Fallout 4 manual graphics settings. Disable mouse acceleration

If your game crashes at start

For some users, Fallout 4 crashes when starting the game. This can be fixed by running the game in borderless windowed mode. You need to do the following:

Prefs.ini file in documents / users / mygames / fallout4 and in steamapps / common / fallout4
Set the following values ​​(the resolution is what you need):

BMaximizeWindow = 1
bBorderless = 1
bFull Screen = 0
iSize H = 1080
iSize W = 1920
Unlock FPS

For some, the maximum number of frames per second is 30, for others - 60. Below is an instruction on how to unlock FPS. Attention: it is not advised to unlock it above 60, as there were bugs in Skyrim (flying animals, etc.)

Open Fallout4Pref.ini (located in C: \ Users \ [name] \ My Documents \ My Games \ Fallout4 \. A backup is optional - if you delete Fallout4Pref.ini, the game will automatically create it the next time you launch it ...

Find the line iPresentInterval = 1 and change it to iPresentInterval = 0

It looks like mouse acceleration is Fallout 4's default setting. To turn it off, we need to do the same thing that we did in Skyrim. Open Fallout4.ini C: \ Users \ [name] \ My Documents \ My Games \ Fallout4 \

In the section, add a new line:
bMouseAcceleration = 0

Attention: acceleration will not be removed from various menus, but will be disabled "inside" the game.
How to disable intro when loading a game:

Solution 1:
To skip the intro every time you download Fallout 4, go to the Steam folder where you have steamapps \ common \ Fallout 4 \ Data \ Video installed and delete the following file:

Solution 2:
First go to C: \ Users \ [name] \ My Documents \ My Games \ Fallout4 \ and open Fallout4.ini. In the section add SIntroSequence = 1

Then in the same folder open Fallout4Prefs.ini and add SIntroSequence = 1 again in the section.

You should now have your intro video disabled. Bug with an invisible master key

If you have a bug with an invisible master key, the solution is quite simple, open Fallout4Prefs.ini in the folder (C: \ Users \\ Documents \ My Games \ Fallout4 \) and change below:

ISize W = XXXX
iSize H = YYYY
on
iSize W = XXXX-1
iSize H = YYYY-1

For example:
For example:
iSize W = 1920
iSize H = 1080
will be replaced by
iSize W = 1919
iSize H = 1079

Then do the same for Fallout4Prefs.ini, which is located in your Fallout 4 Steam folder - steamapps \ common \ Fallout 4 \ Fallout 4.

This bug is quite common if you unlock FPS and don't enable Vsync. Thanks to user Vhailor for help with the bug.
How to change fov.

Unlike Skyrim, Fallout 4 requires a bit more action. It is required to make a change in 3 different files, 2 of them Fallout4Prefs.ini in two different folders, and one is Fallout4.ini

First open Fallout4.ini C: \ Users \ [name] \ My Documents \ My Games \ Fallout4 \ and in the section add the following lines:

FDefaultWorldFOV = XX
fDefault1stPersonFOV = XX

Then open Fallout4Prefs.ini in C: \ Users \ [name] \ My Documents \ My Games \ Fallout4 \ and do the same as above:
In the section add the lines:
fDefaultWorldFOV = XX
fDefault1stPersonFOV = XX

Where XX is the desired fov parameter. I think 90 will be fine for most, but that's for your taste.

Then go to your Steam installation folder - steamapps \ common \ Fallout 4 \ Fallout4 and open Fallout4Prefs.ini. There also add to the section
fDefaultWorldFOV = XX
fDefault1stPersonFOV = XX

Note that the fov options in the Fallout 4.ini section do not need to be changed.

If you think your pip-boy is too small, press ~, then type fov XX, where XX is the smaller value you choose. This FOV will not affect your game, but it will affect the size of your pip-boy. If the key does not work, change the key settings for the console.

Default Fov (80):
increased fov 110:

How to add support for 21: 9 (ultrawide).

