Arena Commander - Visual Tweaks - FPS gains & looks better

[Ledhead900]

Arena Commander - Visual Tweaks

 

Hi guys

I would just like to add a little thread here, to help spread my little tweak file in hopes that you guys will find it useful as well. 

 

 

Description
This is visual tweak config file which aims to bring out deeper shadows, darker environments and better SSAO, removes motion blur and depth of field. This does not require any shader injectors and uses only the console commands available. It is not a very big change but it does increase the immersion and most of it is personal preference so you can edit the config to suit your taste or run the commands from the console and then save it by replacing the config value.  

 

Before Shot 1

After  Shot  1

Before Shot 2

After  Shot  2

 

The differences do exist in the images they are just hard to spot without being in-game, but if you pay attention to the walls right of the fish tank and the body of the 300i you will certainly notice the SSAO taking effect, the effects look much better in-game than the images though.
Interested? cool

 

 

Download

Click here to download
Extract too "GamePathHere\StarCitizen\CitizenClient"; Removal is the reverse of this.

 

Latest posting can always be found on the RSI forum by clicking here

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source for those interested

Gamma and Shadow resolution are personal taste so you may want to fiddle with them.

Shadow resolution must be powers of two for example -

 

64: 128: 256: < Smoother but less detail

512: < which looks shit

1024: 2048: 4096< higher crisper shadows but,  for some reason introduces shadow pixilation around the border of the shadows.

-- LedHeads Visual Tweak Pack--See http://starcitizen.wikia.com/wiki/Console_commands for usage.-- Basic Settings		cl_fov = 90		pl_movement.power_sprint_targetFov = 95		r_DrawNearFoV = 95	-- Anti-Aliasing		r_TexMinAnisotropy = 8		r_TexMaxAnisotropy = 8	--Post Processing Effects		r_DepthOfField = 0		r_MotionBlur = 0		g_radialBlur = 0	--Vsync & FPS limit		r_VSync = 0			--Change to your preference		sys_MaxFPS = 120	--Mouse Sensitivity		i_mouse_accel = 0.0		i_mouse_accel_max = 0.0		cl_sensitivity = 10	--Other		cl_crouchToggle = 1	--Change to 1 for crouch toggle 		hud_bobHud = 0--Advanced Settings	-- Post Process Effects		r_ChromaticAberration = 0		r_Sharpening = 0		--Lighting & Shadow Quality			r_SSAO = 3			r_ssdo = 1			r_SSReflections = 1			r_Gamma = 0.86 		--Change to your preference			r_HDRBrightLevel = 0.5			e_ShadowsMaxTexRes = 256			e_ParticlesShadows = 0

[TheDigitalRealm]

Not entirely sure of what the point is in modding a pre-alpha game to be honest. Especially since we can expect this to be receiving updates very regularly.

[rentaspoon]

Not entirely sure of what the point is in modding a pre-alpha game to be honest. Especially since we can expect this to be receiving updates very regularly.

It's not really a mod it's just a tweak of the files but if it doesn't give any extra FPS I'm not interested atm (no offence)

EDIT: Most mods starting pre alpha usually get the momentum to either be in game or be as smooth as the game, just look at KSP where a few modders where hired

[CatCloud]

My main issue with the "examples" is the different size on the pictures, i just don't feel like bothering to se the difference at all. but i guess this is nice???
 

[Ledhead900]

Not entirely sure of what the point is in modding a pre-alpha game to be honest. Especially since we can expect this to be receiving updates very regularly.

Bad wording on my part I did not call this a mod on the RSI forum but I did here for lack of a better term for it. It is essentially just a "user.cfg" file you place it in the game dir it won't be overridden and it it overrides your level of detail (game quality settings) with what is in the code source which is just a bunch of pre tuned console commands saved to file so it auto executes. 

 

It's not really a mod it's just a tweak of the files but if it doesn't give any extra FPS I'm not interested atm (no offence) EDIT: Most mods starting pre alpha usually get the momentum to either be in game or be as smooth as the game, just look at KSP where a few modders where hired

Not a tweak of files, no original files were modified, this is a custom user.cfg config file you drop into the install location which auto executes a bunch of consoles commands when the game is loaded. Which A. means you have the flexability to set a level of detail in game higher than what would normally run well or do the reverse for more FPS without having to choose between low quality shading with no motion blur and lower texture quality or a higher setting with FPS eating post processing effects for little to no gain in quality beyond the level of detail pop in and texture increase.  

 

What this tweak does pre set a some quality settings and fine tune settings which RSI are not even using even on ULTRA such as correct SSAO quality setting and gamma control as well as the ability to toggle on or off various post processing effects like motion blur, radial blur and so on. It also comes pre-set with the field of view at 90 so when RSI update the game and re-enable these console commands your FOV will be set to something reasonable from the time you load the game 

 

 

 

TL;DR

No game files are modded, this is a simple console command auto execute stand-alone file that allows you to choose any level of game detail you like via the pre-set in game without sacrificing excess FPS on post processing or shading quality. In most cases you will gain FPS regardless which quality pre-set you use in-game. I spoke to an RSI forum moderator and the person said they would passed the tweaks up the chain as they also found it looked better than what they currently were using. 

 

Only suggestion I tell people are to fiddle with the "r_Gamma = 0.86" and "e_ShadowsMaxTexRes = 256" I have an explanation for this on the RSI forums.

 

My main issue with the "examples" is the different size on the pictures, i just don't feel like bothering to se the difference at all. but i guess this is nice???

 

Well it is very easy to try it out, it is a stand-alone file that touches none of the games original files you just extract the single file plop it into the dir mentioned in the OP and launch the game you will gain FPS and it should in most cases look better as well.  In some cases you might wish to adjust the gamma variable to suit though that is really dependant on your software and hardware current gamma setting. Hope this help you decide.

[rentaspoon]

snip

Sorry MY bad wording, I have a user.cfg file that loads a graphics setting file. That way keeping the user.cfg clean looking, I'm trying to figure how to bind it to a key so you can flick from one to another.

[Draden_]

Not entirely sure of what the point is in modding a pre-alpha game to be honest. Especially since we can expect this to be receiving updates very regularly.

I'm with you but there are people who will use this atm,if it really does increase fps and it really does bring out the shadows.

Its nicely done btw Ledhead900.I think in the next few patches i'll give sweetfx a try cause i feel the colors are a bit washed out,but then again that might change

[Ledhead900]

Sorry MY bad wording, I have a user.cfg file that loads a graphics setting file. That way keeping the user.cfg clean looking, I'm trying to figure how to bind it to a key so you can flick from one to another.

Won't work as in most cases the client has to be restarted for the changes to take effect for some things, and don't bother trying to use the sys_something quality settings or the LOD commands they override things like SSAO and motion blur making the entire optimization nill improvement. It should be noted that it may be possible to launch a config file on launch with a command line parameter added to the short cut target I will see if I can do something like this.

 

 

 

I'm with you but there are people who will use this atm,if it really does increase fps and it really does bring out the shadows.

Its nicely done btw Ledhead900.I think in the next few patches i'll give sweetfx a try cause i feel the colors are a bit washed out,but then again that might change

That was something I was going to try next, I have hit the limit with what I can do with the console commands that don't override multiple. Also I would like to again point out that client updates will have NO effect on the tweaks as they are using a custom user configuration file which does not touch default files and it overrides anything pre-set by the defaults which share the same variables.

 

This means even if RSI wanted to update the client to make "r_HDRBrightLevel = 0.30"  default it is going to be overridden by the custom config until you physically delete the custom user config or remove it from the games directory for testing. None of the changes are permanently going to effect the game install files to remove it you just delete the custom config file anybody else claiming this to be pointless due to alpha is wrong because of how this actually works by simply running existing console commands in Cry Engine which override what RSI see is a good default setting for graphic quality on launch.

 

Yes some of the commands available are disabled by RSI edits to the cry engine they likely will implement those in future a classic example is the cl_fov setting this was disabled in Arena Commander but worked in the Hanger module to set your field of view it does NOT hurt keeping the command in the config because a disabled command does not mean the command does not exist it is just disabled so it cannot be executed on the client, so when RSI decide to re-enable this command the effects it has will immediately come into effect without any fuss.

 

I hope this helps you understand a little more about this is actually doing. The changes in-game look vastly different and you do get MUCH MUCH better shadow shading at near zero performance cost because I disabled the motion blur and radial blur post processing effects which each chew up a around 3-8fps motion blur is a known FPS killer and it add's nothing to immersion because artificial motion blur as in not reality more often than not takes away from the experience and can cause nauseating side effects as motion blur is inherently natural for the brain as it is a side effect from the brain predicting the frames your eyes can't visually tell the difference between but when its being forced artificially it just disorientates the user because your brain knows there is no real motion going on can't make sense of why there is blur.

 

Yes in some cases motion blur can be used well, is it  used well in Star Citizen right now No, no it I don't think that it is. What we have right now is full screen motion blur not selective blur on moving objects which drastically saps FPS and all the player gets for this loss is worse general environment awareness caused by having intense blur over everything which I am sure you have noticed. 

 

p.s

sorry for the essay.

[Draden_]

Won't work as in most cases the client has to be restarted for the changes to take effect for some things, and don't bother trying to use the sys_something quality settings or the LOD commands they override things like SSAO and motion blur making the entire optimization nill improvement. It should be noted that it may be possible to launch a config file on launch with a command line parameter added to the short cut target I will see if I can do something like this.

 

 

 

That was something I was going to try next, I have hit the limit with what I can do with the console commands that don't override multiple.

Inform us when you can

[Ledhead900]

Inform us when you can

Will do, I updated my post before you replied, well I should say prior to reading your response.

[rentaspoon]

snip

Essays are good

I haven't played with much other than motionblur and a few other things, TBH my cpu is bottlenecking not my gpu so it's more for preferences and would turn it on/off for screen shots and videos.

You could have the stuff that demands a reset in the user.cfg and the others in a separate file.

It would be good way to script different controller maps on the fly

[JustinCaseDK]

I love playing and streaming computer games, especially space sims. It wasn't possible for me to play star citizen while OBS was running. On medium settings. Now everything looks better, and runs smoother. Don't know how you did it! But this .CFG works for me in all possible aspects! I just had to reconfigure gamma to 1.00, otherwise I had trouble spotting things in dark areas.