3000 steps condensed into one simple performance guide (plus spotting)

[Velxra]

Tired of spending endless hours in frustration trying to get the game to run properly?? Does it feel like days, weeks, months, or even years have passed enduring stutter problems you cannot fix or find a solution for? Suffering from endless unexplainable low fps no matter what settings you choose? Well... This will not fix all that, however this guide will give a good insight into four years of my endless trial and error attempts in fine tuning iL-2 to be an enjoyable experience on a 960 gtx video card. 

Plus an overview of my control sensitivities for beginners.

Plus plus the graphical section will improve your spotting!
Check the bonus section for additional useful guides.
 

(just had to use that awesome maintenance page from the website ?)




                                          Graphics

Section 1 - In game menu
This is the start of the guide and all performance/graphics information below will be based on the settings displayed in the pictures.
 

Spoiler

Refer to "In game menu 2020" below for the latest configuration settings!! This section will remain as written from 2018 as much of the information is still necessary for setup and is informative. For the latest graphical improvements please refer to the 2020 alternate sections. Consider this section as "learning the basics". 

 

So in this menu we will be specifically looking at the big buttons on the left. These adjust how far trees and misc objects will render in. So higher the settings the farther away you will see trees and lower the setting the closer trees will disappear. In testing I noted the best visuals and performance gains with balance. I prefer to play on high for the longer render distances of trees as it makes the landscape look more believable. But selecting balanced does have benefits such as 10+ fps gain and enhanced spotting of both air and ground units. These particular settings cannot be edited outside of the game menu as far as I know. 

these are approximate distances and all settings will render planes out to 9.99km.
Low - trees render in a circle 1.6km wide and buildings out to 3.4km.  Avg fps 100.
Balanced - trees render in a circle 2km wide and buildings out to 5km. Avg fps 95.
High - trees render in a circle 3km wide and buildings out to 6km. Avg fps 85.
Ultra - trees render in a circle 4km wide and buildings between 6km and 6.5km. Avg fps 71.

I conducted over twenty game restarts after long observations changing between the settings to verify these results. All flights were at 1000m and without using zoom in F2 view. This was two hours worth of testing alone to provide accurate data between all the settings...


Gamma
Lately I prefer 1.1 gamma on my screen for better spotting. (pics show older gamma selection) However 0.8 is often the recommended gamma settings because it darkens black and planes over 2km away will always render in black.  Play around with these values to see which you prefer. Adjusting gamma is the only way to darken color shades or brighten the world without a performance impact. Using the config file below, it will be possible to set gamma to 1.3 or 0.7 or beyond as these values are outside of what the game will allow from in the menu. As of 2020 I now use 0.8 brightness to align with the latest color changes brought to the game in 2019. This section of the guide is all written for 1.1 brightness. So be aware that the game may look incorrect now at 1.1 compared to the time I originally wrote the guide.



Also note that the higher the gamma the more grey and washed out the screen will look. Which makes spotting difficult as all the colors will be a similar shade of grey. Which is why some prefer the darkest gamma settings to bring out a color contrast of black shades. Just know it will be a disadvantage having low gamma during evening and night time periods.

Sharpen
Using sharpen is a must for long distance spotting. This is the only way to counter the depth of field blur filter used in the game that we cannot turn off. There is a small performance impact for selecting it.   (devs please let us turn off the depth of field blur as it takes away from the beauty and visual clarity of the game)

HDR
Makes the game super bright and has a massive performance impact. Not worth using in my opinion.

SSAO
Blurs the edges of an already blurry game. Turning this on is a big performance impact and it makes the black silhouettes of planes "smaller" because it condenses or blurs the edge of pixels. Planes past 7km will look nearly invisible due to this issue. With SSAO off the planes will be a distant black line. Totally not worth using or turning on.

Landscape Filter

Either setting will have minimal performance loss if any.
-Blur only causes difficulty seeing past 7km and it is an additional process running at all times. However blur will reduce ground flickering caused by jagged lines on the ground in the distance. Which results in less visual movement at distance.  

-Sharpen is pointless because nothing will be large enough to render at the distances this applies. This filter begins right where the detail on the ground ends at approximately 6km. Keep this off as it does more harm than good.

 

Shadow quality
After testing this over a long period of time. I have noticed that high shadow settings use more processing power because it casts sharpened shadows from plane silhouettes on the ground and from the bars in the cockpit. While medium will still cast the same shadows only with a lighter and blurrier tone for less of a performance impact. No visuals lost by reducing from high to medium shadow settings. Worth the additional FPS gain by selecting medium or less.

Mirrors
Same story as shadows. Really no difference between complex and simple other than better performance with the simple setting. Simple has the same reflections on the water, wings, and glass though it is less intense and defined. Selecting simple will gain better FPS and still retain all the advantages of the complex setting. This is a mild performance impact.

Turning mirrors off completely is not recommended as it will reduce possible spotting capabilities.

Vsync
I keep this off because that will generate the most frames as soon as they are processed without waiting on the refresh rate. My monitor is only 60hz so this may affect users with higher refresh rates in another manner. Generally in all games vsync off typically will provide the best and smoothest performance as the computer will do all it can to process the game as fast as possible.

The menu of iL-2 seems to be locked at 60 fps. Even with vsync disabled the frames will still be locked at 60 fps. While flying in the open world of the sim, frames will exceed this unchangeable vsync limitation.

Target FPS
If a user has more frames than they need then enable this. Otherwise keep it off. Target fps has to enabled to use dynamic resolution.

Clouds
Keep this on high as this will provide the best visuals for planes in the clouds as the clouds will be more transparent. There is also a problem of clouds flickering at lower settings. Worth the performance impact.

Landscape detail
Really no obvious visual changes other than smaller details on the ground. I keep it on the lowest setting of normal as this is a large performance impact for really no meaningful benefit.

Horizon Draw Distance
Pick whichever suits you. 100km seems more than enough distance for me. This is a setting for high altitude flyers so they can see the layout of the ground or mountains in the distance. This setting is only the 2d texture on the ground after objects are no longer rendered. Little to no performance change until after 100km.

Anti-Aliasing 
Worth using, as this will better define clean lines over distance and assist in identifying targets. Also for re-shade users 4x is required to prevent the game from crashing. Large performance impact.

Grass Quality

Set to 0 in the config to completely remove/disable grass. I disable grass in all my games for a variety of reasons. I have also noticed stutter issues when flying close to the ground due to grass being constantly rendered in suddenly. Disabling grass in the config solved this stutter issue. 

Use 4k Textures
Enabling this option is suppose to help the game by using all available video ram. If someone is encountering game stutters try enabling this and it should help? The game does not come with 4k textures installed by default and they have to be installed separately. So I no idea if this actually helps or what it alters in the game without the textures installed. The suggestion came directly from Jason.

Full Screen
I have noticed that full screen enabled seems to produce more stable FPS numbers and higher FPS overall. Also if you are experiencing the bug where the game window extends beyond your monitor's borders then this should fix that issue. If your main menu options are cut in half on the right or you cannot read the game's chat or hud then you have this issue and full screen should correct it.
 

In game menu 2020

Spoiler

I am humbly pleased to say, that this section will be fairly straight forward. There has been little in the way of change from the prior "In game menu" section. Though at the same time, there has been significant advancement in the game itself to allow more settings to be used without suffering FPS loss.

 

Stand by as this section under construction

 

 

Section 2 - Configuration file
 

Spoiler

Refer to "Configuration file 2020" below for the latest configuration settings!! This section will remain as written from 2018 as much of the information is still necessary for setup and is informative. For the latest graphical improvements please refer to the 2020 alternate sections. Consider this section as "learning the basics". 

 

Go to your il-2 directory, for steam this will located in steam/steamapps/common/iL-2 sturmovik/ and for non steam users the game will be installed similarly elsewhere. Now inside the directory, open the data folder and scroll down to open the startup config file. The config is where graphic changes should be conducted to maintain adjustments. Graphics can still be adjusted via in game menu however the game will apply its default maximums and miniums to the values and override your adjustments in the config! (primarily Gamma and Grass distance will be the ones reset.) 

 

First right click and create a new folder called backups. Then copy your startup config file and place it inside there for a working backup copy. It is vital to always keep backup files incase something cannot be fixed. Now open the startup config file you wish to edit using notepad or word.

 

Moving on, open the start config and apply these changes located in the "KEY = graphics" section and adjust the numbers as shown in the image below. Higher the number the higher the detail setting. For example 0 is the off setting, 1 is on or low, 2 medium, and 3 high etc etc. Not all values will increase beyond 0 or 1 and it is best to compare how many setting choices are provided to each setting to figure out the total number allowed. These are the exact graphics settings selected in the game menu shown above. So it is easy to compare how the settings look in game and how they look in the config file.

Be sure to keep grass at "0.0" as this will disable grass in your game.

Note that you will need to input your own screen's resolution in the "full_height and full_width" and change fullscreen to 1 for this guide. Windowless fullscreen can be adjusted below in the "win_height and win_width" for users with that preference. However I have noted better frames using fullscreen. 
 

 

 

 

Trackir can cause stutter lag with high sensitivity settings/movement, when looking around. Screen tearing can also occur with high sensitivity settings. Be sure to set the ingame camera smoothing to at least 72 if you encounter this problem. I personally prefer 85 with my trackir settings.

Also be sure to set cinematic = 0 as this will disable motion blur of the camera. This will increase fps and help with removing some of the overall game blur. 

Here is the menu in game to disable cinematic camera. The check box is on the bottom left. This is also the location to adjust camera smoothness on the top right.

 

 

 

 

Configuration file 2020

Spoiler

under construction

 

 

Section 3 - Adjustments through Windows OS.  

I have windows 10 and a nvidia graphics card. Your computer may be configured differently with AMD or another operating system.

 

Spoiler

Sometimes for an unknown reason or explanation iL-2 will stop detecting our joystick/throttle/pedals if the game is launched through steam. If you encounter this problem then there is a possible work around to fix the issue. All you need to do is create a shortcut from the iL-2 exe launcher and directly launch from the shortcut instead of using steam. Then taadaa everything works the way it is supposed to be working. Then X amount of weeks go by and launching from steam will work again.  Again I have no idea why this happens and I know others have had the same issue. I have the thrustmaster 16000m joystick, TWCS throttle, and TFRP pedals.

 

Simple and easy. Right click the iL-2 exe in the iL-2 sturmovik/bin/game folder, create a shortcut, then place it on your desktop or wherever you like. Just remember to launch from the shortcut!

 

 

 

Next lets move to the Nvidia control panel. The nvidia logo should be in the bottom right of your taskbar bar. Right click the logo and select nvidia control panel. Now select manage 3d setting and find iL-2. If iL-2 is not listed then click add and choose the exe file shown above in the iL-2 bin/game folder. Then adjust the settings to what I have below.

 

I prefer pre-rendered frames set to 1 and have not noticed any screen tearing. I like this option as it provides more frames without any additional processing work. If you notice screen tearing then adjust the pre-rendered frames to 2 instead. Basically this tells your card to make two of every image you see per second. Which for a user who is seeking performance is an unnecessary additional step in processing. Try both, see how it works for you.

 

Now the biggest reason we are in the control panel is to turn on prefer maximum performance. This setting will tell your graphics card to commit all resources in processing the game instead of holding back. The setting can be applied to all 3d programs in the global settings tab as well. If you are a gamer then definitely have this preference set for all your games.

 

 

 

 

Sometimes we need to conserve power to keep bills lower or laptop batteries lasting longer. However for a desktop pc simmer who wants all the raw FPS power their machine can muster. We must choose High performance in the power options. In order to turn off this default performance throttling "feature" that saves on power usage. Go to: control panel/all control panel items/power options then scroll down to Related settings and click additional power settings. For windows 10 users it's as easy as right clicking the windows icon on the left and selecting power options in the popup.  Now select High performance and unleash the beast!!

(it may be hiding in the "show additional plans" drop menu. click the text or drop down arrow to show all the options)
 

 

Now for the final step, for reaching maximum performance which is located in the task manager. Either ctrl+Lalt+delete and select task manager or right click the left windows logo on the task bar and select task manager. With iL-2 already running click Details on the upper right and right click the ll-2.exe. Select set priority and select high. (do not click realtime!) This will tell your computer to place iL-2 as a top priority for processing. Additionally you will need to do this every time you start up the game because this setting does not save.

(for users who want this done automatically. check out "FUMS" in the bonus section.)

 

 

 

Additional Options/information

- Use "MSI Afterburner" to manage your graphics card.   **Planning to further explain this at a later time. For now searching duckduckgo or google for information should cover it**

Download location
http://download.msi.com/uti_exe/vga/MSIAfterburnerSetup.zip




 

Section 4 - Reshade
This section will provide options to enhance visuals with as little performance degradation as possible. Which will result in more frames per second compared to what the same default settings can provide for the same effects. However to achieve and retain the most FPS possible skip this section and refer to settings in Section 1.
 

Spoiler

For the latest reshade filter settings check the Reshade 2020 section first. This section will remain as written from 2018 as it covers "the basics" and understanding of the visual changes.

 

Ahh Reshade, the most well hidden in open sight secret of the flight sim community. Ever wonder how everyone can magically see and spot better than you? Ever believe you are pretty useless at seeing the enemy compared to how quickly they see you? Well so did I starting out... Then I started to notice in some videos how flipping amazing the game looked for other people and how clearly they could see the world compared to the bland and blurry default game I was using. Which is why I am going to discuss Reshade with you today. This program can really adjust the game into a whole new and amazing appearance. No more blur, no more grey color pallet, no more setting the game on low gamma to see better color contrast. Instead we can use Reshade to alter lighting, anti-aliasing, sharping, and best of all improve the color pallet shaders for the game. However this comes at a steep price if used incorrectly, and that price is paid through additional large amounts of processing power and frame rate loss. Some settings cost very little frames and other settings can cost dozens of frames. But on the flip side of that warning, Reshade can also be used to improve performance compared to what default settings of the game can provide. So here today in this section I will be sharing my own settings for Reshade and how to get the most out of using Reshade filters instead of just using the default graphical options. This is "for me" the best performance to visuals improvements possible. 

But Gero, why did you say this was a secret?? Because, mostly nobody shares their Reshade filter settings as it would give everyone an advantage they would otherwise not have. Thus resulting in lots of flying fodder for those without such graphical improvements. Today I am going to change that in this section because Reshade truly makes the game visually pleasing and provides a definite improvement compared to default visuals. I have also been hesitant to release this section. As by doing so will make flying that much more difficult to survive. So here is hoping for the best!


Firstly, Reshade can be downloaded here: https://reshade.me/

Once the app is downloaded, double click it, press "select game to install to" and locate your iL-2.exe in the pop up menu. Your .exe will be in iL-2 sturmovik/bin/game folder. Now select the .exe and click "Direct3D 10+" dot as this is the best option for iL-2. Then the app will ask if you want to download the filters. Just accept all for now. (Later you can delete any filters you do not like/use in the "reshade-shaders/shaders" folder located in the same location as the iL-2 exe.)

Next, either change "multisampling = 2" in the graphics configuration file or change anti-aliasing to 4 in the game graphics menu then restart the game. If you have reshade installed without 4x anti-aliasing enabled the game will crash soon as you start a mission. So it is critical to have this setting applied.

Now with the game restarted and the 4x anti-aliasing enabled. Press Shift+F2 to bring up the reshade options. For this guide/section we will be focusing on the filter options shown in this screenshot below.

Only select these filters, as they will give the best visual improvement with minimal FPS loss.  

At the bottom of this menu you will see an elongated button that says "reload" and next to that button a small tick box called "performance mode". To edit your filters untick this check box and this will unlock the adjustment menu. Then tick the check box again when finished. Restarting the game after making adjustments from the reshade menu is not necessary.

Now with Colourfulness, Curves, Vibrance, and AdaptiveSharpen selected in Reshade proceed to open a quick mission. Once a mission has began press P to pause, F2 for external view, then shift+f2 to bring up the Reshade menu again. At this time Select or Adjust what you want from the various filters listed below and find what works best for you and your monitor! 

 

This is the location of the Performance tab check box.

                                                                        ^
For ease of use, with Reshade open, select the settings tab and click the check box "group effect files with tabs instead of a tree". You can also enable reshade to display FPS in the check boxes below. I recommend to turn on "show fps" and "show frame time". Showing frame time will allow you to see the load time of your FPS. Meaning you can figure out what is causing load by looking around. This should help you find or narrow down what is causing your computer lag/stutter/low fps.

 

It is also possible to organize your filters by clicking "active to top" on the Reshade home tab. This places all your active filters in one place at the top of the listing.

 

 

Here is a short overview of the filters that improve the game visuals and the performance changes I noticed. You are welcome to try the other filters not listed of your choosing. However the provided selection should be the only filters you use. This is because these particular filters will provide the most visual improvement and the least loss from performance. Feel free to turn on/off any of these filters to find what works best for you!
 

Adaptive sharpen - avg of 5-10 fps loss compared to the 10-15 lost from default sharpen.
-adds a basic sharpen function and costs less then the default sharpen for the same effect. (Be sure to turn off the game's default sharpen if using this filter)
 

Colorfulness - avg loss of 1-2 fps. Well worth having as it revamps the game coloring!
-Overhauls/Brightens the color pallet in the game. 
 

HDR (fakeHDR) - avg loss of 6 fps compared to the loss of 15 for default HDR. Gives the game brighter lighting in dark shadowy areas and lighting in general is much brighter.
-Same effects as using the default HDR but for much better performance.
 

Curves - avg loss of 2 fps.
-Creates an enhanced offset between darks and brights using luma in the filter value. 

-Vibrance - avg loss of 1 fps.
-Enhances color depth and makes individual colors stand out. 

(scroll down to see what the individual effects look like separate and together)

 

 

Here is a comparison using the graphic settings provided in Section 1 against those same settings running with the Reshade filters applied. Focus on comparing the visual clarity of the planes and roads. Also note the universally looking light grey filter of the default picture that is not caused by gamma increase.

(Default from this point forward will refer to graphical settings used in Section 1 of the guide)


Default - Most FPS



Reshade filters applied to the same location - Reduced FPS

(This picture has HDR(fakeHDR) turned ON)

What this comparison will not show is that smoke trails are easier to spot along the ground far away and distant planes now have distinct shape. Only you can decide if the selected visual improvements are worth the performance loss and Reshade will offer you the most versatility possible. 

 

Okay after much effort and frustration, I cannot seem to take screenshots while flying in game anymore without the stats exit screen popping up. At this time I am unable to create comparison screenshots to show the various effects in detail from the actual world. Maybe in the future I can improve/display this section in the way I intended. So for now just know that reshade greatly assists in spotting by providing visual clarity and by making smoke trails (black/white) pop out much more than what default settings provide.

Problem solved!! (Thank Goodness) The solution is to left click the reshade menu in game THEN alt-tab to take a screenshot showing the reshade menu in game. 

Filter values and visual screenshots - World

Spoiler

In this *important* first segment, I will show what these filters visually do and what values I use. Please note that every monitor/computer will have unique values applied to its display screen and my values/visuals may not appear to be the exact same on your computer as they do for me or what is shown in the screenshots. Meaning by merely turning on a filter you may not experience the same visual results as shown in the pictures. So for some people, you may need to adjust the values shown for the same results. Also note that these values have to be adjusted from their defaults otherwise visual clarity could be decreased or not seen at all. 

-Note that, the plane shown in the pictures is a solid olive green A20 at approximately 2.5-3km distance away. I'm actually proud with how well this turned out. We have both black and white smoke and an urban area all contained in the same comparison photo. We were lucky this time everyone!

-Values will be shown in the screenshots.

 

 

The best way to see the differences of the filters is to open each picture individually next to default or open each in a new tab. (That way you can flip back and forth.) 


All specified filters discussed in the Reshade section are turned ON  -   Direct Comparison of Reshade and Default - Top Reshade/Bottom Default


Default view

 

 

-Values section 
I will start by turning ON each filter individually using only default with them.

Curves ON

Colorfulness 


Vibrance ON - Best to compare next to colorfulness applied as default shows little change. (I also forgot to turn on colorfulness only...)

AdaptiveSharpen ON                                            (Opps! I did not show the values here. See next screen)





-Spotting comparison
Here I will show each filter turned ON starting with default until all filtered are applied.

Default


AdaptiveSharpen ON


Curves ON


Colorfulness ON


Vibrance


-As you can see with each filter applied visual clarity of the plane, smoke, and landscape is improved beyond the possibilities of solely using default settings. 

Default



-AdaptiveSharpen strength comparison
I thought it would also be important to show the dramatic differences that adaptive sharpen can provide depending on strength. Sharpening not only improves the shape of planes/objects at distance as it nullifies the default blurring. It also improves the darkness of the pixels which makes movement pop out more to the human eye.


Front of an A20 approximately 2km away in distance and is rotating towards its right. Pay attention to the blackness contrast of the plane outline and value settings here.

Mild/Strong sharpening strength.


Light/No sharpening strength


Values


Hopefully these various screenshots of the filters and values applied to the world we fly in can show you their importance in spotting. This is why everyone else seems to spot you so much easier. Know your battleground friends!


-Additional Content and outtakes
none currently 
I highly recommend checking the bonus section below for Tes's thread "Staring at pixels" as he has recorded in video directly comparing the various sharpening options!

Filter visual screenshots - Hanger

Spoiler

The best way to see the difference is to open each picture individually next to default or open each in a new tab. (That way you can flip back and forth.) In this second segment I will start with all filters turned on and turn each filter off individually to show the loss in visual quality. 
 

All specified filters shown in the Reshade menu screenshot turned ON


Adaptive Sharpening OFF


Vibrance OFF


Curves OFF

 

Colorfulness OFF resulting in default view

 

 

Comparison - Top Default / Bottom all filters ON

 

In this second segment I will turn each filter ON individually with only Default. 

Default

Adaptive Sharpen (you can actually read the wording on the plane)

 

Vibrance (minimal change with only using the default color pallet)

Curves (Looks overly dark in the hanger. Makes more sense in the world as it assists with spotting)

 

Colorfulness (default grey tone color pallet/filter go bye bye)

 

 

This should now give you an idea of what the filters do! Each one on its own has very minimal difference. But when combined together they truly form a greatly improved image! Hopefully this will help everyone in understanding the differences between the filter settings. So I hope the variety of colors on the great Fokker D.VIIF and various wording/lines inside the hanger will show the smaller detail clarity!

Reshade Profile
For those who do not want to adjust their own settings or those who want the quick way of applying the filter values here you go! This segment is merely my Reshade profile.

Spoiler

Download
First download my profile here and extract it using winrar or 7zip.
il-2 GeroGuidePreferences2020 Beta.rar

or

Download text file directly here.primary link
https://www.mediafire.com/file/5s20pf4qgdm5vd7/il-2_GeroGuidePreferences2020_Beta.ini/file



How to install
Pretty simple from this point forward. Take the .ini file you downloaded and place it into the folder where your iL-2 exe is located (iL-2 sturmovik/bin/game) and boot up the game.




Now pull up the Reshade menu using Shift+F2 and click the search bar at the top of Reshade to the right of the < > arrows.
(Took me a sad amount of time to figure out how to do that on my own using Reshade for the first time)


Then click "GeroGuidePrefences" and press reload at the bottom of the Reshade menu. Taadaa done, filters and values now applied. Congrats "you's" did it!!




Also it is possible to use/edit multiple reshade profiles. Just create a copy of my profile file and rename it to something else. Then paste it into the same location with the iL-2 exe and select it in the Reshade menu again. Now you can edit or play with the values of filters without worry. I highly recommend to do this and keep backups in another folder. I keep my backups in a "1" folder in the same location as you can see in the screenshot. This way you can find what works best for you and can compare your own results directly with mine! If you find any amazing improvements to what I have found then by all means share it in this thread!!

Now go and enjoy iL-2 renewed my friends!  

In the beginning of this guide I mentioned there is a constant blur effect caused by a depth of field filter turned on by default that we cannot turn off. This section will help to showcase that issue and how the adaptivesharpen filter will minimize its effect.

In iL-2 there is depth of field blur, ssao blur, or some slightly blur everything filter. SSAO compresses pixels to create smoother lines and depth of field makes objects at distance look blurry to simulate visual distance. So the result is, objects at distance are blurry and then their small pixel size is then compressed further to create smooth blurry lines. Currently there is no way to turn off this depth of field blur and only sharpening can dampen it's visual effect and ssao can be turned off. I'm hoping, the devs will allow us in the future to turn off depth of field.

