PC Game Settings
Graphics settings, as you might expect, tweak how your computer draws images on your screen in any given game. They can make blurry textures sharper, jagged edges smooth, and even let you see further into the distance. However, all these things come at a cost with performance. If you have a rather low-powered computer you may want to lower the graphics intensity so your games run smoother, or if you have a beast of a gaming PC, you may want to turn them up so your game looks as epic as possible.
Game Settings
Frames per Second: (fps) It’s the number of still frames projected onscreen in a single second. The higher the fps, the smoother a game runs. This isn’t really an in-game setting, but it governs which options you'll use and how high you'll set visual quality. Several factors play into a game’s frame rate: Your hardware's processing power, the intensity of in-game visual settings, and the demand of the game's graphics engine can impact performance, along with many other factors. You should understand what your PC is capable of and adjust the settings accordingly to hit consistent, playable frame rates. Some gamers will have a different desired fps; some find 40 fps to 50fps playable, while some are content with around 30 fps, but on PC, it’s safe to say most aim for the gold standard of 60 fps. Most monitors and TVs offer a 60Hz refresh rate, thus 60 fps would be the highest perceivable frame rate. But higher-end monitors are capable of 120Hz and 144Hz, which allow games to scale up to 120 fps and 144 fps, respectively. These differences are noticeable, especially in fast-paced games that require quick reactions.
Vertical Sync: (VSync) A method of locking a game’s frame rate to your display’s refresh rate. By keeping the frame rate and refresh rate in sync, screen tearing is eliminated. Tearing appears when the game camera moves horizontally and the image goes out of alignment. Frames are registered vertically, which is why tearing only happens horizontally. There are drawbacks, however. V-Sync withholds frame data, which results in input lag. If you drag your mouse cursor across the screen with V-Sync enabled, you might feel the delay. Thus, precise aiming is hampered by the lag. Competitive gamers always disable V-Sync. I found that playing in a borderless Window mode instead of fullscreen will also help prevent tearing.
Refresh Rate: The frequency at which a display will put out still frames and how often it refreshes the image to show onscreen. A 60Hz monitor is only capable of projecting frames 60 times a second and bottlenecks fps if your computer is producing more.
Resolution: Resolution is simply how many pixels (dots of color) are displayed onscreen the higher the resolution, the sharper the image. A higher-resolution display will look sharper, but the downside is that it will be more taxing on your computer. Running games smoothly at 4K (3840x2160) can be a difficult feat, since the hardware is asked to project four times as many pixels as 1080p (1920x1080). Many console games still render at 720p (1280x720), which clearly doesn't provide the fidelity of higher resolutions. Any resolution below your screen's native resolution will be stretched, and it will look blurrier. It's also important to understand pixel density. Image clarity is relative to the amount of pixels and the size of your display. 1080p on a 24-inch monitor looks much sharper than it does on a 32-inch TV. The degree to which this is noticeable also depends on how far you’re sitting from the screen. Generally for best gameplay use your display's native resolution.
Field of View: (FOV) Field of view is the angle at which you see the world through the in-game camera, measured in increments of single degrees. The higher the FOV, the more peripheral vision you get, but it will make the center look farther away. Increasing the FOV too much will make it seem as if you're looking through a fisheye lens. It’s often an advantage to have a high FOV in competitive shooters, since it helps display more of the surrounding area. This will be slightly more demanding on your hardware, though, since it needs to render more of the game’s assets. Games often have a default FOV a little too low for comfort. You may need to find a way to increase FOV if you’re not given a menu option, either via a third-party application or editing a game's text file. We would suggest testing out different FOVs to find the right balance. Often times, a setting in the middle of the allowed range works well.
Anti-Aliasing: (AA) While several techniques can accomplish anti-aliasing, they all aim to fix the same problem: jagged edges of curved surfaces and objects. The rough and jagged edges look almost like a staircase, and this is called aliasing. Anti-aliasing smooths out these edges by blending the colors of the pixels around the object to create the illusion of smoothness. High resolution displays will mitigate the negative effects of aliasing, but even at 4K it’s slightly noticeable up close. A little bit of anti-aliasing will go a long way and if performance isn’t a concern, we would recommend cranking AA settings all the way up. Anti-aliasing settings almost always include a series of values: 2x, 4x, 8x, and so on. The numbers refer to the number of color samples being taken, and in general, the higher the number, the more accurate (and computationally expensive) the anti-aliasing will be.
