How to increase the draw distance?

[Gankoo]

I have it on max by the settings but its still very short. Is there any way to increase it significantly? is there a mod for it?

[woldysz]

just some tweaks in FALLOUT.ini file i guess. the main option responsible for distance overall is "uGridsToLoad", from default set to 5. if you change it just to 6 you will see a really big difference. unfortunately, gamebryo is very poor engine and no matter how good PC you have, setting this line just only from 5 to 6 may cause definitely visible fps drops (at least i've noticed them, but i have a lot of heavy 2K/4K textures mods installed so it can cause additional performance problems). you have to try your luck with these lines and seek out how it hit your game performance and stability:

uGridsToLoad=5 (A higher value increases the visibility range and the distance of object visualization)
• uNumDepthGrids=1 (Set value to 3 if uGridsToLoad is bigger than 9)
• iMinGrassSize=80 (A lower value makes the grass denser)
• fGrassFadeRange=6000.0 (Distance to which grass is displayed)
• bForceFullLOD=0 (1 improves the LOD display)
• iTreeClonesAllowed=1 (0 allows unique trees only)
• iShadowMapResolution=256 (2048 for best graphics)
• iShadowFilter=0 (2 for shadow edges)
• iActorShadowExtMax=10 (A higher value increases the number of shadows in outside levels)
• iActorShadowIntMax=10 (A higher value increases the number of shadows in inside levels)
• bShadowsOnGrass=0 (1 for shadows on grass)

don't forget to make backup of FALLOUT.INI, and put it again to My Games/Fallout 3 folder and overwrite if you will have notorious crashes

[Bandy]

Leave uGridsToLoad=5 alone

Those who know more about the game (not saying me) know better. Once changed to other than 5 you cannot change it back without going back to a save when it was originally 5. You have been warned so don't come crying when your saves are corrupt and game crashes all the time.

There is a way to mod and regenerate the LODs, but if you don't know what an LOD is, then the process may be complex. Many have issues getting it to work correctly. Look it up.

[woldysz]

"You have been warned so don't come crying when your saves are corrupt and game crashes all the time." - there is no need to be rude and i don't know why you are. please keep your personal allusions to yourself. author of this post was asking how to increase draw distance so i just gave him an answer, because this line greatly improve this.
of course i also already check that before and replace FALLOUT.ini with modified "uGridsToLoad" to original one. game is running without any issues.

however, if the game would keep crashing, it could be fixed by edit FALLOUT.ini while game is running. minimalize Fallout, go to FALLOUT.ini, change uGridsToLoad to default value, then go back to game and open the console, type "refini", then save the game. from this point everything should be ok

[Bandy]

Originally posted by woldysz:

"You have been warned so don't come crying when your saves are corrupt and game crashes all the time." - there is no need to be rude and i don't know why you are. please keep your personal allusions to yourself. ...

Apologies if you think that my post is rude, but real life often has tough news, so don't be a snowflake if someone disagrees with you. Use logic, prove them wrong.

My post is a straightforward warning to bad advice RE: uGridToLoad, and the potential consequences. All other things you mention are fine. It is not my "allusions" but reading FO3, NV, and Oblivion and Skyrim forums. See below. These games all use Gamebyro and default uGridsToLoad=5 and players who know better use different ways to get more stable draw distance, such as grass and tree ini edits as you point out, which is fine.

Note: Changing uGridToLoad to anything other than the default can result in wildly unstable performance, on any hardware, as the game engine is poorly optimized/ built. Gamebryo, by default, doesn't work with Windows 10 to boot, not completely.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/22380/discussions/0/3203652426709295509/

Changing the uGridsToLoad value between saved games may cause CTD. It is recommended to be left at its default value of 5. Higher values will likely bug out the game over time.

https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/Guide:Skyrim_Configuration_Settings

[woldysz]

"but real life is going to eat you for a snack SS" - i don't understand what's point of notes like this. as i said, keep it to yourself. leave it and focus on a topic of the post.

i'm definitely didn't spent so much time modding Fallout, so you as a much more experienced person for sure have right.

by the way, if you know any others good ways how to increase draw distance without killing performance, please share them, i would also use it for sure

[Bandy]

As mentioned in my 1st reply, look up ways to mod and regenerate the game LODs. It isn't easy to get right but if accomplished it makes a very nice difference.

