Copyright Sierra Stdios & Valve Software

Visual CVARs Names, Values(Range or Toggle), Default Values, Explanations and Performance considerations
based on 3Dfx Interactive's Voodoo2 running 3Dfx's MiniGL driver
by )))Reverend(((

 

Excuse me...but can you speak in English?

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The technical terms (clicking each one will bring you back to where you encountered the term in this page). Please understand that I'm attempting simple explanations here and if any of you propeller-heads (said in the nicest, most respectful way) thinks/knows that some of these explanations are just plain wrong, let me know and I'll gladly give credit where it's due and rectify. And so, alphabetically :

1. alpha-blend
Rendering pixels as invisible, solid or transparent (or partially so).

2. BSP
Short for binary space partition. Separating different datas into a branch-like structure for efficient searching.

3. dither
Lowering of an image's color depth.

4. driver
Software used by the operating system to "talk" to hardware.

5. game engine
A bunch of routines called by the software for rendering polygons and texture maps (mostly overlayed) to create a 3D gaming world.

6. gouraud (shading)
Shading of polygons to make them look smooth.

7. GLiDe
3Dfx Interactive's native Application Program Interface (API). There are several APIs, most notably Direct3D and OpenGL. An API is a basically a set of programming protocols.

8. ICD (and MiniGL)
Short for Installable Client Driver. Original driver model which allows full API implementation. For example, 3Dfx's miniGL for Half-Life is a partial implementation of OpenGL that allows just Half-Life to run and not something like 3D Studio Max which requires an ICD. If you used 3Dfx's Beta OpenGL ICD instead of the miniGL, you'd still need 3Dfx's GLiDe drivers installed as the Voodoo2 chipset cannot perform OpenGL - period. The miniGL basically converts GL calls into GLiDe calls. See above for GLiDe explanation.

9. multi-texture
Multiple textures in polygons. The process of applying multiple textures to polygons itself is called multi-texturing or blending and doing such in one pass is a feature of the Voodoo2 (called single-pass multi-texturing).

10. OpenGL
Short for Open Graphics Language. Silicon Graphics' graphics API.

11. occlusion
A process of building solids and thus preventing lights/lighted objects behind the solid to be seen(in the case of objects) or passed through(in the case of light).

12. polygon
The building block of a 3D object. This is usually a triangle-shaped figure. Hundreds/thousands of these make up a 3D object.

13. perspective correction
The process of correctly applying textures on a polygon which appears in 3D air without taking in account position.

14. texture
A graphic component used for mapping onto polygons.

15. z-buffer
A buffer for the z-axis (front to back) to track positions in real-time. Calculations of this determine whether pixels are drawn or not relative to new pixels appearing in real-time in a 3D environment.

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HALF-LIFE game guide proper....plus something to try out for Single-Play

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If you're looking for a comprehensive game guide with explanations of weapons, monsters, walkthroughs and even cheats, go to   http://www.hellzgate.demon.co.uk/rookiesguide/  . Excellent stuff.
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My own modified HALF-LIFE Difficulty/Skill levels

Here's something to try out for Single-Play. I've modified all three difficulty levels to make life even more tough for those who found the game ,er, "a bit" easy. You can get this modified difficulty mode (which now has a "SUICIDE" level) by clicking here. Mad Dog's blurb at his site :

A new Half-Life tweak from the Reverend. This one replaces the 3 single-player skill levels with new ones: Normal, Hard, and Suicide. (Who plays "Easy" skill anyway?) On the Suicide setting, the enemies are tougher, your player is a bit more fragile, and location damage is enhanced. Normal and Hard settings are tweaked a little too. This is a real professional job, with a new menu to go along with it. Easy to set up and easy to revert to previous settings if it's too much for you. Get it and play the game again.
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Instructions are included in the zipped file on how to use this. Now, let's see how good you really are !!!

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PREV : Important note re creating different/separate configs for SP & DM Main Page NEXT : That's all folks!! (plus credits, of course)

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