Types of Anti-Aliasing:
MSAA: Multi-sample anti-aliasing is the most common type. In layman's terms, your computer takes color samples from around a piece of geometry in a game world and projects an average of those colors. The illusion of smoothness around an otherwise jagged object is created. The higher the number of samples (2x, 4x, 8x), the more your GPU has to calculate, impacting performance.
FXAA: Fast approximate anti-aliasing is a blanket approach to smoothing out an image. Instead of analyzing each frame and calculating geometry like MSAA, FXAA applies the smoothing effect to the entire image indiscriminately. It's faster for the GPU to perform, but it results in a blurrier image overall.
TXAA/MLAA: Temporal anti-aliasing (Nvidia)/morphological anti-aliasing (AMD) are the same thing. It’s similar to MSAA, but it uses previous frame data to create the color samples in the current frame--and is more efficient as a result.
SSAA: Supersampling anti-aliasing is the most demanding method, but it produces the cleanest image. It makes the game render a higher resolution, then downsamples, or shrinks, the image to fit your display's resolution. It's as if you're artificially increasing the pixel density of your screen and the result is a sharper image.
Coverage Sampling: (CSAA) Nvidia’s more efficient version of MSAA. Then there's the special case of the 'Q.' CSAA that attempts to achieve a quality better than or equal to MSAA with fewer color samples, so 8xCSAA actually only takes four color samples. The other four are coverage samples, explained here. 8QxCSAA, however, bumps the number of color samples back up to eight for increased accuracy.
Custom Filter: (CFAA) AMD’s more efficient version of MSAA.
Enhanced Subpixel Morphological: (SMAA): Another post-processing method, described as combining MLAA with MSAA and SSAA strategies. You can apply it with SweetFX.
Multi-Frame: (MFAA): Nvidia's latest, exclusive to Maxwell GPUs. Whereas MSAA samples in set patterns, MFAA allows for programmable sample patterns.
Anisotropic Filtering: (AF) Anisotropic filtering (texture filtering) makes surface textures that are seen at an angle gives it more clarity. The best way to see the effect of anisotropic filtering is to look at the ground a few meters ahead, then compare it to the clarity of the ground close to you. As you look farther away, the surfaces become blurrier. With anisotropic filtering on, the far-off surfaces become much clearer. The effect of texture filtering is more apparent when your character moves forward in the game world. The change in quality as the surfaces get closer to you can be jarring. Anisotropic filtering is very important for improving the overall image, and it's relatively easy on your system. The payoff between quality and performance is significant. What good is having the highest texture quality setting if the ones off in the distance look muddy? Always try to have anisotropic filtering enabled to 8x or 16x.
Bloom: Explanation: Bloom increases the luminosity of light sources in a game world. The intention is to make a light source look more realistic as we see it in the real world. Light will seep through windows and create a high contrast as the in-game camera transitions from indoors to outdoors. Many games badly implement bloom, which results in an unnatural oversaturation of light. It’ll be recognizable when surfaces are reflective or shining when they shouldn’t be. While the quality of bloom will vary from game to game, we would suggest turning it on if it’s not implemented well. If it’s distracting and oversaturates the game world, you may want to go without it.
Motion Blur: Motion Blur is a straightforward concept, the environment will blur as you look around to emphasize a sense of motion. Textures that are part of the player character should not blur, since that they're still relative to the environment. Most people find motion blur unnecessary, but some may find a moderate level to be visually appealing. It can also help alleviate the effects of screen tearing. However, we’d suggest going with whatever amount of motion blur you prefer. The performance impact will vary between games, but recent games implement it efficiently to minimize the hit on frame rate.
Tessellation: Tessellation adds an extra touch to surfaces and objects in the game world. Objects can have displacement maps, which are essentially instructions on how the object can change if it had more polygons. Tessellation calculates that information and adds depth and more complex geometry to those objects. Tessellation can make a big difference, but it depends on how developers choose to implement it. In some cases, tessellation simply makes surfaces look different, but not necessarily better. In other cases, it can add depth to important pieces of a game world. If you’re given the option, test out the game with it on and off and see if it makes a noticeable impact.
