Optimal performance and graphics: Insurgency

However great Insurgency is, it is being run on a sub optimal engine for this type of large scale combat.
Without the correct configuration you may experience bad performance when you shouldn't.
Follow this guide to get the most out of your PC with the nicest graphics.

TL;DR

The most important settings for a beautiful and enjoyable Insurgency experience are the options below. All else could be on lowest in my opinion.

• Scope Detail: High.
  You want to be able to aim at pixels while scoping.
  
  
• Anti-Aliasing: 4x MSAA.
  Edit: This is system dependent, on my desktop 8x CSAA was fine, but my laptop prefers 4x MSAA.
  Minimally 8x CSAA. Makes everything (especially foliage) much more beautiful. Even on lowest settings.
  
  
• Not using integrated graphics if you have a GPU.
  Definitely confirm if you use a laptop.
  
  
• fps_max 144
  Definitely try this if you suffer from microstutter. I can't stand it.

I spent a whole day trying different graphical settings to reach optimal beauty and performance but it just seemed too random whatever I did. I experienced stutter, crashes, low FPS, etc.
Each map seems to have a different impact, rendering one certain configuration obsolete. However, the settings above are an absolute must in all situations. The rest is up to you.

Microstutter at high FPS

Add -exec autoexec.cfg to your Insurgency Launch Option explained below.
Type this in your autoexec.cfg: fps_max 144
Save your autoexec.cfg here= C:\..\Steam\steamapps\common\insurgency2\insurgency\cfg

No more microstutter.

PS 144 is my monitor refresh rate. Value could vary for your monitor.
PPS My Insurgency launch options:
-high -exec autoexec.cfg

Game Tweaks

Insurgency Launch Option

Setting the launch option '-high' will prioritize the 'insurgency.exe' process. This means your processor will use more resources to run Insurgency than normal.



To ensure it works when Insurgency is launched — open task manager (CTRL SHIFT ESC or CTRL ALT DEL) and mouse hover over set priority of insurgency.exe.


Maybe it's a 'placebo effect' but I feel my game shows improvement.

Edit: Windows 10

Do the following for: insurgency.exe, insurgency_BE.exe, and insurgency_x64.exe;

• Disable fullscreen optimizations
  
• Override high DPI scaling behavior.
  
• Scaling performed by: Application.

Got these settings from this Windows 10 optimization video. I did all of the other Windows 10 optimizations as well, except for the scripts at the end because I prefer removing bloatware manually.

Ingame settings

Restart Insurgency

Restart Insurgency after you have changed Graphic settings ingame. I frequently had stutter after changing some settings, but it disappeared after restarting.

Insurgency Video options

• Scope Detail: Low is unbearable. Medium is visually significantly better without too much performance drop. High is advised for snipers though. It matters if you have to aim at pixels. You'll have to calculate for a huge performance drop if you're aiming through areas with high foliage; FPS drops dramatically with higher Scope Detail.
  Click here for full size.[i.imgur.com]
  
  
• Soft Particles: With lots of bullets and other effect this will decrease FPS. Leave it on if you are happy with your FPS or if you want to take screenshots or record a movie.
  
  
• Shadow: The shadow in this game is incredibly intensive and will pull your FPS down significantly. However, it is important to know that even with the shadow on lowest quality, you will still see player shadows very clearly! Lowering the shadow will not put you in any tactical disadvantage.
  Click here for full size.[i.imgur.com]
  
  
• Shader Detail: Edit: Now playing on laptop, and on low the skybox still shows.
  Medium removes the skybox. I leave it at high just for that.
  Click here for full size.[i.imgur.com]
  
  
• Effect Detail: With lots of bullets and other effect this will decrease FPS. Leave it on if you are happy with your FPS or if you want to take screenshots or record a movie.
  
  
• Display mode: Full screen.
  Borderless mode: I think it improves performance (placebo?) and I can switch to desktop and back instantly without having to wait for Insurgency to reload.
  Edit: 2 jun. 18: This could also cause performance drops. Try both, and see what's best for you.
  
