How to -> Easily Improve the Graphics of Far Cry 2 ! <- (Was "Tried changing LOD?)

[thirdkeeper]

- FULL article below. - Thanks for all the help! -

[Bullett00th]

the link doesn't work for me.

I tried an extensive CFG change but reverted back because it messed with the sharpness of the shadows in my game. Might be a DX9 issue, can't be bothered to check because I'm not going back to DX10.

LODs are weird in this game, lots of pop-up, but I've gotten relatively used to it

[thirdkeeper]

Damn! - The link should work for friends and members.

I don't seem to have the pop up problem, - might have to do with all the ram I have available -
but I thought that this might extend my detail in the distance. - I won't use DX10 either, 9 for FC2
and 11 for just about everything else.

I'll post the full article here that the link referenced - deals with shadows too.

Thanks for the reply BT - 8 )

Thanks To:

Originally posted by bigmoney (morris):

Giving vanilla Far Cry 2 a Facelift
iHow to edit LOD Values

Short and easy edit truly enhances game world by increasing the LOD distance.

Make sure that Far Cry 2 is set to Directx9 Ultra

Open up file explorer find Far Cry 2 in "Program Files

(x86)">"Steam">"Steamapps">"common">"Far Cry2">"Gamerprofile"

OR

Open up file explorer and head to "My Documents">My Games">"Far Cry 2">"Gamerprofile"

Once there, check the properties of the document by right clicking, if "Read only"

is on turn it off.

CHANGING THE LOD

Copy and paste the text below </CustomQuality> and </RenderProfile>
<Geometry>
<quality LodScale="1" id="ultrahigh" />
</Geometry>

After that open up the "Gamerprofile.xml" properties and set it to read only.

Upon launching the game you can set it back to Directx10 if you want to. Directx10 has better

MSAA than Directx9.

You can tweak the LodScale from 0-12, changing it to 0 means that no LOD controls the grass

and object pop in so the game becomes very demanding. Personally I find 1 to be the perfect

middle ground with all the grass in visible range loaded in properly with no pop in.

This tweak is also good for squeezing more performance out on older PC's, with the higher the

value the worse the LOD gets but the better the performance.



Another tweak I find useful is upon launching the game, hit the "tilde" key "~" and entering

"gfx_leavesshadowratio 0.7" and hitting enter means that more leaves are rendered from trees

onto ingame objects. You can edit this value too from 1 (very little leaves shadow) to 9 (full

leaves rendering)

[Bullett00th]

I don't know how you have no pop in when the game just has distant objects appear into existence for me and always has. Check out these screenshots: there's just one step difference between the two, yet on the second one where I've slightly moved forward there's more mountains in the distance. They just pop in.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1829090140
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1829090188


On a side note, if you want a bit more magic, you can try this:

Originally posted by Marcin_89:

Gfx_LeavesShadowRatio 1
Gfx_SunShadowRange1 30
Gfx_SunShadowRange0 14
Gfx_SunShadowRange2 160
GFX_HemiQuality 2
GFX_MaxHemiMapDistance 10000
gfx_MaxDecalCountPerType 1000
you can create a file for example called IQ.cfg and put it in my documents/my games/far cry 2 then in the game open console by pressing ~ and type exec IQ.cfg to apply all commands.

It increases the shadow distance and generates much more foliage shadows overall. However you will lose shadow sharpness upclose, so there's a tradeoff. I don't know why you can't have both distance and sharpness, at least I haven't managed to achieve it after playing with shadow configs for a while.

You can generally experiment a lot with the visuals through the console, all commands are available by inputting "?", and typing a command without a number shows the default number the game uses.

[thirdkeeper]

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

I don't know how you have no pop in when the game just has distant objects appear into existence for me and always has. Check out these screenshots: there's just one step difference between the two, yet on the second one where I've slightly moved forward there's more mountains in the distance. They just pop in.

I've noticed some distant shrub pop, but I don't remember seeing mountain pop for a long
time. - I just tried the method above and played for a couple of hours. - Set the LodScale
to 0 and the grx_leavesshadowratio to the recommended 0.7. have no shrub pop and the
shadows look about the same.

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

On a side note, if you want a bit more magic, you can try this:

Originally posted by Marcin_89:

Gfx_LeavesShadowRatio 1
Gfx_SunShadowRange1 30
Gfx_SunShadowRange0 14
Gfx_SunShadowRange2 160
GFX_HemiQuality 2
GFX_MaxHemiMapDistance 10000
gfx_MaxDecalCountPerType 1000
you can create a file for example called IQ.cfg and put it in my documents/my games/far cry 2 then in the game open console by pressing ~ and type exec IQ.cfg to apply all commands.