Depth of Field: (DOV) It’s a simulation of true depth of field in a camera lens objects in the background are blurred out, while the subject is in perfect focus. Many games limit the effect to when there’s a single object at the forefront of your view or when using a zoom or aim down sights function.
While depth of field can be aesthetically pleasing, some will find it unnecessary or find it puts them at a disadvantage, especially if the effect is overdone. Depth of field is a nice touch, but it’s not always necessary. Since it has a minimal effect on performance and is not objectively better one way or another, you should set this according to your preference.
Texture Quality: (TQ) Texture settings will vary from game to game and change details in different ways. In almost every case, surfaces of the game world will increase in fidelity the higher the setting. Some games will have a very high resolution texture option, and in that case, they’ll require higher amounts of video RAM on your GPU. Texture quality is one of most basic graphics settings, but low, medium, and high will mean different things in different games. Regardless, it’s always a good idea to try to go with a higher setting. The pace of a game may also play a factor in how much you’ll notice texture quality. Slower paced games where it’s crucial to scan the environment tend to benefit more, since you’re required to pay closer attention to finer details, whereas texture quality can be easily overlooked in a frantic shooter.
Shadow Quality: Much like texture quality, the effect of shadow quality will vary between games. Generally, the higher the setting, the finer the shadow. It’s also key to notice how shadows move and it’s sometimes tied to the quality setting. Shadows that are either jagged or choppy in motion can take you out of game. Shadow quality is one of the more important basic settings. The highest setting can be taxing in certain games, but we would recommend testing how far you can push shadows before it unreasonably hampers your system.
Shadow Distance: A few games allow you to control the distance at which shadows will be rendered. There’s essentially no benefit to rendering a shadow for an object far off in the distance that is barely visible itself. But a building off in the distance may look strange without a shadow. Sometimes, shadow distance comes packaged in the quality setting. An effective shadow distance will depend on the scope of the game’s environments. An open-world will look more convincing if the trees and heights projected proper shadows, but you’ll have to test how far you can push it before your system is bogged down. We would recommend aiming for a setting around three-fourths of the max if you’re given the option.
Ambient Occlusion: Ambient Occlusion creates realistic shadow transitions between different physical objects. Ambient occlusion in-game, although noticeable, will not dictate the shadow quality of the game. This is why ambient occlusion is often a separate option from shadow quality.
Vertical Sync: (VSync) A method of locking a game’s frame rate to your display’s refresh rate. By keeping the frame rate and refresh rate in sync, screen tearing is eliminated. Tearing appears when the game camera moves horizontally and the image goes out of alignment. Frames are registered vertically, which is why tearing only happens horizontally. There are drawbacks, however. V-Sync withholds frame data, which results in input lag. If you drag your mouse cursor across the screen with V-Sync enabled, you might feel the delay. Thus, precise aiming is hampered by the lag. Competitive gamers always disable V-Sync. I found that playing in a borderless Window mode instead of fullscreen will also help prevent tearing.
Refresh Rate: The frequency at which a display will put out still frames and how often it refreshes the image to show onscreen. A 60Hz monitor is only capable of projecting frames 60 times a second and bottlenecks fps if your computer is producing more.
Resolution: Resolution is simply how many pixels (dots of color) are displayed onscreen the higher the resolution, the sharper the image. A higher-resolution display will look sharper, but the downside is that it will be more taxing on your computer. Running games smoothly at 4K (3840x2160) can be a difficult feat, since the hardware is asked to project four times as many pixels as 1080p (1920x1080). Many console games still render at 720p (1280x720), which clearly doesn't provide the fidelity of higher resolutions. Any resolution below your screen's native resolution will be stretched, and it will look blurrier. It's also important to understand pixel density. Image clarity is relative to the amount of pixels and the size of your display. 1080p on a 24-inch monitor looks much sharper than it does on a 32-inch TV. The degree to which this is noticeable also depends on how far you’re sitting from the screen. Generally for best gameplay use your display's native resolution.
