Higher settings/better FPS? YES! (i7 3.2ghz and gtx 550 ti)

[Illtempered]

Ok, first my specs, because I think I have a pretty common setup, in the mid to upper range.

i7 3.2 ghz CPU
6 gigs ram
gtx 550 ti GPU

Now when I first ran P2 I was a little disappointed that my new PC wasn't getting the best framerate. I unparked my cores and that helped a lot, but I still had to have everything on low settings, which was pretty ugly. Not only that, but despite being able to reach 100fps at times, my framerate always dropped significantly during fights, especially when I just started gunplay, obviously resulting in me dying a lot because I couldn't aim.

I know it's sounds very counter-intuitive, but one of my outfit-mates, Gravity1, explained that SOE has optimized the game for the higher settings, and it's more complicated than simple math. He gave me an .ini setup that has not only steadied my framerate, but allowed me to play on higher settings. "Steadied" is the key word. They are basically locked at 60, and drop to 40 in large fights, but they stay steady, which is really what's important for twitch-aiming. If you have a similar PC and aren't getting the performance you think you should, just try this. It's worked for me and numerous other outfit members.

I also have HDR=1 added to my graphics.ini, which makes the game much more beautiful, and doesn't hit my FPS at all. I have to manually add it to the graphics.ini each time I play. You could also setup a batch file to do that.

Here's the rendering section of the UserOptions.ini:


[Rendering]
GraphicsQuality=3
TextureQuality=3
TerrainLOD=3
FloralDistanceScale=2.000000
ShadowQuality=1
RenderDistance=3000.000000
Gamma=0.250000
MaximumFPS=60
UseLod0a=0
OverallQuality=-1
LightingQuality=3
EffectsQuality=3
TerrainQuality=3
FloraQuality=3
ModelQuality=3
MotionBlurQuality=3
BlurQuality=3
AOQuality=3
AmbientOcclusionQuality=2
VerticalFOV=60
FloralLOD=3
EffectsLOD=3
ParticleLOD=3
ParticleQuality=2
ParticleDistanceScale=2.000000
EffectsDistanceScale=2.000000
FogShadowsEnable=0
MotionBlur=0
VSync=0
AO=0
GpuPhysics=0

[Simokon]

If you are CPU bound I have been using these to good effect

[Rendering]
GraphicsQuality=4
TextureQuality=0
TerrainLOD=1
FloralDistanceScale=2.000000
ShadowQuality=0
RenderDistance=-1
Gamma=0.000000
MaximumFPS=120
UseLod0a=0
VSync=0
OverallQuality=-1
LightingQuality=4
FogShadowsEnable=0
EffectsQuality=4
TerrainQuality=4
FloraQuality=0
ModelQuality=1
ParticleLOD=2
ParticleDistanceScale=0.650000
MotionBlur=0
AO=0
GpuPhysics=1

[AnamNantom]

Maybe some of these settings ppl try help if you are CPU bound. My main issue is GPU and I have a minimum recommended card, nothing I do in the ini changes my fps. What does is if I turn rendering down to a lower percentage. My sweet spot is 65%.

I have an ATI HD 5700 series card.