About performance issues - Shadow map size?

[Neutralize]

Hello!

My specs-
i5 2500k @ 4.5 ghz
8gb DDR3
GTX 970
Game is also on a Samsung Evo SSD

For my first playthrough and a few hours in to NG+, I had thought I had dialed in my settings pretty optimally, going of course for a pretty constant 60 fps with maximum graphical fidelity, while hoping for mins higher than 45-50 ish frames. I'm pretty sure I dropped much lower than that at some intense spots in the game, especially in Old Town. Soooo...after reading some on these forums, seems like some people were saying how running with Shadow Maps set to Low looked the same as about Medium without much real difference in noticeable quality.

So I switched up some settings, played for about an hour or two, running about using my grappling hook and trying to get to the real problem areas (freeways overlooking long distances, towers, etc), getting chased at night, and so-on, and I found my fps to be much more stable given this small and seemingly unnoticeable change. So much so that I even re-enabled or dialed up some other options and it's still looking to run a bit better while looking just about the same or even better. I can't be completely sure of how significant this change is just yet in terms of overall graphical fidelity and performance difference without playing through the game again, but thought I'd share/highlight this part of the issue, see if this helps or interests anyone else. Still much testing to be done I suppose, think I may rush the story ahead to Old Town again just to see, since that area seems much more demanding in most parts.

And yes, I realize, shadow settings are almost always super demanding in games but like...the difference is usually noticeable >_> I sure as hell can tell the difference in a game like say...Metro (maybe a bad example, almost all dark interiors :p). But in Dying Light, I really could not, even at night. Maybe the AO masks that a bit, beats me.

So I went from:
Textures - Medium
Shadows - Medium
Foliage- High
View Distance - 50 percent
Ambient Occlusion - On/HBAO+
DoF and Motion Blur - Off
AA - Off

@1920x1080, Nvidia profile set up for adaptive v-sync, maximum performance, etc.
Turned off the Film Grain effect with a file edit too (BLECH!)

To:
Textures - High
Shadows - Low
Foliage - High
View Distance - 50 percent
Ambient Occlusion - On/HBAO+
DoF and Motion Blur - Off
AA - On

Test, leave your feedback, tell me to shaddup, hf gl and gn.