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mat_dxlevel

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mat_dxlevel is a console variable available in all Source Source games except Left 4 Dead engine branch Left 4 Dead engine branch (or some third-party branches) and above.

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Note.pngNote:This command is not available in any game made using Left 4 Dead engine branch Left 4 Dead engine branch and later branches, or in some third-party branches.
Furthermore, since around Source 2007 Source 2007 or Source 2009 Source 2009 up to Source 2013 Source 2013, only DirectX 8.0 and 8.1 materials are supported, DX7 and earlier was dropped (except in Portal with RTX Portal with RTX).

mat_dxlevel changes the DirectX (feature level) 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 - Softer shadow
...

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
mat_dxlevel 98 - Xbox 360 only
mat_dxlevel 100 - Source Filmmaker only, this does not enable DirectX 10 support on vanilla (unmodified) engines.

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)
Warning.pngWarning:Using -dxlevel launch parameter makes alt tabbing in and out of the game really slow, this also resets all video configs. It's better to use +mat_dxlevel launch parameter instead, or to place mat_dxlevel command inside a config file.
Futhermore, -dxlevel should be only used a workaround to fix the issue that the game defaults on DX8 mode which may happens on some modern hardware.

See also