Dark and Light Graphic and PC Enhancements
Post of helpful Optimizations and Client side bug fixes.
Requirements To Run the Game
Minimum Requirements
OS: Win 7 64
Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz / AMD FX-8320
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6970 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
VRAM: 2GB
System Memory: 4 GB RAM
Storage: 50 GB Hard drive space
DirectX 10 Compatible Graphics Card
Recommended Requirements
OS: Win 7 64
Processor: Intel Core i7-4770K 4-Core 3.5GHz / AMD Ryzen R5 1500X
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 570 4GB or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti
VRAM: 3GB
System Memory: 16 GB RAM
Storage: 50 GB Hard drive space
Resolution
CAUTION: The Default Resolution is 1920x1080 (1080p) To change it to your resolution please change the following: ResolutionSizeX=1920 ResolutionSizeY=1080 Before everyone jumps in the comment saying that those options are also available in the game, no they are not... for now. Trust me! HDR is permanently disabled even if you click it.
GAME OPTIMIZATIONS
Launch Options.
In the Launch Options box paste these launch options and click OK: -USEALLAVAILABLECORES -sm4 -d3d10 -nomansky -lowmemory -high
For FPS on very LOW END PCs or those that are BOTTLE NECKED
You can also add those to your Launch Options:
CAUTION: Your game will look awful.
-lowmemory -high -sm4 -d3d10 -novsync -USEALLAVAILABLECORES -malloc=system +r_waterforcereflectentities 0 +r_shadowrendertotexture 0 +mat_hdr_level 0 +vt_maxPPF 16
List of the all useful launch options with descriptions:
-USEALLAVAILABLECORES - (the game will use all your CPU cores)
-sm4 and -d3d10 - (runs game with DirectX 10)
-nomansky (removes clouds and some sky effects)
-lowmemory (the game will use only 4gb of your RAM)
-w 640 -h 480 - (runs game in 640x480 resolution)
-full - (fullscreen mode)
-window - (windowed mode with borders)
-noborder - (windowed mode without borders)
-low - (runs ARK as a low-priority process)
-high - (runs ARK as a high-priority process)
-noaafonts - (removes fonts anitalising)
-autoconfig - (return default settings)
How to get the maximum FPS in Dark and Light. (Best Balanced version for all pcs.)
Go to your Dark and Light folder that was installed and open "GameUserSettings.ini" (..\steamapps\common\Dark and Light\DNL\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\) and edit the file with Notepad++ (Recommended) or Notepad and paste the following:
[/script/dnl.shootergameusersettings]
FullscreenMode=1
MasterAudioVolume=0.420440
MusicAudioVolume=0.000000
SFXAudioVolume=0.459225
VoiceAudioVolume=1.771714
UIScaling=0.859225
CameraShakeScale=1.000000
bFirstPersonRiding=False
bDoubleClickToEvade=True
bShowStatusNotificationMessages=True
TrueSkyQuality=0.700000
FOVMultiplier=1.000000
GroundClutterDensity=0.569506
bFilmGrain=False
bAllowHDR=True
bMotionBlur=False
bUseDFAO=True
bUseSSAO=True
bShowChatBox=True
bCameraViewBob=False
bInvertLookY=False
bFloatingNames=True
bChatBubbles=True
bHideServerInfo=False
bJoinNotifications=True
bCraftablesShowAllItems=True
bLocalInventoryShowAllItems=False
bRemoteInventoryShowAllItems=False
LookLeftRightSensitivity=1.000000
LookUpDownSensitivity=1.000000
GraphicsQuality=4
ActiveLingeringWorldTiles=10
ClientNetQuality=3
LastServerSearchType=3
LastServerSearchHideFull=False
LastServerSearchProtected=False
HideItemTextOverlay=True