To make your game run at 21: 9 without problems, open Fallout4Prefs.ini in the C: \ Users \ [name] \ My Documents \ My Games \ Fallout4 \ folder and change the following lines to the values ​​below:

BTopMostWindow = 1
bMaximizeWindow = 1
bBorderless = 1
bFull Screen = 0
iSize H = XXXX
iSize W = YYYY

Where XXXX is your horizontal resolution and YYYY is your vertical resolution.

The HUD will stretch a bit, but it's a good start.
Unlocking the console:

Some users have reported that the default console doesn't work for them (and nothing happens when you hit the tilde ~). If it works, then you don't need to do anything. To fix this, go to the windows language bar and change the layout to English.

Another solution is to use the @ key.

For now, this might help you.
The mouse in the menu is invisible

The most common solution for this if you have a gamepad connected is to disable it. However, you can solve this in another way:

Open Fallout4Prefs.ini (C: \ Users \ [name] \ My Documents \ My Games \ Fallout4 \) and change the following line:
bGamepadEnable = 1
on
bGamepadEnable = 0
The vertical and horizontal movements of the mouse are different

If you don't like it, you can quickly fix it. Just open Fallout4.ini (C: \ Users \ [name] \ My Documents \ My Games \ Fallout4 \) and change the following:

fMouseHeadingYScale = .021
on
fMouseHeadingYScale = .03738

This should work at 16: 9 resolutions

For users who want to experiment with graphics - improve or reduce it through the INI settings.

Hello to all lovers of computer games. The Gamebizclub team is in touch. The topic of our article today is setting up Fallout 4 so that you can play comfortably even on not the most powerful hardware.

This topic is very relevant, since games are constantly being improved and are becoming more and more demanding on gaming PCs, but at the same time, not every gamer can afford to constantly upgrade his computer. Therefore, you need to know how to properly set up a toy so that it does not lag and nothing distracts you from the gameplay.

In this article, you will learn:

PC Requirements

First of all, let's take a look at the minimum system requirements for Fallout 4:

• OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit).
• Processor: Intel Core i5-2300 2.8 GHz / AMD Phenom II X4 945 3.0 GHz.
• Video card: NVIDIA GTX 550 Ti 2GB / AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB.
• RAM: 8 GB.
• Free space on hard disk: 30 GB.

This list makes it clear that with such or similar components, you can play at the lowest graphics settings without serious lags. For our part, we can assure you that even with such or similar components, you can achieve eye-pleasing results if you play a little with the settings.

For those who have the ability to play at ultra without a drop in frequency, there are the following recommended requirements:

• Processor: Intel Core i7 4790 3.6 GHz / AMD FX-9590 4.7 GHz;
• Video card: NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB / AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB.

All other parameters such as OS, RAM, free hard disk space remain unchanged.

If you are a happy owner of such hardware, then read ours and install the game, by the way, you can buy it here and you don't have to worry about drawdowns and performance degradation.

Launcher settings

Let's see which parameters can be set to the very minimum without losing too much quality, and which can be safely set at high values.

The first thing to do is open the game launcher settings. Immediately we see the "screen resolution" column. To a greater extent, the quality of your graphics will depend on this parameter, so we set the maximum possible in your case.

• Smoothing

The next line is anti-aliasing. There is an interesting point: if the performance allows you, then it is better to put TAA, that is, the best quality. Why? The answer is ambiguous, but still justified: with FXAA, image blur is less, but anti-aliasing shows itself very mediocre.

• Anisotropic filtering

If you suddenly see some kind of jitter in the picture while moving, then try changing the anti-aliasing from TAA to FXAA. In 9 out of 10 cases, this will correct the situation.

A small gift for you will be the line "anisotropic filtering". This parameter has little or no impact on performance. Even on the weakest video cards, we would not recommend disabling it completely. Better to put it to a minimum. It will reduce the number of frames per second by no more than 10%, but at the same time it will leave all objects in their places, for example, textures on the asphalt and even entire objects.

