graphics question

[gwelty]

So, the game runs perfectly fine on my PC: no crashes or stutters. I have every graphics setting to the absolute max (ultra).

It is bizarre to me that on ultra settings, the graphics are extremely bad *and* the game runs perfectly. Every texture looks like blurry, melted wax. I admit I have an older graphics card (Nvidia GeForce GTX 980, 4gb video ram) and only 16gb RAM. But if the problem were with my setup, why would the game run so well on ultra settings?

Doom Eternal looks photorealistic on my PC. But this game looks like a pile of wax on the highest settings, albeit a stable pile of wax with a nice framerate!

Example: when you right-click on a can of tuna to get a closer look, you can’t even read the words on the can. Posters on the walls are almost too blurry to read.

Any ideas on this? Thanks.

[IttoBr]

Same here, I'm playing in Ultra
But the textures seems not to load correctly

[gwelty]

I have a simple theory which explains all the observed facts, but it’s so crazy that I can’t believe it.

My theory is that the game determines whether or not you have a decent graphics card. If you do, then it gives you all the bells and whistles. Since that impacts frame rate, the user tweaks things until a happy medium is reached.

If you don’t have a decent graphics card, *the game completely ignores all graphics settings*. It doesn’t matter whether you set them at low or ultra; nothing makes a difference. It all looks bad.

I refuse to actually believe this, but it matches my experience. None of the graphics settings makes a difference, ever. I’ve never encountered this in a game. Usually, I go ultra and it turns into a slideshow. Not here. I go ultra and it thumbs its nose at me.

[gwelty]

OK, the solution is simple: don't use Ultra graphics.

As soon as I changed from "Ultra" to "Low," the graphics improved *dramatically*. They then improved a bit more going from "Low" to "Medium," and then to "High". Posters were no longer blurry; objects had textures rather than a waxy, blobby surface, and so on. I could actually read words when I zoomed in on inventory items. However, going further than this, to "Very High," made the signs and posters blurry again.

So dialing it down to "High" and keeping it there fixed most everything. Still not as good as other games (Doom Eternal, etc.), but at least as good as the Borderlands series. I can live with it. *Much* better than keeping it at "Ultra".

In the end, my graphics card (GTX 980, 4gb video ram) is below minimum specs for Spacer's Choice, even it isn't for the original game. So yes, the game just ignored my graphics settings if I make them more than "High". It doesn't even try.

BTW, to disable all intro videos, go to:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Indiana\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\

Open "Game.ini"

Add this at the bottom:

[/script/movieplayer.movieplayersettings]
StartupMovies=

All intro videos go away.

[BTNMNKI]

I have a GTX980 as well. Don't recall if it's the 4 or 6 gb ram one. Also 32 gb ram. I have the same problems. Game is basically unplayable. I'll try your settings, see if it fixes things.

[BTNMNKI]

Originally posted by gwelty:

OK, the solution is simple: don't use Ultra graphics.

As soon as I changed from "Ultra" to "Low," the graphics improved *dramatically*. They then improved a bit more going from "Low" to "Medium," and then to "High". Posters were no longer blurry; objects had textures rather than a waxy, blobby surface, and so on. I could actually read words when I zoomed in on inventory items. However, going further than this, to "Very High," made the signs and posters blurry again.

So dialing it down to "High" and keeping it there fixed most everything. Still not as good as other games (Doom Eternal, etc.), but at least as good as the Borderlands series. I can live with it. *Much* better than keeping it at "Ultra".

In the end, my graphics card (GTX 980, 4gb video ram) is below minimum specs for Spacer's Choice, even it isn't for the original game. So yes, the game just ignored my graphics settings if I make them more than "High". It doesn't even try.

BTW, to disable all intro videos, go to:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Indiana\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\

Open "Game.ini"

Add this at the bottom:[/script/movieplayer.movieplayersettings]
StartupMovies=

All intro videos go away.

Tried your settings. Seem to be working. Thanks!