Field of View: (FOV) Field of view is the angle at which you see the world through the in-game camera, measured in increments of single degrees. The higher the FOV, the more peripheral vision you get, but it will make the center look farther away. Increasing the FOV too much will make it seem as if you're looking through a fisheye lens. It’s often an advantage to have a high FOV in competitive shooters, since it helps display more of the surrounding area. This will be slightly more demanding on your hardware, though, since it needs to render more of the game’s assets. Games often have a default FOV a little too low for comfort. You may need to find a way to increase FOV if you’re not given a menu option, either via a third-party application or editing a game's text file. We would suggest testing out different FOVs to find the right balance. Often times, a setting in the middle of the allowed range works well.
Anti-Aliasing: (AA) While several techniques can accomplish anti-aliasing, they all aim to fix the same problem: jagged edges of curved surfaces and objects. The rough and jagged edges look almost like a staircase, and this is called aliasing. Anti-aliasing smooths out these edges by blending the colors of the pixels around the object to create the illusion of smoothness. High resolution displays will mitigate the negative effects of aliasing, but even at 4K it’s slightly noticeable up close. A little bit of anti-aliasing will go a long way and if performance isn’t a concern, we would recommend cranking AA settings all the way up. Anti-aliasing settings almost always include a series of values: 2x, 4x, 8x, and so on. The numbers refer to the number of color samples being taken, and in general, the higher the number, the more accurate (and computationally expensive) the anti-aliasing will be.
Types of Anti-Aliasing:
MSAA: Multi-sample anti-aliasing is the most common type. In layman's terms, your computer takes color samples from around a piece of geometry in a game world and projects an average of those colors. The illusion of smoothness around an otherwise jagged object is created. The higher the number of samples (2x, 4x, 8x), the more your GPU has to calculate, impacting performance.
FXAA: Fast approximate anti-aliasing is a blanket approach to smoothing out an image. Instead of analyzing each frame and calculating geometry like MSAA, FXAA applies the smoothing effect to the entire image indiscriminately. It's faster for the GPU to perform, but it results in a blurrier image overall.
TXAA/MLAA: Temporal anti-aliasing (Nvidia)/morphological anti-aliasing (AMD) are the same thing. It’s similar to MSAA, but it uses previous frame data to create the color samples in the current frame--and is more efficient as a result.
SSAA: Supersampling anti-aliasing is the most demanding method, but it produces the cleanest image. It makes the game render a higher resolution, then downsamples, or shrinks, the image to fit your display's resolution. It's as if you're artificially increasing the pixel density of your screen and the result is a sharper image.
Coverage Sampling: (CSAA) Nvidia’s more efficient version of MSAA. Then there's the special case of the 'Q.' CSAA that attempts to achieve a quality better than or equal to MSAA with fewer color samples, so 8xCSAA actually only takes four color samples. The other four are coverage samples, explained here. 8QxCSAA, however, bumps the number of color samples back up to eight for increased accuracy.
Custom Filter: (CFAA) AMD’s more efficient version of MSAA.
Enhanced Subpixel Morphological: (SMAA): Another post-processing method, described as combining MLAA with MSAA and SSAA strategies. You can apply it with SweetFX.
Multi-Frame: (MFAA): Nvidia's latest, exclusive to Maxwell GPUs. Whereas MSAA samples in set patterns, MFAA allows for programmable sample patterns.
Anisotropic Filtering: (AF) Anisotropic filtering (texture filtering) makes surface textures that are seen at an angle gives it more clarity. The best way to see the effect of anisotropic filtering is to look at the ground a few meters ahead, then compare it to the clarity of the ground close to you. As you look farther away, the surfaces become blurrier. With anisotropic filtering on, the far-off surfaces become much clearer. The effect of texture filtering is more apparent when your character moves forward in the game world. The change in quality as the surfaces get closer to you can be jarring. Anisotropic filtering is very important for improving the overall image, and it's relatively easy on your system. The payoff between quality and performance is significant. What good is having the highest texture quality setting if the ones off in the distance look muddy? Always try to have anisotropic filtering enabled to 8x or 16x.
Bloom: Explanation: Bloom increases the luminosity of light sources in a game world. The intention is to make a light source look more realistic as we see it in the real world. Light will seep through windows and create a high contrast as the in-game camera transitions from indoors to outdoors. Many games badly implement bloom, which results in an unnatural oversaturation of light. It’ll be recognizable when surfaces are reflective or shining when they shouldn’t be. While the quality of bloom will vary from game to game, we would suggest turning it on if it’s not implemented well. If it’s distracting and oversaturates the game world, you may want to go without it.
