First off, may I say that I admit to no expertism here, but am only relaying my own personal observations and any addtions are freely welcomed.
This thread is posted because I have come across a few people who have berrated AH2 graphical demands, and yet with a little tweaking we have been able to abtain smooth and acceptable frame rates.
i) Level of Detail Slider
This slider determines when the high res textures kick in, or pop up as it were. If, when you're looking at a field or a town and all you see is a textured square - this is the slider to pump up. This slider also controls when the trees go from low to high res. Personally, I have found the need to drop it down a tad for the new update. Large effect on FR compared to earlier versions (new trees)
ii) Displayed Object Size Slider
Basically, how small a thing you can see from how far away. This is the main determinate in seeing ack emplacements. If you wish to see ack from greater range, slide this puppy up.
iii) Ground Detail Range Slider
Ok.. the meat of it, or how far out do I see trees. If you're the kinda guy that goes gv hunting in planes this slider is important. If the detail range is set to 1.5 miles, any gv over this distance will not be drawn. This is true for both air and ground. (invisible tanks anyone). This slider can be over ridden by hitting "shift F4" to give max range.
My observations: My CPU gives up the ghost at around 2 miles ground detail range. I like to be able to see ack from at least a 1/2 a mile or so out. Am not to fussed about how pretty stuff looks. Having said this here's a pic of what works for me on a 133MHz FSB P4 3.04 with 1Gb Ram and a 9800 gfx card. - note anything below 35 fps is personally unacceptable.