Even with the weakest video card, it is better to set the mode to at least 8x. With medium-sized graphics cards, the correct choice is to set this parameter to the maximum.

• texture detail

This parameter goes on ultras even with weak video cards, let alone top gaming graphics editors. In terms of shadow detail, there are three levels (low, high and ultra). At the same time, the difference between the latter two is noticeable only to inveterate aesthetes and to those who are looking for these very differences. But with low settings, everything is obvious - almost all shadows disappear.

It makes no sense at all to detail additional textures. Does it matter how clearly you will have traces of wounds or dents from bullets? It is very, very difficult to visually notice the difference.

A few more parameters that do not greatly affect the gameplay, but will please the performance with their versatility - the detailing of lighting, sunlight and volumetric light. Put on the lowest modes.

You might think that the following parameters should also be set to a minimum. But no, voluminous rain, glare and reflections make the picture much more real, while not overloading the video card.

Set the drawing distance to a minimum.

Manual graphics settings

Having set up the launcher, you need to dig in the game folder itself and make a backup copy of the Fallout4Prefs.ini file. After that, open the source file using any text editor. To change the value of a parameter, simply change its numeric value.

• Character visibility

This characteristic affects the distance at which objects are drawn. If you have a very weak PC, then it is better not to experiment and set the value in the region of 3-7, in other cases set higher numbers.

• Character effects

Expose to ultra mode. Even the highest values ​​will not significantly load your hardware.

• Object details in the distance

Performance eats a lot. If the iron does not pull, then you should not chase high values, otherwise your performance will immediately drop by almost half.

• Light effects and grass distances

These parameters are individual, as you like. Nature lover? Then more grass. Want a desert? Then we set these values ​​to a minimum.

• Distance of objects and things

Two very useful parameters. By changing the first one, you will be able to notice objects from afar without much fps drawdown. The second option, although it loads the computer, but with increasing values ​​makes the picture more colorful and lively.

• Particle settings

Special effects. There is not much difference between the minimum values ​​and the ultra.

• Distance and quality of shadows

To increase performance, it is better to set values ​​in the region of 16000-18000. We set the quality in the range from 3072 to 8192 with a step of 1024.

• Water setting

We set the lowest values.

This completes the manual setting, but be careful: if you start changing them in the game itself, the manually set values ​​will be reset.

A few words about optimization

First of all, make sure everything is ok with your computer. By simply cleaning the system unit from dust and installing new drivers, you optimize the game much better than trying to figure out its settings for several hours.

It also happens that the computer is in perfect condition, the settings are set to a minimum, the requirements correspond to the stated ones, but it is still uncomfortable to play. In such cases, the solution may be to install special mods.

Let's talk about a few of them, the most simple and useful:

• Optimized Vanilla Textures

Visually, you will hardly notice the difference, but resource consumption will decrease several times, which will have a favorable effect on the stability of work.

• Wasteland 512 Textures

This mod is a godsend for weak computers and laptops. It will allow you to change the resolution to a much lower one. Thus, you can achieve stable performance even with requirements lower than the minimum described in this article. We recommend that you install it the last of the mods.

The most common mistakes

Now let's take a look at the most common errors that occur in Fallout 4.

• Game freezes

We check if your PC or laptop meets the minimum requirements. If so, then we verify the game files on Steam, install the latest updates and drivers, and wait for Steam to download the necessary files to us. Applicable only for the licensed version of the game.

• Crashes on startup

There can be a number of reasons and, accordingly, solutions. The best solution for any errors is to check the drivers. If the drivers for NVIDIA and AMD are updated, and the game still crashes, then the cause may be a lack of RAM. It must be at least 8 GB.

The next step is to launch the game not in full screen, but in windowed mode with the preliminary disabling of anti-virus programs. Another step to fix this error is to install the latest version of DirectX.