Motion Blur: Motion Blur is a straightforward concept, the environment will blur as you look around to emphasize a sense of motion. Textures that are part of the player character should not blur, since that they're still relative to the environment. Most people find motion blur unnecessary, but some may find a moderate level to be visually appealing. It can also help alleviate the effects of screen tearing. However, we’d suggest going with whatever amount of motion blur you prefer. The performance impact will vary between games, but recent games implement it efficiently to minimize the hit on frame rate.
Tessellation: Tessellation adds an extra touch to surfaces and objects in the game world. Objects can have displacement maps, which are essentially instructions on how the object can change if it had more polygons. Tessellation calculates that information and adds depth and more complex geometry to those objects. Tessellation can make a big difference, but it depends on how developers choose to implement it. In some cases, tessellation simply makes surfaces look different, but not necessarily better. In other cases, it can add depth to important pieces of a game world. If you’re given the option, test out the game with it on and off and see if it makes a noticeable impact.
Depth of Field: (DOV) It’s a simulation of true depth of field in a camera lens objects in the background are blurred out, while the subject is in perfect focus. Many games limit the effect to when there’s a single object at the forefront of your view or when using a zoom or aim down sights function.
While depth of field can be aesthetically pleasing, some will find it unnecessary or find it puts them at a disadvantage, especially if the effect is overdone. Depth of field is a nice touch, but it’s not always necessary. Since it has a minimal effect on performance and is not objectively better one way or another, you should set this according to your preference.
Texture Quality: (TQ) Texture settings will vary from game to game and change details in different ways. In almost every case, surfaces of the game world will increase in fidelity the higher the setting. Some games will have a very high resolution texture option, and in that case, they’ll require higher amounts of video RAM on your GPU. Texture quality is one of most basic graphics settings, but low, medium, and high will mean different things in different games. Regardless, it’s always a good idea to try to go with a higher setting. The pace of a game may also play a factor in how much you’ll notice texture quality. Slower paced games where it’s crucial to scan the environment tend to benefit more, since you’re required to pay closer attention to finer details, whereas texture quality can be easily overlooked in a frantic shooter.
Shadow Quality: Much like texture quality, the effect of shadow quality will vary between games. Generally, the higher the setting, the finer the shadow. It’s also key to notice how shadows move and it’s sometimes tied to the quality setting. Shadows that are either jagged or choppy in motion can take you out of game. Shadow quality is one of the more important basic settings. The highest setting can be taxing in certain games, but we would recommend testing how far you can push shadows before it unreasonably hampers your system.
Shadow Distance: A few games allow you to control the distance at which shadows will be rendered. There’s essentially no benefit to rendering a shadow for an object far off in the distance that is barely visible itself. But a building off in the distance may look strange without a shadow. Sometimes, shadow distance comes packaged in the quality setting. An effective shadow distance will depend on the scope of the game’s environments. An open-world will look more convincing if the trees and heights projected proper shadows, but you’ll have to test how far you can push it before your system is bogged down. We would recommend aiming for a setting around three-fourths of the max if you’re given the option.
Ambient Occlusion: Ambient Occlusion creates realistic shadow transitions between different physical objects. Ambient occlusion in-game, although noticeable, will not dictate the shadow quality of the game. This is why ambient occlusion is often a separate option from shadow quality.
In Game Settings
Invert Mouse: This controls whether moving the mouse forward will make your character look down or up. Often set to the mouse wheel or 3rd mouse button varying in different games.
Center View: This command instantly centers your view parallel to the ground. This can be handy if you often become disorientated during gameplay
Smooth Mouse: This setting if set to Yes attempts to reduce the jerkiness of mouse movements. If you find that in fact it makes your mouse seem laggy or less snappy, set this to No.
Mouse Sensitivity: Often set as a slider you move the slider to increase or decrease sensitivity. The higher the sensitivity the greater the responsiveness of your character's view to your mouse movements.
Video Mode: This setting determines the resolution of the game. The numbers shown are pixel width x pixel height. The greater the resolution, the more of a strain on your system to render the in-game scenes. The higher your resolution, the more you will have to reduce other settings to try to improve performance.
