# Crysis Very High Optimized Config



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

Okay, i dont want to steal jrob's thunder, but I have come up with my own config for crysis and i wanted to share it with you guys.

This config is based on giving you the Very High experience without the performance hit. They only thing I have adjusted from Very High is a form of low resource Anti-Aliasing, as I think it gives better image quality for negligible performance impact.

This config gave me 10fps average over Very High on the assault harbour bench (no joke)

I wanted this config to be more how the designers wanted it, but better optimized. I sifted through 13 pages of the crysis Tweak guide (here ) And came up with best performance but keeping the highest quality IMO.

I really enjoyed using Jrob's config, but in intense scenes it starts to lag too much for my liking, so I set out to get a config that could do at least 30fps on my system on the assault harbor benchmark. On my first run I got approx 33fps average.

Try it out and let me know what you think. Simply unzip and paste the config file in your main crysis directory. (e.g C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis) Its setup to do the rest, you shouldnt have to do anything.

Pics to come!



Update:

- I have now added a Crossfire/SLi enabled config into the zip.




> Here is a comparison between Very High and my config for the GPU-Benchmark:
> 
> Run #1- DX10 1680x1050 AA=No AA, 64 bit test, Quality: VeryHigh ~~ Overall Average FPS: *25.705*
> 
> ...


----------



## FilipM (Aug 22, 2008)

A bit off topic but what fps you getting on High without any modding? I am gonna try this out, enable Very High on my XP, put this thing in, hope it works/


----------



## r9 (Aug 22, 2008)

I will try this. But after 7 hours I`m at work at he moment.


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

Will do a high run now. Also:

I have now added a Crossfire/SLi enabled config into the zip


----------



## choppy (Aug 22, 2008)

nice one alex, i was up till 3am last night trying to figure out what each part of jrobs config did, but i did realise that his config gave me about 5fps better than very high anyway, so il check urs out now and let you know how it is for me, i just run the island benchmark


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

were you running lite or extreme? For me it always reduced fps (only by about 1 fps average)
Jrob's config is to go beyond Very High, this one is to get you running Very High, for people that may have had to stick to high before. (I used to stick to high cus of intense scenes.)

let me know if there any any problems or anything you think I should change.


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

okay, benching in the same way but without my config on default high settings I get approx 36fps.

Just an FYI, all test and screenies (to come) are done on the system in my specs at:
1680 x 1050
64bit DX10
Crysis patched to 1.21

Now for some screenies!...


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

Here is a screenie for comparison. Another thing to look at is the trees. i have actually increased the quality in that aspect as the performance drop is close to nill. IMO they look much better, more full and realistic, in the foreground and background. more pics to come. let me know what you think!

Custom







Very High






Does anyone know how Tweak guides makes these???

(see attachment)


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

Here is a comparison between Very High and my config for the GPU-Benchmark:

Run #1- DX10 1680x1050 AA=No AA, 64 bit test, Quality: VeryHigh ~~ Overall Average FPS: *25.705*

Run #1- DX10 1680x1050 AA=No AA, 64 bit test, Quality: Custom ~~ Overall Average FPS: *35.845*


Here is a comparison between Very High and my config for the CPU-Benchmark:

Run #1- DX10 1680x1050 AA=No AA, 64 bit test, Quality: VeryHigh ~~ Overall Average FPS: *27.43*

Run #1- DX10 1680x1050 AA=No AA, 64 bit test, Quality: Custom ~~ Overall Average FPS: *37.615*


----------



## choppy (Aug 22, 2008)

well im running at 1152x864, i took ur config and pasted it into jrobs lite version and i get 29fps on island and just ran assault harbor and i get 26fps, which im happy with! i just dont understand any of the things in the config lol...was wondering what do you think loses performance for me? i wanna change something that wont affect detail much but will increase performance, but i dont have a clue what to change


----------



## FilipM (Aug 22, 2008)

This works great! 

I have XP 32bit, but enabled Very High so here are mine results:

DX9 1680 x 1050 No AA, *High: ~39 FPS*
DX9 1680 x 1050 No AA, *Very High: ~27 FPS*
DX9 1680 x 1050 No AA, *Very High, Custom cfg: ~31 FPS*

It even looks better...

Used the Crysis Benchmarking tool, with the thing that which cruises around the coast at time set to 9 o'clock, looped 3 times.


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

choppy said:


> well im running at 1152x864, i took ur config and pasted it into jrobs lite version and i get 29fps on island and just ran assault harbor and i get 26fps, which im happy with! i just dont understand any of the things in the config lol...was wondering what do you think loses performance for me? i wanna change something that wont affect detail much but will increase performance, but i dont have a clue what to change



How do you mean you pasted it into Jrob's?