• Black screen

Check in your antivirus if it quarantined the game files. The second step is to check the path to the game files. It should not contain Russian letters. In this case, we run the game as administrator.

• Disc write error

You are running out of space on the hard drive where the game is installed.

• Sound problems

Reinstall sound drivers.

• Cursor not displayed

To fix the error, open the Fallout4Prefs.ini file and find the line bGamepadEnable = 1 and change the value to = 0.

• Mouse lags

The reason for this is the mouse anti-aliasing option. We go all into the same Fallout4Prefs.ini file, find the line and add the line "bMouseAcceleration = 0" without quotes at the end of the graph.

Russian voiceover

With the help of various mods, it is possible to change the voice acting to Russian. Downloading them is hardly a good idea. Judge for yourself, Bethesda has spent 2 years on the voice acting. Can non-professionals be able to do this in a few months? Unlikely.

Now some studios are raising funds for high-quality voice acting on their own, since the developer has officially announced that there will be no Russian voice acting in Fallout 4. Whether to download crackers or listen to the original sound using subtitles for translation is everyone's personal business.

That's it for today. We hope we have answered all of your questions regarding the optimal setup for Fallout 4. Stay tuned. Bye bye everyone.

Unfortunately, Fallout 4 graphics customization standard means does not always give the desired result. It's no secret that the game is not very well optimized and FPS drops are observed even on powerful computers. But you can cheat a little by changing some settings in the system file Fallout4prefs.ini and achieve significant performance improvements, even on slower PCs.

Customization

How to customize graphics in Fallout 4? You need to open Fallout4prefs.ini using notepad, find the parameter you need in it and change its value after the "equal" sign. Parameters affect performance most of all:

• fShadowDistance, fDirShadowDistance. Responsible for the distance at which shadows are visible. The lower the value, the lower the load on the system.
• This is shadow resolution. Has a huge impact on performance. Unfortunately, you cannot turn off shadows completely.
• The distance at which the NPCs are displayed. Can be changed from 0 to 15.
• fTreeLoadDistance, fBlockMaximumDistance, fBlockLevel2Distance, fBlockLevel1Distance, fBlockLevel0Distance. They are responsible for the visibility range of small details on various objects. They especially strongly affect optimization in large open locations. The higher the value, the lower the performance.
• The maximum distance at which almost all objects in the game are visible. You can change from 0 to 15.
• bUseWaterDisplacements, bUseWaterRefractions, bUseWaterReflections, bUseWaterDepth. Responsible for water quality. 1-enable, 0-disable. You can safely turn off all these parameters. The quality will not suffer much, but the productivity will increase.

In addition to the parameters listed above, it will also be useful, and

Fallout 4 has just been released, so it's easy to understand that you need a pretty powerful computer to run it. However, do not despair if you have not made any hardware updates for a long time, because if you wish, you can always work on the settings to get the desired result even on a weaker computer than the developers require. To do this, you will need this guide, which will tell you how to run Fallout 4 on a relatively weak computer. Graphics settings play an important role in this matter, so they will be given maximum attention.

If you follow the directions, there is a chance that you will be able to enjoy this game without too many problems. But do not think that you can run this RPG on a very weak computer - you need to be realistic and understand that this is not an isometric role-playing game of the beginning of the 2000s, but a first-class novelty in Fallout 4. The graphics settings, therefore, will only help those who have at least an average computer. otherwise there is no point in even trying.

Screen resolution

In Fallout 4, graphics settings can be changed at a variety of levels, and first of all, you need to do this through the launcher. Simply put, launch the game not through a shortcut, but through a special application that offers you various options, including both the start of the game and detailed profile settings. There you can find graphical settings - that's what you need, you will work with them all the time while you study this guide. So, the first point you should pay attention to is the screen resolution. In order to adjust the graphics for this item, you need to know the optimal resolution for your monitor - it depends on its size and proportions.