[woldysz]

thank you. i will try for sure

[StreamWhenGuy]

I'd suggest to leave *.ini tweaks alone for the most part aside from pushing the distance to the limit within the launcher and ingame settings. Instead just learn to use xLODGen to generate distant LOD. It's on Nexusmods. It does make a difference. A few examples from my screenshots:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2123225451
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2123225676
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2123224608
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2123225010

[Gankoo]

Originally posted by StreamWhenGuy:

I'd suggest to leave *.ini tweaks alone for the most part aside from pushing the distance to the limit within the launcher and ingame settings. Instead just learn to use xLODGen to generate distant LOD. It's on Nexusmods. It does make a difference. A few examples from my screenshots:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2123225451
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2123225676
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2123224608
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2123225010

Thankyou man, I really appreciate it

[scorpgul]

Originally posted by StreamWhenGuy:

I'd suggest to leave *.ini tweaks alone for the most part aside from pushing the distance to the limit within the launcher and ingame settings. Instead just learn to use xLODGen to generate distant LOD. It's on Nexusmods. It does make a difference. A few examples from my screenshots:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2123225451
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2123225676
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2123224608
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2123225010

Wow!

[Per]

Originally posted by volde:

just some tweaks in FALLOUT.ini file i guess. the main option responsible for distance overall is "uGridsToLoad", from default set to 5. if you change it just to 6 you will see a really big difference. unfortunately, gamebryo is very poor engine and no matter how good PC you have, setting this line just only from 5 to 6 may cause definitely visible fps drops (at least i've noticed them, but i have a lot of heavy 2K/4K textures mods installed so it can cause additional performance problems). you have to try your luck with these lines and seek out how it hit your game performance and stability:

uGridsToLoad=5 (A higher value increases the visibility range and the distance of object visualization)
• uNumDepthGrids=1 (Set value to 3 if uGridsToLoad is bigger than 9)
• iMinGrassSize=80 (A lower value makes the grass denser)
• fGrassFadeRange=6000.0 (Distance to which grass is displayed)
• bForceFullLOD=0 (1 improves the LOD display)
• iTreeClonesAllowed=1 (0 allows unique trees only)
• iShadowMapResolution=256 (2048 for best graphics)
• iShadowFilter=0 (2 for shadow edges)
• iActorShadowExtMax=10 (A higher value increases the number of shadows in outside levels)
• iActorShadowIntMax=10 (A higher value increases the number of shadows in inside levels)
• bShadowsOnGrass=0 (1 for shadows on grass)

don't forget to make backup of FALLOUT.INI, and put it again to My Games/Fallout 3 folder and overwrite if you will have notorious crashes

Dont you know why changing fGrassFadeRange doesnt work? Changing others values works. It doesnt change grass draw distance. Now grass just pop up instead of fade.

[MaxKool007]

Originally posted by volde:

just some tweaks in FALLOUT.ini file i guess. the main option responsible for distance overall is "uGridsToLoad", from default set to 5. if you change it just to 6 you will see a really big difference. unfortunately, gamebryo is very poor engine and no matter how good PC you have, setting this line just only from 5 to 6 may cause definitely visible fps drops (at least i've noticed them, but i have a lot of heavy 2K/4K textures mods installed so it can cause additional performance problems). you have to try your luck with these lines and seek out how it hit your game performance and stability:

uGridsToLoad=5 (A higher value increases the visibility range and the distance of object visualization)
• uNumDepthGrids=1 (Set value to 3 if uGridsToLoad is bigger than 9)
• iMinGrassSize=80 (A lower value makes the grass denser)
• fGrassFadeRange=6000.0 (Distance to which grass is displayed)
• bForceFullLOD=0 (1 improves the LOD display)
• iTreeClonesAllowed=1 (0 allows unique trees only)
• iShadowMapResolution=256 (2048 for best graphics)
• iShadowFilter=0 (2 for shadow edges)
• iActorShadowExtMax=10 (A higher value increases the number of shadows in outside levels)
• iActorShadowIntMax=10 (A higher value increases the number of shadows in inside levels)
• bShadowsOnGrass=0 (1 for shadows on grass)

don't forget to make backup of FALLOUT.INI, and put it again to My Games/Fallout 3 folder and overwrite if you will have notorious crashes

Mess with the grid loading and your game will eventually break.