I'll make an even lighter version if you want? might give another 1-2fps?

Try this, let me know how it affects fps. (If I drop anything anymore, you will start loosing some of the cool graphical effects and noticeably loose quality.)


----------



## FilipM (Aug 22, 2008)

I tried it and it gives around 0.6 FPS gain on mine (lol) and it looks like in the middle between High and Very High, the game with the first cfg looks better.


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

File_1993 said:


> I tried it and it gives around 0.6 FPS gain on mine (lol) and it looks like in the middle between High and Very High, the game with the first cfg looks better.



yeah, its more designed for cards with a lower amount of video memory. say less than 512mb.

But 10fps gain and I personally prefer the look of my config to vanilla Very high.

Post some comparison pics if you want (goes to everyone). but no spoilers please! Easiest way is to find the spot to take a screenie, save it there, then load it up in that spot with different configs and take a screenshot with F12. (it gets put in your docs folder under my games/crysis)


----------



## PCpraiser100 (Aug 22, 2008)

Tried this out on my rig, seems great. Are there any config optimizations for the physics? I lag in multiplayer when someone blows up a building with C4.


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

PCpraiser100 said:


> Tried this out on my rig, seems great. Are there any config optimizations for the physics?



Well all the physics are run on the CPU. This config is more designed to bring the graphics in check to make it more playable as Crysis is a heavily GPU dependant game.


What CPU are you running?


----------



## PCpraiser100 (Aug 22, 2008)

alexp999 said:


> Here is a screenie for comparison. Another thing to look at is the trees. i have actually increased the quality in that aspect as the performance drop is close to nill. IMO they look much better, more full and realistic, in the foreground and background. more pics to come. let me know what you think!
> 
> 
> Does anyone know how Tweak guides makes these???
> ...



I like the shadows on the config, they seem to have a softer look than the default. Rumors are popping around that people are trying to sneak in DX9 shadow effects to further optimize the game since its one of the main reasons why Crysis is a killer. I want a config that could optimize either post processing, or physics since those kill my PC.

As for my CPU alex, I own this game on an E4600 on an HD 3870. I feel embarrassed lol.


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

PCpraiser100 said:


> I like the shadows on the config, they seem to have a softer look than the default. Rumors are popping around that people are trying to sneak in DX9 shadow effects to further optimize the game since its one of the main reasons why Crysis is a killer. I want a config that could optimize either post processing, or physics since those kill my PC.



Post processing is done on GPU, physics on CPU.

What are your system specs?

My config definetly improves on post -processing, how much do you want physics reduced? i can take it as low as nothing can be destroyed (including buildings)


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

Here is a liter config, with reduced physics for slower/older CPU's.

EDIT:

updated with correct file (4:11pm GMT)


----------



## PCpraiser100 (Aug 22, 2008)

alexp999 said:


> Here is a liter config, with reduced physics for slower/older CPU's.
> 
> EDIT:
> 
> updated with correct file (4:11pm GMT)



where to put the file?


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

PCpraiser100 said:


> where to put the file?



Simply unzip and paste the config file in your main crysis directory. (e.g C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis) Its setup to do the rest, you shouldnt have to do anything.


let me know how it goes.


----------



## newconroer (Aug 22, 2008)

Hmm, I looked at the config, and the only thing you've 'lowered' to increase performance, or that will give noticeable performance back, is the color grading, but then you've about all but negated it by using Edge AA.

I also don't see what in the config would increase visuals?

Something like this would make visual differences : 

r_ssao_quality=1
r_ssao_amount=0.4
r_SSAO_darkening=1.3
r_ShadowJittering=1.5
e_shadows_max_texture_size=768
e_shadows_from_terrain_in_all_lods=0
r_ShadowBlur=3.0
e_max_entity_lights=20
r_HDRlevel=1
r_HDRRendering=2
r_HDRlevel=0.7
r_HDRBrightOffset=8f
r_HDRBrightThreshold=4.5f
r_EyeAdaptionClamp=2.5
r_EyeAdaptationBase=0.15
r_sunshafts=1
r_BeamsMaxSlices=250
r_ColorGrading=1
r_ColorGradingDOF=0
r_Glow=1
r_GlowScreenMultiplier=0.2


Which of course will cause a performance hit(even though some variables are reduced). The best thing to do, is find the visuals you want, then throw on a few performance gainers, like lowered colorgrading, DOF, possibly turn off SSAO, and reduce your driver forced AA, and then finally run it under XP. By using the config your SPECIFIC variables/details will go beyond "High," but you won't take the performance hit from the variables running under "Very High."