Open both of these images, flip back and forth while staring at the cockpit rear armor glass. One picture has the ssao off and depth of field neutralized with sharpening. While the other picture has the default settings/effects turned on and untouched. The problem is only more pronounced the further an object is away. Can you see the hazy blur that would otherwise be unnoticed? The texture of the plane is also blurry by default thanks to depth of field. Which can be observed by looking at the rivets near the rear fuselage section near the tail or the wording just under the cockpit glass.

Default


SSAO off and adaptive sharpening applied

 

 

Reshade 2020

Spoiler

Welcome to iL-2 2020 everyone, with the recent graphical overhaul in 2019 that brought actual color to our beloved flight sim. I have been busy adapting visual improvements over my prior visual filters. (I like to hope that this guide has shown the devs that the older game visuals were a touch overly grey) Overall in 2020 the game really does look beautiful by default. Thus this has made creating a life like visual experience without looking cartoony has been all the more a challenge! I really do enjoy what I have achieved and I can only hope these adjustments have been worth the wait for you all. 

 

                                                                                                  ***Beta Beta Beta***

Okay, now for the first installment of the all new and improved high tech fleece bullet stop. (Paul Harrell reference just because I found it amusing at 2am) 

*Until the new engine render overhaul I will not be updating this again. Once the render is out we will move forward from there. Check for updated information below with the indicated * symbol. 

Today I am happy to release the first iteration of the new 2020 reshade filters and settings. At this time everything released will purely be "the good stuff" without any lengthy explanations and will only be released in this one section. Which is the reshade configuration file itself and the new settings! Once beta is over the guide will be organized again and this method just saves me lots of time. Now if you followed the old reshade section you should know how and where to place the file. But for those who are worried I will explain below with an image to show where the reshade file needs to be placed.

Since this is the beta form of the release I ask for people to please leave their feedback this time around. That way I can make adjustments or more favorable settings can be found by others that perhaps I cannot see with my own set up. Next I would also like for people to try and "lower" their resolution then post their experienced results. I need to know if lowering the resolution A. improved your spotting and B. if your controls became smoother. I know this is a little counterintuitive of what one would expect for superior visual graphics. But please work with me here and give it a try as I have seen drastically improved spotting results in lowering my own resolution. Plus it adds a few more fps. My native resolution is 1920x1080 and I lowered it to the next lowest size of 1680x1050. I will greatly appreciate your feedback and questions. Hopefully we can find solutions for the more recent spotting troubles often discussed in the community.

After we have tested these I shall upload the rest of the updated guide in the correct formatting.

*File Download

Direct rar file
il-2 GeroGuidePreferences2020 Beta.rar

Primary backup. Config text file without rar
https://www.mediafire.com/file/5s20pf4qgdm5vd7/il-2_GeroGuidePreferences2020_Beta.ini/file

 

 

Let's Begin
Each setting and filter adds a depth of color and definition. This was achieved through weeks adjusting and fine tuning every small visual detail. All of them work independantly or all together to form a lovely canvas. The aim of these settings was to enhance the game's visuals, improve spotting, and to remain as realistic as possible. I did my best to avoid any cartoony shading. I hope you enjoy it and that it brings you that much closer to the real thing. 

For optimal settings scroll through the entire section before starting your game.


To begin, place the guide preferences config inside your il-2 /bin/game folder. For steam users here is the directory path. The directory should be similar in another location for non-steam users.

 

 

Open your game with reshade installed. In the upper left as the game loads you will see reshade's version number and under that will be the key command to open reshade. ( default is shift+f2 ) Now with reshade open select il-2 GeroGuidePreferences2020 beta in the drop down menu and check all four boxes shown in the image below. You may turn on/off any of these four filters as you please. The remaining filters in the listing were not adjusted from last year.

*be sure to enable colorfulness, curves, adapativesharpen, dpx, and lumasharpen. Or pick and choose the ones you wish to enable as they all work well in any combination. 
 

For comparision of higher/lower resolution difference this photo was taken in 1920x1080

(had to crop the photo to capture the filters)

For comparision of higher/lower resolution difference this photo was taken in 1680x1050

 

Comparison pictures

Default vs Reshade filters applied

Reshade filters applied

 

To adjust your screen to be as close as possible to that shown in the pictures. We must alter the start up config file in /iL-2/bin. Keep in mind every monitor's coloration is a little differnt. So further adjustments on your end may be nessary. 

Here is the file location. Open the startup cfg file with notepad or word.



This is my startup cfg. I have fine tuned it through extensive testing seeking the most cripst image that improves both spotting and visuals. Plus the performance is good to. ?

(multiplayer frame rate appears to be server/netcode dependant and every day I get mixed results with every server I test)


It is very important to keep full screen (fullscreen = 1) and your resolution as your own. Be sure to not enter my resolution for your monitor. I highlighted these fields for you to easily find. As for the rest feel free to apply them to your game as you wish. If you are lowering your resolution be sure to check your monitors resolution options avaiable and enter that into this field. 

*The updated text can be directly copied in the spoiler below. Additionally I recommend: gamma to be set to either 0.8 or 0.9 for best spotting results. I use 0.9 gamma. Turn off ssao, post sharpen, and HDR. Off is =0  If you leave HDR on then turn off DPX in the reshade filters. 

*Set land anisotropy to " land_anisotropy = 2 " and multisampling " multisampling = 1 "

 

Spoiler

[KEY = graphics]
    3dhud = 0
    adapter = 0
    bloom_enable = 0
    desktop_center = 1
    detail_rt_res = 1024
    draw_distance = 0.54500
    far_blocks = 1
    fps_counter = 0
    fps_limit = 0
    full_height = 1050
    full_width = 1680
    fullscreen = 1
    gamma = 0.90000
    grass_distance = 0.00000
    hdr_enable = 0
    land_anisotropy = 2
    land_tex_lods = 0
    max_cache_res = 0
    max_clouds_quality = 2
    mgpu_compatible = 0
    mirrors = 3
    multisampling = 0
    or_ca = 0.00000
    or_enable = 0
    post_sharpen = 0
    preset = 2
    prop_blur_max_rpm_for_vr = 0
    rescale_target = 1.00000
    saveaspect = 0
    shadows_quality = 2
    ssao_enable = 0
    vsync = 1
    win_height = 1080
    win_width = 1920
[END]
 

 

Now finally, for nvidia users open nvida control pannel and select il-2's exe. Turn on low latency mode. Prefer maxium performance for power management.

OPTIONAL: on for antialiasing fxaa - enhance the application setting for antialiasing mode and multisample for antialaising transparency. 

Note that the optional settings can slightly reduce frame rate and not advised for performance seeking machines. However the results are worth it in my opinion.

*TURN ON multi-frame samplied AA 

 

All set to fly!
Congrats that is everything

 

                                          Controls/Sensitivity

 

Spoiler

I am currently testing "higher dead zone" versus "higher pitch delay" versus "no pitch delay" in the joystick. It is far more time consuming than it should be... Once I feel comfortable with trying all three forms of joystick sensitivity arch adjustment I will begin this section. (at long last...) I find all three forms important as each could apply to someone. Though ideally there should be no dead zone or sensitivity delay in the stick as the experts say, for best results.



 

 

 

MORE COMING SOON!!! This thread is a work in progress. ?

Updating for 2020! Bear with me as I add in the new sections. I will create a post to bump the thread once the new sections are completed. In the meantime "please stand by" until I have posted in the thread to signify the updated guide.  

*** I noticed quite a few people have referenced the guide for the purposes of improving spotting and that the title is misleading. While yes spotting is a major part of the thread. Spotting however is not the only context of the thread. So yes I can see how new pilots could perhaps overlook the advantages of this thread without reading it. Anyway, for those fine individuals who have been delightful enough in often sharing the thread too new pilots. I have added a small little easter egg for you in the title. Your efforts in the community have not gone unnoticed! hehe  ***

 

The "Reshade 2020" section now at long long last contains the latest beta release. Please read the special instructions and enjoy!! 

 

Additional information

 

- all testing was conducted and observed on the Kuban map in summer at the Krasnodar multi fighter quick mission at 1000m. 

