Leatrix Gfx

An Addon for World of Warcraft by Leatrix
What does it do?

Leatrix Gfx will improve your game performance by modifying some of the hidden settings in the game client. It's very easy to use.

Installation and Upgrade Instructions

Install Leatrix Gfx just like any other addon. The first time that you log into Wow with Leatrix Gfx enabled, you'll be told that your display needs to be refreshed. Just click ok and Leatrix Gfx will do that for you. Now you're ready to roll!

To remove Leatrix Gfx, simply delete the addon folder and also the Config.wtf file from your WTF folder.

Important:
If you're upgrading from Leatrix Gfx 1.xx, you should first delete the Config.wtf file from your WTF folder and the Gfx folder from your Addons folder. This ensures that the settings won't conflict.

Options

To access the options panel directly, simply type "/gfx", or you can get to it from the interface options menu as usual.

There are 7 options available in the Leatrix Gfx options panel (as shown here) and I'll go through them in more detail below.

• Reduce colors
  This will reduce the color mode from 24-bit to 16-bit, which will increase performance. Changing this option will refresh your display to use the new color mode. Reduced color mode applies to all parts of Wow, even the login screen.
  
  Note that due to a Blizzard bug, when you change this setting, the video options panel will still show the old setting in the dropdown until your Wow client has been restarted. It's only a cosmetic bug though, so just ignore it, there's no need to restart Wow.

• Disable shadows and footprints
  This will disable both terrain and bob shadows (your character, mobs, etc), increasing performance. This is an enhancement over the default UI which only allows you to lower the quality of shadows, not disable them completely.

• Disable shaders
  This will disable pixel shaders and weather shaders, increasing performance.

• Disable ground objects
  This will disable ground objects (such as grass tufts), increasing performance. Again, this is an enhancement over the game UI which allows you to alter the radius that ground objects are visible, it doesn't allow you to disable them completely.

• Limit framerate while playing
  This option will cap your in-game framerate to the value set in the slider below the checkbox. The range is from 5 to 120. Just set the slider to whatever framerate you prefer, then check the frame limiter box above it when you want to run Wow at that framerate.
  
  Running Wow at a reduced framerate will keep your computer running cooler. This will increase performance over a period of time as your computer is not having to constantly run flat-out in order to keep up with Wow, so it'll be in a better position to cope when things get hectic. It's recommended that you enable this setting on laptops especially to prevent them from overheating.
  
  The framerate limiter is disabled by default so that new users aren't confused by the drop in framerates.

• Limit framerate to 5 while Wow is not in the foreground
  This will reduce the framerate of Wow to 5 frames per second when Wow isn't running in the foreground. This is a really nice option which makes it possible to alt/tab to your web browser, email, video player, etc, without your system feeling laggy. The framerate limiter slider has no effect on this setting.

• Load user defined settings file
  This is an advanced option designed for people who prefer to configure Wow using scripts. If you enable this option, the "Leatrix_Gfx_User.lua" file is parsed every time you login. Open the "Leatrix_Gfx_User.lua" file with Notepad for help with this option, but if you're not into scripts then ignore it.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What settings do I use to get maximum performance from Wow on my computer?
  In the Wow video settings, ensure Vertical Sync, Reduced Input Lag and Windowed Mode are all disabled, but keep Hardware Cursor enabled. Lower the resolution if you can, maybe to 800 x 600 (for best performance). Under the Effects tab, move the Video Quality slider all the way to the left, you don't need to change any of the other settings as the Video Quality slider does it for you. Your video settings should look like this.
  
  In the sound settings, ensure Music, Reverb, Headphone Mode and Death Knight Voices are all disabled. Move the Sound Quality and Sound Channels sliders all the way to the left.
  
  Finally, you should ensure that all the checkboxes in Leatrix Gfx are checked. This should be done after configuring the Wow video options to ensure that changes made there don't deselect the settings in Leatrix Gfx.
  
  Certain addons can be a drain on performance too. You should avoid addons which parse the combat log (such as Recount) and addons which run complex functions triggered from frequently occuring events (such as QuestBar).

• Are there any command switches?
  For the majority of people, the only switch you need is "/gfx" to bring up the options panel. Script users may find "/gfx reload" useful as it does a combined UI reload and graphics subsystem restart.

• How do I see my current framerate?
  Press CTRL/R, or hover your mouse over the system button (next to the LFG button in the UI).

• Where are the settings stored for Leatrix Gfx?
  The settings for Leatrix Gfx are stored for your whole account, so they're stored in the WTF folder under your account name and then the SavedVariables folder.
  
  Leatrix Gfx also makes changes to Wow's built in preferences and these are stored in Config.wtf which is in the WTF folder. If you remove Leatrix Gfx, you'll need to delete Config.wtf too in order to set the video and sound options back to the game default.

Help! It Doesn't work!

• The options that I'm selecting in the addon aren't being shown up in-game?
  If you upgraded from Leatrix Gfx 1.xx, ensure that you deleted your Config.wtf file and the old Gfx folder from the Addons folder first (both with Wow not running).

• One or more settings in the Leatrix Gfx options panel aren't being saved between sessions (eg. "Throttle combat log output").
  Another addon is probably overriding the settings in Leatrix Gfx. Please disable all other addons, leaving only Leatrix Gfx enabled, then see if the settings are saved between sessions. If they are, enable your other addons one at a time until you find out which addon is causing the problem, and post your feedback in the comments.

