The available options are Low, Normal, High and Extra. Specular Map Resolution: This option controls the way in which objects reflect light. The performance impact of this setting varies depending on your graphics card's memory bandwidth as well as its compression technique, and as such newer high-end graphics cards can render higher normal map resolutions with minimal performance impact, whereas lower end and older graphics card will require lower settings to maintain good FPS. Note that as the normal map level is raised, the depth of the pitting in the wall becomes more realistic. An animated screenshot comparison can be seen by clicking this link: Normal_Maps.gif (636KB).
Normal Map Resolution: This option controls the level of detail shown on textures, such as bumps and grain. Of course experiment to see what works best on your particular card, as depending on your other settings here, additional DX9 effects and/or Antialiasing for example, you may get more or less of a performance slowdown from higher texture settings. You should base your texture resolution setting on the amount of Video RAM you have on your system - Extra is for 512MB and high-end 256MB graphics cards, High and Medium are suitable for 256MB - 128MB cards, and Low is suitable for those with 64MB of video RAM. Note that there is a gradual difference visible between each level in the comparison above. An animated screenshot comparison can be seen by clicking this link: Texture_Resolution.gif (814KB). Texture Resolution: This option controls the general clarity of all textures used in the game. The details and image quality impacts for each of these settings are provided below:
An animated screenshot comparison can be seen by clicking this link: Texture_Quality.gif (658KB). The screenshot above shows the image quality of these settings when all three are set to the same level (All to Low, All to Normal, All to High and All to Extra).