[gwelty]

Originally posted by BTNMNKI:

Tried your settings. Seem to be working. Thanks!

Good to hear! I find that in some of the outside areas, even the "High" graphics settings make things blurry, and I have to dial it down to "Medium". I usually put it back on "High" when I'm in an indoors area (my ship, the main Edgewater area, etc.).

I'm planning on buying a new PC with better graphics card this year. My current one has served me for eight years, so I'm due for a refresh.

[BTNMNKI]

Originally posted by gwelty:

Originally posted by BTNMNKI:

Tried your settings. Seem to be working. Thanks!

Good to hear! I find that in some of the outside areas, even the "High" graphics settings make things blurry, and I have to dial it down to "Medium". I usually put it back on "High" when I'm in an indoors area (my ship, the main Edgewater area, etc.).

I'm planning on buying a new PC with better graphics card this year. My current one has served me for eight years, so I'm due for a refresh.

I spoke too soon. Problem persists. Sigh.

[gwelty]

I find I have to occasionally drop it down to "Medium" for a bit, to get rid of the blurriness. I have 16gb RAM, the 4gb GTX 980, and an i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00 GHz.

[BTNMNKI]

Originally posted by gwelty:

I find I have to occasionally drop it down to "Medium" for a bit, to get rid of the blurriness. I have 16gb RAM, the 4gb GTX 980, and an i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00 GHz.

Dropped it to medium as well and seems to be working now.
32gb RAM, GTX980 and i7-5820K @ 3.30GHz

[Goggles Paesano]

It must be your video ram. I say that as a 6700K user with a 2080 Super (that card has 8GB). I have my graphics set to ultra with the exception of shadows turned to high. And I'm using the global illumination. Everything looks fine to me. Looking at Afterburner after the game, the game is definitely using close to the whole 8GB.

That said, there is also a thread here regarding nVidia drivers and issues with them past a certain version. You may want to check that. I downgraded my drivers to 537.42 before I ever started the game.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1920490/discussions/0/3944650462439733036/

[Pctechnik]

I7 13700KF, 64GB DDR5 6400Mhz, 12Gb OC RTX 4070... 4k resolution, maximum (ultra all the way) settings and I hit at most, 80% load on my GPU...

The problem may very well be your setup and GPU.

Admittedly, I've not played long enough to hit major action, but I didn't feel like I had to to experience what was described... I've had no issues.

[Falaris]

You'll notice that your GPU is less than the minimum requirements. Minimum is a GTX 1060 with 6GB video memory, and 12 GB regular ram minimum. Spacer's choice has much higher minimum requirements than the original.

On the positive side - and this is a bit impressive - the game doesn't just give up and refuse to load. Instead, it disables whatever features your GPU can't run. When you put the settings on 'ultra' you are telling it to load textures your GPU cannot load - note the minimum requirement is 6GB ram, you have 4GB. I don't know what the game does then, but obviously, it doesn't result in good-looking textures. Same with the various lighting systems the game tries to run that your GPU doesn't support - it will deal with a host of internal error codes every time it tries to do them (some thousand times per frame), and that can cause slowdowns or unpredictable results.

If it runs fine(ish) on high, despite not being made to run on that instruction set, that's... pretty impressive programming. Most games just go 'nah-ah, not doing that'.

[gwelty]

Originally posted by Falaris:

On the positive side - and this is a bit impressive - the game doesn't just give up and refuse to load. Instead, it disables whatever features your GPU can't run.

Assuming you're addressing me and my initial post above, yes, that's pretty much what I discovered: the game just ignores the higher settings if your card can't handle them. The reason why that was disorienting to me is that I typically encounter the opposite: a graphically-demanding game turns into an unplayable, 10fps slideshow precisely because it's trying to run all the bells and whistles on the lesser card, even if the card can't handle it. After all, you as the player *did* choose the higher setting, and it's trying to accommodate you.

The Outer Worlds seems to be different: if your card isn't up to snuff, it just ignores what you want and only does what it *can* do. Interesting.