Thank you ! - This is a great technique it's like creating a batch file and running it from the console. - If I'd known that I could create my own config I would've been playing with this a
long time ago.

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

It increases the shadow distance and generates much more foliage shadows overall. However you will lose shadow sharpness upclose, so there's a tradeoff. I don't know why you can't have both distance and sharpness, at least I haven't managed to achieve it after playing with shadow configs for a while.

Have you tried Gfx_leavesshadowratio 9 ?

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

You can generally experiment a lot with the visuals through the console, all commands are available by inputting "?", and typing a command without a number shows the default number the game uses.

I've known about that from when I wanted to expand the fov, but I was hesitant to mess with
it. - Quite a bit bolder now that I see what can be done with it. - I'm wondering if there's a
command that affects color, haze density, storm brightness etc.

Just created this IQ.cfg :

Gfx_LeavesShadowRatio 9
Gfx_SunShadowRange2 160
GFX_HemiQuality 2
GFX_MaxHemiMapDistance 10000
gfx_MaxDecalCountPerType 1000

Why were there 3 SunShadow settings - near, mid and far?
I'd like to know what HemiQuality refers to?

Going to give it a test right now.

- Thanks for the feed BT, this is getting intriguing. 8 )

[thirdkeeper]

Yuk.. "IQ.cfg Unknown command"..

[Bullett00th]

Yeah I've tried a lot of different settings but there's always pop-in. I'm pretty sure you've just never paid much attention to it, it's not as noticeable unless you look, but if not - I'm just unlucky and gotta try to find the source of the issue.

There are 3 shadow settings, each of which controls a different parameter. I don't remember which goes for which but you can just experiment by changing each one manually. Don't worry about messing things up because it goes back to default upon restart, or you can just do the IQ.cfg thing.

Originally posted by thirdkeeper:

Yuk.. "IQ.cfg Unknown command"..

it's "exec IQ.cfg"

[Virago]

I've never noticed such a popup either except for some distant vegetation. Does that popup happen when concealing behind objects or does that happen even in the open?

[Bullett00th]

In the open. I'm beginning to think something is wrong with my game, or with my mods. Will try a reinstall

[thirdkeeper]

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

Yeah I've tried a lot of different settings but there's always pop-in. I'm pretty sure you've just never paid much attention to it, it's not as noticeable unless you look, but if not - I'm just unlucky and gotta try to find the source of the issue.

There are 3 shadow settings, each of which controls a different parameter. I don't remember which goes for which but you can just experiment by changing each one manually. Don't worry about messing things up because it goes back to default upon restart, or you can just do the IQ.cfg thing.

Originally posted by thirdkeeper:

Yuk.. "IQ.cfg Unknown command"..

it's "exec IQ.cfg"

ah.. HA! ..well.. no w o n d e r

[thirdkeeper]

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

In the open. I'm beginning to think something is wrong with my game, or with my mods. Will try a reinstall

Is it possible that it's a ram issue?

[Bullett00th]

Originally posted by thirdkeeper:

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

In the open. I'm beginning to think something is wrong with my game, or with my mods. Will try a reinstall

Is it possible that it's a ram issue?

with 16 GB?)

[thirdkeeper]

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

Originally posted by thirdkeeper:

Is it possible that it's a ram issue?

with 16 GB?)

NO! 8 ) - Hope the re-install fixes it - I did notice that when you hit tilde then keep hitting
tab it will cycle through all of the commands. I pumped up all the values having to do with
distance and detail. No decernable difference between leavesshadowsblahblah 1 and 9..

[Bullett00th]

Be careful simply 'pumping up' all numbers, too much of one can mess things up. Like the farther the shadow draw distance is, the blurrier the shadows.

Most commands that show no difference in the range of 1-9 operate within the 0-1 range, meaining they can be decimals like 0,3 or 0,7 etc.

[thirdkeeper]

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

Be careful simply 'pumping up' all numbers, too much of one can mess things up. Like the farther the shadow draw distance is, the blurrier the shadows.

Most commands that show no difference in the range of 1-9 operate within the 0-1 range, meaining they can be decimals like 0,3 or 0,7 etc.

Yes, I've been playing around with the decimals - that's what I meant. Any thing above 1
make no changes, so that must be the max. - The recommended 0.7 seems to have a
good balance and still have crisp shadows; I'm playing at 4K, not sure if that makes a
difference.

[Bullett00th]

Originally posted by thirdkeeper:

I'm playing at 4K, not sure if that makes a
difference.

for shadow or texture resolution it doesn't, but dam I can imagine how crisp FC2 must look in 4K!