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FrostE40

Dec 6, 2019 @ 6:05am

Graphics Settings

To start off, I'm well aware that RDR2 is one of (if not, the) most graphically intensive games to date.

I currently have a mixture of both medium, high, and ultra settings (I've unlocked advanced options). I am currently getting good frame rates; if I had to guess, approx. 50 fps in Valentine and surrounding areas, and probably around 40 fps in my camp for whatever reason.

I'm only using just under 3 GB of VRAM.

Notably, I have texture detail (the setting, not the slider) set to "High". I would like to set it to "Ultra".

Overall I am very content with the performance to quality ratio. It looks stunning but at 50 fps is certainly a consistent enough frame rate.

My question ultimately is, why is my framerate not higher given that I'm only using 3 GB of VRAM at most?

Like I said I've already fine tuned all the settings and my pc is running smooth and surprisingly cool for a simple air cooled system. But imo the "High" texture detail setting is a tad lackluster....

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Or have at it for general discussion on the topic, just wanna hear your opinions, etc.

My rig:

Ryzen 7 2700X
16 GB 3000 Mhz TridentZ RAM
EVGA GTX 1070 Ti SC 8 GB
Samsung SSD

EDIT: I'm aware that my specs are not absolute top of the line. I don't expect to get maxed out settings and perfect frame rate. However, my 1070 Ti is certainly better than the recommended 1060. I already did my research. As I said, I've made sacrifices in certain areas to attain some settings at ultra.

Last edited by FrostE40; Dec 6, 2019 @ 6:50am

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Showing 1-15 of 17 comments

Smokey Dec 6, 2019 @ 6:09am

You can and should run Textures at Ultra,i even can on my 970GTX. I will type my exact ingame settings on here in a bit for you.

FrostE40

Dec 6, 2019 @ 6:25am

Originally posted by Zano:
Turn down water physics and reflection quality. These add very little but absolutely destroy FPS. The same applies to tree tesselation. In the advanced section, put near volumetrics to low or medium but keep far volumetrics and ray lighting on high or medium. Near volumetric quality has a significant impact on FPS while far does not. Other than these, you can always turn grass down, but it will affect the appearance, whereas the other ones I mentioned would not make much of a visual difference but will save you a ton of frames. Oh and leave grass shadows on medium because they look almost identical.

I did leave grass shadows on medium, as well as water physics and quality. But iirc I do have near volumetric quality on high. I'll have to turn that down. I may also have tree tessellation on as well, I have to check. I will post my full settings when I get home.

Last edited by FrostE40; Dec 6, 2019 @ 6:27am

Smokey Dec 6, 2019 @ 6:26am

Vsync - On
Tripple Buffering - On
Texture Quality - Ultra
Aniso Filtering - x16
Lightning Quality - Medium
Global Illumination - High
Shadow Quality - Medium
Far Shadow Quality - Medium
Screen Scape Ambient Occlusion - Medium
Reflection Quality - Medium
Mirror Quality - High
Water Quality - Custom ( See below) *
Volumetrics Quality - Custom ( See below) *
Partical Quality - Medium
Tesselation Quality - High
TAA - Medium ( High is too blurry )
FXAA - Off
MSAA - Off

Advanced settings Unlocked
Graphics API - Vulkan
Near Volumetric Resolution - Medium *
Volumetric Lightning Quality - Medium *
Unlocked Volumetric Raymarch Resolution - On
Particle Lightning Quality - Medium
Soft Shadows - Medium
Grass Shadows - Medium
Long Shadows - On <--- This is more a personal preference,test it out.
Full Resolution Screen Space Ambient Occlusion - Off
Water Refraction Quality - Medium
Water Reflection Quality - Medium
Water Physics - 0 ( Turn it all the way down to the left )
Resolution Scale - Off
TAA Sharpening - Max the slider all the way to the right
Motion Blur - Off <---- Personal preference
Reflection MSAA - Off
Geometry Level of Detail - 0 ( Slider all the way to the left,insanely heavy option)
Grass level of detal - 0 ( Slider all the way to the left )
Tree Quality - Medium
Parallax Occlusin Mapping Quality - Ultra
Decal Quality - Medium
Fur Quality - Medium
Tree Tessellation - Off

These settings give me a 60 fps locked smooth experience and it took me a while to get that,been playing since first day release through Rockstar and spend a long time finetuning to have a smooth experience. If all else fails,lower your resolution.
I can up settings like Lightning to High aswell, in some places its fine but then in Saint denis you will notice some drops, same for certain other settings. Hence i keep them at medium to keep 60fps everywhere.

