Reflecting models in the water?

[Cyberen]

I've been trying this in different maps but it seems that there's no documentation on this. Can water textures reflect static models? Also, is the complexity of my map causing the reflection to lag? Should I just swap to a cheap water? Because I have $cheapwaterstartdistance in the VMT but it doesn't seem to work.

 

[Pocket]

TF2's default water materials are all cubemap-based, even in expensive mode. I guess for stylistic reasons? You can absolutely make your own that do real-time reflections and then it's just a matter of hoping your players have "Reflect World" or "Reflect All" selected (I think "Reflect World" is the default option despite the aforementioned default materials making it pointless). I myself made override materials for all the defaults years ago because I disagree with Valve's artistic choices.