Specs
Cpu - i7- 6700k oc to 4.5GHZ

Gpu - Gtx 960 oc core clock +119 memory clock +411
Ram - DDR4 2133mhz oc to 2800mhz 
HDD - 2TB standard 7200rpm disk hard drive
PSU - 750w 
 

il-2 GeroGuidePreferences2020 Beta.rar

il-2 GeroGuidePreferences2020.rar

il-2 GeroGuidePreferences.rar

 

Edited May 9, 2020 by Geronimo553

[Velxra]

Spoiler

Best way to improve FPS with minimal effort

 

 

 

 

A fun short guide to show the differnce of graphic settings and how they compare to high. It goes very well with this guide actually.

Storebror also created a program called FUMS. It looks interesting and I have not tested it.
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,59488.0.html

We now have a work around fix for the limited recording file size issue. This program by Storebror will auto restart the recording automatically.

For an enhanced and direct look at graphics settings and spotting, review this thread. @Tes has been kind enough to include the Reshade AdaptiveSharpen filter of this guide for comparison as well! I look forward to seeing his research continue. 

 

The primary thread dealing with the micro stuttering issue.

 

Another thread in the iL-2 forums regarding FPS and various issues.

For users with issues setting up their Thrustmaster 16000m hat button for camera control read this thread.

A decent thread regarding SSAO and HDR in the game and Reshade.

The primary thread for Reshade in the iL-2 forums

How to mute, THAT GARBLED RADIO SCREAMING!!!  See this post, is a must have game modification. Just remember it has to be reapplied after every game update.

 

VR filter program that allows VR users to adjust game settings and color contrast for their headset.

@SCG_Fenris_Wolf created a wonderful copy paste settings guide for VR users. Worth reading!

 

A highly effective guide showing what controls affect what planes. Very useful information.

 

Aids VR users with seeing further behind in the cockpit

 

A nice guide in getting trackir5's data to work with opentrack. Though the videos are not english.

 

Very nice explanation of how rearm/refuel functions.

 

Controller Support setup
(joystick will always be better but it's a great substitute until you buy one)

 

 

 

 

 

 

BONUS SECTION

additional guides + information

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by Geronimo553

[SAS_Storebror]

Are you sure that Ultra renders buildings at smaller distance than high?

Sharpen: Makes the game look "cartoonish" sometimes, things become unnaturally crisp IMHO

Landscape filter "blurred": Covers the rendering distance perfectly. A must have IMHO.

SSAO: You forgot that this filter also greatly enhances the self-shadowing, sunlight reflection etc. inside the cockpit. If external views and spotting other planes is all you are focused on, SSAO is not for you. If correct visual representation of what you're sitting in is what you are looking for, SSAO is a must.

 

High Performance Powerscheme is probably something a normal user doesn't want to use all the time (without playing BoS that is).

That setting, plus the high priority process setting, plus a few others (e.g. low priority for Steam while playing BoS) can automatically be adjusted dynamically as needed by using FUMS.

 

Mike

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

Important about ultra preset if in use  there are less visible color banding at sky and sea. This is good for spotting. Landscape blurring filter is also need because without it there are shimmers and moving  jagged lines on terrain when looking towards horizon. Besides sharp objects like planes are more visible at blurry background.

[Hawk-2a]

All in all a great guide! 

My addition would be:

Gamma to lower than 0.8 in the config helps alot for spotting too. It can make the cockpit really dark depending on the value tho.

(also set the startup.cfg to read only, once everything has been adjusted, otherwise it will get overwritten if you adjust some graphics in game).

[Velxra]

2 hours ago, SAS_Storebror said:

Are you sure that Ultra renders buildings at smaller distance than high?

Sharpen: Makes the game look "cartoonish" sometimes, things become unnaturally crisp IMHO

 

That setting, plus the high priority process setting, plus a few others (e.g. low priority for Steam while playing BoS) can automatically be adjusted dynamically as needed by using FUMS.

 

Mike

 

I had no idea FUMS existed, thank you for sharing that creation. It looks very worthwhile in having! Also I noticed you posted a very impressive and comprehensive graphics guide/test of your own! Do you mind if I link it here so others can read it? Turning off Trilinear optimization for better FPS is intriguing and I plan to test that tomorrow. Though I am very pleased to see that most of my graphics observations noted above are indeed correct and affirmed by your results regarding their effects on performance. hehe

As for the building render distance between high and ultra. I ran each test three times to just verify this information. I honestly swear it appeared high had a better building render distance or near the same as ultra. At only 1000m and without using zoom I am entirely comparing pixel sizes of small Russian village homes at such a distances of 5-6km. To make the test accurate, zooming cannot be used as the game will render in additional landscape/buildings by doing so. I will test again tomorrow. I did not believe it myself to be honest. 

I can see your point about SSAO. However shinies in the cockpit come second to better fps and better enemy spotting in my book. However it does greatly reduce plane silhouettes over long distances and I cannot accept that disadvantage. For me SSAO boils down to, OFF I can see planes out to 9.99km and ON I can only see planes out to 7km. Very much a per person preference thing.

Also I'm tossing around the idea of sharing my reshade values. Turns iL-2 into a completely different game! (no blur everything filter like default settings and color actually has color)

Edited May 24, 2019 by Geronimo553

[Leon_Portier]

Thats a nice guide, I´ll give disabling grass and HDR a shot since I have fps drops near ground with my little GTX 960.

Edited May 24, 2019 by [N.O.G.F]Leon_Portier

[Hawk-2a]

Can this topic be pinned by a mod? It might be worth it 

[=gRiJ=Roman-]

Thanks a lot!

[SAS_Storebror]

1 hour ago, Geronimo553 said:

I noticed you posted a very impressive and comprehensive graphics guide/test of your own! Do you mind if I link it here so others can read it?

Just do it, you're welcome.

Thanks for all your efforts and thanks for the detailed explanation re rendering distance.

 

Mike

[JUSTPLANECRAZY]

THANK YOU my game looks even better now, and also my head tracking WAS good now its GREAT CHEERS. 

[Oyster_KAI]

Turn off the in game AA and sharpen, try to use Reshade FXAA/Adaptive Sharpen/Clarity/Colorfulness/HDR, you'll get higher fps.

[Hawk-2a]

Using reshade and i‘m very happy with it. Gives the stuff some color, instead of some grey-ish vintage look  

[Velxra]

21 hours ago, SAS_Storebror said:

Just do it, you're welcome.

Thanks for all your efforts and thanks for the detailed explanation re rendering distance.

 

Okay, today's testing of trilinear optimization and ultra/high building render distance has been concluded. With TO off, I found an observed loss of at least five fps at all times and up to ten fps lost when zooming in the camera at other planes flying. Turning TO on provided a fps increase of the previous numbers at all times. This was done swooping down to flying targets from above/behind as they flew 500m from the ground. So ground detail and texture was added into the process. I did try turning threaded optimization to auto instead of on and so far I see no changes. 

As for building render distance, I have altered my data as this distance is difficult to see the difference between ground 3d models and the terrain. I feel confident in that buildings on ultra disappeared between 6km and 6.5km at some point. High setting renders buildings out to 6km. Trees seem to be the biggest negative impact on performance with such settings so high is definitely the preferred choice. 

I also noted today, an increase of 10-20 fps when bailing out of planes. I believe this is caused by the cockpit view in planes. Cockpits have very high detailing compared to the outside of planes and the player is surrounded by reflective glass filled with shadows. Perhaps much of lag issues are caused in this particular area due to all the additional processing involved. I would like if we had options to disable or adjust some of the detail level in the cockpit to net better performance.

Thanks for the permission to share your performance guide. I believe many people will find it intriguing to study.  

Edited May 25, 2019 by Geronimo553

[Hawk-2a]

8 minutes ago, Geronimo553 said:

I also noted today, an increase of 10-20 fps when bailing out of planes.

Cool feature! Now i know how to increase FPS ? 

[Luger1969]

. ..I plan to finish the graphics segment soon then begin on controls sensitivity and opentrack segments next. Stay tuned for more information as I continue to update this thread!! Lots more to come. ...

 

Reallt looking forward to this as well. Many thanks.

Edited May 24, 2019 by Luger1969

[Sublime]

23 hours ago, Geronimo553 said:

**reserving post** 

Thanks for remembering me

That maintenance screen is cool.  I thought you'd done it when I first saw the screen preview

Great job.  If i can help in anyway PM?

[Velxra]

10 hours ago, Luger1969 said:

Reallt looking forward to this as well. Many thanks.