  
• Anti-Aliasing Mode: 4xMSAA or 8xCSAA if you want quality.
  The FPS difference between MSAA and CSAA is system dependent, try both and see what's best. None because I override it in NVIDIA settings. So it does not matter what AA I pick here. It's better to pick none to prevent conflicts.
  8x CSAA has significantly better results than x4 MSAA.
  
  
• Filtering mode: It could happen that trilinear and anisotropic filtering results in stuttering. Before you play a game, set it to bilinear. I have played with the graphic settings for a whole day, and could not figure out what was causing this. If you have no performance loss leave it at x8 or x16. Mine is at x16, but when I get performance loss again I won't hesitate to revert to bilinear. It merely enhances the texture detail in the distance. In real life you don't see sharp in the distance either.
  
  
• FXAA AA decreases performance and quality.
  
  
• VSync is enabled in NVIDIA settings. I don't want any conflicts. Momentarily disabled. Enable it ingame, or in NVIDIA settings, not both.
  
  
• Motion Blur is off because I don't like it and it decreases performance. If you move around fast you'll see it 'blurred' anyway.

GPU Configuration

Integrated Graphics

Make sure the game does not run on integrated graphics if you have a GPU!
Using integrated graphics significantly decreases performance.

To ensure your computer 'never' used integrated graphics:
Right click on your desktop > NVIDIA-configuration > 3D-settings > General Settings > Prefered graphic processor > NVIDIA-processor

To ensure your computer does not use integrated graphics on specific programmes:
Right click on your desktop > NVIDIA-configuration > 3D-settings > Program-settings > Select or add Insurgency > Select your preferred graphic processor: NVIDIA-processor


____________________________________________________________________________

NVIDIA

Edit 15/12/2019: Got Insurgency to run much faster than before on my laptop: i7-3610QM @ 2.30 GHz CPU, 12 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 670M GPU, Windows 10 Home 64-bit.

• Anisotropic filtering[www.geforce.com]: "It is recommended that you use 16x AF wherever possible, as it provides a noticeable improvement in image quality with negligible performance impact on most systems."
  
  
• Antialiasing - FXAA[en.wikipedia.org]: Disable FXAA Antialiasing because it is ugly and decreases performance.
  
  
• Antialiasing - Gammacorrection[www.tweakguides.com]: Does not influence performance. I disable it though.
  
  
• Antialiasing - Setting: Edit: This is very device dependent. On my laptop I pick 4x MSAA and 8x CSAA on desktop.
  CSAA (Covered Sampling AA)[www.nvidia.com]:
  
  SLI AA & SLI CSAA: I have yet to try SLI (CS)AA, but I read it boosts FPS.
  It does not boost FPS. I disabled SLI.
  
  
• Antialiasing - Modus: Elevate all process managed settings. This makes nvidia ignore the Insurgency settings and uses it's own. This is used to avoid conflict between the two.
  
  
• Antialiasing - Transparency: This significantly improves the beauty of trees and other foliage. I'll upload a comparison image of this soon. This does decrease performance noticably when you go x4 or higher. I leave it at x2 for now because the increase in quality of the leaves on the trees is incredible. I disabled it. It is 8x CSAA that does the trick.
  
  
• https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-gpus
  
  
• Triple buffering[www.tweakguides.com]: "It is recommended that Triple Buffering be set to Off under Global Settings, and only enabled under Program Settings for OpenGL games in which Vertical Sync is also enabled. In games which have a built-in Triple Buffering setting, it is recommended that it be enabled if VSync is On. Forcing Triple Buffering on with a third party utility is an option best used only if there are no other alternatives."
  
  
• http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3130/~/setting-power-management-mode-from-adaptive-to-maximum-performance: Maximum Performance
  
  
• Maximum prerendered frames[www.tweakguides.com]: "It is recommended that Maximum Pre-rendered Frames be set to Use the 3D Application Setting under Global Settings. For particular games where you are experiencing stuttering, first try changing this setting to a high value of 4 under Program Settings to see if it helps smooth things out. If that makes things worse, or you can't tolerate the input lag, experiment with progressively lower values."
  
  
• Monitor technology: depends on your monitor. Google the options if you have any.
  
  
• Multi-display/Mixed GPU[forums.geforce.com]: Those options control GPU-based acceleration in OpenGL applications and will not have any effect on performance on DirectX platforms.
  
  "It is recommended that Multi-Display/Mixed-GPU Acceleration be set to Single Display Performance mode on single display systems, and Multiple Display Performance Mode on multi-display systems, or simply left at its default of Multiple Display Performance Mode on all systems under Global Settings, as it has no impact in most cases."
  
  
• SLI-rendering[www.geforce.com]: I don't think SLI helps in Insurgency. I got to tweak some more.
  Yep. Sli doesn't help one bit in Insurgency.
  
  
• Shader-cache[www.tweakguides.com]: The Shader Cache feature in the GeForce drivers is designed to create a storage location for compiled shaders on your drive so that the next time you run a game and it needs to use particular shaders, it can use the precompiled stored shaders rather than compiling them again. This should speed up loading times, improve performance and reduce the potential for stutter.
  
  
• Texturefiltering - Anisotropic example optimization[www.tweakguides.com]: "If set to On, it limits the number of samples that any Anisotropic Filtering uses based on the size of the texels (texture pixels). This optimized texture sampling provides potentially faster performance when using AF, but it may result in slightly lower image quality, or image quirks such as shimmering. If set to Off, AF is applied at maximum possible quality."
  
  
• Texturefiltering - Quality[www.tweakguides.com]: "The general conclusion from this small sample of games is that the Texture Filtering - Quality setting may have an impact, but mostly in terms of performance rather than image quality. Furthermore, the performance impact appears to be insignificant, but might be more significant on low-end GPUs."
  
  
• Texturefiltering - Negative LOD-bias[www.tweakguides.com]: "It is recommended that Texture Filtering - Negative LOD Bias be set to Clamp under Global Settings, and that Anisotropic Filtering be used instead to improve texture clarity."
  
  
• Texturefiltering - Trilinear optimization[www.tweakguides.com]: "It is recommended that Texture Filtering - Trilinear Optimization be set to Off under Global Settings to ensure the highest image quality, especially when Anisotropic Filtering is in use."
  
  
• Thread optimization[www.tweakguides.com]: "It is recommended that Threaded Optimization be set to Auto under Global Settings. This will allow the driver to determine if and how to use threaded optimization for various games. You can turn this setting Off under the Program Settings tab for particular (typically old) games which have problems at the Auto or On setting."
  
  
• Vertical Synchronization[www.tweakguides.com]: If your framerate remains acceptable, leave it on. If your machine is struggling, leave it off. This is a real performance hog.
  
  
• Virtual Reality pre rendered frames: Default.

____________________________________________________________________________

AMD

If someone else could provide this information, that would be great.

Ultra Low Graphics

Credit goes to Cathexis256 & JustasMichal. Got this autoexec from the Insurgency subreddit post.

First set every setting ingame to lowest, or you might be unable to start Insurgency.

If you still can't start, remove the mat_ variables temporarily to set everything to lowest. Then place them back.

If you followed my guide and set everything to lowest except for Scope detail, AA & Shader detail, then remove the bold underlined variables below.

• mat_antialias 0
  
• mat_scope_fancy 0

autoexec.cfg:

cl_ejectbrass 1
cl_blurTapSize 0
cl_forcepreload 1
cl_muzzleflash_dlight_3rd 0
cl_ragdoll_maxcount 6
cl_retire_low_priority_lights 1

