This results in sharper, more stable shadows that better connect to the object casting them (with less acne/peter-panning).
This is a demanding setting compared to /smsize 14, but modern high-end GPUs[^1] can still render the game smoothly with /smsize 15 in most maps. Still, given how demanding this setting is, it's intentionally not exposed in the graphics options menu.
I also tried exposing /smsize 16 for fun, but it looks the same as /smsize 15 – presumably because GPUs don't support such large textures in the first place. (I'm surprised /smsize 15 even works here…; I remember when smoothly using /smsize 14 was just a pipe dream.)
[^1]: Roughly RTX 3080 level in terms of rasterization performance or better.
This results in sharper, more stable shadows that better connect to the object casting them (with less acne/peter-panning).
This is a demanding setting compared to
/smsize 14, but modern high-end GPUs[^1] can still render the game smoothly with/smsize 15in most maps. Still, given how demanding this setting is, it's intentionally not exposed in the graphics options menu.I also tried exposing
/smsize 16for fun, but it looks the same as/smsize 15– presumably because GPUs don't support such large textures in the first place. (I'm surprised/smsize 15even works here…; I remember when smoothly using/smsize 14was just a pipe dream.)[^1]: Roughly RTX 3080 level in terms of rasterization performance or better.