The main problems with Crysis IQ are :

Too much brightness, not enough contrast (easily adjusted, no tweaks needed);
Aliasing on trees and flora (Edge AA adjusted as you know, at the sacrifice of FSAA); 
Aliasing on shadows, and shadow jittering (adjusted via your config);
Really poor anisotropic filtering (manually adjusted via your config (although at a lesser quality) or your GPU driver (larger performance hit)) at the cost of not being able to use parallex mapping.

and that's really about it.

Once you nail those things down, the rest is left to preference. i.e. how intense you like your HDR, how intense your shadows are etc.

I'm glad you've been working on tweaking, but I think you might be a bit confused on what's doing what so to speak.


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

newconroer said:


> Hmm, I looked at the config, and the only thing you've 'lowered' to increase performance, or that will give noticeable performance back, is the color grading, but then you've about all but negated it by using Edge AA.
> 
> I also don't see what in the config would increase visuals?
> 
> ...



I have done more than just change the color grading.
The whole point in my config, which i said at the beginning was to run at Very High but with better fps. i dont want to change any of the way the game "looks". my config is supposed to be an optimized version of what the game designers have done. EdgeAA causes virtually no performance loss for a massive image quality improvement.
i created a config which IMO looks better than Very High and performs (at least for me 10fps better) and I wanted to share it. This wasnt designed to be a custom config, but more an optimization one.
If you want to change the look i dont mind, but I'm trying to keep the look of the game but increase fps. Only thing I have added visually is edgeaa 2.


----------



## choppy (Aug 22, 2008)

okay my results are in, in order of fps (screenies later!)

vanilla HIGH
DX9 1152x864 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Medium ~~ Overall Average FPS: 32.42

ALEX + JROB
DX9 1152x864 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Custom ~~ Overall Average FPS: 26.40

JROB's EXTREME QUALITY (LITE VERSION)
DX9 1152x864 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Custom ~~ Overall Average FPS: 25.74

ALEX's LITE CFG
DX9 1152x864 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Custom ~~ Overall Average FPS: 24.01

ALEX's CFG
DX9 1152x864 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Custom ~~ Overall Average FPS: 23.99

vanilla VERY HIGH
DX9 1152x864 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Overall Average FPS: 23.18


its weird how extreme quality gets better fps over very high. In terms of best quality to fps ratio, id go with alex + jrob. I dont know how (or why?) it works, but it does! screenies to come later.
btw all i did was paste alex's cfg into jrobs extreme quality lite version autoexec

If anybody knows how to tweak the autoexec to produce better framerates without loss of quality please, be my guest and get me better fps!


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

how many times do you run each bench? And was it in the order above?
have you tried my autoexec on its own?


----------



## choppy (Aug 22, 2008)

well i just chose te harbor_assault, and by default it looped 4 times. in was in the order high, very high, alex, alex lite, jrob, alex+jrob


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

i take it you loaded the config, not left it in the crysis directory?
The benchmark tool works slightly differently to the game.


----------



## MadClown (Aug 22, 2008)

liking the results, ill give it a try in a bit


----------



## choppy (Aug 22, 2008)

screenies

HIGH






VERY HIGH





Alex





Alex Lite





Jrob





A+J


----------



## choppy (Aug 22, 2008)

alexp999 said:


> i take it you loaded the config, not left it in the crysis directory?
> The benchmark tool works slightly differently to the game.



yea i put ur config in, and on the benchmarking tool i reset the settings so it picks up the new settings


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

choppy said:


> yea i put ur config in, and on the benchmarking tool i reset the settings so it picks up the new settings



To do the configs on the benchmark, you have to make sure the crysis direvtory is empty of any configs then load the config you want to try into the benchmarking tool.
Then at the end of each run, clear it and load another config.


----------



## choppy (Aug 22, 2008)

screens, same order as last ones (high, vh, alex, alexL, jrob, a+j)


----------



## choppy (Aug 22, 2008)

alexp999 said:


> To do the configs on the benchmark, you have to make sure the crysis direvtory is empty of any configs then load the config you want to try into the benchmarking tool.
> Then at the end of each run, clear it and load another config.



i never knew that way! but it seems to have worked anyway? ive got different results..and i cant say there are anomalies either


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

choppy said:


> i never knew that way! but it seems to have worked anyway? ive got different results..and i cant say there are anomalies either



Could you post em up. i knew something was going wrong. even between jrobs and vanilla.


