Analyze This: Graphic Settings and UserOptions.ini -- Is Your Game Running Optimally?

[ItZMuRdA]

The latest episode of "Analyze This" is out, focusing on a question I get a TON on my live stream on a daily basis. Hopefully this helps someone out, please share and ask if you have any questions! Below the video is the full text from the description, don't get scared away by TL;DR!


The "Analyze This" series of videos typically includes detailed commentary while exploring various avenues of theorycrafting to min/max gameplay. It's everything from meticulously analyzing settings, sensitivities, and keybinds, to digging deep into what a game has to offer in order to utilize advanced decision-making techniques through unorthodox methods of analysis. You can essentially look at this as the homework and research that I often do when not actively gunning down my enemies, and be sure to note that it all goes a long way toward improving your overall success as a gamer.

This particular video focuses on two questions that I get many times everyday on my live stream: "What are your graphic settings?" and "What does your UserOptions.ini file look like?" I give you an overview of all of the settings and then go into depth as to why I make certain choices. I've spent a lot of my own time tweaking these settings to both my likeness and for maximum performance, but your results may vary. Please be encouraged to ask questions!

Lastly, but not least, I finish up the discussion with a shoutout to what is likely the best PlanetSide 2 tweak guide available on the net -- a great resource for you to use (and one that I wish was available back when I was doing all of this tweaking solo)! That, of course, is the PlanetSide 2 Tweak Guide done for Nvidia by Sean Ridgeley. While it focuses specifically on Nvidia GeForce GPUs, there are many great tips that can also be utilized by individuals with ATI/AMD Radeon cards. Be sure to check it out here: http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/gui...-2-tweak-guide.

The above is not by any means the only resource on this type of stuff that is available, so do search far and wide, there is a lot of great information even as close as the official forums at http://planetside2.com or from the wonderful community at http://planetside-universe.com. As I said earlier, feel free to ask questions in the comments or in my stream as well and I'd be happy to try to help out!

In a nutshell, my ingame settings and UserOptions.ini looks like this (disregarding personal preference items such as FOV):

Render Quality: 100%
Render Distance: 1000
GPU Particle Quality: Off
Overall Quality: Custom
Graphics Quality: Medium
Texture Quality: High
Lighting Quality: Low
Shadow Quality: Off
Fog Shadows: Off
Effects Quality: Low
Terrain Quality: Low
Flora Quality: Off
Model Quality: Low
Particles: Low
Motion Blur: Off
Ambient Occlusion: Off

which generally translates (with some additional lines for things like LOD and ParticleDistanceScale) to the following in the configuration file:

[Rendering]
OverallQuality=-1
GraphicsQuality=2
TextureQuality=1
ShadowQuality=0
LightingQuality=1
EffectsQuality=1
TerrainQuality=1
FloraQuality=4
ModelQuality=1
ParticleQuality=1
ShadowLOD=0
ParticleLOD=0
EffectsLOD=0
TerrainLOD=0
FloraLOD=0
FloralLOD=0
ModelLOD=0
RenderDistance=1000.000000
Gamma=0.000000
MaximumFPS=122
UseLod0a=1
VerticalFOV=74
FogShadowsEnable=0
MotionBlur=0
VSync=0
AO=0
GpuPhysics=0
ParticleDistanceScale=0.650000
MinimapMode=1

[Terrain]
RenderFlora=Off

*It should also be noted that I advise setting your UserOptions.ini to "Read Only" when you are done making changes to any of your settings, as that will prevent them from getting wiped accidentally. Keep in mind that any settings you change in-game while Read Only is active, however, will not save after you exit that session.

As always, thank you so much for stopping by and for all of your support and feedback. If you found this useful, please hit that thumbs up button and subscribe to my channel for future content! Be sure to keep an eye out for more videos in this series, as well as other series to come in the very near future. Please leave your comments, questions, and requests below! Check Tesco Offers and Lidl Offers. Also, please be encouraged to check out my daily live stream at http://itzmurda.com or http://twitch.tv/itzmurda_tv (giveaways are done occasionally for followers!) or visit me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/xitzmurdax.

[maradine]

Thumbs up for providing a textual TL;DR.

[OCNSethy]

Thanks MuRdA, Ill be sure to check out your vid try your settings when I get home tonight.