 

Thank you I’m glad the effort of spending so many hours typing and testing for this thread has not been a waste. Is there anything perticular you are wanting to see?

 

 (This question can extend to anyone else as well if they have requests)

 

9 hours ago, Sublime said:

Thanks for remembering me

That maintenance screen is cool.  I thought you'd done it when I first saw the screen preview

Great job.  If i can help in anyway PM?

Sadly I’m not the creator of such a gorgeous maintenance page. Though whom ever designed it is definitely a classy person. I thought it was very fitting for this thread.

 

If I come up with something for you to test I will let you know! Thanks 

[8ELT_Grzesiek]

Thank you Geronimo, now the FPS is suddenly not falling from 60 to 17 during a bomb explosion or the appearance of dust and smoke, now it is jumping 190-50.

Edited May 25, 2019 by 8ELT_Grzesiek

[BOO]

First thank you @Geronimo553 for the time taken. It'll help a lot of newcomers and existing players i think. For and my I5/1080 combo on a 60hz TV i use the games Vsync. Im very intolerant of unevenly paced frames. Since my rig doesnt drop below 75fps when unfettered at my TVs poxy 1080p (most often the frames are up in the 150 plus) resolution no matter what, I have the luxury of not having to worry about  "Vstink" chopping my frames in half whilst at the same time limiting the engine output to save a little stress on my GPU. Ive always found frame limiters to be a very "numb" tool in comparison to vsync also. There is a little lag but im playing on a TV and Online mostly so lag/ping is a factor anyhow. 

 

I did a similar thing for Clod after Blitz and posted in the ATAG forums as the level of BS settings being posted (still) was bugging me. I looked at some other Nvida panel settings in there also but whilst they did have some effect, that effect was rarely ever needed or an improvement. 

 

Second Thanks to Mike @SAS_Storebror for FUMS. This is something i can use for lots of things. 

[Holtzauge]

Yes, thanks for all the tips and tricks to get the best performance/experience mix @Geronimo553. I'm still on the settings you posted in an earlier thread which boosted my frame rates around 50% with no really discernable impact on graphics quality and I will definitely tune some more based on this additional info later on when I get the time. It's great to get these kind of tips on what the different parameters do and how to combine them!

[Dutch2]

I would like to know what benchmark mission @Geronimo553  is using and how did he log the outcome of his testings. 

Even an quick mission in the lonely sky is always generating a flight in a random direction, a benchmark mission should always be the exact the same, otherwise you can not compare.  

Copy/paste from Gamer Nexus about this: If the tester is performing a manual benchmark, it is critical to the benchmark's reproduction that the same map, location on the map, and game events are experienced in each test pass. By introducing complex combat elements and dynamic events, the tester runs the risk of invalidating results.

 

 

 

[SharpeXB]

On 5/26/2019 at 2:56 AM, Dutch2 said:

I would like to know what benchmark mission @Geronimo553  is using and how did he log the outcome of his testings. 

Even an quick mission in the lonely sky is always generating a flight in a random direction, a benchmark mission should always be the exact the same, otherwise you can not compare.  

Copy/paste from Gamer Nexus about this: If the tester is performing a manual benchmark, it is critical to the benchmark's reproduction that the same map, location on the map, and game events are experienced in each test pass. By introducing complex combat elements and dynamic events, the tester runs the risk of invalidating results.

 

 

 

It isn’t possible to make a benchmark in IL-2 from what I’ve tried. Active gameplay will perform differently from a recorded track. Tracks seem to be just recordings without active physics and AI, they give you a higher FPS than running live. That explanation seems to make sense. It’s possible to run simple live missions like a free flight. But combat that involves AI would give you different results every time. 

[Velxra]

On 5/24/2019 at 12:49 PM, Oyster_KAI said:

Turn off the in game AA and sharpen, try to use Reshade FXAA/Adaptive Sharpen/Clarity/Colorfulness/HDR, you'll get higher fps.

 

Ran a few tests with your suggestions today. Here are the results.

Adaptive sharpen - avg of 5-10 fps loss compared to the 10-15 lost from default sharpen

 

Clarity - avg loss of 15 fps compared to default settings. I love the look clarity gives the game but this is as worse as running default sharp and hdr. I suggest to use Curves instead as the fps lost is about 5 for the nearly the same result.
 

Colorfulness - avg loss of 1-2 fps. Well worth having as it revamps the game coloring!

 

HDR (fakeHDR) - avg loss of 6 fps compared to the loss of 15 for default HDR. Gives the game a very dark blacks almost like low gamma.

 

I've been using reshade for several years now and I was using finesharp. Adaptive sharpen has the same results for much less fps loss.  I will add these findings to the reshade section once I type it. Working on the results first. =p

Edited May 28, 2019 by Geronimo553

[Dutch2]

6 hours ago, SharpeXB said:

It isn’t possible to make a benchmark in IL-2 from what I’ve tried. Active gameplay will perform differently from a recorded track. Tracks seem to be just recordings without active physics and AI, they give you a higher FPS than running live. That explanation seems to make sense. It’s possible to run simple live missions like a free flight. But combat that involves AI would give you different results every time. 

 

 

If I quote his remark about his benchmark he is using i’m afraid that aspect of benchmarking could be improved: all testing was conducted and observed on the Kuban map in summer at the Krasnodar multi fighter quick mission at 1000m. 

I’m also afraid he is only testing the overflowing of his lowrange GTX960 and using only his ingame FPS counter as an visual log to determine his performance. 

 

Yep @SharpeXB you are right the use of an video recording as Chilly did, is also not the perfect way to go, but that also count for an clean and lonely  single quick mission that I earlier wrote down. 

I have noticed that the first mission from a scripted campaign “ fire and ice”  from @NETSCAPE   is rather  equally at the start . Direct after I start, I push in auto pilot, and do my recording in FRAMETIMES until the 4 planes are in the air. Maybe we need some fine tuning on that mission like, lesser performance load or  a signal generated by an flare, on when to start the recordings. We could always ask @NETSCAPE for additional aspects. 

But anyway why not try it and let me know, I still think this is the best ingame benchmark we have right now. 

@Geronimo553 I think you do a great job, I hope hope you do take my remarks not as an attack on you, as I’m not that great in English writings, If so let me know. 

Edited May 28, 2019 by Dutch2

[Velxra]

2 hours ago, Dutch2 said:

 

 

If I quote her remark about her benchmark she is using i’m afraid that aspect of benchmarking could be improved: all testing was conducted and observed on the Kuban map in summer at the Krasnodar multi fighter quick mission at 1000m. 

I’m also afraid she is only testing the overflowing of her lowrange GTX960 and using only her ingame FPS counter as an visual log to determine her performance. 

@Geronimo553 I think you do a great job, I hope hope you do take my remarks not as an attack on you, as I’m not that great in English writings, If so let me know. 

You are more than welcome to include your own findings here. No one else has attempted a "what works best" or "what does this do" guide of this type until I created this thread. The purpose of this thread is to give people a firm idea of what to expect when configuring their game to achieve better fps and I never attempted to say the results are absolute. But I have shared what I know and what I have found from playing the game for a number of years. The problem is, iL-2 is a nightmare to setup correctly and a weekend project for a new person to understand and configure correctly. Hence why I made this thread, to assist such people in an easy to understand format of setting up the game. In the current state, this thread is incomplete and still in the progress of being crafted and I have also outline the work in progress status as well. Hopefully this will clear up any confusion.

Also, as I stated above, the render distance data is approximate and not an exact result. Which for you, the fps and benchmarking seems to be your focal point of issue for some reason. You are welcome to spend the hours/days of testing it requires to produce the specific analized results you request. My findings above for the low/balanced/high/ultra section took the better part of four hours the first day and two additional hours the next day to double check the results in order to provide the data above. I will also add that, many people are using a "lowrange gtx" card to play this game and the game has constant problems with stable frame rates and smooth gameplay through the whole gtx 960-1080 line up. Which such information of how to fix issues is scattered across dozens of threads and forums spanning well over five years. So my "lowrange" range card is far from the only card that seeks better performance in the game. The above information I posted can and will assist people in better frame rates or understanding how poor performance problems occur in this game. Plus a few insights of common or not so common problems and how to fix them.