Last edited by Smokey; Dec 6, 2019 @ 6:31am

Lelouch Dec 6, 2019 @ 6:29am

Less VRAM usage does not equal more fps. You can use very little VRAM but still write expensive shaders that cost you a lot of fps. As Zano mentioned, the water/reflection effects are extremely expensive so turning those downs will net you more fps if that's what you're after.

FrostE40

Dec 6, 2019 @ 6:34am

Originally posted by Smokey:
Vsync - On
Tripple Buffering - On
Texture Quality - Ultra
Aniso Filtering - x16
Lightning Quality - Medium
Global Illumination - High
Shadow Quality - Medium
Far Shadow Quality - Medium
Screen Scape Ambient Occlusion - Medium
Reflection Quality - Medium
Mirror Quality - High
Water Quality - Custom ( See below) *
Volumetrics Quality - Custom ( See below) *
Partical Quality - Medium
Tesselation Quality - High
TAA - Medium ( High is too blurry )
FXAA - Off
MSAA - Off

Advanced settings Unlocked
Graphics API - Vulkan
Near Volumetric Resolution - Medium *
Volumetric Lightning Quality - Medium *
Unlocked Volumetric Raymarch Resolution - On
Particle Lightning Quality - Medium
Soft Shadows - Medium
Grass Shadows - Medium
Long Shadows - On <--- This is more a personal preference,test it out.
Full Resolution Screen Space Ambient Occlusion - Off
Water Refraction Quality - Medium
Water Reflection Quality - Medium
Water Physics - 0 ( Turn it all the way down to the left )
Resolution Scale - Off
TAA Sharpening - Max the slider all the way to the right
Motion Blur - Off <---- Personal preference
Reflection MSAA - Off
Geometry Level of Detail - 0 ( Slider all the way to the left,insanely heavy option)
Grass level of detal - 0 ( Slider all the way to the left )
Tree QUality - Medium
Parallax Occlusin Mapping Quality - Ultra
Decal Quality - Medium
Fur Quality - Medium
Tree Tessellation - Off

These settings give me a 60 fps locked smooth experience.

Wow, okay.

I have many of the same settings. Here are mine (from memory)

Tripple Buffering - On
Texture Quality - High
Aniso Filtering - x8
Lightning Quality - High
Global Illumination - High
Shadow Quality - High
Far Shadow Quality - Medium
Screen Space Ambient Occlusion - High
Reflection Quality - Medium
Mirror Quality - Ultra
Water Quality - Medium
Volumetrics Quality - High
Partical Quality - Ultra
Tesselation Quality - High
TAA - High
FXAA - Off
MSAA - Off

Advanced settings Unlocked
Graphics API - DX12
Near Volumetric Resolution - High
Volumetric Lightning Quality - High
Unlocked Volumetric Raymarch Resolution - Off
Particle Lightning Quality - Medium
Soft Shadows - High
Grass Shadows - Medium
Long Shadows - On
Full Resolution Screen Space Ambient Occlusion - On
Water Refraction Quality - Medium
Water Reflection Quality - Medium
Water Physics - 1 (i believe)
Resolution Scale - Off
TAA Sharpening - Maxed
Motion Blur - Off
Reflection MSAA - Off
Geometry Level of Detail - Maxed
Grass level of detal - 3/4ths full
Tree Quality - Ultra
Parallax Occlusin Mapping Quality - Ultra
Decal Quality - Ultra
Fur Quality - Medium
Tree Tessellation - On

Last edited by FrostE40; Dec 6, 2019 @ 6:37am

Smokey Dec 6, 2019 @ 6:40am

Originally posted by FrostE40:
Originally posted by Smokey:
Vsync - On
Tripple Buffering - On
Texture Quality - Ultra
Aniso Filtering - x16
Lightning Quality - Medium
Global Illumination - High
Shadow Quality - Medium
Far Shadow Quality - Medium
Screen Scape Ambient Occlusion - Medium
Reflection Quality - Medium
Mirror Quality - High
Water Quality - Custom ( See below) *
Volumetrics Quality - Custom ( See below) *
Partical Quality - Medium
Tesselation Quality - High
TAA - Medium ( High is too blurry )
FXAA - Off
MSAA - Off

