Taking you step-by-step through the process of getting the most from your graphics hardware, it’s a must-read for those who delight in delving deep into config files.
Taking you step-by-step through the process of getting the most from your graphics hardware, it’s a must-read for those who delight in delving deep into config files.
Bethesda’s Fallout 4 is just around the corner and we already know that it’s underlying game engine (dubbed the Creation Engine) is in part powered by NVIDIA graphics technology. In their partnership Bethesda and NVIDIA have brought new techniques to bear, implementing NVIDIA Volumetric Lighting for more realistic illumination as well as fully leveraging techniques which aren’t proprietary to NVIDIA GameWorks. The sheer number of settings which can be fine-tuned is mind-boggling, and so it’s awesome to see NVIDIA release a comprehensive guide to both the features and how to tweak them.
LINK: NVIDIA Fallout 4 Graphics, Performance & Tweaking Guide
Although many high-level graphics settings are modified thorough in-game options or via the launcher, more subtle effects are typically hidden from view. As a result PC users will need to delve into the .ini files to get the full tweaked experience, modifying detail levels up or down as appropriate to get the most from your system in terms of Frame per Second or pure image quality.
Fallout 4 Tweaking
With an accessible configuration file there’s plenty of opportunity to tweak Fallout 4’s settings, pushing them beyond their defined maximum values to further increase image quality, assuming you have the necessary hardware of course.
First, configure settings in the launcher to your liking, then exit out. Head to C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\My Games\Fallout4 and backup Fallout4Prefs.ini. Open Fallout4Prefs.ini with a text editor, such as Notepad++, and edit one or more of the values described below. Save your modified file and reload the launcher, but this time simply press “Play” and do not re-enter the options portion of the tool, otherwise your changes may be overridden.
With an accessible configuration file there’s plenty of opportunity to tweak Fallout 4’s settings, pushing them beyond their defined maximum values to further increase image quality, assuming you have the necessary hardware of course.
First, configure settings in the launcher to your liking, then exit out. Head to C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\My Games\Fallout4 and backup Fallout4Prefs.ini. Open Fallout4Prefs.ini with a text editor, such as Notepad++, and edit one or more of the values described below. Save your modified file and reload the launcher, but this time simply press “Play” and do not re-enter the options portion of the tool, otherwise your changes may be overridden.
In order to comfortable play Fallout 4 at 1080p60 on High graphics settings NVIDIA recommend a GeForce GTX 970, Intel 6600K and 16GB RAM; a similar experience at 1440p60 will by contrast require the GTX 980 Ti. Anything higher than that and you’re talking multi-GPU configurations. At the lower end at GTX 550Ti will only be sufficient for 720p30 @ Medium quality.
Both NVIDIA and AMD users will get a lot out of getting to grips with tweaking these settings, especially if there are any underling graphics/performance issues on launch. AMD users in particular may benefit from grasping those techniques which make extensive use of hardware tesselation and modifying the values older (pre-GCN 1.1) hardware, whilst anyone on older NVIDIA hardware could also benefit in a similar fashion.
Alongside the Game Ready Driver NVIDIA are also releasing GeForce Experience graphics optimisation profiles for your hardware in advance of Fallout 4’s release, so keep your eye open for them if you’re after a one-click solution.
