The TweakGuides -- ETQW Tweak guide is released

HERES A SUMMARY GUYS :

quick summary if ya don't want to read it

Use Compressed Sounds: When ticked, the game uses compression to reduce the amount of system memory that sounds take up. This can help if you're low on RAM. Sound compression can result in some loss in audio quality, though in practice I could not notice the difference. If you want the absolute best quality audio untick this option, but for the most part leaving it ticked is optimal.

Speaker Mode: Select the correct speaker mode to match your current configuration. If you're having problems and audio glitches, first check the s_numberOfSpeakers setting under the Advanced Tweaking section, and if all else fails select the '2 Speakers/Headphone' mode.
Note that by default ET:QW uses the DirectSound audio API, which should be fine for all Windows XP users, but means that Windows Vista users running Creative sound cards will need to use the Creative ALchemy patch to enable full hardware accelerated audio features on their system. There is an option to enable OpenAL mode in ET:QW using the s_driver and s_libOpenAL commands, covered under the Advanced Tweaking section. Unfortunately though forcing OpenAL mode currently results in a crash in ET:QW, though the developers may fix this.

Aspect Ratio: This setting determines the ratio of width to height of the onscreen image. Most display devices are 4:3 aspect ratio, which is the traditional TV/monitor aspect ratio. However newer Widescreen HDTV's and LCD monitors have a 5:4, 16:9 or even 16:10 aspect ratio. If you run a normal display device, 4:3 is the correct aspect ratio choice. However if you run a widescreen device, or are outputting to an HDTV such as a plasma display panel, select 16:9 to reduce/remove the black bars around the image or any odd stretching. If this doesn't work and you need to set a custom aspect ratio refer to the r_aspectRatio and g_fov commands in the Advanced Tweaking section.

Advanced
The Advanced section deals with a range of graphics settings which can have a significant impact on performance. The first three Texture Quality sliders control the different aspects of textures, which cover the surfaces of all the objects in the game world:

Diffuse: This slider controls the level of detail on grainy/matte surfaces.
Bump: This slider controls the level of depth on raised or indented surfaces.

Specular: This slider controls the level of reflectivity on shiny surfaces.
As with most games, lowering texture settings doesn't necessarily change the FPS as such, it mainly reduces stuttering. However ET:QW, due to megatexturing (See Conclusion section) doesn't stutter greatly, so there's usually no need to reduce these sliders unless you feel it will give you a gameplay advantage for example, or you're running a low-end system and genuinely struggling for FPS.

Anisotropy: Anisotropic Filtering (AF) is explained in more detail at the bottom of this page of my Gamer's Graphics & Display Settings Guide. Essentially it's a method of making textures sharper as they recede into the distance. This slider controls the sample rate of AF used, up to 16x AF. Most recent graphics cards can handle a reasonable level of AF, such as 4x AF, which provides a good level of image quality without any real drop in FPS. However a very high level of AF can reduce performance so if you're struggling for FPS, set this slider to the far left. Note that you can also use the various Level of Detail (lod) variables, such as image_lodbias, to further sharpen textures and game detail - see the Advanced Tweaking section.---IM GIONG TO TRY MINE OFF

Lighting Quality: NORMAL
Foliage Quality: LOW
Terrain Quality: LOW
Debris/Weather: SET TO LOW TO GET HIGH FPS

Shader Effects: LOW OR NORMAL....IF YOU WANT MAXIMUM FPS SET TO LOW

Effects Level: LOW
Shader Level: LOW
Anti-Aliasing: OFF
Vertical Sync: OFF
Shadows: OFF
Soft Particles:OFF
Smooth Foliage:OFF

ET:QW Config Files
You can edit cfg files using a text editor like Windows WordPad or Notepad. However typically changing the settings in the existing config files will see them reset to default values again the next time you restart ET:QW and hence is not the recommended method. Rather than editing any of these files, the best thing to do is create a new text file, rename it to autoexec.cfg (not autoexec.cfg.txt), and place it in your \Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars Demo\sdnet\profilename\base directory in XP, or \Users\User\Documents\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars Demo\sdnet\profilename\base in Vista.

Common Commands
com_showFPS [0,1] - If set to 1, shows the current frame rate in Frames Per Second (FPS) at the top right of the screen. If set to 0, disables the counter.

com_allowConsole [-1, 0,1] - If set to 1, allows the command console to be opened by using only the '~' key, rather than CTRL + ALT + ~ (when set to 0). If set to -1, disables the console.

g_skipintro [0,1] - Skips any startup movies if set to 1.

r_displayRefresh [Hz] - Determines the refresh rate used for the game. If you want to set this manually, determine the maximum supported refresh rate on your monitor for the resolution you've chosen for ET:QW, and set this variable to that value.

Performance Commands
Before examining the list below, it's important to note that I have excluded a large number of commands which are already set to their optimal values by default in ET:QW. For example settings such as r_useVertexBuffers and r_useOptimizedShadows are already enabled and working optimally in the game, and should not be changed from their defaults as there is no benefit in doing so.

