sage78Tommyin my experience, the -dxlevel flag actually does change visual settingsIve tried using -dxlevel 81 but it didnt show any apparent difference from stock and still showed "mat_dxlevel 90" on console
also you can disable compositing on kde at least, which improves fps. But it's still better to use xfce or somethings like that.
Are you sure you tried that on the linux version and not on the windows version running under wine in linux?
Yes I am sure. Maybe something has changed, because I experienced that 1+ years ago and I noticed they have been changing some things regarding dx recently (mm updates come to mind)
In my experience, openbox/i3/ light window managers are better for gaming (for multiple reasons) than kde/gnome, and I have tried both.
KDE is great for when you want to be sure that the computer has everything it needs already (perfect for reviving an old computer for a family member)
the xset method for macc has works for me.