Soulcalibur VI PC Configuration Guide

Guide for optimising Soulcalibur VI for PC to reduce input lag and improve graphics / network performance

Introduction

This guide is aimed at players inexperienced at configuring PC game settings. It primarily focuses on reducing input lag and improving graphical / network performance.

This guide was written for the Oceania Soulcalibur Community Discord Server[discord.gg].

Credit to Nick Valencia for the guide image.

Reducing Input Lag

With the right settings, input lag on PC can be as low as ~2.5 frames.
(PS4 input lag is ~5.5 frames)

Note that the below information pertaining to V-Sync may not be as relevant for those using a monitor with adaptive sync; this guide does not cover configuration for adaptive sync.

Disable V-Sync In-Game
Set V-Sync to 'Off' in the in-game graphics configuration menu. V-Sync increases input lag by at least 1 frame.

Use Full Screen Mode In-Game
Although Windows 10 DWM purportedly no longer interferes with game performance / input lag, I still recommend setting the game to run in full screen in the in-game graphics configuration menu.

Graphics Driver Control Panel Settings
For nVidia GPUs, the following procedure may reduce input lag further.

1. Open nVidia Control Panel.
2. Select 'Manage 3D Settings'.
3. Select the 'Program Settings' tab.
4. In the drop-down menu under 'Select a program to customise', select Soulcalibur VI. If it's not present you'll need to add it.
5. Find a setting entitled 'Low Latency Mode'. Set to 'Low' (Ultra is actually worse).
6. While you're in the Control Panel, also make sure that V-Sync is set to 'Use the 3D Application Setting'.

AMD drivers have a similar setting, the configuration of which is not presently covered in this guide.

Monitor Settings
Setting your monitor to 'Game Mode' or similar can reduce input lag further, at the potential cost of image quality. Generally speaking most computer monitors will have significantly less lag than TVs.

A Note on the DualShock 4 Controller
Using your DS4 in Bluetooth mode rather than wired has significantly less input lag. For more information, please see inputlag.science[inputlag.science]

Please note that some players report inconsistent input lag using DS4 on Bluetooth, likely caused by interference from other wireless devices. Consider addressing the cause of the interference or use wired.

Training Mode
If you intend at some point to compete in a local tournament using PS4, I recommend using the 'System Settings' menu in Training Mode to simulate '5 Bars'. This will bring your PC more in line with the increased input lag of PS4. By doing so, you're training in an environment that's similar to both netplay and offline PS4.

Optimising Graphics Performance

Optimise your graphical performance before playing online to ensure that you eliminate this as a possible cause of stuttering. To do so, test whether you can maintain a solid 60fps against the CPU. In doing so, use moves which have particle-heavy effects (RE, CE, etc) and use a stage like Astral Chaos. If your system has inadequate cooling (ie laptops), test while the system is hot as thermal throttling may reduce performance.

Once you've established that you can maintain 60fps on your selected settings, consider dropping a setting back a little for extra headroom.

In general CPU is almost never going to be a bottleneck for SoulCalibur VI - your graphics card is far more important.

Steam has a basic in-game FPS counter which can be enabled as follows:
1. Open Steam Settings and navigate to 'In-Game'.
2. Select 'On' under 'In-game FPS counter'.
Note that the Steam Overlay must be enabled to use this feature.

In-Game Configuration

Note that some settings aren't covered as their importance is fairly subjective.

Display Resolution
Set to your native desktop resolution.

Window Mode Settings
See the 'Input Lag' section.

V-Sync
See the 'Input Lag' section.

Screen Quality
Overall quality presets. Use 'Custom' to override.

Scaling Resolution
Only set above 100 if you've the performance headroom to do so. Values higher than 100 are the least noticeable of any of the graphical settings. Increasing this setting is graphically demanding as it controls the rendering resolution of the game, but if your hardware can handle it it can reduce aliasing (jagged edges).