----------



## choppy (Aug 22, 2008)

penultimate screeniew, same order


----------



## choppy (Aug 22, 2008)

alexp999 said:


> Could you post em up. i knew something was going wrong. even between jrobs and vanilla.



post what up? the way i have done it is wrong?


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

You said you didnt know you could do it that way but you got different results?
have you tried running the bench again setting up the configs like i said?
I would have just expected a bigger variation in results.


----------



## choppy (Aug 22, 2008)

final screens


----------



## choppy (Aug 22, 2008)

alexp999 said:


> You said you didnt know you could do it that way but you got different results?
> have you tried running the bench again setting up the configs like i said?
> I would have just expected a bigger variation in results.



lol no i dont mean ive got different results, i mean that i feel my results represent the different variations in settings. il run a couple your way and see if anything changes (could you explain the method in detail pls  )


----------



## choppy (Aug 22, 2008)

also, look at the screens 3/4 (your cfg) and compare to screens 5/6 (jrob), definitely the settings loaded up without a hitch, even if i didnt follow the correct method


----------



## fullinfusion (Aug 22, 2008)

how do i check fps in the game ppl?


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

fullinfusion said:


> how do i check fps in the game ppl?



open dev console (top left button on keyb under esc button)

and type:

r_displayinfo=1


----------



## fullinfusion (Aug 22, 2008)

alexp999 said:


> open dev console (top left button on keyb under esc button)
> 
> and type:
> 
> r_displayinfo=1


thanks man..


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 22, 2008)

choppy said:


> lol no i dont mean ive got different results, i mean that i feel my results represent the different variations in settings. il run a couple your way and see if anything changes (could you explain the method in detail pls  )



Well first make sure you crysis directoy is empty.
Then setup your res, bench etc. Then under that bit is a box. under that is a button that says open cfg. click that and load the config you want to bench. and it should put it in that box.
Then make sure you untick clear log.

Then run the bench and you should see it load the script in the bottom window.

Then at the end of each config, use the clear button and load another. then repeat until you've down all the ones you want.

by unticking that log box, it will give you a summary of all the different configs at the end.

Also make sure you are running in full screen. there seems to be a bug sometimes with custom cfg's. just use alt+enter during the loading screen to make it fullscreen.


----------



## Jrob (Aug 23, 2008)

Nice job alex, one thing you need to understand about the sys_spec commands is that xp users wont benefit your tweaks unless they have the modified cvar folder for xp.

You see xp is locked under [3] which is on high, vista uses [4] which is very high, thats why I had to include the modify cvar folder for xp users.(this is known as the dx9 to veryhigh hack)

hope this helps.


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 23, 2008)

Jrob said:


> Nice job alex, one thing you need to understand about the sys_spec commands is that xp users wont benefit your tweaks unless you they have the modified cvar folder for xp.
> 
> You see xp is locked under [3] which is on high, vista uses [4] which is very high, thats why I had to include the modify cvar folder for xp users.(this is known as the dx9 to veryhigh hack)
> 
> hope this helps.



Okay thats cool, it was mostly designed for people that can do Very High already but wanted a bit better performance. So that would involve them enabling it on XP. 

Amazing how many commands there are tho! I might go back to your config if I ever upgrade gfx card again. Damn unoptomized, too far ahead of its time crtyek engine :shadedshu


----------



## Jrob (Aug 23, 2008)

"r_MultiGPU=2" two is for auto detect so no need for extra config, it wont effect performance.

Yes bud ther's over 1600 different cmds for Crysis 

Sorry for being short but i gtg, currently at work I love to get more into depth late late tnite 

peace


----------



## alexp999 (Aug 23, 2008)

Jrob said:


> "r_MultiGPU=2" two is for auto detect so no need for extra config, it wont effect performance.
> 
> Yes bud ther's over 1600 different cmds for Crysis
> 
> ...



Yeah, but I read somewhere it can only detect Sli and not crossfire, unless it has been fixed in a patch since?

if so I'll merge them.


----------



## Jrob (Aug 23, 2008)

You maybe right about that, never new that.


----------



## PCpraiser100 (Aug 31, 2008)

Try this out: I was mainly focussed on enough performance for AA or higher res so I hope you like it. I removed everything that seemed visually overkill, spoiled, or hidden to make every frame count and to make every jaw drop. I even compared it to some of my trip photos from two weeks ago so that things like lighting effects seem more visually scaled and lifelike. BTW this is a modified version of alexp999's file so I didn't really do it myself. Also that this is for XP only since I really don't know how to make one for Vista.


----------



## PCpraiser100 (Aug 31, 2008)

OK got it for Vista thanks to TweakGuides as well as adding Multi-GPU Support for both XP and Vista.