Check out the guide, or check it online, and then set the optimal score. Please note that this guide focuses on getting a good picture on the screen without losing the ability to play peacefully. If you just want to spend time in a new game, then you just need to reset all settings to the minimum. But if you still want to enjoy the beauty of the game world, then this guide will help you to properly configure the game Fallout 4. Graphics settings, of course, are not limited to the screen resolution, you still have to change a lot of values.

Smoothing

In Fallout 4, the graphics settings for weak computers must be combined with the settings in the control panel of your video card. Anti-aliasing is one of the most prominent examples. The point is that by default your graphics card also has an anti-aliasing setting enabled, so if you want to improve performance, you will need to disable it. As for the game itself, here you can set the best anti-aliasing quality, since in the case of Fallout 4 it does not greatly affect performance, but it makes the picture much clearer.

If you still have performance problems with anti-aliasing enabled, you can turn it off - the picture will become more blurry, but performance will increase, which will be very important in battles and in cities in the Fallout 4 universe. Setting up graphics on a weak PS is a delicate matter. so don't hope that you just take all the metrics from this article, use them in your launcher, and everything will fall into place. Naturally, this particular setting will suit someone, but many will have to work a little more on the issue on their own.

Anisotropic filtering

Detailed graphics customization in Fallout 4 requires you not only to deal with points that are more or less clear to everyone, but also to work with concepts that you can see for the first time. For example, few gamers know what it is.But if you want to get good performance and a good picture, you need to have an idea about it. In total, the anisotropic filtering parameter has 16 sampling levels. The lower the level, the less clear the textures in the player's field of view, the higher it is, the better the visibility. This parameter is important, because even if you set the maximum sampling level, the game performance practically does not drop - so feel free to increase this indicator in order to get a pleasant picture and not lose the quality of the gameplay in Fallout 4. Optimal graphics settings in this the game will allow you to get incredible results.

texture detail

If you have a very old video card that does not even have one gigabyte of video memory, then you should think about using the minimum graphics settings in Fallout 4 - this will allow you to increase performance. However, if you have at least one gigabyte of memory, you can start experimenting. The fact is that the detailing of textures can even be set not to the maximum, but to the "ultra" indicator. In some cases, 1GB graphics cards did quite well at this level of detail without significantly impacting performance. As you can see, the graphics settings program can be quite flexible for Fallout 4, so you should constantly try and find the optimal settings. It is recommended to try your configuration in busy cities or during an intense battle - after all, in spaces with a small amount of parts and objects, there is no particular load on the computer anyway.

Detail and shadow rendering range

Note that there is a graphics customization utility for Fallout 4 that can make your efforts easier. This application analyzes the capabilities of your computer, adjusting the settings individually for you. However, it is worthwhile to understand that technology always remains a technique, and it can malfunction or give you highly overestimated or greatly underestimated forecasts. Therefore, you can try the utility, but it will still be much better to use this guide, since it has a proven set of settings, while the application always generates new sets. So, if we are talking about detailing, then it is worth carefully considering all the points, since there is its own tab specifically for this parameter (as well as for the rendering range, but this will be discussed later). In this case, you should set the medium settings, and here's why: the fact is that shadows in this game do not look the best, even at the "ultra" level, when it comes to secondary objects. As for the main shadows, they look good at medium settings, but at the same time they do not degrade performance as much as they would if you had set the ultra settings.

Detailing additional textures

This point is one of the most meaningless, so there is no reason to spend time on it. It's hard to even say what exactly it affects, because, regardless of whether you set ultra-settings or the lowest values, the game remains the same outwardly. And given the fact that ultra-settings have practically no effect on performance, you can safely choose them. You may be able to spot the difference and experience even greater beauty in the details.

