Dynamic auto tune graphics option

[rudski]

I hope this idea catches on because I feel for slower to medium spec'd computers it would be a good bridge to run higher video graphics settings.

As most gamers know AF and AA typically put a decent load on any graphics subsystem, these normally require more video memory and typically faster gpu to process the additional load.

Assetto Corsa has tracks and few buildings compared to the open world games as an example so one could assume that users will be able to run this sim close if not on full settings without hitting a performance wall.

When driving at fast pace we don't need the fine-tuned 16x AA because from a PC resources point of view the additional improvement in quality isn't worth the processing power for such small and arguably insignificant improvements, so it's good to see other AA techniques being used in AC.

The two big hits in performance at the moment come from cubic reflections and faces per frame. These options are great and make the cars look more real but at high resource costs. I do understand the code will be further optimised.

If you turn these settings on high and six faces per frame, during the start of each race it will look great but it also is very laggy for obvious reasons. I can't think of any other time during a race when the load would be higher. After the race starts and the cars even out the performance increases because fewer cars are visable on the screen.

Let me explain what should be a good "bridge".

A good way to handle the lag at the start of each race would be to dynamically adjustment the reflections based on the video FPS output. Acceptable levels of FPS vary from person to person but industry standard is 30 so for this debate we can assume anything over 30 wouldn't be auto tuned.

But if it does drop below the standard 30 FPS I think the game should do the thinking for the users and compensate by reducing the reflections temporarily. In theory this should have benefits for each user but the lower end computers would benefit more.

Once the cars even out and go into the race formation the sim can increase the reflections back to the desired user settings.

Another reason is quality assurance. Now clearly no-one is going to stop people from buying AC and playing it but someone with a low end computer may attempt to run this game on higher settings and later complain. Or potential users see the product on a less desirable system and make the wrong conclusions.

They may blame the code or "lack of optimisation" when it fact it's their system holding everything back. A philosophy like this would essentially allow the game to run "best" on as many systems as possible, increasing the player base as well as keeping everyone (most) happy.

[Z OH 6]

AF is practically free these days even at 16x AF with modern GPU's. I've read a few people claiming that AF is graphics intensive in Assetto Corsa but my own testing says otherwise, I've tested it at 2x AF and 16x AF and seen no framerates difference.

AA is taxing, that is the case with all games, not just AC.

Motion Blur in this game is somewhat intensive, there's a measureable difference in framerate going from 0 to 12.

Cube map resolution and faces is has a huge impact on frame rates. Number of faces has the most impact especially above 3, but the resolution plays a part too but to be honest, there's not enough noticeable difference to me to justify using higher than medium at the moment.