Hardware & Technical Custom Elite Dangerous display quality settings continued...

[Morbad]

Since I've started playing ED again actively after several months off, I decided to revisit the tuning I used as a basis for my previous thread: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...vs-IQ-in-Elite-Dangerous-on-higher-end-setups

To start with, I've been testing the model draw distance increase @MAIN SEQUENCE mentioned. Long ago I dismissed increases to this value as nonfunctional, but it appears that I was simply using an out of bounds value (I think I tried 2-5x normal). Looking at it again it does appear that values as high as "1.999999" work for "Model Draw Distance"/"LODDistanceScale".

So, my Custom.fxcfg (normally located in "AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Graphics" in your user profile directory), which contains the main display menu settings, looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<Root PresetName="Custom">
	<BlurEnabled>true</BlurEnabled>
	<AOQuality>3</AOQuality>
	<DOFEnabled>0</DOFEnabled>
	<BloomQuality>2</BloomQuality>
	<EnvmapQuality>1</EnvmapQuality>
	<MaterialQuality>3</MaterialQuality>
	<EnvironmentQuality>3</EnvironmentQuality>
	<FXQuality>3</FXQuality>
	<GalaxyMapQuality>2</GalaxyMapQuality>
	<GUIColourQuality>0</GUIColourQuality>
	<TerrainQuality>3</TerrainQuality>
	<TerrainLodBlendingQuality>2</TerrainLodBlendingQuality>
	<SurfaceMaterialQuality>3</SurfaceMaterialQuality>
	<JetConeQuality>3</JetConeQuality>
	<VolumetricsQuality>3</VolumetricsQuality>
	<ShadowQuality>4</ShadowQuality>
	<TextureQualityEx>2</TextureQualityEx>
	<AAMode>4</AAMode>
	<SurfaceSamplerQuality>3</SurfaceSamplerQuality>
	<PerformanceQualitySetting>0</PerformanceQualitySetting>
	<ResolutionSetting>0</ResolutionSetting>
	<LODDistanceScale>1.999999</LODDistanceScale>
	<HMDRenderTargetMultiplier>1.000000</HMDRenderTargetMultiplier>
	<SSAAMultiplier>1.000000</SSAAMultiplier>
	<GpuSchedulerMultiplier>1.000000</GpuSchedulerMultiplier>
</Root>

This is essentially the "Ultra" preset with DOF (which is normally only used in the camera modes, but eats quite a bit of performance for an effect I don't like) disabled, the GPU terrain work slider maxed out (despite what the description states, I've only seen performance and smoothness improvements from increasing this to maximum on any upper end GPU hardware of the last several years, going back to at least my Radeon HD 290 and GeForce GTX 780), and the custom "LODDistanceScale" increase, which must be manually entered into this file, because the in-game slider maxes out at "1.000000".

