Dishonored Graphics improvments and tweaks!

[Major Konkelbär]

I just wanted to share these tweaks with others that gamers that want more crisp and vibrant game. Simply put, this is for you if loved the art style of Dishonored but where unsatisfied with the blurry textures who did not take advantage of your graphics card or the washed out colors. I will also include a crucial tweak for all stealth players :).

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The nvida inspector ONLY WORK on nvida cards, but i have an solution for ATI users longer down but its less explained.

1. Use the nvida inspector to improve the sharpness of your textures. Link for nvida inspector http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/NVIDIA-Inspector.shtml. Link to settings for dishonored in nvida inspector Link (http://i.imgur.com/3d40Z.png) and if your having fps problem with those settings you can lower The multisampling and supersampling from 4 to 2. You must turn off FXAA/MLAA option in game, beacuse they are blurring your graphics :(. To get in on the control panel just click the tool button located next to the driver version box. If your nvida inspector pogram isnt showing you the same setting as in the example above, maybe just alot of numbers and stuff, look in the right bottom corner for a blue text saying (Missing Setting Names File - Repair Now!), just click it and it should become normal and look as the example above. To find Dishonored settings in nvida inspector just look at the left top corner, there is a box thats saying (_GLOBAL_DRIVER_PROFILE (Base Profile)To), click the arrow besides it and scroll down to Dishonored. And from there you should just follow the example that is mentioned above.

For ATI users there are a similar tool called Tool RadeonPro but i have never used it, but it should work just as good :) Link http://www.radeonpro.info/Download/R...ro_Preview.exe

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2. If you think the game look a litte washed out and you want more color you can use SweetFX. SweetFX also includes SMAA Anti-aliasing. Link to SweetFX http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=368880 Download the files and unrar them. After that put them in the E. Steam folder\Steamapps\Common\ Dishonored\Binaries\Win 32. Just drop them in Win 32 and overide if it tells you to do so. if your unsure you can take a copy of Win 32 and store as a backup if anything goes wrong :), but im pretty sure that to delete SweetFX you just delete all the files you dropped in beacuse it should not replace anything, but you never know XD. If you want to keep the saturation' down you can download this SweetFX_settings ini, link http://sfx.thelazy.net/games/preset/76/. To install just rename the file (SweetFX_Settings_Dishonored_v1) ini to (SweetFX_settings) ini and put it in the same folder as you installed SweetFX and overwrite the orginal file.

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3. Heres a link to a webside by darkempire100 that take up almost everything about tweaking Dishonored, for example som pretty usefull ini tweaks for the graphic. (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2964837)

*(To search for the in the lines in a ini document just press Ctrl+F while in the ini document, and there will appear a search bar and from there just copy and paste.)

*Before you begin editing the games files make a backup copy of the files you are editing.

*To make the ini files stick you can click right click on the file and select properties, and then check the box "Read-Only". And then it should not reset itself.
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If you want to skip the intro movies go to E:\Steam\steamapps\common\Dishonored\DishonoredGame\Movies

And delete or move the following,

Legal.bik

LogoArkane.bik

LogoBethesda.bik

UE3_logo.bik

ZenimaxLegal.bik

ZenimaxLegalIFR.bik

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There are also a ini that need to be changed in order to get a smooth 60 fps experience, the following should help getting a smoother vsync experince Open the folder "My Documents\My Games\Dishonored\DishonoredGame\Config\DishonoredEngine"

Open the file (DishonoredEngine.ini)

Find the following lines
bSmoothFrameRate=TRUE
MinSmoothedFrameRate=30
MaxSmoothedFrameRate=130


Change the last line to your native monitor refresh rate (probably 60), so:
MinSmoothedFrameRate=59
MaxSmoothedFrameRate=61

And save the file!

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Some other ini tweaks thats improving visuals but WILL HAVE A PERFORMANCE HIT, go to "My Documents\My Games\Dishonored\DishonoredGame\Config\DishonoredEngine", some may be located in other ini files!

find and change these

TextureForcedLODBias=0
bAllowHardwareShadowFiltering=True
SkeletalLODDistanceFactorMultiplier=0
iType_AntiAlias=32
bAllowRatsShadow=True
MaxAnisotropy=16
ShadowFilterQualityBias=0
MaxShadowResolution=4096
MaxWholeSceneDominantShadowResolution=4096

Change these to improve textures, there's quite a lot of these to change!