bDistanceFieldShadowing=True
LODScalar=1.000000
bToggleToTalk=False
HighQualityMaterials=True
HighQualitySurfaces=True
bTemperatureF=False
bDisableTorporEffect=False
bChatShowSteamName=True
bChatShowTribeName=True
EmoteKeyBind1=0
EmoteKeyBind2=0
EmoteKeyBindLaughing=0
EmoteKeyBindSorry=0
bNoBloodEffects=False
bLowQualityVFX=False
bSpectatorManualFloatingNames=False
bSuppressAdminIcon=False
bUseSimpleDistanceMovement=False
bDisableMeleeCameraSwingAnims=False
LastPVESearchType=-1
LastDLCTypeSearchType=-1
bUseVSync=False
MacroCtrl0=
MacroCtrl1=
MacroCtrl2=
MacroCtrl3=
MacroCtrl4=
MacroCtrl5=
MacroCtrl6=
MacroCtrl7=
MacroCtrl8=
MacroCtrl9=
ResolutionSizeX=1920
ResolutionSizeY=1080
LastUserConfirmedResolutionSizeX=1600
LastUserConfirmedResolutionSizeY=900
WindowPosX=-1
WindowPosY=-1
bUseDesktopResolutionForFullscreen=False
LastConfirmedFullscreenMode=0 Version=5
[ScalabilityGroups]
sg.ResolutionQuality=100
sg.ViewDistanceQuality=2
sg.AntiAliasingQuality=3
sg.ShadowQuality=2
sg.PostProcessQuality=3
sg.TextureQuality=3
sg.EffectsQuality=3
sg.TrueSkyQuality=3
sg.GroundClutterQuality=3
sg.IBLQuality=3
sg.HeightFieldShadowQuality=1
r.MotionBlurQuality=4
r.BlurGBuffer=-1
r.AmbientOcclusionLevels=3
r.AmbientOcclusionRadiusScale=1.0
r.DepthOfFieldQuality=2
r.RenderTargetPoolMin=400
r.LensFlareQuality=2
r.SceneColorFringeQuality=1
r.EyeAdaptationQuality=2
r.BloomQuality=5
r.FastBlurThreshold=7
r.Upscale.Quality=3
r.Tonemapper.GrainQuantization=1
r.PostProcessAAQuality=6
Note: Some pcs can and do handle UE4 games on Epic and High. Though not all can.. the above tips and tricks help anyone with the repeated crashing and time outs.. and those that have a lower FPS than the median point of 25 FPS.
NVIDIA SETTINGS:
In your taskbar, find the NVIDIA GeForce Experience icon. Right click and then left click NVIDIA Control Panel. On the Left side of the window that opens find 3D Settings.
Adjust image settings with preview: In the window that opens, Change these Settings: Set Use my Preference Emphasizing: PERFORMANCE Click Apply. Click Use the advanced 3D image Settings: Click Apply.
Manage 3D Settings: In the window that opens, Change these Settings: Feature: Setting Image Sharpening: Sharpen (set to .50 and the Film Grain to .17 With GPU Checked) Ambient Occlusion: Performance Anisotropic filtering: Application-Controlled Anti-aliasing - FXAA: Off Anti-aliasing- Gamma correction: On Anti-aliasing - Mode: Application-Controlled Anti-aliasing- Setting: Application-Controlled Anti-aliasing- Transparency: Off CUDA - GPUs: All DSR - Factors: Off DSR- Smoothness: Off Low Latency Mode: Off Max Frame Rate: Off (in some cases if you want the best FPS possible match this to your monitors Hertz rate) Multi-FrameSampled AA (MFAA): Off OpenGL rendering GPU: Set this to your prefered Video Card Optimize for Computer Performance: On Power Management Mode: Prefer Optimal performance Shader Cache: On Texture Filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization: On Texture Filtering - Negative LOD bias: Allow Texture Filtering - Quality: High Performance Texture Filtering - Trilinear optimization: On Threaded Optimization: Off Triple buffering: Off Vertical Sync: Off Virtual Reality pre-rendered frames: 1
Configure Surround, PhysX: In the window that opens, Change these Settings: PhysX settings: Processor: Choose your Graphics Card from the drop down list. Click Apply.
