Mat dxlevel

mat_dxlevel changes the DirectX mode used within a Source game. The player is only able to use modes that their hardware supports. The format is

 mat_dxlevel [DirectX version]
 mat_dxlevel 70
 mat_dxlevel 80
 mat_dxlevel 81
 ...

For DirectX 9 the value depends on the hardware's capability:

 mat_dxlevel 90 - DX9 with Shader Model 2
 mat_dxlevel 95 - DX9 with Shader Model 3

This can also be specified with Launch Options, use +mat_dxlevel [DirectX version] on the launch options of any Source game to do so. Alternatively, you can use -dxlevel [DirectX version], however this specifies a number of extra presets, including but not limited to:

• Resolution
• Windowed/Fullscreen status
• MSAA quality (mat_aaquality) and sample count (mat_antialias)
• Motion blur (mat_motion_blur_*)
• Shadow depth textures
• Gamma (mat_monitorgamma)

Using -dxlevel launch parameter makes alt tabbing in and out of the game really slow. It's better to use +mat_dxlevel instead.

See Also

DirectX Versions