Increase LODs and Shadow Distance

[Kickfister]

There are some tweaks floating around that are filled with settings that do nothing for this game, as well as a couple that are actually LOWER than default. Here are the settings that actually work and objectively increase quality.

Go to %LOCALAPPDATA%\BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment\Tales of Arise\Config\WindowsNoEditor and open Engine.ini

Add this to the bottom of the file

[SystemSettings]

Then below that, add your desired tweaks (whole thing including comments can be copy pasted):

Increase LOD Distance

r.StaticMeshLODDistanceScale=0.1
; Default=1.0.  Increases scene geometric complexity and reduces pop-in on most meshes.  Lower is better.
foliage.LODDistanceScale=10
; Default=1.0.  Increases draw distance of foliage and terrain.  Higher is better.
r.ViewDistanceScale=3
; Default=1.0.  Confirmed to increase draw distance of some types of foliage.
grass.DensityScale=2
; Default=1.0.  Increases grass density in some scenes.  Large performance hit at high values.

Increase Shadow Distance

r.Shadow.DistanceScale=2
; Default=1.0.  Increases shadow draw distance, but negatively affects shadow quality.
r.Shadow.MaxCSMResolution=8192
; Default=4096.  Increases resolution of cascaded shadow maps.  Can be increased to maintain quality with greater DistanceScale. MaxCSMResolution=8196 with DistanceScale=2 increases distance at the same quality, at a large performance cost.

Increase NPC Distance with Havoc's Tool (CSM fix is needed for the shadow tweaks to work correctly as well)
https://steamcommunity.com/app/740130/discussions/0/3042733612667703000/

Special thanks to some discord contributor(s): Ciel

[Leonida [𝖘𝖙𝖜]]

I don't understand, do I need to copy paste the whole thing or just a specific portion?

[Maginera]

r.Shadow.MaxCSMResolution=8192
increasing the shadows res doesn't in that game , at least in my testing sadly, usually it works on every ue4 games :/

[Kickfister]

Originally posted by Leonida.99 𝖘𝖙𝖜:

I don't understand, do I need to copy paste the whole thing or just a specific portion?

Copy paste the entire portion of each section that you want, though the [SystemSettings] thing is required. If you're happy with shadows as is, only do the LOD tweaks and so on.

Originally posted by BloodNoctis:

r.Shadow.MaxCSMResolution=8192
increasing the shadows res doesn't in that game , at least in my testing sadly, usually it works on every ue4 games :/

That parameter definitely makes a difference in this game. You can watch it change very visibly if applied through Unreal Engine Unlocker, so I know for a fact it works. If you're increasing distance scale, it requires a higher shadow resolution for the same shadow quality, so if you're adjusting both that's why.

[Honorable_D]

Originally posted by Ghigi:

Did you try the DQXIS "hidden" command for the npc draw distance? I am on the Arise demo and there's not much npc around to test it. PLEASE NOTE: the command might well be exclusive to DQXIS.

r.JackLoadReduction.HiddenThresholdDistance=15000

Full credits to emoose (Havoc), mike9K1 and Tim Allahn Snackbarr.

Sadly, nothing seems to happen for both NPC and monster spawns.

[IndigoAK]

Originally posted by Honorable_D:

Originally posted by Ghigi:

Did you try the DQXIS "hidden" command for the npc draw distance? I am on the Arise demo and there's not much npc around to test it. PLEASE NOTE: the command might well be exclusive to DQXIS.



Full credits to emoose (Havoc), mike9K1 and Tim Allahn Snackbarr.

Sadly, nothing seems to happen for both NPC and monster spawns.

As mentioned by Oopy above, this doesn't work because it's a CVAR specific to Dragon Quest. It's not a standard value used by Unreal. Game specific CVARs are not going to work in other games.

[Ghigi]

Originally posted by IndigoAK:

As mentioned by Oopy above, this doesn't work because it's a CVAR specific to Dragon Quest. It's not a standard value used by Unreal. Game specific CVARs are not going to work in other games.

I was the one clearly asking for someone to test that command. And Honorable actually quoted me, for that, cheers to him. I am editing my original post.

[system2]

Originally posted by OopyDoopy:

Originally posted by Stanleyckc.:

Character and Npc shadows in this game are pretty blobby even with these settings. Is that just how the game is?

Increase csm resolution to 8192 but keep shadow distance at 1. I do specify that those settings extend shadow distance at the same shadow quality due to how the variables function.

Hmm, does seem to have improved it. Although I still think the shadows on this game err on the blob side. Is it possible to increase shadow res past 8192 or would that just be a crazy performance hit at that point?. Also how much does Shadow distance scale really effect the visuals of the game? Might be worth the shorter scale at 1 just for the higher res up-front shadows.

res up-front shadows.

Edit: After some rough testing, Distance 2 with 8192 is still worse than vanilla for char shadows.

[Kickfister]

Originally posted by Stanleyckc.:

Edit: After some rough testing, Distance 2 with 8192 is still worse than vanilla for char shadows.

I swapped back and forth using Unreal Engine Unlocker, so I had a realtime look at it and it was at least roughly comparable. Did you take screenshots to compare or is it a guess between reboots?

In any case, you can compromise and go with a shadow distance of say, 1.5. Personally, I don't think the untweaked shadows are too bad and are a good balance between quality and performance.

[IndigoAK]

I ultimately reverted the shadow tweak and have stuck with the defaults, but the LOD tweaks are night and day. The default LOD radius for the environment is ridiculously aggressive, in my opinion.

[N7]

Hey this actually works! Thanks! Now let's hope this will be patched in along with an NPC draw distance slider.

Now is this the max value we can get LODs or can we push further out?

[system2]

Originally posted by OopyDoopy:

Originally posted by Stanleyckc.:

Edit: After some rough testing, Distance 2 with 8192 is still worse than vanilla for char shadows.

I swapped back and forth using Unreal Engine Unlocker, so I had a realtime look at it and it was at least roughly comparable. Did you take screenshots to compare or is it a guess between reboots?

In any case, you can compromise and go with a shadow distance of say, 1.5. Personally, I don't think the untweaked shadows are too bad and are a good balance between quality and performance.

https://imgsli.com/NzA3ODM
Your right it was actually pretty similar. Though it is somewhat worse than vanilla, and while the screenshots don't show the shadow popin is pretty noticeable in vanilla. Is 8192 the max resolution we can use though?

Edit: Seems like 8192 is the cap. Is there any additional shadow configs we can maybe use to increase the up-front shadow quality maybe? I've been messing around the shadow distance as you suggested. Its pretty struggle to find a good compromise without losing that shadow distance. Pop-in on this art style looks real bad, but blobby shadows also look bad. Shadows outside of characters aren't too heavily effected though and still look okay. Its mostly moving shadows [characters or grass] that become quite blobby. Currently settling on 1.75 and will see how that goes during actual gameplay if I notice it.

[Calmmo]

Seems better, thumbs up.

[BEOWULF]

NPC fix as well here now:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/740130/discussions/0/3042733612667075658/

[CoLd]

Originally posted by Slayer of Demons:

NPC fix as well here now:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/740130/discussions/0/3042733612667075658/

careful with that...

[Leonida [𝖘𝖙𝖜]]

Originally posted by CoLd/Shiruno:

Originally posted by Slayer of Demons:

NPC fix as well here now:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/740130/discussions/0/3042733612667075658/

careful with that...

why?