Lighting Detail

As for the lighting details, here you will have to reset everything to a minimum, if possible, only the most important setting can be left at an average level. This means that you need to turn off the detail of the sun's rays, set it to the minimum value, and also turn off the volumetric light function. All this significantly affects the performance in the game, so if you do not have a powerful computer that fully meets the recommended requirements, then you will not be able to enjoy the volumetric sun rays. But if you do decide to leave these settings at least at an average level, then you may notice an impressive loss in performance, while it will be even more noticeable in enclosed spaces. The reason for this is not the best optimization done by the developers. So it is still highly recommended to disable what can be disabled, and in other cases, reset the settings to a minimum.

Other

On the detail tab, in addition to all of the above items, which have more flexible options for setting, there are a few more items that you can either turn on or off without any flexibility. More specifically, you can turn on or off reflections in water, display of air humidity, volumetric drops of falling rain, glare and motion blur. All of these items can be safely ticked off, because they do not really affect the overall performance, but they make the picture more pleasant and realistic. The only point is that you can turn off motion blur, because although it does not affect performance, it is not too pleasing to the eye. But this is already a matter of taste, not graphic optimization.

Rendering range

The draw range tab contains four sliders, each of which is responsible for its own parameters: objects, characters, grass and objects. You can reset the first and third indicators to a minimum, leave characters and objects at a slightly higher level - they can be important for the gameplay. Set the detail of distant objects and the rendering range of details to a low indicator, since all of the above will not give you any particular pleasure (except when looking into the distance through a sniper scope or binoculars), but at the same time in some places it can greatly reduce performance, because the game is constantly will draw the most distant objects and their details.

Deep customization

If none of the above helps you, then you can move on to the next level and examine the contents of the Fallout.ini file. There you can, for example, disable or but for this you need to understand the code contained in this file. If you don't know what to do with it, you better leave it alone.

On November 10, the release of the long-awaited game on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One took place, and gradually its and comparative performance tests on various configurations of personal computers begin to appear.

In this article, the guys from gamersnexus.net analyzed the performance of Fallout 4 on various Nvidia and AMD video cards, including the GTX 750 Ti, 960, 970, 270X, 285, 390X models. Also considered is the consumption of RAM and video memory by the game.

Since the tools for developing mods for Fallout 4 have not yet been released, the graphical performance of the "pure" version of Fallout 4 is taken as a basis.

Graphics settings

The graphics settings in Fallout 4 are pretty simple. Any gamer familiar with Skyrim, Fallout 3 or New Vegas is also familiar with the Fallout 4 engine, available display settings and graphical options. Since the engine is the same as Skyrim, the .ini files contain many of the same settings, so the changes to these files are largely identical.

In a nutshell, what these settings mean and how they can help you.

Anti-Aliasing: processing homogeneous objects and texture boundaries by multiple sampling of pixels. Antialiasing methods TAA and FXAA (Fast approXimate AA) are available. The FXAA method was in Skyrim and remains the same in Fallout 4. Players complaining about "blur" should make sure that the FXAA setting is disabled.

Anisotropic Filtering: A texture filtering technique that makes textures more evenly applied to vanishing points. An example is a road with a dotted white line in the middle: more anisotropic filtering ensures that the dotted line stays the same until the very end, until the point where the road disappears. AF off means the line will become more blurry and uneven.

Detail: low, medium, high and ultra. The "Advanced" tab gives access to individual options.

View Mode: windowed, fullscreen and borderless.

Texture Quality: sets the resolution of object textures. Lower quality values ​​remove graininess, provide apparent depth, and finer surface detail. For example, lettering, for example, instead of clear at high quality textures can turn into blurry at low quality. This is true for most games with texture resolution scaling.

Shadow Quality: Resolution and detail of the shadows of objects in the game. Fallout 4 does not have the high shadow detail found in some other games, even at the Ultra detail level, and does not render shadows for most objects and static elements. Improving the quality of the shadows will smooth out the borders of the shadows and reduce the effects of "moving pixels" when a dynamic object casts a shadow at the expense of additional GPU cycles.

Shadow Distance: The distance at which the shadows are shown. Shadows appear and disappear depending on the distance of objects from the player character. Decreasing this parameter will improve performance, especially in large play areas with many objects casting shadows.