mat_hbao 0

mat_antialias 0

mat_compressedtextures 1
mat_queue_mode 2
mat_mipmaptextures 1
mat_picmip 2
mat_bumpmap 0
mat_parallaxmap 0
mat_reduceparticles 1
mat_reducefillrate 1
mat_specular 0
mat_colcorrection_disableentities 1
mat_motion_blur_enabled 0
mat_envmapsize 32
mat_envmaptgasize 32
mat_forceaniso 1
mat_hdr_level 0
mat_max_worldmesh_vertices 128 //if you get crashes, delete this
mat_phong 0
mat_picmip 2 //Texture quality. Capped at 2. 2 is lowest quality (-4 - 2) lower value to increase texture quality

mat_scope_fancy 0

mat_disable_fancy_blending 1
mat_colcorrection_disableentities 1
mat_triplebuffered 0

mem_max_heapsize 1536 //if you have 2gb ram or less, delete this

muzzleflash_light 0

r_drawflecks 0
r_dynamic 0
r_forcewaterleaf 1
r_threadeddetailprops 1
r_shadowmaxrendered 0
r_fastzreject -1
r_WaterDrawReflection 0
r_WaterDrawRefraction 0
r_threaded_particles 1
r_drawmodeldecals 0
r_maxmodeldecal 0
r_maxdlights 0
r_ambientfactor 0
r_ambientboost 0
r_shadowfromworldlights 0
r_shadowlod 0
r_3dsky 1
r_eyes 1
r_flex 0
r_lod 1
r_rootlod 0
r_teeth 0
r_propsmaxdist 0
r_renderoverlayfragment 0
r_worldlights 0
r_flashlightvolumetrics 0
r_flashlightupdatedepth 0
r_flashlighttracedistcutoff 72
r_flashlightdepthtexture 0
r_shadowmaxrendered 4

ragdoll_sleepaftertime 1

csm_quality_level 0 //cascade shadow map quality

tracer_extra 0

snd_mix_async 1
snd_restart //if you are using a sound mod like I am, this will ensure it loads up properly each time

Advanced tweaks

Performance Commands

http://www.tweakguides.com/HL2_8.html
If you'd google 'source performance cfg' or something similar you will probably find more. I'm not going into this since I haven't used any customized .cfg file.

Disable unnecessary applications

Quite obvious. The more programs you have running, the more your CPU, Memory, Harddrive, etc is loaded. All this means is less resources for Insurgency, or any other game.

• Optimize Windows[windows.microsoft.com]
  
• Close your browser
  
• Close music players, etc.

The best way of course is to format your main harddrive, preferably an SSD, and install windows and Insurgency on it.

Updated Drivers

• Intel[downloadcenter.intel.com]
  
• AMD[support.amd.com]
  
• NVIDIA[www.nvidia.com]

Overclock your CPU

This is game very CPU intensive. If you overclock you'll notice a difference.

Nice graphics examples

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=579621232
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=579621066
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=579620961

PS These screenshots were not taken with the highest possible settings.

System Requirements

Sadly there is no point in tweaking if your hardware is not up to it.

Windows

Mac OS X

SteamOS + Linux

Crash on Linux

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3168761120

My other guides

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=583089364
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=387701393

[Blood and Bone]

what about "model/texture detail"?

[⛧TEAROUNAKAM⛧]

@Akisad #LaFlame Your mods for player models are not supported by some servers

[leny]

i have 950m but it can't run fullhd 60fps so i tried your guide i will now start a game and write the results

[Akisad]

Hello,I have a problem with player models,players are invisible and i can see only their guns.Any fix?Please and Thank you! ^.^

[ZeeGerman]

Windows 8 seems to be your first problem bud...... rule # 1 don't run game on Windows 8 lol. Insurgency is really not that demanding of a game at all. You don't need to overclock or do anything extra unless your computer is really a piece of sheeeit.

[intern bean]

Wait on the last video, how did you put the gun down like that? I'm new to Insurgency

[Blood and Bone]

Languages : English , pls upload the screenshots in English. thank you

[JC Denton]

In the overclocking part, it can cause problems with peoples pc's so add a warning
"WARNING: I am not responsible for any damage done to computer" something like that.

[cowboydirtydan]

Thank you so much! The game is much more enjoyable now.

[Hoakin Blackforge]

Which is the one for shaders? It causes problems for my skins.