If you've already reduced other settings to minimum, decreasing this setting can yield considerable performance gains at the cost of image quality and increased aliasing.

Texture Settings
If you've at least 2GiB of VRAM you can most likely set this to 'Maximum'.

Other Configuration

I recommend using the following method to disable the pervasive DoF filter on stage backgrounds. The image quality is greatly improved by doing so. The below method disables the DoF filter whilst retaining other post-processing effects.

1. Navigate to the following folder:
'C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\SoulcaliburVI\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor'

2. Edit 'Scalibility.ini', placing the following at the end of the file:
[PostProcessQuality@3]
r.DepthOfFieldQuality=0

The above is for those using 'Maximum', and disables only the background DoF, leaving the other post-processing effects enabled.

For lower settings than maximum, changing the number after the '@' corresponds to different levels; High is 2, Medium is 1, etc.

Setting post-processing to Low in-game will disable DoF alongside other post-processing effects.

Notes on Netplay

If you're experiencing stuttering / lag and you've already established that it isn't being caused by your graphical settings, it could be one of the following:

• Your opponent is lagging due to their graphical settings (if one player drops frames, no matter the cause, the other will too).
  
• You or your opponent's network configuration is sub-optimal
  
• Interconnectivity between you and your opponent is impaired unrelated to either player's local configuration. In other words, sometimes it's not on either player's end, but in the middle due to poor infrastructure / routing in between.

It's a common misconception that if you've got a good speed test result you musn't be the cause of network lag. Speed tests primarily test bandwidth, of which Soulcalibur VI consumes very little. Similarly, what your computer or ISP states as your network speed has very little relevance. A bad speed test result, however, can be illustrative, for example when other users on your local network are consuming a great deal of your bandwidth.

Also remember that stutter is not necessarily related to latency or ping (the bars you see when playing online). High latency can cause delay whilst still providing a smooth experience.

If stuttering is occurring during netplay that isn't cause by graphical settings on either player's end, it's most likely packet loss, jitter etc.

In terms of connection to your router, use ethernet wherever possible. WiFi comes a distant second and mobile data comes an unfathomably distant last.

If you absolutely must use WiFi, try to be as close to your router as possible and use 5GHz if there isn't a great distance or if there's a lot of interference on 2.4GHz. Bear in mind, however, that 2.4GHz will operate better at long distances. WiFi dongles with an antenna will work better than those without.

[DustNbones]

Thank you for taking the time to put this all together.

[GREYWOLF]

A REAL THANK YOUUUU !

[Space Ghost 087]

Thank you for the Guide. I will add these settings and see how it works

[Takislight]

hello, i had a broken pc, a gaming one, i have not been reading all of your prose that would have made my night or day, last year, when i played the online lara croft game i have in my list of games and i lagged, my friends lagged, we were not always lollling on the lags, i got the optic fibre, super, i worked on other fields and then my old pc, was serving me very well but had more and more troubles hardware troubling, not shooting, so , i bought a new gaming laptop, not the most expensive and i had to go and check some local shop at around fifteen to twenty bustops and got some good deal for the fact that i played online the other day, since then, not lagged ounce, it feels like i will use your poetry when i work in my entreprise in my town, teaching kids whatever with whatever, maybe old men and women also, any one i admitted in my takislight , thank you.

[CZI]

It seems disabling DoF causes drawing issue on 2B's Mirage (Aggression Shift: A+B) by specifying following setting. Many gray circle appears.
===
[PostProcessQuality@3]
r.DepthOfFieldQuality=0
===

But following setting is OK.
===
[PostProcessQuality@0]
===

For play-ability, I prefer VSYNC=ON for avoid screen tearing. The noise makes me some misjudge and lower overall experience.

I'm not sure about Low Latency Mode, so I kept Ultra.
I'd like to know if data behind OFF is better than Ultra.

[ShadowSplit]

Can triple buffering help with decreasing input lag when using V-sync?