Personally I do not completely trust game recordings as a form of propper gameplay analysis as many gameplay aspects (such as detail load caused by camera zoom) cannot be accounted for correctly. Hence why I would play the same quick mission from the same start location multiple times with various AI flying around as a better test platform. 

Edited May 28, 2019 by Geronimo553

[SharpeXB]

Realize when you are running a mission with many other aircraft it’s likely that the bottleneck is your CPU

[Dutch2]

3 hours ago, Geronimo553 said:

You are more than welcome to include your own findings here. No one else has attempted a "what works best" or "what does this do" guide of this type until I created this thread. The purpose of this thread is to give people a firm idea of what to expect when configuring their game to achieve better fps and I never attempted to say the results are absolute. But I have shared what I know and what I have found from playing the game for a number of years. The problem is, iL-2 is a nightmare to setup correctly and a weekend project for a new person to understand and configure correctly. Hence why I made this thread, to assist such people in an easy to understand format of setting up the game. In the current state, this thread is incomplete and still in the progress of being crafted and I have also outline the work in progress status as well. Hopefully this will clear up any confusion.

Also, as I stated above, the render distance data is approximate and not an exact result. Which for you, the fps and benchmarking seems to be your focal point of issue for some reason. You are welcome to spend the hours/days of testing it requires to produce the specific analized results you request. My findings above for the low/balanced/high/ultra section took the better part of four hours the first day and two additional hours the next day to double check the results in order to provide the data above. I will also add that, many people are using a "lowrange gtx" card to play this game and the game has constant problems with stable frame rates and smooth gameplay through the whole gtx 960-1080 line up. Which such information of how to fix issues is scattered across dozens of threads and forums spanning well over five years. So my "lowrange" range card is far from the only card that seeks better performance in the game. The above information I posted can and will assist people in better frame rates or understanding how poor performance problems occur in this game. Plus a few insights of common or not so common problems and how to fix them.

Personally I do not completely trust game recordings as a form of propper gameplay analysis as many gameplay aspects (such as detail load caused by camera zoom) cannot be accounted for correctly. Hence why I would play the same quick mission from the same start location multiple times with various AI flying around as a better test platform. 

 

Yep tweaking this game is indeed very difficult, labor intensive  and in VR this is  even more difficult. I know the influence at different adjustments can not be done when you have somewhere a bottleneck in your hardware. As I’m facing the same in my benchmark testing. 

To compare apples with apples you will need, in my vision: 

1). A mission that’s generating always the same load and never overstresses your hardware, we are not going to test hardware but the effect of adjustments. An quick mission like in BoS that has lots of random aspects or a recorded video is not suited.

2). A logging tool that does registration of frametimes, you want to see not only fast times but also straight FT.Watching FPS in BoX screen is only interesting if the difference is very high, some difference in FPS you published can not be detected without logging. 

Here FT vs FPS https://techreport.com/review/21516/inside-the-second-a-new-look-at-game-benchmarking

3). High resolution snapshots, why forcing your system to an high load, if the effects are hardly to see. 

 

Testing should be done well and be verified by facts. Avoid aspect from your “belly” like from  @Sneaksie  about adjusting screen resolution for VR, it has zero impact and at lowest settings it can block your mouse pointer. 

Setting the resolution in game settings to a low setting like 1024x768 or even less may significantly improve your performance in VR (VR resolution is fixed and won't change, but the game will spend less time drawing its window on the monitor). 

And if being obsolete it needs to be deleted, otherwise it is miss leading for newbies. 

 

Mmmm I notice you did made some subtle changes in my reply, sorry. 

[Luger1969]

Hi Geronimo.

 

Thanks for asking.

 

1. Control sensitivities. I see today there is a post abt this again.

I guess hearing what others do is always good.

 

2. Opentrack. My trackir croaked. So i bought a delanclip..a year ago. What i did with trackir is i used profiles that i found in the forum and adjusted. Bhh also has a big post here on opentrack. I would welcome any inputs that you have also on the setup of axis etc.

 

Many thanks.

Edited May 28, 2019 by Luger1969

[Velxra]

Updated the main post by beginning the Reshade section and added three threads into the Bonus section.  

Edited May 29, 2019 by Geronimo553

[THERION]

8 hours ago, Geronimo553 said:

Updated the main post by beginning the Reshade section and added three threads into the Bonus section.  

 

Hi mate,

 

many, many thanks for your great effort in consolidating all the tips and tricks to maintain or increase the performance of this great sim.

 

Thank you.

 

Cheerio

[Oyster_KAI]

A small option , before Reshade 3.08, we can turn off in game AA without crash in loading screen.
Whether FXAA or SMAA,they are friendly to fps.
 

[Velxra]

Finally updated the Reshade section. I only need to post the filter values and it should be complete. Then I will move onto the sensitivity section. Also I updated the bonus section as well. 

Edited June 4, 2019 by Geronimo553

[Urra]

On 5/29/2019 at 9:45 AM, Rekt said:

This particular tip really helped me a lot - Thanks!

 

Trackir can cause stutter lag with high sensitivity settings/movement, when looking around. Screen tearing can also occur with high sensitivity settings. Be sure to set the ingame camera smoothing to at least 72 if you encounter this problem. I personally prefer 85 with my trackir settings.

 

 

Is there a screenshot of which slider this is exactly. Thank you.

[THERION]

3 minutes ago, TunaEatsLion said:

Is there a screenshot of which slider this is exactly. Thank you.

Here you are:

[Urra]

1 minute ago, -=-THERION said:

Here you are:

Got it.

[Hellequin13]

Just another 'tip' to help finesse the quality vs performance of the game: you can edit the config file for the presets and get things dialed in a little better.

 

The file is not visible by default (needing to be unpacked) but here is mine that you can copy and save as gpresets.cfg. It goes in the data/LuaScripts folder.

Spoiler

//******** Preset 0 ************
[preset=0]
//Textures settings
    Filter=3
    texmipdown=1
    land_textures=1

//Quality
    shadows_quality=1
    shadows_dynamic=1,false        //Quality, InGameEnable, Smooth
    reflection=2
    grass_quality=5
    forest_quality=1
    landscape_parallax=0
    smooth_effects=false
    clouds_quality=1

//Distance
    objects_distance=0.5
    landscape_mesh_quality=0
    forest_distance=1

//Post effects
    post_effects_enable=true
    post_bloom_enable=true
    post_contrast=true
    post_sharpen=false
    post_drops_enable=false
    post_hdr=0
    post_motion_samples=0;
    saturation=1.0

//Screen depth, SSAO, SSR
    depth_res=1
    ssao_res=-1
    ssao_samples=0
    ssr_samples=0

    clouds_samples=64

    effects_samples=0.25
[end]

//******** Preset 1 ************
[preset=1]
//Textures settings
    Filter=3
    texmipdown=0
    land_textures=0

//Quality
    shadows_quality=2
    shadows_dynamic=1,false        //Quality, InGameEnable, Smooth
    reflection=3
    grass_quality=5
    forest_quality=1
    landscape_parallax=1
    clouds_quality=1

//Distance
    objects_distance=1.0
    landscape_mesh_quality=0.5
    forest_distance=2

//Post effects
    post_effects_enable=true
    post_bloom_enable=true
    post_contrast=true
    post_sharpen=false
    post_drops_enable=false
    post_hdr=3
    saturation=1.0
    post_motion_samples=16;

//Screen depth, SSAO, SSR
    depth_res=1
    ssao_res=-1
    ssao_samples=0
    ssr_samples=20

    clouds_samples=64

    effects_samples=0.5
[end]

//******** Preset 2 ************
[preset=2]
//Textures settings
    Filter=3
    texmipdown=0
    land_textures=0

//Quality
    shadows_quality=2
    shadows_dynamic=1,false,true        //Quality, InGameEnable, Smooth
    reflection=3
    grass_quality=7
    forest_quality=1
    landscape_parallax=1
    clouds_quality=2

//Distance
    objects_distance=1.0
    landscape_mesh_quality=0.75
    forest_distance=3

//Post effects
    post_effects_enable=true
    post_bloom_enable=true
    post_contrast=true
    post_sharpen=false
    post_drops_enable=true
    post_hdr=3
    saturation=1.0
    post_motion_samples=20;

//Screen depth, SSAO, SSR
    depth_res=1
    ssao_res=1
    ssao_samples=12
    ssr_samples=24

    clouds_samples=64

    effects_samples=0.75
[end]

