Graphics quality presets

Players have machines from phones to big desktops. Quality gathers every graphics setting that trades looks for speed into four presets, Low, Medium, High and Ultra, applies them to the engine at once, and remembers the player’s choice between runs. A game’s options screen needs only a few lines.

High is what the engine always did, so a project that never touches Quality looks as before (apart from point lights, which now cast shadows too: docs/lighting.md).

What each preset sets

Changing any one setting from a preset makes the level Custom.

In a game

// Options screen
if (pressedLow) Quality.Set(.Low);
Quality.Current.motionBlur = toggle;  // one setting
Quality.Apply();
Quality.Save();                       // remembered for the next run

// First run: nothing saved yet
if (!File.Exists(scope $"{GamePaths.PlayerData}{Quality.FileName}"))
	Quality.Set(Quality.Recommended);

At start the engine applies the player’s saved settings by itself (graphics.cfg in the player data folder, one name=value a line). Quality.Recommended suggests Low on phones, Medium on built-in (Intel) graphics and in a browser, and High otherwise. Quality.Level says which preset is in use, for showing it in a menu.

The switch --quality low|medium|high|ultra sets a preset for one run (not saved), for checking how a game looks and runs on each.

In the editor

Window > Graphics Quality shows the presets and every setting, applied at once to the Scene and Game views, to see what a player’s Low or Ultra looks like while building a level. The editor does not read or write the player’s saved settings. The editor switch --quality-window opens it.

Networking

Nothing to send: quality is each player’s own, and it changes only how things are drawn, never physics, gameplay or what the server decides. A dedicated server draws nothing.

Compatibility

Projects and scenes are unchanged; with no graphics.cfg every setting is what it was before.

Tests