Advanced settings Unlocked
Graphics API - Vulkan
Near Volumetric Resolution - Medium *
Volumetric Lightning Quality - Medium *
Unlocked Volumetric Raymarch Resolution - On
Particle Lightning Quality - Medium
Soft Shadows - Medium
Grass Shadows - Medium
Long Shadows - On <--- This is more a personal preference,test it out.
Full Resolution Screen Space Ambient Occlusion - Off
Water Refraction Quality - Medium
Water Reflection Quality - Medium
Water Physics - 0 ( Turn it all the way down to the left )
Resolution Scale - Off
TAA Sharpening - Max the slider all the way to the right
Motion Blur - Off <---- Personal preference
Reflection MSAA - Off
Geometry Level of Detail - 0 ( Slider all the way to the left,insanely heavy option)
Grass level of detal - 0 ( Slider all the way to the left )
Tree QUality - Medium
Parallax Occlusin Mapping Quality - Ultra
Decal Quality - Medium
Fur Quality - Medium
Tree Tessellation - Off

These settings give me a 60 fps locked smooth experience.
Wow, okay.

I have many of the same settings. Here are mine (from memory)

Tripple Buffering - On
Texture Quality - High <------ Turn that up to Ultra
Aniso Filtering - x8
Lightning Quality - High <----- Medium
Global Illumination - High
Shadow Quality - Medium
Far Shadow Quality - Medium
Screen Scape Ambient Occlusion - High <----- Medium
Reflection Quality - Medium
Mirror Quality - Ultra
Water Quality - Medium
Volumetrics Quality - High <---- Medium
Partical Quality - Ultra
Tesselation Quality - High
TAA - High
FXAA - Off
MSAA - Off

Advanced settings Unlocked
Graphics API - DX12 <------- Vulkan
Near Volumetric Resolution - High <------ Medium
Volumetric Lightning Quality - High <---------- Medium
Unlocked Volumetric Raymarch Resolution - Off <-------- On,not heavy and clouds look better
Particle Lightning Quality - Medium
Soft Shadows - High <---- Medium
Grass Shadows - Medium
Long Shadows - On
Full Resolution Screen Space Ambient Occlusion - On <---- Off
Water Refraction Quality - Medium
Water Reflection Quality - Medium
Water Physics - 1 (i believe) <---- Turn it off
Resolution Scale - Off
TAA Sharpening - Maxed
Motion Blur - Off
Reflection MSAA - Off
Geometry Level of Detail - Maxed <----- Turn it to 0
Grass level of detal - 3/4ths full <--- Turn it down
Tree Quality - Ultra <----------- Too heavy put it down to High
Parallax Occlusin Mapping Quality - Ultra
Decal Quality - Ultra
Fur Quality - Medium
Tree Tessellation - On <----- Turn that Off,its an instant 10 - 15fps boost

Yup, give my settings a go. The ones i changed on your list now are the Heavy settings that destroy your current performance.

Also if these settings will Not give you a smooth experience ( But i think they will ),first off make sure you run the latest Nvidia drivers which fixed issues and try turning down your resolution a notch.

The game also has a cache folder located in

C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Rockstar Games\Red Dead Redemption 2\Settings

You can remove all files in there including the settings.xml to reset the cache which "can" help with fps issues and reset your graphics options by deleting settings.xml.

It doesnt hurt to do this before you try my setings to start off clean. The files will be regenerated on RDR2 launch

Last edited by Smokey; Dec 6, 2019 @ 9:05am

FrostE40

Dec 6, 2019 @ 6:47am

Originally posted by Smokey:
Originally posted by FrostE40:
Wow, okay.

