Unreal Tournament 3 Tweak Guide
[Page 6] In-Game Settings (Pt.2)
Audio
Hardware OpenAL: If ticked, the game will use your sound card's OpenAL driver, allowing for hardware acceleration which can improve audio quality and performance. I recommend ticking this option if your sound card has its own OpenAL driver, which most do - check under \Windows\System32 for the file OpenAL32.dll. Note that you will need to tick this option if you have a multi-channel audio system and want to use more than 2 channels. Vista users with Creative sound cards in particular should enable this option, as it allows for proper hardware acceleration without the need for ALchemy.
SFX, Music, Voice, Ambience, Announcer Volumes: These sliders control the volume level for the various effects, dialog and announcements in the game. Set them to suit your preference, as they have no performance impact. Note that you can also individually adjust the volume of (or turn off) certain effects such as the menu selection noises, weapon sounds, etc. - see the SoundGroups setting under the Advanced Tweaking section for details.
Announcement Type: This setting controls the in-game announcements, such as "Killing Spree" and "Multi Kill". You can select to disable them altogether (Off); only have the announcer read out the main announcements (Minimal); or have all announcements read out (Full). The difference between Full and Minimal doesn't seem to be much, at Minimal most announcements are still read out. There's no performance impact, so set to suit your taste.
Automatic Taunts: If unticked, this option disables the taunts which are automatically played when a character completes a successful kill.
Mute Voice: If ticked, this option disables the voice chat system in multiplayer. If you don't use voice chat, I recommend ticking this option.
Text-to-Speech Mode: This setting controls whether the in-game chat text is read out loud by a synthesized computer voice. If set to All, all chat text will be read out loud; if set to Team, only teamsay text is read out; if set to None, this disables Text-to-Speech mode. The performance impact is negligible so set to suit your taste.
Input
Invert Y: If ticked, pushing your mouse forward will make your character look down, and pulling your mouse back will make him look up. Set to suit your taste, has no impact on performance.
Auto Aim: This option assists you in aiming at the enemy, but as expected it does not have any effect in online multiplayer, it is only for offline singleplayer mode.
Mouse Smoothing: Ticking this setting will mean your mouse movements will be smoothed. While it doesn't impact on framerate, using this option may result in a greater feeling of 'lag' at times, so untick it if this is the case. Note, see the bViewAccelerationEnabled setting in the Advanced Tweaking section if you want to disable mouse acceleration.
Mouse Sensitivity: As of the 1.1 patch, this slider has been converted into a text box. The value you enter here controls how sensitive the mouse will be to your movements. The default is 2500, and the higher the value, the greater your view movements will be in the game when you move the mouse. If you're experiencing 'mouse lag', that is a feeling of reduced sensitivity or sluggishness in your mouse, regardless of how high you set the mouse sensitivity slider, you should first make sure you are consistently getting sufficient FPS, especially in more complex scenes with lots of effects. Use FRAPS or the Stat FPS console command to check your FPS, and keep in mind that typically anything below 15-20FPS will bring about mouse lag in any game, so you will have to lower your settings appropriately to prevent this as much as possible. Next, make sure to disable VSync as not only is it know to cause mouse lag, it also reduces performance which can make mouse lag even worse.
Update: The following two settings were added as of the 1.2 Patch:
Dodge Double Click Time: This setting controls the time period within which two clicks of a key counts as a double-click. For example if you press the A key twice within a set period of time as specified here, it counts as a dodge to the left. Raising this value makes triggering a dodge easier, while lowering it can prevent accidental double clicks. The default here is 25, which equates to 0.25 seconds between clicks. This setting is the same as the DoubleClickTime variable, and note that if you want to disable double click dodging altogether see the bEnableDodging variable - both are covered in the Advanced Tweaking section.
Enable Gamepad: This option should be enabled if you wish to use a gamepad otherwise disable it. Note that this option used to be called 'Enable Joystick' prior to the 2.0 Patch.
Player
Clan Tag: This option allows you insert a clan tag in front of your player name.