On the Left side of the window that opens find Display.
Change Resolution: Go to your monitor and select it. (If you are on dual or triple Select the Main screen(s) you game on. Be sure to duplicate the settings that you can on the other gaming screens.) Select the highest NATIVE PC Resolution rate for your monitor. Then select the Highest Refresh rate for that setting. Click Apply and then YES. Repeat this for each of your monitors if you are running if more than one.
Adjust desktop color settings: 1. Select your monitor. 2. Choose - Use NVIDIA settings. 3. Apply the following enhancements: Digital Vibrance: 80% (Or personal preference)
Adjust desktop size and position: If you previously setup in the 3D settings: These settings will be greyed out. Leave these settings Greyed for the best results. If you want to use one of these options instead, Go back into 3D settings and Turn OFF GPU Scaling to re-enable these settings. Tips: BEST FPS(using native resolution): NO Scaling. BEST FPS and VISUALS: GPU Scaling(IN 3D settings) Play lower res/pixel games: Set Integer Scaling Set your Resolution to Native Your Hertz to what your monitor uses Click apply.
On the Left side of the window that opens find Video:
Adjust video color settings: Select your monitor. Under How do you make color adjustments? Select With the NVIDIA settings. Click Advanced and set the drop down to: Full (0-255) Click apply
To ensure all settings are properly applied, Please restart your PC now! NOTE: If you start getting D3D errors. Make sure that you reset the POWER OPTIONS to OPTIMAL and Change any THREADING filters to off.
How to Optimize Nvidia Control Panel: The Ultimate GUIDE 2020
AMD SETTINGS:
Below is the Global profile which will provide the best performance/quality ratio across most titles. Yet, there may be times that you will still be searching for even greater performance (i.e higher frames). When this situation presents itself, there is a primary setting that should always be tested first to see if performance is increased when adjusted via Radeon settings. Everything else would remain the same. Tessellation Mode: Override Application Settings/ None To access these options, open AMD Radeon Settings by right clicking on your desktop, and select AMD Radeon Settings.
Anti-aliasing Mode: -Use application settings (Off in game) Anti-aliasing Method: -Multisampling (Off in game) Morphological Filtering: -Off Anisotropic Filtering Mode: -Use application settings (Off in game) Texture Filtering Quality: -Performance Surface Format Optimization: -On Wait for Vertical Refresh: -Off, unless application specifies (Off in game, unless your frames are able to be maintained, never dropping below your monitors refresh rate) OpenGL Triple Buffering -Off Shader Cache: -AMD optimized Tessellation Mode: -AMD optimized
Frame Rate Target Control: -On [Set to your monitors maximum refresh rate - EX: 60 is using 60Hz, 75 is using 75Hz etc..]
How to Optimize AMD Settings For GAMING & Performance The Ultimate GUIDE
OPTIONS PANEL CONFIGURATIONS:
We’ll walk you through every option as many of them can impact FPS or boost/lower overall game performance: Please note that these options will not be the most optimal setup for all computers, but about 80% of them will see a huge increase in FPS from changing these settings. Open the Options Screen from your DARK and LIGHT Lobby Screen. After altering all of these settings, remember to save them!
