[dankoverride]

A Steam user hit 0 FPS on a laptop and concluded there was "no video optimization", because the Preferences page never said rendering quality could go down or how low it goes. Reported by Trout on bus #2618 (PBI 3220).

What changes

Preferences (DC/3D/Guides/Preferences):

• Levels and default. Lists the six rendering quality levels, from most to least expensive, and says a fresh install starts on Medium. Nothing is detected from your hardware; the page previously said the engine picks for your hardware.
• What to do when slow.
  • Go straight to Minimum, then lower Blocks per frame, then use filters.
  • The frame-rate prompt, with its real thresholds: a 15 s warm-up, under 30 FPS for 10 s, one level per step, then 5 minutes quiet.
  • Rendering quality changes in only two places (this screen and that prompt). When neither is reachable, contact support.
• Minimum requirements, linked to Supported Configurations.
• Reset To Defaults lands on Minimum, not the fresh-install level, resets Demo mode, and cannot be undone. Deleting preferences.json does not lower rendering quality.
• Window mode and vertical sync defaults are stated: Borderless and Every frame.

Supported Configurations: the troubleshooting step pointed at the pre-rewrite path, Preferences > General > Rendering Quality.

Verification

• Every product fact was checked against client 1.18.27, the live build on Steam and the stable installer (IF.APM.App.Unity.HDRP), and is unchanged in the upcoming 1.18.28. Files checked: QualitySettings.asset, PreferencesConfigurationDescriptors.cs, EngineSettingsPlan.cs, QualityDegradedDialogModalControl.cs, Avatar.inputactions and PreferencesModalDialog.prefab. The diff of those files from 1.18.27 to 1.18.28 and to HEAD is empty.
• Minimum requirements were checked against the Steam store API (app 3624760) and the existing Supported Configurations page; they agree.
• mkdocs build --strict, check-meta-descriptions and check-redirect-parity pass locally. All new links resolve.
• Passed the C2 documentation gate (Steelman, Constitutional, Devil's Advocate, then LLM-as-Judge) at 0.930, with no Critical or Major findings.

Where this differs from the original report

The report described the pre-rewrite panel, from 1.18.8 and earlier. In 1.18.27:

• The control is a dropdown, not a slider.
• F9 opens Preferences. F10 opens the main menu, which has no Preferences entry.
• The path is Display > Rendering, not General > Video.

Also in this PR (second commit)

1.18.27 release notes. The 3D release notes stopped at 1.18.8. 1.18.27 is the build live on Steam and the stable installer, and 1.18.28 is not released. The new entry covers everything user-facing from 1.18.9 to 1.18.27. It was drafted from the 46 merged PRs in that range, with each bullet traced to a PR or commit. It passed the C2 gate at 0.926.

Demo mode: this corrects a false safety claim on the live page. The page told users to turn Demo mode on before screen-sharing, because it "redacts hosts, URLs and database names everywhere they appear". In 1.18.27:

• SanitizerControl.Sanitize(Span|Log) has no callers.
• The only live use is SanitizeGrid on the grid-name label (DiagnosticsLabelControl.cs:100).
• The client's own PR 4003 says "Demo mode is already broken".

The tip is now a warning not to rely on Demo mode, and the release notes carry the same known issue. The Preferences page re-passed at 0.920.
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