Client Configuration

Introduction

This page will explain the configuration options available in the Wurm Client login screen. Ideally the screenshots should be annotated; let me (Egal) know if you have some suitably annotaed screenshots and I can upload them.

Click on the Options button on the Wurm Client Login screen to display the configuration options screens. Thanks to Taiho for the performance recommendations.

Game Tab

Game renderer

You here have the choice between JOGL + AWT and LWJGL. If you have an ATI graphics card (Radeon series), you will want to use LWJGL renderer, or you will get a lousy fps no matter what you do.

Resolution

Choose from the resolutions that are supported by your graphics card, which may include: 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960. A setting of 800x600 is best for performance, most newer graphics cards have that as the optimal resolution, setting to 640x480 will sometimes decrease performance. Wurm looks much better at higher resolutions so compare the performance at different settings.

Fullscreen

Play Wurm in a window or use all of the screen. Windowed and Fullscreen does not have much difference, fullscreen yields a little more performance, not really noticeable unless on an old computer; this may depend on your graphics card.

GUI Window opacity

The opacity of the interface windows. This can make screens like the inventory see-through, completely solid, or something in between.

Bob viewport when walking

Checked tickbox means that camera will bob up and down to simulate walking. This has been said to annoy you as you cannot click objects while walking at the cost of performance, nothing good coming from it, turn it OFF.

Outline hovered objects

Make the outline of objects under the cursor glow. Outline hovered objects: Minimal, if any negative effect on performance, have it on so you will have it easier to see what you are actually having under your mouse (sometimes you actually don't know without reading the text). Have it ON.

Censor bad language

Will censor bad language in a chat message. Turn it OFF unless you are really sensitive to swearing. No effect on performance.

Timestamps in chat

Checked tickbox means that any chat windows will have the time printed next to a message. Turn it ON, it helps keep track of when someone said something in the chat window. Minimal or no effect on performance.

Loglevel

set to Console only unless you want to log what people say, then choose the appropriate option to what you need. Setting to Everything will have effect on performance because there are more writes to the harddrive.

Graphics Tab

Terrain Resolution

Choose from Low, Medium, or High. Set to Low. This has some effect on performance and affects the quality. More means more detailed landscape far away from you. If you appreciate a good view then use high unless your computer can't handle it.

Water reflection

Choose from None, "Sky only", "Sky and terrain", "Sky, terrain, and trees", "Almost everything". Have set to NONE unless you have a semi-old card (FX5600 or better at least) and a good CPU (AMD athlon 2000+, 2GHZ P4). It has a great effect on performance, turning it on will use a lot, but with a good comp it only gives a small drop in performance and it does make the water look nice.

Tile Decorations

Choose from Extremely Sparse, Sparse, Normal, Dense, or Extreme. Have this set to Extremely Sparse for a performance boost. Using higher settings makes the game much prettier, but you also have a harder time finding anything on the ground, unless it is on/in dirt, road, water, rock or sand. Large performance drop if used. Using the extreme setting is not recommended, it will effect performance greatly.

Tree Render Distance

Choose from Very short, Short, Normal, Far, or Extreme. The amount of trees you can see. Have set to Very Short to have best performance. However, structures, items and animals will not be rendered beyond the tree limit. Short or Normal are optimal for quality versus performance. Only use far or extreme when you have a good computer. Using the extreme setting is not recommended, it will effect performance greatly.

Structure Render Distance

Choose from Very short, Short, Normal, Far, or Extreme. The distance in which you can see structures. Set it to very short for a performance boost when you are in a (large) town. Set to Extreme if you want to see towns from quite a distance away. The maximum setting of this option is the setting of Tree Render Distance

Item/Creature Render Distance

Choose from Very short, Short, Normal, Far, or Extreme. Set this to very short for a performance boost. Setting this to extreme helps looking for items and creatures. The maximum setting of this option is the setting of Tree Render Distance

Sky Detail

Choose from Low, Normal, High. Set to high for more detailed clouds, but much less performance. Set to low for very crude clouds, but heaps of performance.

Cave Detail

Choose from Very Low, Low, Normal, High. Set to normal, the difference in performance from Low to Normal is minimal, and in a cave you don't need great performance mostly. Even set to the highest does not drop your performance too much.

Shadows

Set this to none for a great performance increase. Setting this to the highest setting will cause the client to render everything twice.

Render Cloud Shadows

Turn this off for a noticeable performance increase.

Pretty trees (models near player)

Have it ON unless it really makes the game unplayable. Performance versus Quality is worth it here.

Render Distant Terrain

Have ON unless it really makes the game unplayable. Great effect on performance, but good for spotting things early (like enemies).

Render tile transition

ON is prettier but it isn't essential as it only makes the Tile Border between tiles blend between the tiles. Turn it OFF to increase performance slightly.

Render Bloom("glow")

Set to OFF for performance. Very pretty, makes the game look great, but has a large effect on performance. Makes the game look...well, more lifelike, look at the sun and you will not see much :P

Pretty weather

Have OFF for performance. Performance will drop a great deal when it starts to rain, but on will make weather look nicer, but weather is really nice anyway so it´s up to you.

Controls

Invert mouse

Inverts the y-axis of the mouse control. No impact on performance whatsoever. Your own preference.

Sound Tab

Sound Engine

Choose from None (silent) and Software. This will cause sounds to be played for certain actions, if you have downloaded the optional packs. Your own preference.

Advanced Tab

Use Large Textures

looks nicer but takes more video ram if enabled. Turn it OFF for a performance gain, but on if you want it prettier. If you have a lot of videoram use it! The gain in quality is great.

Use PBuffers

Use OpenGL (http://www.opengl.org/) hardware pixel buffers (http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/registry/ARB/wgl_pbuffer.txt) when rendering the display. Using PBuffers should give better performance as there is less data to be transferred between the CPU and graphics card. However, some graphics cards implement PBuffers in such a way that Wurm can crash. If this happens try disabling PBuffer support. Look in your console.log and check the "PBuffer support" and "PBuffer inited" lines. Refer to Client Log Messages for details of other console.log messages.

Terrain bumpmapping

Gives the terrain tiles a slight 3D look. Compare the performance with this turned ON and OFF! The performance drop may be so large that it may not be worth it for you.

Use occlusion culling

Will give a performance boost on some computers, mainly if you're inside buildings or behind larger objects. It spares the rendering of objects you can't see. On computers where it doesn't work, turn it OFF for a small performance gain.

Use GLSL shaders if available

With newer graphics card that supports it, this will make waves on water and make it look much more real and nice. If this gives you problems or you have a very slow computer, turn it off for a small performance gain.

Use VBO if available

Use OpenGL Vertex Buffers (http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/registry/ARB/vertex_buffer_object.txt). Only turn this off if you are having technical problems. Leave it on for performance.

Fast Yield

If turned on you can get a performance gain, but you can also have trouble writing and moving your mouse in-game, if no keyboard or mouse lag, have it on.

Debug Mode

Turn this off, it's mostly used by the developers to find bugs.

Release OpenGL context each frame

If you use LWJGL renderer, and/or have an ATI graphics card, you will want to enable this for a boost in fps.