Resolution – change this depending on your device and CPU/GPU, desktop computers should not have any problems running 1920×1080 but on a Laptop it’s recommended to use the 1280×768 resolution. Window Mode– ALWAYS have this in full screen, Windowed or WindowedFullscreen will decrease your FPS and cause lag and/or frame tearing. Note full window is NOT compatible with alt tabbing. Resolution Scale – lowering it down will decrease resolution but increase FPS, only lower this as a last resort if you have lag even with other settings optimized. World Tile Buffers, View Distance, Anti-Aliasing and Post Processing – set these to medium or low depending on your computer. General Shadows, Terrain Shadows, Ambient Lightning – configuring these to the lowest setting will provide you with a nice increase to FPS and overall performance. Sky Quality, Ground Clutter Density, Ground Clutter Distance and Mesh Level of Detail – set these between lowest-middle, these will most certainly lower your overall FPS if you have them on max. High-Quality Anisotropic Filtering – ON This feature creates smoother looking objects from various points of view. Motion Blur – OFF An unimportant aesthetic. Film Grain – OFF Another unimportant feature. Distance Field Ambient Occlusion – OFF Triggers soft shadows for distant objects. Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) – OFF Triggers soft shadows for nearby objects. Dynamic Tessellation – OFF Distance Field Shadowing – OFF Another shadows-related feature. High-Quality Materials – OFF This option improves textures of in-game materials. Sub Surface Scattering – ON It affects light behavior and makes foliage more realistic. High-Quality VFX – OFF It affects all in-game water effects. Simple Distance Character Movement – ON It relieves CPU from animations of distant characters. High-Quality LODs – ON Improves the level of details. Extra Level Streaming Distance – OFF This will make map loading faster while moving fast. Color Grading – ON Slightly improves colors. It won’t affect FPS. Light Bloom – Personal Choice. Won’t affect performance. Can cause blinding bright spots. Light Shafts – Personal Choice. It doesn’t affect performance. Can cause bright Shafts of light. Mesh Level of Detail (LOD) – Again. you can choose to disable/enable it by your own preferences. It affects GPU VRAM marginally.
GAME ERRORS and FIXES
What to do if your Client cannot connect to our servers!
Launching from a desktop icon
For any steam game, Using the Desktop ICON bypasses the auto updates for the game, when you unsub and resub it will allow you to connect to the server IF you have the same version as the server. The Server in some cases will receive an updated mod before the Clients do. (ARK Updates for example) and create some issues in version matches. Please go the listed mod packaged for your platform and unsub to the mods pac. and then re sub to them one by one. This will trigger a new download of the mods and instead of fully downloading they will repair the files.
Steam Joining Bug
When you cannot join from the lobby page, and joining from the Banners page on the Website is also not working right, try this fix: Go to your Steam page> view> servers> when the box pops up, along the top are tabs, select "History" and there will be all the servers you have joined in the last two months. To join a server from one of them: right click the servers line, in the box that opens select "Join this Server?" and there you have it.
DNL Workshop Mod Mismatch
Go to here :https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1962227173 unsub from the mods package. Wait about a minute, then resub to the mod pkg. This will redownload all our standard mods. When the Lower righthand section of your lobby page is NOT showing loading of a mod. Your good to attempt to load into the servers.
"0 Reverify" or Cleaning Caches:
When in doubt about any Workshop files a "0Reverify" will almost always fix the workshop errors. While making the player mad as hell. Steam has trouble with any file size larger than 3 gigs. So often they error or drop files in the download process. "0Reverify" instructions: And lastly always clean your caches after each base game update, and after any large mod updates.
Long Load Time / Fatal Errors on load
Anytime you experience either Exceptional long loading times or Fatal errors on loading. EXIT STEAM, and then re-enter the game lobby and try again. If it repeatedly loads slowly or errors, try doing a Re-Verify of your game files.
Issues attacking/harvesting
If you are experiencing issues with your mounts only striking once or twice in upwards of 5 to 10 seconds, you may want to reset your maxfps setting. The game is default set to 30 fps instead of 60 fps. The game at higher than 30-40 frames per second starts doing strange things with attacks. The way to fix this problem is:Issues attacking/harvesting.
Go to the console in game (default key is Numpad +)(also called the tab bar)
Type: t.maxfps 30
Enjoy :)
BTW Your mount attack speed will be better as well. When above 50 fps, most mount attack speed will be at about 3 seconds in between attacks. After this change most will experience at least an increase of 1.2 seconds in attack speed. (1.2 sec instead of 3 sec)
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