[omega four]

If you love to fly as much as I do, the rendering distance = 1000 is too low. You'll be blown out of the sky just as an enemy ESF renders on your screen.

[ItZMuRdA]

Glad to help! Do note that results will naturally vary for everyone, but since I'm asked a lot I thought I'd offer up the settings to see if they might assist anyone!

[ItZMuRdA]

Originally Posted by omega four

If you love to fly as much as I do, the rendering distance = 1000 is too low. You'll be blown out of the sky just as an enemy ESF renders on your screen.

I think that's a bit of an exaggeration, though I could understand turning it up if you like to pilot a lot. I know some that fly at 1200-1600 quite effectively. I usually don't fly much, however, so it's plenty for engaging ground targets and not slamming into things. :P

[OCNSethy]

Originally Posted by ItZMuRdA

Glad to help! Do note that results will naturally vary for everyone, but since I'm asked a lot I thought I'd offer up the settings to see if they might assist anyone!

Ive seen your in-combat vids and other "Analyze This" espisodes too... you dont seem to have too many problems gunning and running

Congrats on your engagement too, btw

[omega four]

If you think it's a bit of an exaggeration, we should dogfight in ESFs. You with render dist = 1000; me with render dist = 6000.

I won't be done traveling on business until this Friday but we can find some time on Saturday.

Originally Posted by ItZMuRdA

I think that's a bit of an exaggeration, though I could understand turning it up if you like to pilot a lot. I know some that fly at 1200-1600 quite effectively. I usually don't fly much, however, so it's plenty for engaging ground targets and not slamming into things. :P

[Crator]

Any idea what UseLod0a=1 does exactly? Line of Distance?

[OCNSethy]

Originally Posted by Crator

Any idea what UseLod0a=1 does exactly? Line of Distance?

Could be adaptive Level of Detail. ie; objectives further away are drawn at a lower quality to improve framerate.

[ItZMuRdA]

Originally Posted by omega four

If you think it's a bit of an exaggeration, we should dogfight in ESFs. You with render dist = 1000; me with render dist = 6000.

I won't be done traveling on business until this Friday but we can find some time on Saturday.

I said that I don't dogfight often at all; I don't see much point in that. The only point I was making by saying "exaggeration" is that I've been using 1000 for months and never really felt like it hindered the hours I've spent in the air. Piloting is by far my worst role in this game, though. You're more than welcome to use a higher render distance if you fly a lot, though I don't think 6000 is going to help you much more than 2000. It doesn't actually change the distance of rendered units such as players and vehicles.

Originally Posted by OCNSethy

Could be adaptive Level of Detail. ie; objectives further away are drawn at a lower quality to improve framerate.

Indeed it is. I'm not sure how much it helps but I have mine at 0 just for any extra performance boost!

Originally Posted by OCNSethy

Ive seen your in-combat vids and other "Analyze This" espisodes too... you dont seem to have too many problems gunning and running

Congrats on your engagement too, btw

Thanks and double thanks on the congrats!

[camycamera]

i will have a look at this later tonight and might sub, i love these informative videos. thanks! and congrats! xD

[ItZMuRdA]

Thanks camy. Subs on YouTube are free, you should hit that button (if you haven't already) for coolness factor.

[Rolfski]

Thks for the guide. You where talking in the video about ParticleDistanceScale (=0.650000 by default), that would impact the distance at which bullet holes render. For me, that makes this is a very important setting because the only way to properly test the effect of compensators and forward grips is shoot at walls over long ranges.
So my question to you is: What's the maximum value of this setting and how badly does it effect frame rate?

[ItZMuRdA]

Originally Posted by Rolfski

Thks for the guide. You where talking in the video about ParticleDistanceScale (=0.650000 by default), that would impact the distance at which bullet holes render. For me, that makes this is a very important setting because the only way to properly test the effect of compensators and forward grips is shoot at walls over long ranges.
So my question to you is: What's the maximum value of this setting and how badly does it effect frame rate?

A good question indeed. I'm not sure what the max value is, but you could certainly play with it. I didn't find any need to even attempt to go beyond 65m. I did notice slight performance increases when I had it turned down, though, so I imagine you will notice a decrease if it even lets you turn it up. Let us know if you try it out!