Dynamic Character Model Adjustments

[severe dust]

TLDR: Addon that dynamically adjusts Character Model Limit and Quality settings based on an FPS target to keep FPS high while giving visual fidelity when possible.

An addon that adjusts Character Model Limit and Quality settings based on a "gearshift" system that adjusts based on an FPS limit. It checks frametimes and can shift down if frametimes over a short time hit below a target and then probes back up after a while to raise the settings again. It uses adjustable timers and a credit system.
Think of it like some games dynamic rendering scale but for these settings. Especially in larger scale content this could help a lot on keeping FPS and frametimes high while giving more visual fidelity when enough frametime is available.

My main question is not if this can be done as I have already built something that works quite well based on available Nexus and some other addons and a hook to find where and how to change ingame settings with an addon, but what you think about this in terms of usage in WvW.

I understand that competitive gamemodes are a difficult topic and that addons that give an advantage should NOT be made.

My opinion is that this helps get visual fidelity up, which grants no real competetive advantage rather than keeping it down. Players could just statically set their settings to lowest permanently to achieve max FPS and most visual clarity. So I think that this should give zero competitive advantage, but I am happy to hear your feedback on this.

[kindred iron]

I think changing settings automatically isn't a big deal regardless of the gamemode

[formal grove]

biggest advantages that has is that other people have to manually turn it down when they notice fps drops..but wvw players have it down already anyways I would say 🤔

Also..would it be possible to extend that? Like changing the "hide ally visual effects" setting?

or generally..changing graphic settings?

[kindred iron]

I'd generally apply it to graphics settings

[formal grove]

yeah because players might not always be the issue..looking at you wizards tower shadows

[severe dust]

It should be able to change all and any settings really I think

I'll try to slopcode a version for that as I don't have much time today and see if it works later. If it does I can clean it up.

[severe dust]

Yeah like this is just giving higher settings when less is happening etc

I wouldn't want to dynamically adjust shader settings for example as that causes stutters etc

But most other settings sure

[severe dust]

Alright, good to know

I would try around more and test it more (I am at COmputex next week, but week after maybe) and then send out source code etc to you if I think it's good?

[formal grove]

also some settings like textures I think need a reload anyways

[severe dust]

It's 50% to 60% AI coded right now as my programming skills are very limited so I am not sure I am happy yet

[severe dust]

At least the Model Quality refresh doesn't cause stutters for me with DXVK. Have not tried with DX11 yet

[formal grove]

can't say I remember stutters on shader change with dx11..but I usually don't change them 🤔

[severe dust]

For me it completely makes all models dissapear and slowly pop back up causing framtime instabilities

My fear is that that instability in a upshift probe would cause it to fail and downshift agian

But I can try

[lavish bone]

Fps histeresis and impact factor per setting

That would actually be a nifty research subject

[severe dust]

rn I use frametime (more useful than fps) and a credit system plus timers. I also made a performance monitor for myself some time ago that I could probably squish together and check impact per setting or something.

[kindred iron]

Benchmark frametime per setting at a given spot

[severe dust]

yup

[kindred iron]

ideally lion's arch looking into the a harbour

I'd integrate this into the settings addon

which is currently getting loads of upgrades already

[severe dust]

I made (slopcode) a performance score thing that measures for 10s and checks hardware usage in detail vs resulting framerate (fps only, would need to change to frametime tbh) and gives you an estimated FPS in the current situation and a score.

Maybe that could be useful if rewritten extensively

[kindred iron]

you can read the frametime from the imgui context

may be a tiny bit misleading since it will also include imgui rendered stuff, but if you hide the UI while doing your measurements it should be fine

[severe dust]

I could DM you the source and addon if you want of what I have rn for the performance monitor

I will be honest here, I know exactly what I want and I know the basics, but a Lot of stuff I rely on copy pasting stackoverflow and other projects and plain out clanker slop

[severe dust]

I think I figured it out.. will need to test in detail after Computex

[severe dust]

Co putex survived, will try to find some time to keep working on this soon

[kindred iron]

I added you to #⚙️┃addon-devs