Is there any way to
The argument could be applied to any number of graphical/quality settings in the game.
- Limited number of lights
- No native anti-aliasing
- Highly restricted draw distance
- Limited number of "physics" bricks at a time
- Limited events
- Limited bricks
...and the list goes on. As far as I can tell, all of the above are restricted or none existent because having them causes Badspot considerable support headaches. Players with insufficient hardware trying to run at the top settings complaining of poor performance is not a fun thing to deal with. It is frustrating when those of us with decent hardware are being held back by the "lowest common denominator" but it's just the easiest way for him to reduce user frustrations and support calls.
It annoys me too, but I can't see any major incentive for him to lift these restrictions or add in the additional features.
Is there a way to auto-detect hardware, as in games that run the Source Engine, such that the program can set recommended settings based on a fairly general, but equally accurate basis?
Ultimately, it's the user's responsibility to set the settings to what their hardware can support. If their computer cannot run at the absolute maximum settings, that's their problem. It would be nice if the game could have some kind of "high-end" settings menu, which is not recommended for use, but still available should the user know enough about their hardware to push it to the maximum.