Turn off Z-Prepass and Volume Rendering Quality

[Frost]

I'm sure it's known or has been discussed, but these two options can really slam performance, and whether or not they should or should not be enabled by default is debatable.

Myself, my build is as follows:

~ i7-2700k @ 4.5GHz
~ ASUS ROG Strix GTX1080 @ 1950MHz

With either one of these options enabled I drop from 70FPS down to 50.

(However, that's just for me, I'm pretty CPU bound since I haven't upgraded.)

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Use an FPS monitoring tool or a mod like Kaldaien's Special K for MHW in order to see what kind of performance hits you're taking for each option in the Graphics Settings.

In the best case scenario, you can disable a thing here or there and then upscale the resolution to better anti-aliase the quality of the game. I went from using 1080p to using 1440p.

You don't have to turn Volumetric Rendering off entirely, but I personally dislike fog effects in games when they muck with visuals. Low or Medium should work, but test out each option to see what is best for you and take note of the performance cost for each.

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Kaldaien replied below:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Kaldaien:

Turning Z-Prepass off increases your GPU runtime.

If you don't fill the Z-landscape with depth prior to pixel shading, you spend time pixel shading objects that aren't even visible when the entire frame finishes drawing. Early-Z does a quick pre-pass that fills ther GPU's depthbuffer and does no shading. With the depth buffer filled, now the GPU can more efficiently shade only objects that are visible.

If turning this OFF helps performance, you are SEVERELY CPU limited. For everyone else, you need to leave Z-Prepass on or you're going to lose 5+ FPS.

[Stationary Traveller]

I thought everyone agreed Z-Prepass actually boosts performance?

[Dog]

Doesnt it say that disabling z-prepass increases cpu runtime in the options screen?

[Frost]

"May speed up processing for lower-spec PCs if disabled" is the tooltip for Z-Prepass.

I have an i7-2700k @ 4.5GHz, so it's not top of the line, but it's never been a problem until now apparently.

[Hamez]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Serfrost:

I'm sure it's known or has been discussed, but these two options really slam performance, and I don't believe they should be enabled by default.

Using a GTX1080 OC'd, with either one enabled I drop from 70FPS down to 50.

Go ahead and see how it affects your performance.

Soooooooo, you say turn these two off but give no explanation as to why we should? How does it improve performance? what do these options do? what havens to the game graphically if they turn off?

It just sounds like a biased case based in the minority.

[Nerhak]

Actually the Volume rendering is known to be the majority of what causes the fps loss, it's basically the way the game handle the atmospheric fog and all of the likes (such as the little clouds the Insec Glaive leaves behind when aiming with the kinsect)

That said, turning it off is a but much, putting it to medium removes any form of stutter or fps loss for me, and I'm using a 980 so, I think there is space for a little fog. Turning it completly off gives you a major performance boost but also drastically reduces the immersion in some areas, it's ok if you never used it, but when accustomed to it, it really make some area less lifelike to my opinion =)

[Frost]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย jamierawr88:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Serfrost:

I'm sure it's known or has been discussed, but these two options really slam performance, and I don't believe they should be enabled by default.

Using a GTX1080 OC'd, with either one enabled I drop from 70FPS down to 50.

Go ahead and see how it affects your performance.

Soooooooo, you say turn these two off but give no explanation as to why we should? How does it improve performance? what do these options do? what havens to the game graphically if they turn off?

It just sounds like a biased case based in the minority.

I merely suggested to test these settings in conjunction to measuring their performance hit with an FPS monitor, that's all. As for what they do, the game explains what these options handle when you hover over them, there's no need to explain it myself; if their explanation isn't enough for you, then Google is your next best answer.

I will say that you don't have to turn Volumetric Fog entirely off (I do prefer it off,) but Low or maybe Medium will handle the performance bit. I just don't recommend High.

Again, test your performance with a monitoring tool so you don't get placebo'd.

[Your Shifu]

Interesting topic, so is z-prespass is better on / off for better performance ?
And what is sh diffuse anyway ?

[Frost]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Legendary KungFu Master:

Interesting topic, so is z-prespass is better on / off for better performance ?
And what is sh diffuse anyway ?

I have better performance with Z Prepass off, but it also depends on the other options you have enabled along with what resolution you're using and how considerable your PC is.

SH Diffuse I ended up turning off as well after I upscaled the game to 1440p. Doing so gave me a rough 5FPS; going from 50 to 55 when in a really busy area. I'm fine with 55 to 60FPS as long as Vsync is on, it's not anything noticable.

As for what SH Diffuse is, it's when objects go semi-transparent when too close to the camera.

[Ancient]

On Z-Prepass: https://steamcommunity.com/app/582010/discussions/0/1734339624806925888/#c1734339624807665954

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Legendary KungFu Master:

Interesting topic, so is z-prespass is better on / off for better performance ?

It depends on your system. If you have a bad CPU, off will be better. If you have hexacore i7 or OC'd high end quad i7, on should give better FPS.

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Legendary KungFu Master:

And what is sh diffuse anyway ?

It's the quality of the transparency fade for objects when you're doing things like hiding in a bush or if your camera is near an object or other part of the environment. Looks like lots of tiny tiny dots when you look closely, that setting controls just how tiny/blurry they are. Higher settings look finer and better but cost more GPU to render the higher-quality transparency.

[Aryend]

Why does no one ever mention LOD distance? Dropping it to medium gave me a huge fps boost, it's at least as taxing as volumetric rendering.

[Mrs,Doubtfire]

Upload your the performance boost and we will take it as gospel. EVGA?

[Your Shifu]

thx f or the answer

[Diabolical]

I still get drops to 30-40 when wacking on a monster, it's pretty ridiculous.

[Frost]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Aryend:

Why does no one ever mention LOD distance? Dropping it to medium gave me a huge fps boost, it's at least as taxing as volumetric rendering.

I did not mention this because it had 0 effect for me, on or off. Off just looked worse. It's better test for yourself, for this reason.

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Yuri Vladromavich:

Upload your the performance boost and we will take it as gospel. EVGA?

Just test each settings impact using a performance monitor. Posting a video myself wouldn't solve anyone's issues.

I use an ASUS ROG Strix GTX1080 OC'd to 1950MHz

[Kaldaien]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Zod the Defiler:

Doesnt it say that disabling z-prepass increases cpu runtime in the options screen?

GPU runtime.

If you don't fill the Z-landscape with depth prior to pixel shading, you spend time pixel shading objects that aren't even visible when the entire frame finishes drawing. Early-Z does a quick pre-pass that fills ther GPU's depthbuffer and does no shading. With the depth buffer filled, now the GPU can more efficiently shade only objects that are visible.

If turning this OFF helps performance, you are SEVERELY CPU limited. For evertyone else, you need to leave it on or you're going to lose 5+ FPS.