Level of detail

Level of Detail (LOD) is the principle of having lower-detail versions of models in memory and switching to them when the object is small/distant. This saves a lot of unneeded processing power at the cost of a moderate memory/disk size increase.

Model LODs change instantly. Be careful that your LODs do not create visual noise when changing, it can be distracting. An example of this can be seen on some tree props in Water Hazard .

In Half-Life 2, since 20th anniversary update, LOD appears to be disabled with the command r_lod set to "0", if running on DirectX 9 level or higher,^[1] and with Model Detail set to "High".^[2]

Warning: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive does not support LODs at all, or it is possibly broken due to updates^[confirm].

See also

• LOD Models, a good tutorial on making LODs
• $lod
• MIP Mapping, the texture equivalent of LODs
• func_lod, a brush entity (fades out, not really LOD)

References

References
1. According to bin\dxsupport.cfg.. 2. Half-Life 2 20th Anniversary Update - Change Notes Setting Model Detail to High will now always display the highest detail version of a model and never swap for a lower level-of-detail. .

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