Other Options

cg_drawGun (+ ~4%) - Disabling the gun shown in front of the character is possible in CoD although by default this is set to 1 and cannot be changed through the CoD menu system. It can be changed to 0 though in either the mp_config file as well as the console. (Console is accessible with the ~ key located beside the 1, type in "cg_drawGun 0" sans quotes to turn the gun off). This will have a greater effect on lower end systems.

com_maxfps - This is not directly performance related but is a setting that some of you may be interested in. In Quake 3 Arena some moves could only be performed if the framerate was above 120 FPS due to some nuances in the way that the Quake 3 engine works which is why a lot of hardcore Q3A players were so obsessed about framerates. Call of Duty is of course a completely different style of play so the application of this tid bit of information may not be all there. However, it is recommended that vsync is left on and com_maxfps will allow the framerate to go above 85 for those of you with high end monitors. We generally set it to 1000 in the lab as an upper ceiling that will unlikely be hit during the lifespan of the game.

cl_mouseAccel - Most people hate this setting and prefer mouse acceleration to be off in games. Unlike Windows 2000 and before, Windows XP has mouse acceleration on by default. The advantage of mouse acceleration is that you can use a very low sensitivity, but a quick movement will result in a non-linear movement meaning that you can swing around quickly in close proximity deathmatch situations while having fine control as well while sniping or doing any sort of precise movement. By default this is set to 0 but mouse acceleration is a neat thing to get into the habit for with me personally.

cg_drawfps - Draws a FPS counter. Gives a good indicator of how the game is performing without a custom demo

cg_lagometer - One of the features that I never turn off for any shooter based game. A steady line indicates a steady ping. Colors and jumps indicate lag spikes, lost packets and all the other nuances that can make internet gaming frustrating.

Hopefully this guide has helped in choosing the proper settings in making Call of Duty run a bit better on lower end systems. The biggest factor for lower end cards is definitely textures being set to Extra. Extra should not be used as seen in the mp_powcamp level. Timedemos ARE NOT indicative of in game play as the texture thrash problem did not show up in timedemos but was blatantly obvious while playing. The other two major framerate pits are Audio and Model detail. There is a huge hit going to EAX from Miles Sound with the onboard sound we used. This may not hold true for users with discrete sound cards that has hardware acceleration for DirectSound but this should be something to keep in mind. Lastly, Model detail is another huge factor. Geometry is more complex with Model details maxed out, the example being the complexity of the trees in mp_brecourt. Users with slower processors are advised to turn this down a bit. Call of Duty is a game that will scale up well with a wide range of processors and video cards and should be able to provide a great gaming experience with even a card that is a touch older with the proper settings in place.