"High" vs "Very High" Texture Detail Setting

[gravioli]

What is the primary difference between these two settings? Does the "High" setting use compressed textures while the "Very High" does not? To be honest, I don't notice any difference in detail between the two, except for the fact that my framerate is cut in half when I switch from "High" to "Very High." BTW, a compressed texture setting is mentioned in the manual, but as far as I can tell, there isn't one in-game (there is a setting for them in the CFG file). What gives?

[c_i_wood]

I'm fairly sure "Very High" is using compression to increase quality. My framerate is about the same in "Very High" as in "High" but "Very High" looks much better when close to a surface.

[PsiSilverthorn]

No I think that defies logic...Compression makes quality worse not better (if lossy compression which I think the texture compression format is). What compression allows is higher res textures in less video memory which can make for better quality over non-compressed textures IF the non-compressed textures are lower res than the compressed ones. So Very High Quality has to be using higher res textures than High Quality in order for to actually be better (but it may also employ compression, I don't know if it does or not)

[gravioli]

Originally posted by c_i_wood

I'm fairly sure "Very High" is using compression to increase quality. My framerate is about the same in "Very High" as in "High" but "Very High" looks much better when close to a surface.

 

What are the specs of your machine? I am using a P4 1.6A Northwood, 512MB DDR333, and a GF3. I can't figure out why my framerate would drop in half just by changing from "High" to "Very High".