Display
The first Options screen to check should always be the Display options.
Resolution: Higher resolutions can cost a lot of GPU power, and performance will often scale proportionally to the resolution. Especially close to minimum spec it may be worth it to run at a lower resolution while maintaining a higher graphics quality level.
Another option available in the Display menu is the MSAA setting. We offer three very high-end AA modes, MSAA 2x, MSAA 4x and MSAA 8x. Note that using these can have a very severe performance impact, so only use these when you have plenty of hardware power available relative to the resolution you are running at (for example with SLI). Note that we also offer the affordable AA method TAA which is located in the Graphics options.
Both of the options in the display menu only impact the GPU performance, not the CPU performance. If you are CPU bottlenecked reducing any of the settings here will not help you.
Graphics
The graphics menu has the largest number of options, and the performance of each individual one is limited, but all turned up together can severely impact frame rate when the hardware is not up to the task.
Preset
There are simply suggestions for different quality levels, feel free to use them, but for the best experience tuned to your personal preference, please tune the other options below and have this be Custom.
Texture Quality
This alters the resolution of textures used in the game. This primarily impacts GPU memory pressure. If this is set too high the game may start stuttering and slowing down. It does not impact performance on the GPU or the CPU much otherwise. We recommend it at High for 4GB cards. You have to restart the game to apply changes to Texture Quality.
Texture Filtering
This is an all-time PC gaming classic. Turn it up for sharper textures at an angle. We feel that the moderate amount of 4x gives very good results. Altering only impacts GPU performance.
Shadow Quality
This setting impacts the resolution of shadows rendered throughout the game. At high settings shadows become crisp and lose pixelated artifacts. At lower settings they are chunkier. Altering only impacts GPU performance. Very high can be relatively expensive for the GPU.
Contact Hardening Shadows
Turning this on creates more realistic shadows as they move away from their source. This only impacts GPU performance.
Temporal Anti-Aliasing
Toggling this on will reduce aliasing to create a smoother image. This only impacts GPU performance.
Motion Blur
Fast camera and object motion will appear smoother. This only impacts GPU performance.
Depth of Field
Depth of Field can blur areas on screen that are out of focus, typically when far away. This only impacts GPU performance.
Bloom
When turned on bright spots on the screen will bleed out, adding to the illusion of bright light. This only impacts GPU performance.
Volumetric Lighting
Turning this on adds volumetric lighting to some fog and smoke effects. This only impacts GPU performance.
Setting it to Ultra increases detail but has a significant impact on GPU performance!
Subsurface Scattering
Improves lighting effects on the skin of characters in the game. This only impacts GPU performance.
Cloth Physics
Disabling this reduces the quality of cloth simulation. This only impacts CPU performance.
Ambient Occlusion
This toggles on and between different ambient occlusion algorithms. This only impacts GPU performance.
Tessellation
Turning this option on smooths selected meshes throughout the game by tessellating them. This option impacts GPU performance, and to a lesser extent CPU performance.
Parallax Occlusion Mapping
Adds additional depth and detail to select surfaces, such as brick walls and cobblestone streets. This only impacts GPU performance.
Screenspace Reflections
When this option is turned on dynamic reflections are calculated based on other items visible on the screen. Turning it up to Ultra gives you more detail in the reflections. This only impacts GPU performance.
Sharpen & Chromatic Aberration
Camera effects that can be toggled on or off. This has a minimal impact on GPU performance.
Level of Detail
This influences the detail level of rendered meshes, and the distance at which they disappear entirely. Lower settings can significantly help CPU performance due to it having to process fewer objects. GPU performance is also impacted.