//******** Preset 3 ************
[preset=3]
//Textures settings
    Filter=3
    texmipdown=0
    land_textures=0

//Quality
    shadows_quality=2
    shadows_dynamic=2,true,true        //Quality, InGameEnable, Smooth
    reflection=3
    grass_quality=7
    forest_quality=1
    landscape_parallax=1
    clouds_quality=2

//Distance
    objects_distance=1.0
    landscape_mesh_quality=1.0
    forest_distance=5

//Post effects
    post_effects_enable=true
    post_bloom_enable=true
    post_contrast=true
    post_sharpen=false
    post_drops_enable=true
    post_hdr=4
    saturation=1.0
    post_motion_samples=24;

//Screen depth, SSAO, SSR
    depth_res=1
    ssao_res=1
    ssao_samples=16
    ssr_samples=30

    clouds_samples=96

    effects_samples=1
[end]

//******** Preset 4 ************
[preset=4]
//Textures settings
    Filter=3
    texmipdown=1
    land_textures=1

//Quality
    shadows_quality=1
    shadows_dynamic=1,false,true        //Quality, InGameEnable, Smooth
    reflection=1
    grass_quality=3
    forest_quality=0
    landscape_parallax=0
    clouds_quality=2

//Distance
    objects_distance=0.5
    landscape_mesh_quality=0.5
    forest_distance=2

//Post effects
    post_effects_enable=true
    post_bloom_enable=false
    post_contrast=true
    post_sharpen=false
    post_drops_enable=false
    post_hdr=0
    saturation=0.9
    post_motion_samples=0;

//Screen depth, SSAO, SSR
    depth_res=1
    ssao_res=-1
    ssao_samples=0
    ssr_samples=0

    clouds_samples=32

    effects_samples=0.5
[end]

 

The original file only had the four presets, I added the fifth at the end (so that the originals remained unmolested) and then altered the line "preset = 4" in my startup.cfg file (under the graphics subsection).

 

I mark my startup.cfg as read only for various other changes, not sure if this change requires it or not.

Edited June 7, 2019 by SYN_Haashashin

[Velxra]

24 minutes ago, Hellequin13 said:

The file is not visible by default (needing to be unpacked) but here is mine that you can copy and save as gpresets.cfg. It goes in the data/LuaScripts folder.

The original file only had the 3 presets, I added the fourth at the end (so that the originals remained unmolested) and then altered the line "preset = 4" in my startup.cfg file (under the graphics subsection).

 

I mark my startup.cfg as read only for various other changes, not sure if this change requires it or not.

 

Hmm very interesting, without the ability to unpack files I have often wondered if such configuration files existed. Many thanks for sharing this!!

Do you know if the depth of field blur is tied to the post process or screen depth section? Perhaps we can turn it off using this gpresets config. 

Edited June 4, 2019 by Geronimo553

[Urra]

On 6/4/2019 at 4:33 PM, Hellequin13 said:

Just another 'tip' to help finesse the quality vs performance of the game: you can edit the config file for the presets and get things dialed in a little better.

 

The file is not visible by default (needing to be unpacked) but here is mine that you can copy and save as gpresets.cfg. It goes in the data/LuaScripts folder.

Spoiler

//******** Preset 0 ************
[preset=0]
//Textures settings
    Filter=3
    texmipdown=1
    land_textures=1

//Quality
    shadows_quality=1
    shadows_dynamic=1,false        //Quality, InGameEnable, Smooth
    reflection=2
    grass_quality=5
    forest_quality=1
    landscape_parallax=0
    smooth_effects=false
    clouds_quality=1

//Distance
    objects_distance=0.5
    landscape_mesh_quality=0
    forest_distance=1

//Post effects
    post_effects_enable=true
    post_bloom_enable=true
    post_contrast=true
    post_sharpen=false
    post_drops_enable=false
    post_hdr=0
    post_motion_samples=0;
    saturation=1.0

//Screen depth, SSAO, SSR
    depth_res=1
    ssao_res=-1
    ssao_samples=0
    ssr_samples=0

    clouds_samples=64

    effects_samples=0.25
[end]

//******** Preset 1 ************
[preset=1]
//Textures settings
    Filter=3
    texmipdown=0
    land_textures=0

//Quality
    shadows_quality=2
    shadows_dynamic=1,false        //Quality, InGameEnable, Smooth
    reflection=3
    grass_quality=5
    forest_quality=1
    landscape_parallax=1
    clouds_quality=1

//Distance
    objects_distance=1.0
    landscape_mesh_quality=0.5
    forest_distance=2

//Post effects
    post_effects_enable=true
    post_bloom_enable=true
    post_contrast=true
    post_sharpen=false
    post_drops_enable=false
    post_hdr=3
    saturation=1.0
    post_motion_samples=16;

//Screen depth, SSAO, SSR
    depth_res=1
    ssao_res=-1
    ssao_samples=0
    ssr_samples=20

    clouds_samples=64

    effects_samples=0.5
[end]

//******** Preset 2 ************
[preset=2]
//Textures settings
    Filter=3
    texmipdown=0
    land_textures=0

//Quality
    shadows_quality=2
    shadows_dynamic=1,false,true        //Quality, InGameEnable, Smooth
    reflection=3
    grass_quality=7
    forest_quality=1
    landscape_parallax=1
    clouds_quality=2

//Distance
    objects_distance=1.0
    landscape_mesh_quality=0.75
    forest_distance=3

//Post effects
    post_effects_enable=true
    post_bloom_enable=true
    post_contrast=true
    post_sharpen=false
    post_drops_enable=true
    post_hdr=3
    saturation=1.0
    post_motion_samples=20;

//Screen depth, SSAO, SSR
    depth_res=1
    ssao_res=1
    ssao_samples=12
    ssr_samples=24

    clouds_samples=64

    effects_samples=0.75
[end]

//******** Preset 3 ************
[preset=3]
//Textures settings
    Filter=3
    texmipdown=0
    land_textures=0

//Quality
    shadows_quality=2
    shadows_dynamic=2,true,true        //Quality, InGameEnable, Smooth
    reflection=3
    grass_quality=7
    forest_quality=1
    landscape_parallax=1
    clouds_quality=2

//Distance
    objects_distance=1.0
    landscape_mesh_quality=1.0
    forest_distance=5

//Post effects
    post_effects_enable=true
    post_bloom_enable=true
    post_contrast=true
    post_sharpen=false
    post_drops_enable=true
    post_hdr=4
    saturation=1.0
    post_motion_samples=24;

//Screen depth, SSAO, SSR
    depth_res=1
    ssao_res=1
    ssao_samples=16
    ssr_samples=30

    clouds_samples=96

    effects_samples=1
[end]

//******** Preset 4 ************
[preset=4]
//Textures settings
    Filter=3
    texmipdown=1
    land_textures=1

//Quality
    shadows_quality=1
    shadows_dynamic=1,false,true        //Quality, InGameEnable, Smooth
    reflection=1
    grass_quality=3
    forest_quality=0
    landscape_parallax=0
    clouds_quality=2

//Distance
    objects_distance=0.5
    landscape_mesh_quality=0.5
    forest_distance=2

//Post effects
    post_effects_enable=true
    post_bloom_enable=false
    post_contrast=true
    post_sharpen=false
    post_drops_enable=false
    post_hdr=0
    saturation=0.9
    post_motion_samples=0;

//Screen depth, SSAO, SSR
    depth_res=1
    ssao_res=-1
    ssao_samples=0
    ssr_samples=0

    clouds_samples=32

    effects_samples=0.5
[end]

 

The original file only had the four presets, I added the fifth at the end (so that the originals remained unmolested) and then altered the line "preset = 4" in my startup.cfg file (under the graphics subsection).

 

I mark my startup.cfg as read only for various other changes, not sure if this change requires it or not.

Thanks.  This is great. Can you say in broad stroke of the pen, how the numbers relate to the quality of setting?  Some go below 1, like .5, etc.  Others are 1,2,3.  While others are going up to 30.  Have you been able to digest these into a general pattern as it relates to quality? Just to get me started.

Edited June 7, 2019 by SYN_Haashashin

[Hellequin13]

At a guess I would say it is in the last section under //Screen depth, SSAO, SSR. Perhaps try setting depth_res to 0 or -1