Is there a way to turn off texture rendering for games and have it display gray polygons instead?

[plastick]

So I have a sub-par single core system (until I finish my new rig next month) and I play some games that are too tough for my system to handle smoothly, even with low graphics settings. I had a cool thought which was to see if there is a way to change how the computer renders textures on the polygons in the game. Instead of rendering them, I want to find out if there is a way to bypass that and simply display texturless polygons as gray. Maybe this doesnt make sense depending on how the lighting is factored into the equation.. but if someone has an idea, let me know.

 

[BFG10K]

Yes, some games have debugging options like that, usually accessed through the console, config and/or command line. There?s no general answer as every game is different, so you'll need to research each individual game.

But keep in mind if your CPU is holding you back, reducing the graphics load (such as texturing) won't do anything because the GPU is responsible for it anyway.

To lighten your CPU load, reduce options such as physics, gore, explosions, AI, weather effects, and similar.

 

[CZroe]

Wireframe modes are just as useful I'd imagine.

 

[zagood]

Some Source games like CS:S you can reduce to dx8 rendering. Helps a lot with slow hardware.

Set your launch options as such:

-dxlevel 90 for DirectX 9
-dxlevel 81 for DirectX 8.1
-dxlevel 80 for DirectX 8
-dxlevel 70 for DirectX 7

 

[dflynchimp]

If you're that desperate to play these games that you would rather sacrifice any resemblance of realism or graphical eye candy to play them, then you're missing the whole point of PC gaming. Wait until you finish that new rig.