As to the second problem, I have to disclaim the rumor that you can get "fps drop" when applying shaders directly. Shaders are little programs on the 3D card that don't care about how they were applied. When you get an fps drop, there's something wrong, maybe with the shader, or with the level.
Just tried it (again...).
Applying shader through d3d_automaterial = 1 => ~180-200fps
Applying shader through WED => 6-23 fps
Tried with my own shaders as well as some of the ones which come with A7.
But as it's just a rumor i guess i'm just hallucinating the fps drop, as well as the other users who have the exact same problem.
Well, i like d3d_automaterial better anyway as you don't have to rebuild the level each time. Just thought it would be a nice feature to have.