[Unlocking Framerate]
com_unlockFPS [0,1] - By default the ET:QW engine is always locked to a maximum of 30FPS to help maintain smoothness. However if you want your framerate to exceed this limit, you must first set this variable to 1, but you should also check and possibly adjust the com_unlock_timingMethod and com_unlock_maxFPS variables below as well.

com_unlock_timingMethod [0,1,2] - ET:QW tries to smooth out your framerate using a timing method which is specified here. By default the timing method is 2, which is the most conservative approach and effectively the smoothest, but provides the lowest framerates. Setting this variable to 1 sacrifices some smoothness in return for higher FPS. Using both 1 or 2 still limits your framerates to multiples of 30, but setting it to 0 completely frees up system to provide the highest possible FPS, but in return you may experience FPS spikes and jerky gameplay.

com_unlock_maxFPS [FPS rate] - If you've unlocked your framerate using com_unlockFPS 1 and you're using a com_unlock_timingMethod of 1 or 2, then you will still be bound to a maximum framerate specified using this setting, the default being 60FPS. If the game can't reach the new framerate cap, it will round down in multiples of 30, so if you notice your FPS is still sitting around 30 after unlocking your framerate, either lower this framerate cap, lower your settings to improve your average FPS, or switch to using the 0 timing method which effectively ignores this framerate cap.

[Dual/Multi-Core Tweaks]
r_useSMP [0,1] - If you have a dual core (or multi-core) CPU, or an Intel CPU with HyperThreading, setting this option to 1 at startup will force the game engine to Symmetric MultiProcessing (SMP). This can increase the performance of ET:QW. Note that if you set this option to 1 on a single core CPU, the game engine will automatically detect the fact that you don't have a dual core system and not enable SMP. It is generally recommended all dual core/HT users set this option to 1.

GRAPHIC TWEAKS
g_decals [0,1] - If set to 0, disables all decals (e.g. bullet holes). This can improve performance, especially in heavy combat, at the cost of realism.

g_showPlayerShadow [0,1] - If set to 1, the player will cast a shadow when standing near light sources. If set to 0, the player casts no shadow, which improves performance.

Skipping Introductory Movies
To skip any introductory movies shown before the game reaches the main menu, you can use the g_skipIntro 1 command, preferably adding it to your launch icon's command line as demonstrated below:
"C:\Program Files\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars\etqw.exe" +set g_skipIntro 1
At the moment the game demo does not have any introductory movies which require this command, but the full version of the game will benefit from this.

Framerate Unlocking
One of the first things most Enemy Territory: Quake Wars players will notice is that the game has a framerate cap of 30FPS, and most people will immediately want to remove it. Before attempting to do this, it's important to understand why this cap has been put in place and how it works. I cover the relevant commands to unlock and adjust your maximum FPS at the top of page 9 of this guide, but for those who want more details straight from the developers of the game, check out this thread. Basically the developers want to make sure that the in-game framerate remains as smooth as possible under a variety of circumstances, and doesn't fluctuate wildly, so they implemented the 30FPS cap. This framerate cap should not be confused with the game trying to maintain an average framerate of 30FPS - that's not what it does, it doesn't dynamically alter game details for example to try to keep your FPS at 30, it just caps the maximum possible FPS at 30.

In any case so long as the com_unlockFPS variable is set to its default of 0, your FPS can never exceed 30 no matter what your in-game settings or how powerful your system. So the first step if you want to see what your actual FPS potential might be is to set com_unlockFPS 1. Once you've done this, you might find that your FPS still sits around 30 most of the time. This is because the developers also implemented another variable called com_unlock_timingMethod which determines how and when the game calculates and shows new frames. A value of 1 or 2 (and 2 is the default) for this variable means that the game will still try to smooth out your framerate, rounding it down to the nearest multiple of 30. So if you can't reach a consistent 60FPS+ once your framerate is unlocked, the timing method means you'll still sit at 30FPS.

So the next step is to set com_unlock_timingMethod 0, which completely frees up your system to pump out as many frames as it possibly can - as long as you've disabled Vertical Sync (see the In-Game Settings section). You should now see your framerate reach the actual maximum that your system can render at any time, fluctuating a lot more and not necessarily sitting at 30FPS.

Now play the game online for a while and see if you can handle the framerate fluctuations. If you find the game is jerky or framerate spikes are making things feel awkward, I recommend you set com_unlock_timingMethod 1 and then make use of the com_unlock_maxFPS variable to set a new framerate cap which prevents major framerate spikes but still provides more FPS than the 30FPS cap. In the end the choice is yours as to how you approach this and what settings you use, because some people value smoothness over higher FPS, and others just want the most frames they can get, so you will need to experiment to see what suits you; if you just want the highest possible FPS, set com_unlockFPS 1 and com_unlock_timingMethod 0.

Importantly: All of the above only applies when you are on a multiplayer server, not in offline mode where FPS is capped at 30FPS no matter what you do with the above settings. So to experiment properly I recommend you join an online multiplayer server as a spectator.

Measuring FPS & Taking Screenshots
Measuring your frames per second is quite simple in ET:QW, simply use the built-in com_showFPS command, as covered in the Advanced Tweaking section. For convenience you can bind this command as a toggle to a particular key, and again this is covered at the top of page 8 of the guide.
Taking screenshots in ET:QW is also straightforward - press the F11 key and a screenshot is placed in your \Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars Demo\base\screenshots directory in XP, or \Users\User\Documents\id Software\Enemy Territory - QUAKE Wars Demo\base\screenshots in Vista. This screenshot is quite large and in .TGA format, but you can view it in Photoshop or by using the free IrfanView utility.
However if you want a simpler way of both measuring FPS and taking screenshots, try the free Fraps utility. Fraps can take screenshots in several different formats, it accurately measures FPS, and can also record in-game video in .AVI format.

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