Why do some video game and computer program graphical options have to be “applied” manually while others change the instant you change the setting?
In: Technology
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think some of these settings require that the engine to recompile its shaders, so this requires at the very least an “Apply” button. Shaders are these programs which compute how a pixel on the screen might look like. There isn’t one big shader program that would contain all the special effects at every detail level. Shaders are compiled during runtime, and are optimized to only render a set of special effects and at a certain detail level. Having to change these settings means that the compiled shader would be invalid, and it a new one has to be made for the new settings.
Some settings can be changed instantly because they’re usually just variable inputs to the shaders, so not much is changed.
Changing screen resolution needs to be “applied” because the monitor might not support the resolution, and cycling through the list while the resolution changes every time is not ideal.
On the other hand, changing the resolution of the draw buffer/surface/canvas can be done in real-time without any flicker. Some games like Monster Hunter World actually has a dynamic one that adjusts according to the average framerate.
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