Improving Performance for Low to Medium End Machines

abrinckm

I've often have choppy gameplay when playing the game on High/Ultra settings (especially in towns). I have a medium end computer with a 550Ti and I recently found a solution to this problem that I'd like to post for other players with the same issue.

There are hidden settings that improve quality or performance that are not visible within the game settings. I discovered this when I was experimenting with the presets. If you have a low to medium end machine like me and you want to play the game with all visible settings on high or ultra without choppiness, then do these steps:

1) Set the preset setting to "Minimum" or "Low".
2) Set all settings including the textures to "High".
3) Turn on all settings on the bottom.

By setting the preset to "Minimum" you are turning off some graphic processing effects not seen in the menu. The difference can be seen best when looking out over the water. However, you will now be able to play the game using "High" textures with ambient occlusion turned on.

Keep in mind that your preset will now be displayed as "Custom". So it isn't exactly "High" or "Ultra" but at the very least you can play it with the higher textures.

Socratic

Interesting to know there might be hidden attributes associated with which predefined overall spec you choose.

Mishoniko

As noted in other GPU perf threads, View Distance makes a huge difference. The preset probably scales this depending on the overall level and its easy to overlook when tuning.

A truly hidden setting is the FPS cap (expressed as seconds/frame) which can be set through UserSettings.txt in My Documents\Elder Scrolls Online\live.

abrinckm

Mishoniko wrote: »

As noted in other GPU perf threads, View Distance makes a huge difference. The preset probably scales this depending on the overall level and its easy to overlook when tuning.

A truly hidden setting is the FPS cap (expressed as seconds/frame) which can be set through UserSettings.txt in My Documents\Elder Scrolls Online\live.

You can adjust the view distance to 100 in the settings menu after you do the above steps. I'm talking more specifically about turning off processing effects not shown in the settings. For example, one of the most noticeable effects are the waves and motions of the water. If you set to "Minimum", the water will appear flat and motionless. Other minor processing effects are turned off as well. I suggest running your own experiments to find the differences.

My main point is that those effects cannot be adjusted in the settings menu manually and must be turned off by switching the preset to "Minimum". This makes a noticeable difference in performance on lower end machines. I will post screenshots displaying this difference. The view distance does not have the same impact on performance as the unnamed processing effects.

After turning those hidden processing effects off, you can set your textures to "High", view distance to 100 and everything else to "High" or "On" while still maintaining good performance and FPS.