MinLODSize=256
MaxLODSize=2048
LODBias=0
NumStreamedMips=0
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And the crucial tweak thats great if your playing stealthily, the body disappearance fix that prevent bodys from disappearing.
First of all go to your Steam folder, E:\Steam\steamapps\common\Dishonored\DishonoredGame\Config\DefaultAI.

Open the file (DefaultAI)

In the ini file you change these three lines
m_CorpseAbsoluteMaximumCount=10
m_CorpseIdealMaximumCount=5
m_bCorpseCleanupInView=True
CHANGE TO
m_CorpseAbsoluteMaximumCount=50
m_CorpseIdealMaximumCount=50
m_bCorpseCleanupInView=false

And save the file!
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If you want a more brutal game you can try out the Dismemberment Mod Released,
Link: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2978433

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi1QdmHJ7U8
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If you find that the game is too easy you can try out the Ultimate Difficulty Mod for Dishonored, Link: http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141188

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kj1fzVJF5U
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Some pictures i just took pretty quick from the third mission (picture of Dishonored after tweaking)

Closeup http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=130941972
A view of Dunwall http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=130939519
Beach http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=131013671
From a tower http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=131010761
Picture of a thug http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=131010794
To anyone who says that the paintings are low-resolution :D http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=131049626
The Golden Cat http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=131013363
Lord Pendleton http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=131014906
SweetFX dont show up on pictures taken with steams screen capture so ingame my game have a little more vibrant colors and alot sharper textures, just so you know. But it may just be my personal opinion that it looks better with not so oversaturated colors, it may not be your opinion and therfore i gave you the option to keep the vanilla colors or use the oversaturated orginal option of SweetFX. Hope this helps it gave my game a BIG graphical boost over vanilla and I hope it will do the same for you. If I wrote something wrong please correct me, constructive criticism is welcome :), and I do not mean the grammar XD.

I just uploaded a couple of pictures (orginal 1080x1920, uploaded in 1600x900) to imageshack and linked them so now you can see the diffrance with SweetFX on and OFF with the improved Vanilla colors, enjoy :)

1. SweetFX OFF http://imageshack.us/a/img703/5886/sweetfxoff1.png
1. SweetFX ON http://imageshack.us/a/img109/8628/sweetfxon1.png

2. SweetFX OFF http://imageshack.us/a/img404/2428/sweetfxoff2.png
2. SweetFX ON http://imageshack.us/a/img843/925/sweetfxon2.png

3. SweetFX OFF http://imageshack.us/a/img545/4577/sweetfxoff3.png
3. SweetFX ON http://imageshack.us/a/img545/9014/sweetfxon3.png

4. SweetFX OFF http://imageshack.us/a/img94/7104/sweetfxoff4.png
4. SweetFX ON http://imageshack.us/a/img802/2362/sweetfxon4.png

Click on the pic and it becomes sharper! :)
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Ps if you fail and the game does not start, then do this...

1.Right-click Dishonored in your Steam library
2.Select “Properties”
3.Click the “Local Files” tab
4.Click “Verify Integrity of Game Cache”

This will repair any corrupted game files, and will probably get your game working again.
But in the higly unlikely occurrence that it should not work after that, you could try try restarting Steam, restarting your computer, and as a last resort, reinstalling the game.
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My setup is
Gtx 570 oc "1075, 850, 2100"
2600k 4,2ghz
8gb 1600 mhz
1tb 7200rpm
Samsung syncmaster "24" 1080p, 60 hz
Im playing with SweetFX, nvida inspector = 2 multisampling and supersampling, ambient occlusion and maxed vanilla settings except FXAA/MLAA option,1080p, and alot of ini tweaks and my Fps is rock steady 60 fps, I have played trough the hole game a couple of times and i have also played trough the knife of dunwall DLC with the tweaks running, without a single crash or visual bug. Hope this helps :)
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The the knife of dunwall DLC held the same level of quality as the original game :D! If you sneak around and explore the amazing levels you are going to get a couple of hours of pure dishonored fun :).

