I would like to improve graphics even more...

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

What I've been doing with shadows: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/shadow-quality.587551/

And if you want more examples of GraphicsConfigurationOverride.xml changes, this is what I'm personally using:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<GraphicsConfig>
    <HDRNode_Reference>
        <GlareCompensation>1.25</GlareCompensation>
    </HDRNode_Reference>
    <SpotShadows_Ultra>
        <CacheShadowAtlasSize>16384</CacheShadowAtlasSize>
        <CacheShadowSize>2048</CacheShadowSize>
        <SpotFilterQuality>3</SpotFilterQuality>
        <EVSMSpotFullRes>false</EVSMSpotFullRes>
    </SpotShadows_Ultra>
    <Planets>
        <Ultra>
            <TextureSize>8192</TextureSize>
            <AtmosphereSteps>7</AtmosphereSteps>
            <WorkPerFrame>512</WorkPerFrame>
        </Ultra>
    </Planets>
    <GalaxyBackground>
        <High>
            <TextureSize>4096</TextureSize>
        </High>
    </GalaxyBackground>
    <Bloom>
        <Ultra>
            <GlareScale>0.0225</GlareScale>
            <FilterRadius>1.0</FilterRadius>
            <FilterRadiusWide>3.5</FilterRadiusWide>
        </Ultra>
    </Bloom>
    <Envmap>
        <High>
            <TextureSize>1024</TextureSize>
            <NumMips>10</NumMips>
        </High>
    </Envmap>
    <GalaxyMap>
        <High>
            <HighResNebulasCount>3</HighResNebulasCount>
            <LowResNebulaDimensions>256</LowResNebulaDimensions>
            <HighResNebulaDimensions>1024</HighResNebulaDimensions>
            <LowResSamplesCount>64</LowResSamplesCount>
            <HighResSamplesCount>112</HighResSamplesCount>
            <MilkyWayInstancesCount>64000</MilkyWayInstancesCount>
            <MilkywayInstancesBrightness>1.0</MilkywayInstancesBrightness>
            <MilkywayInstancesSize>0.25</MilkywayInstancesSize>
            <StarInstanceCount>12000</StarInstanceCount>
        </High>
    </GalaxyMap>
    <Debris>
        <High>
            <DebrisLimit>2000</DebrisLimit>
        </High>
    </Debris>
    <Terrain>
        <UltraPlus>
            <BlendTargetsResolution>2048</BlendTargetsResolution>
            <WindVectorFieldResolution>2048</WindVectorFieldResolution>
        </UltraPlus>
    </Terrain>
    <Volumetrics>
        <Ultra>
            <DownscalingFactor>1.5</DownscalingFactor>
            <BlurSamples>3</BlurSamples>
        </Ultra>
    </Volumetrics>
</GraphicsConfig>

Probably not a good idea to just copypasta that, unless you have a rather high-end GPU. It's just a point of reference.

Most vairables from the main GraphicsConfiguration.xml can be modified in the override, but there are a few exceptions. For example, my shadow profiles add three frustums past what exists on any default preset, so the override is not a suitable place for them.

Sorry, late to the thread...

How much of an improvement could I expect from the above XML settings? Is there a performance hit? I'm running (basically) a Ryzen 7 5800x and an RTX 3080.

Ta.

 

[Morbad]

How much of an improvement could I expect from the above XML settings? Is there a performance hit? I'm running (basically) a Ryzen 7 5800x and an RTX 3080.

The example override has large improvements to most textures, quality of the milky way, increased visible star counts, a reduction in bloom intensity, and a few performance improvements to debris and volumetric. It will probably reduce GPU limited performance very slightly in most areas.

 

[rootsrat]

I had to correct an entry in my override file above. Those spot shadow settings should have replaced the "Ultra" profile, rather than "Low".

I was wondering about that!

 

[Morbad]

I was wondering about that!

I do replace low in the main override with my directional shadow tables to make comparing with ultra easier, but overriding the low spot shadows with these leaves some variables untouched that need to be preserved.

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

The example override has large improvements to most textures, quality of the milky way, increased visible star counts, a reduction in bloom intensity, and a few performance improvements to debris and volumetric. It will probably reduce GPU limited performance very slightly in most areas.

Thanks! I think I'll try it out

EDIT Oh, wait. My graphics config file currently contains code to hold the GUI colour (mocha). Presumably, all I need to do is append the stuff in your example between the <graphicsconfig> and </graphicsconfig> tags... is that right or am I looking at the wong file?

 

[Morbad]

Thanks! I think I'll try it out

EDIT Oh, wait. My graphics config file currently contains code to hold the GUI colour (mocha). Presumably, all I need to do is append the stuff in your example between the <graphicsconfig> and </graphicsconfig> tags... is that right or am I looking at the wong file?

GraphicsConfgurationOverride.xml, in the graphics options folder, yes. Indents matter.

These are not for the main GraphicsConfiguration.xml in the game directory.