Performance Optimization Guide for lower end PC specs

[GrimmsChoice]

I have spent a lot of time since Synthesis came out optimizing the game for my lower end setup. I figured I would post my results here in case it can help anybody else out. For reference I have an Omen laptop with these specs: Intel Core i7-8750 @ 2.2GHz, GTX 1050 4GB, and 8GB of RAM.

The first piece of advice that I have for anybody with an older 4GB card or lower is to create a custom resolution of 1600x900 with a 50hz refresh rate. I used Custom Resolution Utility to do this. Most displays will support 50hz, even if it isn't normally an option. With a 50hz refresh rate, the goal was to be able to lock in 50 fps instead of 60. In combination with the resolution being 900p instead of 1080p, this allowed me to use some additional effects like Terrain Tessellation and GTAO that I would otherwise have not been able to, vastly increasing game visuals. My refresh rate was 50.007hz according to CRU, and I used Rivatuner to cap No Mans Sky at 50.002 fps. I turned Vsync on in Nvidia Control Panel. With Vsync there was no screen tearing, and due to the perfect frame sync (with fps ever so slightly lower than refresh rate) there was also no stuttering from frames becoming out of sync and Vsync having to wait or display the same frame twice. There was none of the increased input lag that Triple Buffering Vsync causes, or the drops to half fps that Double Buffering Vsync causes. As a result the game played extremely well with only occasion drops, usually only when entering a planets atmosphere from space, or when melee boosting too fast on a lush planet. Rarely a problem, though I do have an additional custom resolution of 1280x720 at 50hz that I can switch to if necessary for particularly intensive planets. I rarely have the need to use it though. Now on to the settings.

Nvidia Control Panel Settings:

Image Sharpening - Sharpen 0.5, ignore film grain 0.17 (We will be using FXAA and this will fix the blurriness that FXAA causes)

Anisotropic Filtering - 4x

FXAA - On

Gamma Correction - On

AA Mode - Application Controlled

AA Setting - Application Controlled

AA Transparency - Off

MFAA - Off

Power Management - Maximum Performance

Shader Cache - Off

Texture ASO - Off

Texture LOD bias - Clamp

Texture Quality - Performance

Texture Trilinear Optimization - On

Threaded Optimization - On

Triple Buffering - Off

VSync - On

Prerendered Frames - 1

In Game Settings:

Windowed Mode - Fullscreen

Resolution - 1600x900, 50hz

Vsync - Off (On in control panel)

Max FPS - 160 (Being capped by Rivatuner)

On Foot FOV - 90 (Preference)

Ship FOV - 90 (Preference)

Motion Blur - 30 (Preference)

Texture Quality- Enhanced (For 4GB cards, Standard for anything less than 4GB)

Animation Quality - High (Only affects CPU, adjust lower if your CPU is maxing out)

Shadow Quality - Standard (Shadow Quality, higher will reduce fps)

Post Processing Effects - Enhanced (Helps with game visuals, higher will reduce fps)

Volumetric Effects - Enhanced (Helps with game visuals, higher will reduce fps)

Terrain Tessellation - Enhanced (Enables Tessellation, makes the ground look way better, Standard will turn it off)

Planet Quality - High (Affects render distance, reduce to Enhanced if more fps is needed)

Base Complexity - High (Affects how many base parts you see on screen, adjust to personal preference, more base parts results in worse fps around bases, less base parts results in better fps)

Anisotrophic Filtering - 4x (Affects texture quality)

Anti Aliasing - Off (FXAA and Sharpening in Nvidia CP is enough)

GTAO - Standard (Turns on GTAO, helps with game visuals, higher will reduce fps)

I was very pleased with the results that I got. Even though the game was running at 900p, the fact that this allowed me to enable Terrain Tessellation and GTAO), and being able to use Enhanced for Post Processing and Volumetric effects, made the visual quality of the game a LOT better. Higher resolution requires reducing the quality of visuals significantly to get a consistent frame rate and is a bad trade off.

If your specs are lower than mine, especially if you have a 2GB or 3GB card, the first thing to reduce would be Planet Quality to Enhaced. Then setting Terrain Tessellation to Standard (This will turn if off, the ground will look a lot worse). You want to reduce lighting effects last, as this has the most significant visual penalty. First setting Volumetric to Standard, then Post Processing to Standard, and last of all turning GTAO off. In addition, you can also try running the game at 1080x720 50hz.

After all this I am very happy with the performance and quality I am getting from my setup. The game looks great and plays extremely smooth. The big thing is being able to get 50 fps locked in and having perfect frame sync with a 50hz refresh rate. 50 fps with a perfect display refresh sync and Vsync on results in a way smoother gameplay experience than otherwise would be possible. If you can't maintain a locked 60 fps at 60hz, try to get a locked 50 fps and use a 50hz display resolution for the game.

I hope this helps anybody trying to get the game playing well on older setups.

[northener69]

Nice post Grimms,

 

While i don't have a gaming laptop anymore this is still a good post and you obviously took some time to write it. Nice one buddy. :happy: