Debug settings reference¶
Almost everything you need is in Preferences or Photo Studio. Behind them sit hundreds of debug settings: the raw switches the viewer runs on. This page lists the ones worth knowing about, in plain words, grouped by what they're for.
How to change a debug setting¶
- Turn on the Advanced menu: Me → Preferences → Advanced → Show Advanced Menu (or press Ctrl+Alt+D).
- Choose Advanced → Show Debug Settings.
- Type the setting's name in the search box, select it, and change its value below the list.
Changes are saved with your other settings. To undo one, select it and click Reset to default.
Diagnosis settings: don't leave them on
The settings under Rendering diagnosis are for tracking down a problem, usually because a developer asked you to. They write extra lines to your log, change what the screen shows, or cost frame rate. Turn them off again when you're done.
Names
Some settings still carry Alchemy or FS in their names from the code they came from. They will be
renamed to Slipstream… in a later release, with your values carried over automatically.
Performance and memory¶
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
RenderMaxVideoMemoryMB |
0 | Maximum video memory in MB; 0 = Auto. See Video memory. |
RenderVKTextureCompression |
per card | Texture compression: 0 Off, 1 High quality, 2 Balanced, 3 Max savings, 4 Adaptive. |
SlipstreamTextureMemoryMode |
0 | Texture memory: 0 Auto, 1 Prefer disk (lowest RAM). |
SlipstreamGpuTexCache / SlipstreamGpuTexCacheSizeMB |
on / 3072 | GPU-ready texture cache on disk, and its size in MB. |
RenderVKUpscaler |
0 | FSR upscaling: 0 off, 1 Native AA, 2 Quality, 3 Balanced, 4 Performance, 5 Ultra Performance, 6 Custom. |
RenderVKRenderScale |
1.0 | The render scale used by FSR Custom (upscaler 6), from 0.25 to 1. For example 0.6 draws the world at 60% of your screen size. |
RenderFPSLimit / BackgroundFPSLimit |
0 / 25 | Frame-rate cap, and the cap while the window isn't focused (0 = none). |
RenderVKShadowUpdate |
per preset | Shadow updates: 0 Realtime, 1 Balanced, 2 Performance. |
RenderVKProjShadowMax |
per preset | Projector shadow budget (how many spotlights cast shadow-map shadows). |
RenderVKRTProjShadowMax |
64 | With ray-traced projector shadows: the most spotlights traced per frame. |
RenderVKRTRadius |
256 | With ray tracing: objects further than this (metres) cast no ray-traced shadows. Lower is cheaper; 0 = no limit. |
RenderVKMirrorResScale |
0.75 | Mirror sharpness as a fraction of your screen size (0.25 to 1). |
RenderVKProbeRealtimeFacesPerFrame |
0 (auto) | With Realtime reflections: how many of a probe's six sides are redrawn each frame. Lower spreads the work out. Auto uses 2 on older AMD cards, 6 elsewhere. |
RenderVKReducedAvatarAnimFPS |
5 | How many times a second avatars beyond the Maximum number of animated avatars limit animate. |
RenderVKReducedAvatarShadows |
off | Let those reduced avatars cast shadows too. |
RenderVKReducedAvatarDistance |
0 | Also reduce any avatar further than this (metres), whatever the limit; 0 = only by the limit. |
RenderVKAvatarDistanceAnimRate |
on | Full-detail avatars beyond 50 m animate at 30 FPS and beyond 100 m at 15 FPS (RenderVKAvatarAnimNearM, RenderVKAvatarAnimFarM). |
RenderVKAlphaShadingRate, RenderVKOpaqueShadingRate |
0 (auto) | Variable-rate shading: on high-resolution screens, some surfaces are shaded once per 2 pixels where the difference doesn't show. 1 = shade every pixel. |
RenderVKParticleShadows |
on | Particles (smoke, sprites) cast sun and moon shadows. Turn off in very heavy particle scenes. |
RenderVKDistanceFade |
0.6 | How much of the draw distance fades into the sky at the far edge (0 = hard edge). |
SlipstreamMaxRegionRing |
2 | How many regions around yours Slipstream connects to: 2 = a 5 × 5 block, 1 = 3 × 3, 0 = only your own region. Lower uses less memory and network. |
