Some findings about model's level of detail

[KNyte]

I assume this prevents the soldier models to turn 2D at distance ?

[Emperor Domitianus]

I tried as from the previous posts but without succed. If anyone could explain better as I don't think it's unplayable. I don't like that LOD especially on building.

[Stoferr]

Is it possible to, instead of forcing all models to the highest LOD, to just use a multiplier on the current settings and as an example double the distance where lower LODs are loaded? As i see it, it would be the best graphical increase compared to the performance loss.

[Baleur]

Love that you took the work to get this tweak but... Sigh.
Honestly, Rome 2 still looks awful.

V The LOD (This tweak can solve it)
X The shadows (Can't solve)
X The lighting (Can't solve unless a modder can change every single setting in every environment for every weather and climate)
V The color balance (SweetFX or GEM can partly solve it)
X No anti-aliasing.. (Can't solve it, still cant force Supersampling. No, GEM/SweetFX's AA is still just FXAA or SMAA, no improvement)

It's like we're all just desperately trying to grasp at any possible straws, and duct-taping them to the game trying to make it look respectable, like a prostitute slobbering on makeup and eyeshadow trying to cover up what's underneith. It can't be done. It's still shallow and obvious what lies beneath no matter how hard we try.
Medieval 2 still looks better than Rome 2. Unbelievable.

[alQamar]

Love that you took the work to get this tweak but... Sigh.
Honestly, Rome 2 still looks awful.

V The LOD (This tweak can solve it)
X The shadows (Can't solve)
X The lighting (Can't solve unless a modder can change every single setting in every environment for every weather and climate)
V The color balance (SweetFX or GEM can partly solve it)
X No anti-aliasing.. (Can't solve it, still cant force Supersampling. No, GEM/SweetFX's AA is still just FXAA or SMAA, no improvement)

It's like we're all just desperately trying to grasp at any possible straws, and duct-taping them to the game trying to make it look respectable, like a prostitute slobbering on makeup and eyeshadow trying to cover up what's underneith. It can't be done. It's still shallow and obvious what lies beneath no matter how hard we try.
Medieval 2 still looks better than Rome 2. Unbelievable.

Excellent round-up!

[Destraex]

Did anybody ever solve this? I am trying to configure my settings so that it was like the game was on release.... i.e. Crisp, clean and nice looking units even at distance with good 3D models.
All I can get at anything but point blank is flat looking stick figures which are black. I get 60FPS with all settings maxed and a newer video card than I started with.

When the game first released it looked nice. But people complained of poor performance so they patched the game. Since then it's looked horrible, units flicker at any reasonable command zoom distances except almost point blank distance. To me it's like an epileptic night mare. I cannot identify my units without flags turned on and I cannot see whats going on without zooming very closely. A better CPU might fix the problem. But looking around the net I am certainly not the only one that thinks this engine is horrible for graphics.

Atilla is a great improvment. Characters do not flicker and I get 44FPS instead of the 60FPS with settings at full..

[A Barbarian]

you can locate the address storing B through the following wayÖ

Change the unit detail setting and search for its corresponding value. (low=0, medium=1, high=2, very high=3, ultra=4, extreme=5)
You may end up with several result address, but only one of them is real. Try editting the value in each of them and the real one shows actual change in the graphic setting manu.
Subtract that address by 4Ch and that's where B is stroed.

I managed to change the unit detail following the instructions above for the current version. Unfortunately, using 1 for the highest LOD for all units, creates severe performance issues, even on my machine with a 7700K@5Ghz and 1080Ti in SLI.
@1080p FPS gets lower than 20FPS, lol. It seems to be a single core CPU/memory bottleneck related to shadow calculation. When setting the shadows to Low, performance improves considerably.
More useful would probably be to find a way to prevent the sprite LOD and leaving the higher LODs on auto-mode.