Using source built 4.17.1 on 64bit Windows:
I’ve noticed a difference when changing scalability settings. This only happens in a packaged shipping build (dev build untested), it does not happen in the editor… All foliage will disappear if r.DetailMode is changed to 1 or 0, and not returning even if changing it back to 2.
Same problem happens if changing r.MaterialQualityLevel, dosen’t matter to what you change it, if it is changed, the foliage disappears.
Foliage will return after reloading the level or loading a different level.
Previously this used to happen if setting scalability to 0, but now it happens on every setting that is not 3, or when changing from another setting to 3…
The obvious solution, thought I after looking at r.DetailMode and r.MaterialQualityLevel in the documentation, was to change the settings on the foliage or used foliage meshes, but then I noticed that such a setting does not exist or is even used… The solution then became to edit the baseScalability settings to NEVER allow change of those two settings from the highest setting.
I doubt this is by design so I am reporting it here to see if anyone else is experiencing these issues or have found any other solutions. Being left with the only option to force the highest detail mode and material quality is pretty bad.