RenderVKRayTracing |
1 | 0 turns ray tracing off completely (frees its memory). Needs a restart. |
RenderVKPipelineCacheDisk |
on | Remembers prepared graphics programs between sessions so login is faster. Clear Cache removes them. Needs a restart. |
Rendering diagnosis¶
All of these are diagnosis settings: turn them off when you're done.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
RenderVKGpuTimers |
Writes how long each part of the frame takes on the graphics card to the log every few seconds. Turn on for a minute in a slow spot, then attach Slipstream.log to a bug report. |
RenderVKHitchLog |
Logs a breakdown of frames that take much longer than usual (stutters). |
RenderVKDebugView |
Replaces the picture with one internal layer, for example 1 colour only, 8 surface directions, 16 ambient occlusion. 0 = normal. |
RenderVKTonemapDebug |
Shows the image without exposure and tone mapping. |
RenderVKDebugUnresolvedTint |
Surfaces whose texture hasn't loaded show magenta instead of a stand-in colour, to spot texture loading problems. |
RenderVKFSRDebug, RenderVKTAADebug, RenderVKDebugMotionVectors |
Debug views for upscaling and anti-aliasing problems (ghosting, smearing). |
RenderVKDumpAvatar |
Type an avatar's name or UUID: logs what Slipstream knows about everything they wear (for "invisible attachment" reports). Clear it afterwards. |
RenderVKPickDiag |
Logs what the mouse pointer passes through, for "I can't click this" reports. |
RenderVKBakeDiag |
Logs other avatars' baked skin texture state, for "grey or blurry avatar" reports. |
RenderVKMemStatsLog |
Logs a detailed memory breakdown once a minute, for memory leak reports. |
Camera and input¶
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
AlchemyTPSCamera / AlchemyTPSFaceCamera |
off | Third-person shooter camera and Avatar faces camera direction (Move & View). |
RightClickDragOrbit / AlchemyRMBOrbitFollowAvatar |
off / on | Right-click drag orbits the camera; the orbit point follows your avatar. |
SlipstreamMouseWalk |
on | Holding both mouse buttons walks. |
ClickOnAvatarKeepsCamera |
off | Clicking your avatar doesn't reset the camera. |
FSBlockClickSit |
off | Left-click never sits you. |
SlipstreamTurnToSelection |
on | Your avatar turns to face what you select for editing. |
AlchemyNimble |
off | Skip the pre-jump crouch. |
AvatarRotateThresholdSlow / Fast |
60 / 2 | How many degrees your body may lag behind the camera before it turns, walking slowly and moving fast. |
SlashStartsChat |
off | Pressing / opens nearby chat with a slash, as in the official viewer. |
ControlsAllowSharedBindings |
on | Several actions may share one key. |
SlipstreamMouselookChatWindow |
off | Enter in mouselook opens the full chat window. |
UsePieMenu |
off | Round pie menus instead of list menus. |
RenderVKPickRigged |
1 | Accurate rigged mesh picking: 0 off, 1 with ray tracing, 2 always. |
ShowStatusBarFPS |
on | The frame rate at the top right of the screen. |
ExternalEditor |
(blank) | Program to edit scripts in from the script editor; %s stands for the file. |
Sound¶
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
AudioOpenALHRTF |
off | 3D binaural sound for headphones. |
SlipstreamKeepDecodedSounds / SlipstreamSoundCacheSizeMB |
on / 1024 | Sound cache: keep sounds between sessions, and its size in MB. |
Logging¶
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
SlipstreamVerboseLogging |
off | Writes much more detail to the log. Only turn it on when asked for a detailed log; it makes the log much bigger. |
RenderVKMemoryLog |
on | A one-line video memory summary in the log every few seconds. Small and useful in bug reports; leave it on. |
RenderVKGpuBreadcrumbs |
on | If the graphics driver crashes, the log says what the graphics card was doing. Leave it on. |