweak around if you want something around 20% -ish

RaiZ

2813 Posts

December 01 2011 02:18 GMT

#49

On November 29 2011 13:09 Don.681 wrote:
Yes, its very safe, you can play around with it.

The only setting that is marginally unsafe is the "height" and "width" settings. They control in-game resolution, and if you set to something your monitor cant handle, you wont see the game at all.

Other settings, if you set them to high, all you will get is lag.

Make sure to make a copy your old variables.txt so you can go back to old settings if needed.

Only get a backup if you modified a LOT of things from default. Otherwise when you delete that file blizz will create you a new one with everything on Default settings.
Dunno about you but i got less lag by deleting that file. Then putting my setting like before and it was lagging slighty less. Dunno why, but could help.

SoKHo

Korea (South)1081 Posts

December 01 2011 02:22 GMT

#50

forcefield is the biggest change. I upgraded my comp b/c I couldn't see the forcefields.

Don.681

Philippines189 Posts

December 02 2011 03:47 GMT

#51

Thanks for the feedback, I have updated the OP. Hopefully its more useful.

12/02/2011
4. Added a way to turn of bloom effects using any setting*
5. Added Forcefield and Cloak settings for Low**
6. Added Warnings and Notes***

Don.681

Philippines189 Posts

December 04 2011 06:25 GMT

#52

12/04/2011
7. Added Creep and Water Tweaks****
8. More Warnings and Notes

TheSwamp

United States1497 Posts

December 05 2011 04:13 GMT

#53

Thank you so much!

Zombo Joe

Canada850 Posts

December 05 2011 05:53 GMT

#54

How about a version that is heavier on the GPU and lighter on the CPU? Most of my problems are CPU bound.

doomed

Australia420 Posts

December 05 2011 07:23 GMT

#55

On December 05 2011 14:53 Zombo Joe wrote:
How about a version that is heavier on the GPU and lighter on the CPU? Most of my problems are CPU bound.

That is already what you got. You can't lower the CPU heavy things other than putting things on, as sc2 even on low settings wants all the CPU power it can get. 2-3 armies of 200 supply on the screen will be heavy no matter settings.

Don.681

Philippines189 Posts

December 06 2011 10:28 GMT

#56

Hello, Zombo.

What are your pc specs? One way to cut CPU utilization is to turn off physics completely in-game.

NET

United States703 Posts

December 06 2011 12:40 GMT

#57

Having just built a computer that can run ultra settings I am happy to just play on the low settings I am used to, along side with the beautiful FF and cloak tweaks I can now use. As for the shadows on 1920, they appear to be a bit too awkward for me, I will continue to tweak them until I find something I enjoy.

Thanks for sharing your findings sir.

Edit: I don't know how to spell.

dukem

Norway189 Posts

December 06 2011 14:27 GMT

#58

Hmm... I copied your variables.txt and noticed a problem. Small stutters every now and then, as if running on a really slow hdd, "pausing/lagging" for 0,5sec or so. It can't be hardware related as I'm running on a beast of a machine.

edit: it suddenly went away, so nevermind.

Armada Vega

Canada120 Posts

December 07 2011 01:39 GMT

#59

when going 100% low graphics, if the darkened image is a problem, changing
hdr 0
to
hdr 1

will flush the scene with more accurate brightness/lighting with almost no impact on frames per second.
I don't recommend upping the gamma, since you will also be brightening areas that are already bright enough.

While on 100% low graphics, if you have trouble seeing speed banglings with a medium sized cluster of speedlings, like having trouble finding the bangs inside speedlings while they are moving towards you and you have healthbars on at all times, in order to know if you should split marines or put down FF, then turning on the hdr will also fix this. Banglings will stand out more by having a stronger green color on their buts. Turning on HDR will also let you know when roaches have tunneling claws, since the spikes on the back of roaches will now glow blue; as if you had higher graphics turned on.

So, the only settings that provide any real benefit in my opinion for users who want to use low graphics, are the following;

simplifiedCloaking=0
simplifiedShaders=0
hdr 1