Aspect Ratio: The Aspect Ratio is the ratio of width to height of your in-game image. The general options here are Auto, Standard, Wide (16:10) and Wide (16:9). Selecting the Auto option should provide the correct aspect ratio for your monitor. However if you see an oddly stretched image, or black bars on the sides of the image, manually set this option. Keep in mind that the normal aspect ratio for most computer monitors is 4:3, so select Standard (which is 4:3) or Auto for such displays. For widescreen monitors or HDTVs, try 16:9 to start with and if the image still appears incorrect, try 16:10, or set back to Auto. Keep in mind that a resolution which corresponds closest to this aspect ratio will provide optimal image quality with minimal stretching or scaling.
Texture Filter: There are 3 common filtering options here. Bilinear, Trilinear and Anisotropic. These are filtering modes which affect the way textures (the 2D surfaces of all 3D objects) appear in the game. Texture Filter settings display how crisp surface textures look as they fade into the distance.
Texture Filter Types
Bilinear: is the simplest method of texture filtering, and provides the best performance.
Trilinear: improves image quality but is slightly slower than bilinear.
Anisotropic: will have a noticeable impact on performance, but provides the best texture image quality. Note that if you select Anisotropic here, the actual level of Anisotropic Filtering (AF) is automatically set to 8x AF by the game. Expect a noticeable performance hit, especially on lower end graphics cards or low ram systems.
Render Method Preference: This option allows you to choose between DirectX versions to render the game. The effects which are altered by this setting include the glow of the sun, the overall light bloom effect, bump mapping (which gives textures depth), heat haze effects, reflections, etc.
Look: This options affect the way you control your character's viewpoint in the game.
Brightness: This slider controls the brightness of the in-game image. Set it to suit your tastes, it has no impact on performance.
Gamma: This will adjust the in game Gamma covering all in game content.
Optimize for SLI: This option can be used if you have an SLI (Scalable Link Interface) system with two physical graphics cards connected and SLI enabled on your PC. The game will attempt to take advantage of both your graphics cards to improve gaming performance.
Shadows: This setting when on characters and some objects will cast complex shadows in the game. The performance impact of shadows can be quite significant, especially in areas with multiple characters or multiple lights. If this setting is turned off some shadows will be removed, boosting FPS at the cost of some realism. Note that some shadows in the game such as static shadows of buildings are not affected by this setting and will be drawn regardless.
Number of Dynamic Lights: Dynamic Lights are lighting effects which interact with surrounding objects. For example, the way the muzzle flash from guns light up surrounding areas, the way in which explosions shed light, etc. The options here are Off, Low, Normal and High. In general the higher the setting, the more objects cast dynamic lights. However even at Low the most obvious dynamic lighting (muzzle flash for example) is visible, and higher settings will have a noticeable negative performance impact in areas with multiple light sources/weapons - so if you need the FPS set this to Low for a good balance of image quality and performance. This setting will also further impact on performance if Shadows is enabled.
Soften Smoke Edges: This setting determines whether the smoke effect is used in game. The common options here are Off, World Only and Everything. Some graphics cards cannot use these effects due to lack of hardware support. The off setting disables smoke effects, resulting in the edges of the smoke being more clearly defined against all surrounding objects. Smoke will seem much less realistic but this may provide better performance in smoky situations. World Only will only allow smoothing to the edges of smoke against the surrounding terrain and buildings, but not against enemies. The Everything setting allows smoke to blend smoothly with all surrounding objects seamlessly which is highly realistic. This may reduce performance. If your system is slowing down when smoke is visible lower the setting.
Number of Corpses: This option relates to the number of dead bodies visible at any one time. Since characters are quite complex objects, the more corpses which are visible at any one time, the slower your performance will be.
Chromatic Aberration: A post-process effect that simulates a specific camera phenomenon and the newest, strangest post-processing effects available. It replicates what’s essentially a flaw in old or poor-quality cameras resulting in a slight blurring around the edges of the image. It’s also known as ‘colour fringing’, because the blurred outline is marked by a red, green and blue tinge.
Center View: This command instantly centers your view parallel to the ground. This can be handy if you often become disorientated during gameplay
Smooth Mouse: This setting if set to Yes attempts to reduce the jerkiness of mouse movements. If you find that in fact it makes your mouse seem laggy or less snappy, set this to No.
