What does it actually do?

Phong shading

it's fucking beautiful

I believe this is more relevant

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Phong

Basically, a it's a newish way of doing lighting, the specifics of which don't really matter. What does matter, is that we can now turn them off, for the almighty fps.

How does it look as compared to dx8?

edit: also is it the same as just having mat_specular 0

>also is it the same as just having mat_specular 0
Not at all

mat_phong 1 (dx9 chris dx9highframes)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=159264327

mat_phong 0 (dx9 chris dx9highframes)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=159264262

mat_phong 1 (dx8.1 chris dx9highframes)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=159265798

mat_phong 0 on dx8 looks exactly the same as mat_phong 1 (at least to me).

Here's a comparison screenshot. No idea if it actually gives +10 fps:

mat_phong 0: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=159265867

mat_phong 1: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=159265906

EDIT: ninja'd

FUCKING BEAUTIFUL!!!

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/576742747491679874/8B1D1F0BF5057D5133B2EC31E425994FD9431FB6/

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/576742747491675031/7B31166CDF2F1D11BAFDD9B9ACD01FA70AA363D6/

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/576742747491669267/85EDD26E5DA9DA18B95ABAE00BECAD021F1EF54A/

using dx9 fps cfg and dxlvl 95

is there any reason to use it does it give you better frames?

Reminds me of

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/5/58818/1117889-tf2_spy.jpg

Possibly, but many use it just because they like the aesthetic (I for one will be, as dx8 gives me flashing textures)

Finally can use dx9 without wanting to kill myself

I prefer no phong mask, the shininess is weird to me.

mat_phong 0 makes the game look like the early beta

Mat_phong 0 is absolutely incredible. I'm in love with it.

So does mat_phong 0 give you more fps? Or mat_phong 1?

I'm pretty sure Valve included this to make players stand out from the background better.

0, which means to turn it off.

does it give fps for dx8 when it set to 0??

No, as DX8 doesn't support it anyway.

As a dx9 user, I shall be using this. makes the game feel and look a lot smoother for me.

Along with the green crit text, valve is really doing a lot to please me aesthetically right now

How exactly do you enable mat_phong 0? Like would I put it in my launch options?

It's not a launch option. mat_phong is a convar, all you need to do is put mat_phong 0 in your fps config, you can put it directly in the console for comparison, though it takes a while to remove all phongs from the map.

Makes player models look really nice even with a low res and a shitty graphics config.

phong doesn't exist for dx8 only on dx9

i like mat_phong 1 far more than 0

Will I get more fps with dx level 8, or with dx 9 and mat_phong 0?