Decal Quality: Decals are “stickers” that are applied to the environment or objects in the game. Blood, bullet holes, scorched earth from explosives are examples. Changing this parameter determines how long these "stickers" are visible and how much they accumulate, as well as their detail.

Lighting Quality: Changes the precision of cascading effects and lights.

The quality of the volumetric rays (Godrays quality): quality, quantity and presence of light rays falling from above, in particular, their connection with light passing through objects - through translucent surfaces (windows), dense objects (tree branches), etc.

Depth of Field: Applies a "bokeh" effect to screen space that is considered to be out of focus of the game character.

Ambient Occlusion: controls the light and shading of adjacent surfaces. Most noticeable on the back of leaves and plants. Disabling will remove a significant amount of shadows from the game, which are already lacking, and will make it easier for the light to interact with some materials and adjacent surfaces.

Screen Space Reflections: switch. These reflections (partially controlled by occlusion) occur when light interacts with reflective materials such as metals, glossy coatings, windows, etc.

Wetness: switch. Enables or disables the effect of "wet" objects after they interact with liquid. When turned on, the surface of objects is shiny.

Rain Occlusion: Disable if the game starts to slow down under various weather conditions, such as rain. Determines whether rain is subject to occlusion effects.

Motion Blur: The name speaks for itself.

Lens Flare: Favorite effect of director Michael Bay. A switch that turns glare on or off when the camera is at a specific angle to light sources.

Object Fade: The distance at which non-living objects (not characters) - signs, trash cans, or other non-playable elements - begin to appear or disappear from view.

The disappearance of characters (Actor Fade): the distance at which characters (NPCs) begin to appear or disappear from sight.

Grass Fade: same as above, but for grass. Decrease if the game starts to slow down when traveling through hills and grassy wastelands.

Item Fade: distance on in-game items begin to appear or disappear from sight.

Distant Object Detail: Increasing this parameter can increase the geometric complexity (mesh quality) of objects away from the player.

Object Detail Fade: how quickly the finer details of objects, but not the object itself, disappear from the player's field of view. LOD scaling allows the subject to remain in the field of view without disappearing altogether.

Testing methodology

The following components were used for testing:

• processor - Intel i7-5930K;
• CPU cooling - NZXT Kraken X41 CLC;
• RAM - Kingston 16GB DDR4 Predator;
• motherboard - EVGA X99 Classified;
• power supply unit - NZXT HALE90 V2 1200 W;
• SSD - HyperX Savage SSD;
• case - Top Deck Tech Station.

Nvidia released Fallout 4 optimized drivers for their graphics cards, using the latest drivers for AMD cards (Catalyst 15.11 beta). Graphics settings have been set to Ultra, Medium and Low at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K.

Each scenario was tested identically for 30 seconds, three times. Testing was carried out in the Diamond City location, the first large settlement in the game (You can read about it in). We chose the part of the city that heavily loaded the video cards, so in some cases the performance of different configurations differed by 60%. This means poor optimization of the Diamond City in a mixed load case. Testing began by looking at a crowded area of ​​the city, then moving the camera to quieter locations. The process is shown in the video presented.

The average number of frames per second (fps) was measured, the lower and upper values ​​are not shown. Instead, the mean values ​​of the 1% bottom results (1% Low) and the mean values ​​of 0.1% of the bottom results (0.1% Low) are taken.

The following video cards were tested:

• MSI R9 390X Gaming 8GB;
• PowerColor R9 290X 4GB;
• XFX R9 285 2GB;
• AMD R9 270X 2GB;
• ASUS R7 250X 1GB;
• NVidia GTX 980 Ti 6GB;
• MSI GTX 980 4GB Gaming;
• EVGA GTX 970 SSC 4GB
• EVGA GTX 960 SSC 4GB
• ASUS GTX 960 Strix 2GB;
• ASUS GTX 950 Strix 2GB;
• EVGA GTX 750 Ti 2GB

Graphics settings:

• 4K, Ultra (maximum);
• 1440p, Ultra (maximum);
• 1080p, Ultra (maximum);
• 1080p, Medium;
• 1080p, Low.