Mouse Sensitivity: Often set as a slider you move the slider to increase or decrease sensitivity. The higher the sensitivity the greater the responsiveness of your character's view to your mouse movements.
Video Mode: This setting determines the resolution of the game. The numbers shown are pixel width x pixel height. The greater the resolution, the more of a strain on your system to render the in-game scenes. The higher your resolution, the more you will have to reduce other settings to try to improve performance.
Aspect Ratio: The Aspect Ratio is the ratio of width to height of your in-game image. The general options here are Auto, Standard, Wide (16:10) and Wide (16:9). Selecting the Auto option should provide the correct aspect ratio for your monitor. However if you see an oddly stretched image, or black bars on the sides of the image, manually set this option. Keep in mind that the normal aspect ratio for most computer monitors is 4:3, so select Standard (which is 4:3) or Auto for such displays. For widescreen monitors or HDTVs, try 16:9 to start with and if the image still appears incorrect, try 16:10, or set back to Auto. Keep in mind that a resolution which corresponds closest to this aspect ratio will provide optimal image quality with minimal stretching or scaling.
Texture Filter: There are 3 common filtering options here. Bilinear, Trilinear and Anisotropic. These are filtering modes which affect the way textures (the 2D surfaces of all 3D objects) appear in the game. Texture Filter settings display how crisp surface textures look as they fade into the distance.
Texture Filter Types
Bilinear: is the simplest method of texture filtering, and provides the best performance.
Trilinear: improves image quality but is slightly slower than bilinear.
Anisotropic: will have a noticeable impact on performance, but provides the best texture image quality. Note that if you select Anisotropic here, the actual level of Anisotropic Filtering (AF) is automatically set to 8x AF by the game. Expect a noticeable performance hit, especially on lower end graphics cards or low ram systems.
Render Method Preference: This option allows you to choose between DirectX versions to render the game. The effects which are altered by this setting include the glow of the sun, the overall light bloom effect, bump mapping (which gives textures depth), heat haze effects, reflections, etc.
Look: This options affect the way you control your character's viewpoint in the game.
Brightness: This slider controls the brightness of the in-game image. Set it to suit your tastes, it has no impact on performance.
Gamma: This will adjust the in game Gamma covering all in game content.
Optimize for SLI: This option can be used if you have an SLI (Scalable Link Interface) system with two physical graphics cards connected and SLI enabled on your PC. The game will attempt to take advantage of both your graphics cards to improve gaming performance.
Shadows: This setting when on characters and some objects will cast complex shadows in the game. The performance impact of shadows can be quite significant, especially in areas with multiple characters or multiple lights. If this setting is turned off some shadows will be removed, boosting FPS at the cost of some realism. Note that some shadows in the game such as static shadows of buildings are not affected by this setting and will be drawn regardless.
Number of Dynamic Lights: Dynamic Lights are lighting effects which interact with surrounding objects. For example, the way the muzzle flash from guns light up surrounding areas, the way in which explosions shed light, etc. The options here are Off, Low, Normal and High. In general the higher the setting, the more objects cast dynamic lights. However even at Low the most obvious dynamic lighting (muzzle flash for example) is visible, and higher settings will have a noticeable negative performance impact in areas with multiple light sources/weapons - so if you need the FPS set this to Low for a good balance of image quality and performance. This setting will also further impact on performance if Shadows is enabled.
Soften Smoke Edges: This setting determines whether the smoke effect is used in game. The common options here are Off, World Only and Everything. Some graphics cards cannot use these effects due to lack of hardware support. The off setting disables smoke effects, resulting in the edges of the smoke being more clearly defined against all surrounding objects. Smoke will seem much less realistic but this may provide better performance in smoky situations. World Only will only allow smoothing to the edges of smoke against the surrounding terrain and buildings, but not against enemies. The Everything setting allows smoke to blend smoothly with all surrounding objects seamlessly which is highly realistic. This may reduce performance. If your system is slowing down when smoke is visible lower the setting.
Number of Corpses: This option relates to the number of dead bodies visible at any one time. Since characters are quite complex objects, the more corpses which are visible at any one time, the slower your performance will be.
