Mid of the road resolutions, high quality textures and you (and an obscure tech q!)

[kupocake]

So I got Mirror's Edge yesterday, and I was chuffed that for once, it booted me into the game with my native 1280x1024 resolution, so I stroll over to the options anyway and notice that it has given me a nice 4x AA and High texture quality (Phys-X was on as well... which I can imagine would have killed if I left it on, since this is a ATI card). A closer look, however, and I realise that there is a 'Highest' texture setting! So naturally I select it because I'm shallow like that.

But it set me thinking: is it actually worthwhile putting the texture quality up to 'Highest' when you're only at 1280x1024, which is these days, the bog standard resolution? (the PCs in my university have managed it). At what intervals do higher resolution textures become noticeably different with higher resolution displays? Why would anyone know this anyway?

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Also, if anyone just happens to know why my Abit ip-35 motherboarded PC occasionally refuses to boot with video when I have my little Abit Airpace PCI-E Wi-Fi card inside, please do tell. I've searched on the net and someone raised the same problem, so it's definitely an actual issue with the combination of the two components, but this same person received no actual support (since, the combination of the two components, or even the motherboard and any PCI-E component, must be a fairly rare occurence).

Oh, and google searching for hardware conflicts has made me realise that people who insist on having their tech-specs in their forum signatures aren't just in it for the e-penii they grow as a result. You ruin internet self-help!

 

[Asus]

I usually use highest textures when I also am using AF.
Normally just the textures drawn in the same area as your character (up close) will be sharp. The ones looking flat (if you are looking right at a building wall) will look sharper than the ones angled (road slanted away from you).
And then as the textures are drawn farther and farther away they get even more blurry. This is just the way games render the scene by default. It isn't a feature supposed to simulate depth.

Using AF means that when you look at a far away building or road it doesn't just look like dust but you can see the detail! Those far away textures and textures at odd angles now become clear instead of muddy finally.
But higher textures don't make sense if most of your screen will be blurry textures (AF off).

 

[kupocake]

Interesting, especially considering that in Mirror's Edge, you:

a) Spend substantial amounts of time looking at concrete
and
b) Can't find a setting for AF at all