The above settings are further modified by my GraphicsConfigurationOverride.xml, which is normally in the same directory as Custom.fxcfg. The complete contents of the file, as I currently use it (tuned for and tested with EDH 3.0.5), are as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<GraphicsConfig>
	<HDRNode>
		<ManualExposure>-0.500000</ManualExposure>
		<ShoulderStrength>0.15000</ShoulderStrength>
		<LinearStrength>0.5000</LinearStrength>
		<LinearAngle>0.1000</LinearAngle>
		<ToeStrength>0.2000</ToeStrength>
		<ToeNumerator>0.02000</ToeNumerator>
		<ToeDenominator>0.3000</ToeDenominator>
		<LinearWhite>11.2000</LinearWhite>
	</HDRNode>
	<HBAO>
		<High>
			<NearRadiusInMeters>3.0</NearRadiusInMeters>
			<PowExponent>2.0</PowExponent>
			<Bias>0.6</Bias>
		</High>
	</HBAO>
	<Shadows_Ultra>
		<Profile_General>
			<NumFrustums>8</NumFrustums>
			<Fade>1</Fade>
			<Frustum0>
				<EndDistance>15.000000</EndDistance>
				<DepthBias>0.00045</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>2.0</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>3.5</FilterKernelSize>
			</Frustum0>
			<Frustum1>
				<EndDistance>40.00000</EndDistance>
				<DepthBias>0.0005</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>1.0</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>1.5</FilterKernelSize>
			</Frustum1>
			<Frustum2>
				<EndDistance>100.000000</EndDistance>
				<DepthBias>0.0005</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>1.0</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>2.5</FilterKernelSize>
			</Frustum2>
			<Frustum3>
				<EndDistance>250.000000</EndDistance>
				<DepthBias>0.0005</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>1.0</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>3.0</FilterKernelSize>
			</Frustum3>
			<Frustum4>
				<EndDistance>450.000000</EndDistance>
				<DepthBias>0.0005</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>1.0</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>3.0</FilterKernelSize>
			</Frustum4>
			<Frustum5>
				<EndDistance>1000.000000</EndDistance>
				<DepthBias>0.0005</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>1.0</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>3.0</FilterKernelSize>
			</Frustum5>
			<Frustum6>
				<EndDistance>2500.000000</EndDistance>
				<ShaderBias>0.0003</ShaderBias>
				<ShaderSlopeBias>0.003</ShaderSlopeBias>
				<DepthBias>0.0005</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>1.0</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>3.0</FilterKernelSize>
				<TexelStability>2</TexelStability>
			</Frustum6>
			<Frustum7>
				<EndDistance>7000.000000</EndDistance>
				<ShaderBias>0.0003</ShaderBias>
				<ShaderSlopeBias>0.003</ShaderSlopeBias>
				<DepthBias>0.0005</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>1.0</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>2.5</FilterKernelSize>
				<TexelStability>2</TexelStability>
			</Frustum7>
		</Profile_General>
		<Profile_PlanetApproach>
			<Frustum0>
				<DepthBias>0.00045</DepthBias>
			</Frustum0>
			<Frustum1>
				<DepthBias>0.0008</DepthBias>
			</Frustum1>
		</Profile_PlanetApproach>
		<Profile_StationInterior>
			<Frustum0>
				<DepthBias>0.0005</DepthBias>
			</Frustum0>
		</Profile_StationInterior>
		<Profile_AsteroidField>
			<NumFrustums>8</NumFrustums>
			<Fade>1</Fade>
			<Frustum0>
				<EndDistance>15.000000</EndDistance>
				<DepthBias>0.00045</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>2.0</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>3.5</FilterKernelSize>
			</Frustum0>
			<Frustum1>
				<EndDistance>40.00000</EndDistance>
				<DepthBias>0.005</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>3.0</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>1.5</FilterKernelSize>
			</Frustum1>
			<Frustum2>
				<EndDistance>100.000000</EndDistance>
				<DepthBias>0.005</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>2.0</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>2.5</FilterKernelSize>
			</Frustum2>
			<Frustum3>
				<EndDistance>250.00000</EndDistance>
				<DepthBias>0.003</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>1.5</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>3.0</FilterKernelSize>
			</Frustum3>
			<Frustum4>
				<EndDistance>450.000000</EndDistance>
				<DepthBias>0.002</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>2.0</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>3.5</FilterKernelSize>
			</Frustum4>
			<Frustum5>
				<EndDistance>1000.000000</EndDistance>
				<DepthBias>0.0015</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>2.0</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>3.0</FilterKernelSize>
			</Frustum5>
			<Frustum6>
				<EndDistance>2500.000000</EndDistance>
				<ShaderBias>0.0003</ShaderBias>
				<ShaderSlopeBias>0.003</ShaderSlopeBias>
				<DepthBias>0.0005</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>1.5</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>3.0</FilterKernelSize>
				<TexelStability>2</TexelStability>
			</Frustum6>
			<Frustum7>
				<EndDistance>9000.000000</EndDistance>
				<ShaderBias>0.0003</ShaderBias>
				<ShaderSlopeBias>0.003</ShaderSlopeBias>
				<DepthBias>0.0005</DepthBias>
				<DepthSlopeBias>1.0</DepthSlopeBias>
				<FilterKernelSize>3.0</FilterKernelSize>
				<TexelStability>2</TexelStability>
			</Frustum7>
		</Profile_AsteroidField>
	</Shadows_Ultra>
	<Planets>
		<Ultra>
			<TextureSize>4096</TextureSize>
			<WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
		</Ultra>
	</Planets>
	<GalaxyBackground>
		<High>
			<TextureSize>4096</TextureSize>
		</High>
	</GalaxyBackground>
	<Bloom>
		<High>
			<GlareWeight0>0.5</GlareWeight0>
			<GlareWeight1>0.225</GlareWeight1>
			<GlareWeight2>0.1007</GlareWeight2>
			<GlareWeight3>0.15</GlareWeight3>
			<GlareWeight4>0.2074</GlareWeight4>
			<GlareScale>0.05</GlareScale>
		</High>
	</Bloom>
	<Envmap>
		<High>
			<TextureSize>1024</TextureSize>
			<NumMips>10</NumMips>
		</High>
	</Envmap>
	<Debris>
		<High>
			<DebrisLimit>2000</DebrisLimit>
		</High>
	</Debris>
	<Volumetrics>
	<Ultra>
		<BlurSamples>3</BlurSamples>
	</Ultra>
	</Volumetrics>
</GraphicsConfig>

Building upon what I've already mentioned in my earlier thread I:

- tweaked some of the shadow depth biases for the AsteroidField profile to try to find a balance between "Peter Panning" shadows on some ships/objects and revealing too much of the base geometry of asteroids with shadowing artifacts. This still needs some testing.
- fixed my "Frustum6" and "Frustum7" settings by including settings that don't exist in the GraphicsConfig.xml as ultra normally stops after six frustums, but as I'm using eight, I need to detail the last two completely.

These tweaks should still be considered provisional and any questions, comments, criticisms, or corrections would be appreciated. Also, if something breaks, revert to the defaults by deleting or renaming the modified files and checking again before complaining to Frontier about it.

If anyone wants any input on tuning their configuration with more detail than the default presets allow for less powerful hardware or different tastes than my own, feel free to ask.

 

[Morbad]

3.1 uses an identical GraphicsConfiguration.xml to 3.0.x and all of the settings above for GraphicsConfigurationOverride.xml appear to work fine, as is.