Network Connection: This is an important setting, as it determines the network rate at which UT3 communicates with the game server when you are playing online. Make sure to set it correctly to your connection type, and if in doubt select Unknown. If you're experiencing a lot of 'lag', see the Dynamic Netspeed option below as well as the Troubleshooting Tips section. Of course you should always make sure you only connect to servers with the lowest Ping when checking the server browser, as regardless of your connection type, connecting to servers with high pings will always bring about feelings of lag.
Dynamic Netspeed: If this option is ticked, the game will automatically attempt to adjust your Netspeed to suit your connection type and the server you are connected to. This should result in an optimal Ping, and I recommend that people tick this option to start with, and then if you find you're having periods of lag or other connection-related problems on a range of servers, untick this option. You can manually set the threshold at which Dynamic Netspeed kicks in with the DynamicPingThreshold variable - see the Advanced Tweaking section for details.
Allow Custom Characters: If ticked, this option will allow players to customize their characters and have those customizations shown when playing online. You can access the customization screen by clicking 'Customize Character' at the bottom of the screen, and going through the various prompts to alter your character's appearance accordingly. If this option is unticked, you will only see generic character models.
Weapons
Update: The following setting was added as of the 1.2 Patch:
Crosshair Scaling: This setting controls the size of the weapon crosshairs in the game. The further to the left the slider is taken, the smaller the crosshairs will be.
Crosshair Type: This setting controls your weapon crosshairs in the game. The available options are Normal, Simple and Hidden. Hidden completely removes all crosshairs; Simple uses the same generic crosshair for all weapons; Normal uses a different type of crosshair for each weapon. Has no impact on performance so set to suit your taste.
Weapon Switch on Pickup: If ticked, this option automatically switches your weapon if you pick up (run over) a weapon which is higher on your weapons priority list than your currently equipped weapon. Has no impact on performance so set to suit your taste.
Weapon Hand: The options here are Right, Left or Hidden, and determine which hand your weapon is depicted as being held in. If you choose Hidden, no weapon is shown - this may improve performance slightly since weapon models are complex - however it may also cause confusion if you're not aware of which weapon you're holding at any time.
Small Weapons: Ticking this option changes your weapon models to slightly smaller versions, more reminiscent of classic UT. The screenshot comparison above shows the default rocket launcher model on the left, and the small weapon version of it on the right. Using a smaller weapon can provide a small FPS improvement in some circumstances, but generally you should set this to suit your taste. Note that using smaller weapons may provide a gameplay advantage since you can see slightly more of your surroundings at any time.
Display Weapon Bar: If ticked, the weapon selection bar will be displayed at the bottom of your Heads Up Display (HUD). This bar shows small icon depictions of weapons you are currently carrying, and even those you aren't if 'Only Show Available Weapons' is unticked (See below). There is no performance impact as such, so set to suit your taste.
Only Show Available Weapons: If ticked, your Weapon Bar (if enabled) will only show weapons you are carrying. If unticked, all possible weapons are shown. There is no performance impact, but it is recommended you tick this option if you are using the Weapon Bar, since there is no real point in displaying weapons you don't currently have.
HUD
Zoomed Minimap: If ticked, and you have the map enabled, in some modes you will see a zoomed-in top-down minimap of your surroundings in the top right hand corner of the HUD.
Show Map: If ticked, a small map is shown in the top right corner of your HUD in some game modes. By default it shows the entire map and your location on it, but if you have the 'Zoomed Minimap' option (see above) ticked, it will show your more immediate surroundings.
Show Clock: If ticked, a clock counting down towards the end of the match is shown in the top left hand corner of the HUD.
Update: The following setting was added as of the 1.2 Patch:
Show Objective Paths: This setting determines whether to display the white arrow pointers which lead to the objective on objective-based modes such as CTF or Warfare. If unticked, these arrows are removed. Obviously this is only recommended for more experienced players.
Show Scoring: If ticked, shows the scoreboard for the game at the top of the HUD, which can differ by game mode.
Show Leaderboard: If ticked shows the names of the current three leaders in the match in the top right corner of the HUD.
Show Vehicle Armor: If ticked, when you are using a vehicle you can see the vehicle armor status on the bottom right of your HUD.
The next section looks at the Advanced Tweaking possible in Unreal Tournament 3.
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