Chromatic Aberration: A post-process effect that simulates a specific camera phenomenon and the newest, strangest post-processing effects available. It replicates what’s essentially a flaw in old or poor-quality cameras resulting in a slight blurring around the edges of the image. It’s also known as ‘colour fringing’, because the blurred outline is marked by a red, green and blue tinge.
Nvidia / AMD Settings
Nvidia uses Geforce Experience for the PC gaming platform allowing users to tweak their game settings. Geforce Experience is able to optimize all video settings for best performance, quality, or a safe balance between the two. The software can perform video optimization for every game on your PC, Steam or stand alone titles.Nvidia has launched its new technology Nvidia G-Sync to add another method of aliasing unique to the Nvidia brand.
AMD uses Gaming Evolved for the PC Platform allowing users to adjust game settings. Gaming Evolved can perform optimization for every game on your PC, Steam or stand alone titles. AMD has also launched its new tech called AMD Project Freesync to help handle aliasing for their brand.
The new technologies from Nvidia and AMD is starting to solve this big mess with graphic settings. The problem all stems from one thing: displays have a fixed refresh rate. But if the display's refresh rate could change with the framerate, we could eliminate screen tearing and eliminate the stuttering and input lag problems of vsync at the same time. Of course, you need a compatible video card and display to use the new tech.
AMD uses Gaming Evolved for the PC Platform allowing users to adjust game settings. Gaming Evolved can perform optimization for every game on your PC, Steam or stand alone titles. AMD has also launched its new tech called AMD Project Freesync to help handle aliasing for their brand.
The new technologies from Nvidia and AMD is starting to solve this big mess with graphic settings. The problem all stems from one thing: displays have a fixed refresh rate. But if the display's refresh rate could change with the framerate, we could eliminate screen tearing and eliminate the stuttering and input lag problems of vsync at the same time. Of course, you need a compatible video card and display to use the new tech.
Where to find game settings
Some games will optimize your settings for you, with preset high, medium, and low level settings. Other games may not be so user friendly or even have no adjustable in game settings. Gaming applications from Nvidia and AMD will scan your system, find games, and tell you what settings you should run in those games for best performance. If you don't want to do any work, but want a good overall experience these programs might be for you.
Otherwise armed with the knowledge of what each setting does, you can potentially get better performance out of your game by tweaking the things that matter most to your game performance. Before you dig into your settings, you should familiarize yourself with the individual settings and effects on performance. When we talk about "performance," we generally mean how many frames per second your computer can display in the game. You can measure this using a tool like FRAPS or a video card overclocker, like MSI Afterburner.
Game settings can be found in multiple places with a variety of adjustable settings dependent on your needs. Obviously, the game itself is the first place you should look to see what options are available and the current settings level. Some games will house these settings in your in-game video options, while others might put them in a separate options window that you'll see before you launch the game. Your video cards control panel often will display game option settings. Third party gaming tweakers and tuners are also available with a multitude of settings ready for your custom in game settings.
Otherwise armed with the knowledge of what each setting does, you can potentially get better performance out of your game by tweaking the things that matter most to your game performance. Before you dig into your settings, you should familiarize yourself with the individual settings and effects on performance. When we talk about "performance," we generally mean how many frames per second your computer can display in the game. You can measure this using a tool like FRAPS or a video card overclocker, like MSI Afterburner.
Game settings can be found in multiple places with a variety of adjustable settings dependent on your needs. Obviously, the game itself is the first place you should look to see what options are available and the current settings level. Some games will house these settings in your in-game video options, while others might put them in a separate options window that you'll see before you launch the game. Your video cards control panel often will display game option settings. Third party gaming tweakers and tuners are also available with a multitude of settings ready for your custom in game settings.
How to use game settings
We recommend you start by tweaking one setting at a time. Start with everything on low, and move them higher one-by-one. Then, open up your game and do a run-through of a taxing area. If you're playing a first person shooter, for example, play through an outdoor level with lots of enemies. If you're playing a fantasy adventure game, get out of the dungeons and into an outside area with lots of people. That's where your game is going to use the most graphical power. As you tweak each setting higher, your game will look better, but it will also slow down. When it does, you'll know exactly which setting caused the slowdown, and can work to find a happy medium of good looks and good performance.
