Unable to change texture quality - all Source games

Heya, I’ve been lurking the forums for quite a lot of years now and I am a little disappointed that my first post is going to be in the Help and Support section. But nevertheless I’ve scoured the internet and various other forums for assistance to no avail.

So to the point: I’ve recently installed Windows 7 on my desktop after enjoying it on my laptop since it was available in RC form, and just recently started reinstalling all my source games. But there is a big problem with every single source game I’ve installed and played so far (Portal, HL2, EP1, EP2, TF2, L4D, L4D2) even though I change the texture quality in the options dialog the in game textures are always on the lowest quality. It really is sickening to look at when my little tablet can easily switch texture modes (although at 1/20th of the performance). I was wondering if there was something I accidentally enabled or disabled in my drivers, or anything I could easily repair.

It isn’t an amazing machine nor is it exactly terrible, I just picked it up on newegg preassembled so I do not really know the exact components of everything (I mostly use my laptop), but this is what I do know:

AMD Phenom X3 8750
4GB DDR2
Radeon HD 4870
Connexant HD Audio

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Go into Catalyst Control Center and go to the 3d settings. Switch Mip-map settings all the way up to the highest quality.

I had figured it would be something so stupidly simple, I thank you from the bottom of my heart! Just a side question: do I need to change it in the driver every time I want to change the setting in the game?

You shouldn’t need to, I just set all the little checkboxes for “Use application settings” where applicable. A lot of game engines don’t like forced settings (source included in many cases). I also disabled Catalyst AI, this may not be recommended but I’ve always found it to be more trouble than it’s worth.

Glad to be of service. :slight_smile:

Catalyst AI has been know to cause a few problems in games, most recently Borderlands, but when on (never use advanced, only standard) it will improve ur performance in games when AA and/or VSYNC on, especially in CrossfireX setups.

Maybe I’ll mess around with it a little sometime.

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.