• I can't choose any other video refresh rate in-game except 60hz?
  This is a bug in the game client which has been around for quite a while, and it affects certain graphics card users. To get around it, quit Wow then open up Config.wtf (it's in your WTF folder) with a text editor (such as Wordpad) and find this line "SET gxRefresh "60"". Simply change the value from 60 to whatever you would like your refresh rate to be. If you prefer to do it with scripts, you can enable this option in the Leatrix_Gfx_User.lua file.

• After installing Leatrix Gfx, I'm seeing color banding. Why is that?
  This is caused by using reduced color mode, so you need to decide whether you want performance or quality. Check your framerate with reduced color mode checked and unchecked and see which you prefer.

• When I change the option for "Reduced Color" in the Leatrix Gfx options panel, the dropdown in the Wow video options still shows the old color mode. Why is that?
  It's a Blizzard bug. The color mode will change correctly as soon as you check the "Reduced Color" box, but the dropdown will show the old color mode until you restart the game client. There's no need to restart just for that though, it's only a cosmetic bug.

Scripting Support

Most users can safely ignore the scripting support in Leatrix Gfx. I've just provided it for people who want it.

• Can I set everything to performance mode using script instead of using the options panel, like I could in Leatrix Gfx 1.xx?
  There is no need to do this anymore. The only settings which are not in the Leatrix GFX options panel are the ones you can find in the normal Wow video and sound options. So everything is available from the Wow UI. However, if you prefer, you can use the code to automate the configuration of Wow video and sound options. Open "Leatrix_Gfx_User.lua" with Notepad for more help with that.

Leatrix Addons

• For more addons by Leatrix, click here.

Change Log:

2.15
* Updated Leatrix Gfx for Wow 3.3.
* Removed the Combat Log throttle as it's no longer needed.

2.14
* Increased the range of the frame limiter from 50 to 120, just to give a bit more scope for people that need it.
* Renamed the "Disable combat log" option to "Throttle combat log output". This is just to clarify that Leatrix Gfx doesn't disable the combat log completely, it only throttles it to increase performance.

2.12
* Fixed some bugs with the relationship between the Wow video settings window and the Leatrix Gfx options panel which may have caused the Leatrix Gfx options to be ignored. Changing certain options in the Wow video settings will now deselect corresponding options in the Leatrix Gfx options panel if they conflict (example, changing color depth dropdown while in reduced color mode, or changing the shadow quality slider while shadows are disabled).
* You should restart Wow when you login for the first time after after installing this update.

2.10
* You no longer need to restart your game client when changing the color mode in the Leatrix Gfx options panel. The change will be instant.
* The user defined settings now have their own file called "Leatrix_Gfx_User.lua". If you prefer to use scripts, you can put your settings into that. It's entirely optional but there if you need it.
* Added an option in the Leatrix Gfx options panel to load the user defined settings file. It's just for script users so most people can ignore it.

2.07
* Changed the loading event for the combat log to fix an incompatibility with Basic Chat Mods.

2.06
* Added a slider control to the framerate limiter so that you can choose your own value.
* Added a new performance option to disable the combat log. This will have more benefit with larger raids.

2.02
* Just a slight modification to the options panel. Options are now invoked immediately after checking an option box, which makes it more inline with the way other addons work.

2.01
* Rewrote the addon. Vastly simplified the configuration options, but retained script support for advanced users if needed.
* Type /gfx to see the options window. If you prefer scripts, read the FAQ.
* Removed the zone text option as it's available here.

1.42
* Added the option to hide zone text (this is the large text that displays your location when you change zones). This isn't really a performance boost, but I find it annoying. Zone text is enabled by default in Leatrix Gfx. If you want to disable it, you'll find the setting in Settings.lua as usual.

1.41
* Updated for Wow 3.2.0.
* Removed the horizon view distance setting as it's no longer available.

1.37
* Updated for Wow 3.1.2.
* Death Knight voice modulation effects disabled by default to increase performance.
* GfxSettings function in Settings.lua has been renamed to LeaGfxSettings. If you have your own Settings.lua file, you'll need to update it accordingly.
* Tidied up the code in Gfx.lua.

1.35
* The user defined settings for Gfx are now stored in a separate file called Settings.lua. This was done to make it easier for other people to create their own settings files and be able to import them easily into Gfx. You may also like to have multiple settings files for your own use.
* All of the settings changed by Gfx are copied to the SavedVariables folder for your account. This is a backup reference only, this file is not read by Gfx at all. Gfx updates the file when you reload your UI or log off your character.
* When Gfx detects a change at startup (or after a /reloadui), it will report the change in the chat frame along with the new value.
* The setting for maximum frames per second (maxfps) is now 0 by default. This instructs Wow to use the maximum framerate available. This will help new Gfx users to see the benefits which Gfx offers as soon as it's installed. If you want the best performance for your computer, you should keep this setting at 0. If you prefer a cooler graphics card, you should change it to 30 or 40.

1.32
* Gfx will no longer restart the graphics subsystem if no changes have been made to the settings since the last time Wow was launched. If any changes have been made, Gfx will restart the graphics subsystem the next time you login, but it'll warn you first, and it'll do it in the player environment, not during the loading process. If any of the changes requires a full Wow restart, Gfx will prompt you to do so when you login.

1.20
* Added a couple of new commands to the settings.

1.10
* Fully updated for Wow 3.1.

1.02
* Added lots more explanatory remarks to the settings.

1.01
* Added explanatory remarks to Gfx.lua.

1.00
* First release.