• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 13:01
CEST 19:01
KST 02:01
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play1Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview8
Community News
[TLMC] Summer 2026 Ladder Map Rotation05.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start)83ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo39Weekly Cups (June 8-14): Clem and Solar double, PTR tested0RSL: S6 Finals played at BlizzCon 202611
StarCraft 2
General
Is the larve respawn broken? The Death of Cheese: From a Professional Cheeser 5.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start) Old Replays From 1.4.6 The future of the SC game model
Tourneys
Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28) Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event INu's Battles#17 <BO.9> Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family Mutation # 531 Experimental Artillery Mutation # 530 One For All
Brood War
General
ASL 22 Proposed Map Pool Best thing happen to StarCraft since Remastered? ProGamer Paychecks Story Data needed BW General Discussion
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Grand Finals The Casual Games of the Week Thread [BSL22] GosuLeague Casts - Tue & Thu 22:00 CEST
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies Why doesn't anyone use restoration?
Other Games
General Games
ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Beyond All Reason
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club! The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Series you have seen recently... [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion McBoner: A hockey love story TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Listen To The Coaches!
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 13798 users

Variable.txt forcefield settings?

Forum Index > Tech Support
Post a Reply
dbddbddb
Profile Joined April 2010
Singapore969 Posts
September 22 2010 12:49 GMT
#1
I currently play on low shader settings, dont intend to switch to medium.
However, doing so causes the visibility of forcefields to become much less obvious as seen from the pictures.

low
[image loading]

med
[image loading]

I was wondering if it was possible to edit the variable.txt file in the starcraft 2 folder located in my documents to improve the way the graphics of spells such as forcefields are rendered?
Welmu
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
Finland3295 Posts
September 22 2010 13:00 GMT
#2
I would be intrested in gettin "medium" forcefields as well =/
Progamertwitter.com/welmu1 | twitch.com/Welmu1
theSAiNT
Profile Joined July 2009
United States726 Posts
September 22 2010 13:24 GMT
#3
This would certainly be useful if it was possible. The forcefields on low are nigh on invisible.
butter
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States785 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-09-22 15:47:57
September 22 2010 15:08 GMT
#4
As suggested in this thread from beta Disadvantages with low graphics and demonstrated in Best graphics settings, the relevant settings are

      simplifiedCloaking=0
      simplifiedShaders=0

With Shaders set to Low and the above change made to Variables.txt, the result looks like this:
[image loading]

For comparison, plain Low shaders setting:
[image loading]

And Medium shaders:
[image loading]

(In the screenshots above, all other settings are on lowest, except Textures and Models on High)


Edit: I should point out that it works with low-detail models as well.

Here's simplifiedShaders=0 with both Textures and Models set to Low:
[image loading]
TL should have a minigame where you have to destroy some rocks before you can make a new post – DentalFloss
dbddbddb
Profile Joined April 2010
Singapore969 Posts
September 22 2010 15:34 GMT
#5
thank you so much very helpful
NrG.NeverExpo
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada2114 Posts
September 22 2010 18:05 GMT
#6
I've always felt for this exact reason that playing on low had a slight disadvantage. It was like i couldn't quite make out where the FF started and where it stopped, so it was hard to place them.

I have a question though, will this compromise any other visual aspects of the game? What else will change with the editing of the Variables file?
TwitteR: @NeverExpo follow me, i'll follow back :)
Drium
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
United States888 Posts
September 22 2010 18:08 GMT
#7
On September 23 2010 00:08 butterbrain wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
As suggested in this thread from beta Disadvantages with low graphics and demonstrated in Best graphics settings, the relevant settings are

      simplifiedCloaking=0
      simplifiedShaders=0

With Shaders set to Low and the above change made to Variables.txt, the result looks like this:
[image loading]

For comparison, plain Low shaders setting:
[image loading]

And Medium shaders:
[image loading]

(In the screenshots above, all other settings are on lowest, except Textures and Models on High)


Edit: I should point out that it works with low-detail models as well.

Here's simplifiedShaders=0 with both Textures and Models set to Low:
[image loading]

I love you
KwanROLLLLLLLED
TheGiftedApe
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States1243 Posts
September 22 2010 19:24 GMT
#8
butterbrain for the win
xO-Gaming.com || [xO]TheGiftedApe.364 || xO-Gaming Manager.
crazeman
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
664 Posts
September 22 2010 19:38 GMT
#9
On September 23 2010 03:05 NrG.NeverExpo wrote:
I've always felt for this exact reason that playing on low had a slight disadvantage. It was like i couldn't quite make out where the FF started and where it stopped, so it was hard to place them.

I have a question though, will this compromise any other visual aspects of the game? What else will change with the editing of the Variables file?


It's actually similar with shadows. You can actually completely disable shadows in the variables.txt but it's not available from the settings menu. Even on the lowest possible settings (from the menus) there will still be shadows under the units. I thought this was because blizzard didn't want people on the lowest settings to be at a disadvantage since you can see flying unit's shadows just outside of your vision range sometimes.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
RotterdaM Event
16:30
Rotti and Rexy Monday
RotterdaM536
Railgan55
SteadfastSC20
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RotterdaM 490
elazer 208
RushiSC 178
BRAT_OK 89
Railgan 49
mouzStarbuck 48
gerald23 29
SteadfastSC 14
MindelVK 1
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 3878
Sea 1635
Mini 475
Hyuk 283
BeSt 237
Dewaltoss 151
Soulkey 146
ggaemo 129
Rush 89
hero 57
[ Show more ]
Hyun 51
Pusan 46
Aegong 39
scan(afreeca) 29
ToSsGirL 23
IntoTheRainbow 18
Bale 16
yabsab 13
Sacsri 11
Hm[arnc] 10
Dota 2
Dendi1210
420jenkins310
Counter-Strike
fl0m963
x6flipin386
zeus163
edward40
Other Games
singsing3773
FrodaN1271
B2W.Neo1013
Beastyqt453
Sick200
ArmadaUGS100
Grubby71
Mew2King42
Trikslyr41
UpATreeSC38
JuggernautJason25
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream583
StarCraft 2
TaKeTV 518
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• mYiSmile129
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV543
League of Legends
• Nemesis3693
Other Games
• Shiphtur367
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
16h 59m
RSL Revival
23h 59m
Bombastic Starleague
1d 2h
PiGosaur Cup
1d 6h
Kung Fu Cup
1d 17h
Replay Cast
2 days
CrankTV Team League
2 days
Bombastic Starleague
3 days
The PondCast
3 days
HomeStory Cup
3 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
4 days
HomeStory Cup
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
HomeStory Cup
5 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
Douyu Cup 2026
Murky Cup 2026

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
CSL Season 21: Qualifier 2
SCTL 2026 Spring
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026

Upcoming

CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
ASL Season 22:Wild Card Qualifier
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
BCC 2026
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E1
Heroes Pulsing #3
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.