Benchmarks cannot be performed when the upper FPS limit is set, so during testing, FPS blocking technologies, including G-Sync, FreeSync and V-Sync, were turned off. At \ documents \ my games \ fallout 4 \ Fallout4Prefs.ini, iPresentInterval was set to 0.

However, when the game is started, this file is overwritten, so you need to set the "read-only" option in its properties. This settings file is probably used in place of the root .ini file.

RAM and video memory consumption

1080p Ultra requires about 4.8GB of storage (2.4GB of physical storage), which falls short of even a quarter of the requirements in Black Ops. Thus, gamers will have enough 8 GB and even 4 GB of RAM. As for the video memory, it is consumed less than 3 GB, usually 2.6-2.9 GB.

Informal pre-benchmark testing was conducted to determine if FXAA / TAA should be included. The performance difference was usually no more than 3% even at 4K, so TAA was active on Ultra.

Setting Shadow Distance to Medium increases FPS by about 16.87%. In Ultra tests, this setting was set to maximum.

Somewhat unexpectedly, the 980 Ti and 390X video cards are experiencing difficulties in Fallout 4. Both of them could not reach the 60 frames standard, however, 45-50 frames were enough for a comfortable game in most cases (in contrast to fast-paced shooters like the same Black Ops). Fallout 4 is almost as demanding as Black Ops III, which is technologically superior. The reason is the open gaming world, in which the distances are much higher, and therefore the load on the video cards is great. Even on the largest Black Ops maps, there are always objects blocking the map nearby, such as buildings, so you don't have to draw more distant objects.

Despite all the caveats, Fallout 4 seems too demanding for its level of graphics. At 4K resolution, the game is unplayable on most single-chip video cards.

The AMD Radeon R9 390X falls between the GTX 970 and the MSI GTX 980. 1440p play well on R9 290X and GTX 970 cards. The 285 and 960 are no longer able to handle the demands of such high resolutions.

The GeForce GTX 970 unexpectedly outperforms the R9 390X by 5.1%. A search was made for the settings responsible for such a result; the Shadow Distance setting affects almost 20 fps, but the force ratio remains unchanged. With Shadow Distance set to minimum, the GTX 970 is a couple of frames ahead of the 390X, which means the same 5%.

Probably the reason lies in the optimization of the Nvidia driver. AMD's optimized driver is not ready yet. Possibly, after its release, the 390X will outperform the GTX 970.

At Full HD resolution, you can play on cards GTX 960 (53 fps) and R9 285 (54 fps with a minimum around 30 fps), as well as R9 380. GTX 950 is no longer enough for maximum settings at this resolution.

As a result, GTX 960 or R9 380 graphics cards are recommended for comfortable 1080p gaming. Switching from Ultra to High allows you to play on GTX 950 cards and the discontinued R9 270X.

Among the top-tier cards, the GTX 980 Ti, 980, 970, R9 390X, and R9 290X typically exceed the 60fps mark, and no more is required from Fallout 4.

In short, inexpensive cards like the GTX 750 Ti and R7 270X can handle these settings.

Conclusion

Fallout 4 is a weird game. It doesn't look very impressive, just look at the screenshots to check it. You can literally count the polygons on the fence posts where there are fewer than 40 of them. The fence itself is a flat zero depth barrier. The game seems outdated visually. This doesn't make it bad, as many reviews say, but it does make it less impressive in terms of modern graphics standards.

Given this graphical simplicity, you would expect consistent performance, but the vast distances and shadows keep the graphics cards from relaxing. For those trying to achieve higher frame rates, it is suggested to first lower the Shadow Distance setting, and then slightly lower a number of other distance-related options.