I have many of the same settings. Here are mine (from memory)

Tripple Buffering - On
Texture Quality - High <------ Turn that up to Ultra
Aniso Filtering - x8
Lightning Quality - High <----- Medium
Global Illumination - High
Shadow Quality - Medium
Far Shadow Quality - Medium
Screen Scape Ambient Occlusion - High <----- Medium
Reflection Quality - Medium
Mirror Quality - Ultra
Water Quality - Medium
Volumetrics Quality - High <---- Medium
Partical Quality - Ultra
Tesselation Quality - High
TAA - High
FXAA - Off
MSAA - Off

Advanced settings Unlocked
Graphics API - DX12 <------- Vulkan
Near Volumetric Resolution - High <------ Medium
Volumetric Lightning Quality - High <---------- Medium
Unlocked Volumetric Raymarch Resolution - Off <-------- On,not heavy and clouds look better
Particle Lightning Quality - Medium
Soft Shadows - High <---- Medium
Grass Shadows - Medium
Long Shadows - On
Full Resolution Screen Space Ambient Occlusion - On
Water Refraction Quality - Medium
Water Reflection Quality - Medium
Water Physics - 1 (i believe) <---- Turn it off
Resolution Scale - Off
TAA Sharpening - Maxed
Motion Blur - Off
Reflection MSAA - Off
Geometry Level of Detail - Maxed <----- Turn it to 0
Grass level of detal - 3/4ths full <--- Turn it down
Tree Quality - Ultra <----------- Too heavy put it down to High
Parallax Occlusin Mapping Quality - Ultra
Decal Quality - Ultra
Fur Quality - Medium
Tree Tessellation - On <----- Turn that Off,its an instant 10 - 15fps boost

Yup, give my settings a go. The ones i changed on your list now are the Heavy settings that destroy your current performance.

Will do. Thanks for insight. Will update with answer when I test it all out.

Smokey Dec 6, 2019 @ 6:48am

Originally posted by FrostE40:
Originally posted by Smokey:

Yup, give my settings a go. The ones i changed on your list now are the Heavy settings that destroy your current performance.
Will do. Thanks for insight. Will update with answer when I test it all out.

|
Goodluck dude,hope it works out.

I just edited my post about the cache thing,try that aswell.

FrostE40

Dec 6, 2019 @ 7:02am

Originally posted by Smokey:
Originally posted by FrostE40:
Will do. Thanks for insight. Will update with answer when I test it all out.
|
Goodluck dude,hope it works out.

I just edited my post about the cache thing,try that aswell.

Will do brother, thanks.

-VG- Napster has Red Dead Redemption 2

Dec 6, 2019 @ 7:06am

Originally posted by FrostE40:
To start off, I'm well aware that RDR2 is one of (if not, the) most graphically intensive games to date.

I currently have a mixture of both medium, high, and ultra settings (I've unlocked advanced options). I am currently getting good frame rates; if I had to guess, approx. 50 fps in Valentine and surrounding areas, and probably around 40 fps in my camp for whatever reason.

.........

i read some tests with the API and you should use DX12 not vulkan DX12 seems to perform better under andy circumstance when u use an nvidia card. <not sure about amd cards but i think they also better with DX 12

#10

Hell Patrol Dec 6, 2019 @ 7:06am

Full Resolution Screen Space Ambient Occlusion has a big performance hit IIRC.

Also I think maximum TAA sharpening looks like crap when you are in areas with a lot of foliage. Turn that down to medium.

#11

FrostE40

Dec 6, 2019 @ 7:11am

Originally posted by Hell Patrol:
Full Resolution Screen Space Ambient Occlusion has a big performance hit IIRC.

Also I think maximum TAA sharpening looks like crap when you are in areas with a lot of foliage. Turn that down to medium.

Interesting, I will check that out. I plan to mess around with different settings after work.

#12

Mystic Monkey has Red Dead Redemption 2

Dec 6, 2019 @ 8:38am

Originally posted by -VG- Napster:
Originally posted by FrostE40:
To start off, I'm well aware that RDR2 is one of (if not, the) most graphically intensive games to date.

I currently have a mixture of both medium, high, and ultra settings (I've unlocked advanced options). I am currently getting good frame rates; if I had to guess, approx. 50 fps in Valentine and surrounding areas, and probably around 40 fps in my camp for whatever reason.

.........

i read some tests with the API and you should use DX12 not vulkan DX12 seems to perform better under andy circumstance when u use an nvidia card. <not sure about amd cards but i think they also better with DX 12

I seem to get better fps with vulkan then dx12 with nvidia card

#13