[Elektricity]

Tried out the sweet FX! It really did significantly improve the visuals.
Many thanks for your efforts in putting together this guide!

(running game with AMD HD 6800 card in 1680x1050 res, i5 2500K @3.3 Ghz processor, 8 Gig Ram)

[Bloodborne Enjoyer]

This all looks amazing, but I get a few lines in and it all starts blurring together and none of it makes sense =/ I'd love to improve the game's quality, but this is all too confusing for me and I guess I'll just have to make do. Wish they would do this in the game so we didn't have to get outside sources :(

[psi onix]

damn, still does not look very good in those SS's even with the tweaks. That is disappointing i just installed this game.

[mooner]

Try sdjusting the brightness level from within the game this can make a huge difference if you want to get rid of that washed out look.

However there are even bigger improvements to be had by tweaking the engine.ini file.

[psi onix]

Originally posted by mooner:

However there are even bigger improvements to be had by tweaking the engine.ini file.

What are the bigger improvements is there a guide or something you know about that can explain extactly what to change? Isn't this game on same engine as Skyrim? With just a couple .ini changes trees in skyrim can look photorealistic it is an amazingly beautful game compared to this game.

[mooner]

yeah goto engine.ini find these lines :
'TEXTUREGROUP_World=(MinLODSize=256,MaxLODSize=2048,LODBias=0,NumStreamedMips=0)'
and change the MaxLODSize to whatever you want 1024, 2048 or 4096.

This improves the textures which can make the game less cartoon-y and more real but may hamper performance.

I've added NumStreamMips=0 too.

[Samurai]

Here is a way better Tweak Guide all of you should look into because some Tweaks mentioned here are actually not even working. (ambient occlusion, dx10 for example)

http://forums.steamgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2964837

[Major Konkelbär]

Originally posted by Heisenberg:

Here is a way better Tweak Guide all of you should look into because some Tweaks mentioned here are actually not even working. (ambient occlusion, dx10 for example)

http://forums.steamgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2964837

Please dont hate, these two tweaks may not have worked (there where no noticeable side effects) but almost all worked, you could have told me that as constructive criticism. And I have already given the link to darkempire100 in my text, you should have seen it if you had read my text :).

Funny thing I took the things that i found useful from darkempire100 text and attempted to make it easier to understand while I added more tweaks and info during the process. By going trough every step i made :).

[Rocquito]

At this stage, isn't there any high-res texture patch or anything? Jesus, the developers' work on the graphics was sooo... meh :(

[Major Konkelbär]

Originally posted by rocquito:

At this stage, isn't there any high-res texture patch or anything? Jesus, the developers' work on the graphics was sooo... meh :(

I am one hundred percent sure that there will not be any high-res texture patch and there where never was any high-res texture patch planned, because the textures are hand painted and if you tweak the game so there is not much to complain about in terms of graphics. maybe a little low res ground textures, one must also take into account the design and aesthetics beacuse the word itself has thus nothing really with technologically advanced computer graphics to do, but more or less how good an image is looking. And its there Dishonored shines. :)

[benrod]

RadeonPro and SweeFX will work together so you can drop the SweetFX files somewhere more convient.

[Pace]

Not a big deal, but the LOD bias for 4xSGSSAA should be -1!

[sicotic]

I played this on the 360 twice and the Knife of Dunwall once. Got tired of the console scene and just built a new PC. I love this game and was totally hyped about playing this on my new kit after seeing it on a friends new PC. Was waiting for the summer sale to see if this shows up but this isn't helping. Anyways coming from the 360 the vanilla version just looks sooo much better.

Thanks for the info and help. Looking forward to playing with this.

[Major Konkelbär]

Originally posted by sicotic:

I played this on the 360 twice and the Knife of Dunwall once. Got tired of the console scene and just built a new PC. I love this game and was totally hyped about playing this on my new kit after seeing it on a friends new PC. Was waiting for the summer sale to see if this shows up but this isn't helping. Anyways coming from the 360 the vanilla version just looks sooo much better.

Thanks for the info and help. Looking forward to playing with this.

Then you should love playing the tweaked version of Dishonored ^^.

[Burekas]

Does the Nvidia Inspector work on GT cards? Because I'm clicking the "Missing Setting Names File - Repair Now!" and it just shows me an error.