Improving performance in Fallout 4 for Minimum-Spec Computers

[NekoMaster]

If anything, my computer is just a touch under the Mimimum specs

 

CPU : AMD Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition (3.4GHz)

RAM : 12GB DDR3 1600 Mhz

GPU : Gigabyte GTX 570 Super Overclocked 1280MB VRAM

SSD : 256GB ADATA SX900

HDD : 2TB Seagate Constellation

 

Everything but my graphics card passes enough to play this on minimum, but I'm still able to run the game on the lowest settings at 1920x1080p (which is also my monitors native resolution)

Upgrading my hardware isn't an option right now, employment for unskilled workers is scarce around where I live, and thus I don't have the money to upgrade to even a cheap 2GB video card. I really wish I could upgrade but that's not going to happen anytime soon (and nobody I know has the money or kindness to help me out either)

So for now I'm going to have to do what ever I can to suck every little last bit of power from my computer to push Fallout 4 at a playable speed.

I can play Fallout 4 for about half an hour with some minor stutters here and there when anything serious goes on, but after a while it starts to really slow down and jump around. So far I've only gotten to the big desk in Vault 111 where you can find a 10mm pistol, stimpacks, and the skeleton of a science guy.

I'd appreciate it if anyone can help me run Fallout 4 better, be it tweaks to the game or the ini files, or tweaks to Windows 10 I could do to improve performance there.

[Cruzifixio]

Dude you have 3 times the PC I have, switch back to 720p and play at medium settings, no reason to go 1080p when you can manage good frames and nice visuals at a lower res... You know what's suffering? try me and playing at 1024x600 and 24-30fps.

Edited November 11, 2015 by Cruzifixio

[Teabone3]

I'm actually in the process of upgrading my video card and was wondering what is the best card to get to play the game at the most affordable price. I'm considering getting a 2GB card but wondering if others are having issues with a card even that low?

[Nofsdad]

I have a GTX 630 with 4 Gb DDR3 on board but only 96 shader cores so my rig chokes pretty badly when there's a lot going on. The number of cores appears to be a very important factor in how my rig handles these games. When you're selecting a card you might want to make that a consideration also.

[NekoMaster]

Well I'm noticing that even playing at 1366x768, I still lag when ever theres any effects like fog happening, or when I go indoors where theres lots of light stuff going on. I'm wondering if theres a way to disable effects like this or tone it down some how, or do something to tweak fallout 4 to help it run smoother.

Right now I don't care much for fancy effects and what not, I just want to be able to play the game for now

[mrspongeworthy]

I'm running on an old 650m, which runs prior-gen games perfectly but really fails on the newest generation big-time (FO4, DAI (don't buy that, seriously the worst game of all time), TW3) and the key setting, more than anything else, is simply resolution. (This is in my 15" MBP, I have a dedicated Windows gaming rig which is a totally different story.)

 

To work around this I've done a number of things that actually work very well and provide excellent results:

 

a) Using whatever tool you wish (I use powerstrip), AND making sure that your graphics-card is set to SCALE WITH THE GPU (critical), set a number of lower resolutions than your video-card natively supports; such as 800x500 and 720x450 (many people feel they get best results running at 1/4 their native screen resolution, but if so, the difference in minimal for me). Set resolutions that are in the proper aspect-ratio of course (my screen is 16x10.)

 

b) You *may* have to manually edit your ini files (or whatever files a particular game uses) for a game to use resolutions below what the game intended.

 

c) Learn to use SweetFX / ReShade by downloading your choice of lighting mod (I like Stalker Lighting). Then become friends with (at least) the SMAA, FXAA, Lumasharp and Film Grain settings. By playing with these settings you can get extremely good results in-game (although they often make the UI nasty, that's OK, that's not what really matters in most games). Don't overlook film-grain. It's a technique photographers have used for years now; adding grain to a soft image fools the brain into thinking they are seeing more detail. Don't ask my why, but it definitely works (and looks GREAT in games like FO4 anyway.) The settings have very little effect on frame-rate, so running at a lower resolution and then using these tools to post-process your picture until it looks good will get you an improved frame-rate (at least, it always does for me).

 

Using those tools, I was able to take FO4 and enable quite a few of the nice effects and, running at 720x450, have an excellent picture and good framerate (generally 30+, so far never below 25).

 

Hope that helps!

Edited November 11, 2015 by Mr_SpongeWorthy

[NekoMaster]

I'm running on an old 650m, which runs prior-gen games perfectly but really fails on the newest generation big-time (FO4, DAI (don't buy that, seriously the worst game of all time), TW3) and the key setting, more than anything else, is simply resolution. (This is in my 15" MBP, I have a dedicated Windows gaming rig which is a totally different story.)

 

To work around this I've done a number of things that actually work very well and provide excellent results:

 

a) Using whatever tool you wish (I use powerstrip), AND making sure that your graphics-card is set to SCALE WITH THE GPU (critical), set a number of lower resolutions than your video-card natively supports; such as 800x500 and 720x450 (many people feel they get best results running at 1/4 their native screen resolution, but if so, the difference in minimal for me). Set resolutions that are in the proper aspect-ratio of course (my screen is 16x10.)

 

b) You *may* have to manually edit your ini files (or whatever files a particular game uses) for a game to use resolutions below what the game intended.

 

c) Learn to use SweetFX / ReShade by downloading your choice of lighting mod (I like Stalker Lighting). Then become friends with (at least) the SMAA, FXAA, Lumasharp and Film Grain settings. By playing with these settings you can get extremely good results in-game (although they often make the UI nasty, that's OK, that's not what really matters in most games). Don't overlook film-grain. It's a technique photographers have used for years now; adding grain to a soft image fools the brain into thinking they are seeing more detail. Don't ask my why, but it definitely works (and looks GREAT in games like FO4 anyway.) The settings have very little effect on frame-rate, so running at a lower resolution and then using these tools to post-process your picture until it looks good will get you an improved frame-rate (at least, it always does for me).

 

Using those tools, I was able to take FO4 and enable quite a few of the nice effects and, running at 720x450, have an excellent picture and good framerate (generally 30+, so far never below 25).

 

Hope that helps!

 

I've already messed a little with the INI settings but I dont really know what I could do to tweak the game so it doesnt chug after a while or lag when too much is going on. Even at 1280x720 the game begins to lag in about 15-20 minutes and sometimes sooner depending on whats going on.

 

I think this issue steams mostly from the fact I have just 1GB of video memory when Fallout 4 requires at least 2GB of video memory, so I guess all the textures and effects quickly fill up my video memory and so then it has to chug along with shared system video memory

[NekoMaster]

Well so far, I seem to be getting Fallout 4 to run a hell of a lot better then when I first started playing. I'm still having some stutter issues here and there but I'm able to run around and play, shooting up every enemy I see.

Though it does suck that my graphics right now suck pretty bad but for me its still playable, I'd say the graphics are maybe around like playing Fallout 3 on the XBOX 360 or PS3

[mrspongeworthy]

Well, try what I suggested then and enable an even lower resolution but then add sharpness etc via SweetFX. I'm running god-rays, AO, further-distance on Object, People, Grass etc. sliders, TAA, and lots of other goodies. But running an low resolution and then working around that through post-processing I have excellent results. A pain in the butt to be sure, getting it all working - but it works nicely once configured and looks good too.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Mr_SpongeWorthy

[ihha1]

Shadows kill performance. Turn those down.

Type gr off into the console for a jump in framerate ( turns off god rays )