----------



## PCpraiser100 (Aug 31, 2008)

Despite CryEngine's performance, this incompatible stuff would not hav happened if they made the engine have an option to use two completely separate cores (Core2's 2-in-1 modules don't count!) on a processor, so everyone wins including AMD and P4s. Another reason why this is such a problem is because Crytek had to hurry the title in before DX10 was released, if they took their time like Valve does with their titles it will be a gamer's best friend. And one final reason is that the game is Direct3D, not OpenGL, so it can only be modified through custom engine listings (like so...) making forced methods like Catayst A.I. and Custom-Filtered AA obsolete, just to let you know. Also the game isn't exactly the culprit, DX10 had to be hurried in as well since gamers and enthusiasts WERE excited on its "new" features, like corrupting the living crap out of PC performance and eating RAM for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and as a midnight snack.


----------



## 3870x2 (Sep 2, 2008)

r9 said:


> I will try this. But after 7 hours I`m at work at he moment.



holy sh1t at your avatar! im amd/ati, but i run intel/nvidia.  Whats wrong with us?


----------



## Skywalker12345 (Sep 15, 2008)

File_1993 said:


> A bit off topic but what fps you getting on High without any modding? I am gonna try this out, enable Very High on my XP, put this thing in, hope it works/



you cant use dx10 on xp tho so it might be different fps


----------



## Kursah (Sep 15, 2008)

PCpraiser100 said:


> Despite CryEngine's performance, this incompatible stuff would not hav happened if they made the engine have an option to use two completely separate cores (Core2's 2-in-1 modules don't count!) on a processor, so everyone wins including AMD and P4s. Another reason why this is such a problem is because Crytek had to hurry the title in before DX10 was released, if they took their time like Valve does with their titles it will be a gamer's best friend. And one final reason is that the game is Direct3D, not OpenGL, so it can only be modified through custom engine listings (like so...) making forced methods like Catayst A.I. and Custom-Filtered AA obsolete, just to let you know. Also the game isn't exactly the culprit, DX10 had to be hurried in as well since gamers and enthusiasts WERE excited on its "new" features, like corrupting the living crap out of PC performance and eating RAM for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and as a midnight snack.



If Crytek hurried the Crysis release before DX10 how come it came out last November (2007) and Vista w/DX10 came out last January (2007)?  I'm not saying they didn't hurry it to release before x-mas, but release before DX10...yeah that didn't happen.

Either way I got CoD4 first instead, still glad I did, Crysis is okay, but it's a benchmark. It does have some good SP moments tho, it's not a horrid game by any means!

Crytek's engine definately needs some more optimizing, and hopefully with Warhead they have it dialed in pretty well. I'm a little hesitant until I see the actual results from Warhead, which looks cool but doesn't have me chomping at the bit to run out and purchase the second it's released...that could change tho!


----------



## Hybrid_theory (Sep 24, 2008)

Alex, i put the autoexec.cfg in the /crysis folder. I went to bin64 and ran the gpu benchmark. A lot of objects were flickering, up close and in the distance.

I also tried this in game, same thing.

Ryan


----------



## alexp999 (Sep 24, 2008)

Hybrid_theory said:


> Alex, i put the autoexec.cfg in the /crysis folder. I went to bin64 and ran the gpu benchmark. A lot of objects were flickering, up close and in the distance.
> 
> I also tried this in game, same thing.
> 
> Ryan



Does it do it just with my config, or does it still flicker with all on Very High?


----------



## Hybrid_theory (Sep 24, 2008)

alexp999 said:


> Does it do it just with my config, or does it still flicker with all on Very High?



Yeah it's jus tyour config. When i take the cfg file out. its fine.


----------



## alexp999 (Sep 24, 2008)

Hybrid_theory said:


> Yeah it's jus tyour config. When i take the cfg file out. its fine.



So with everything set to Very High without my cfg present, everything is okay?

Wierd


----------



## Hybrid_theory (Sep 24, 2008)

alexp999 said:


> So with everything set to Very High without my cfg present, everything is okay?
> 
> Wierd



You did mention earlier about /crysis being empty of configs. Mine has a couple of files. 3 different logs and an AISignals.csv


----------



## alexp999 (Sep 24, 2008)

Hybrid_theory said:


> You did mention earlier about /crysis being empty of configs. Mine has a couple of files. 3 different logs and an AISignals.csv



If mine is the only cfg, it should be fine.

No-one else has had a problem, and there arent any commands that should cause any of those sorts of issues,


----------



## Hybrid_theory (Sep 25, 2008)

alexp999 said:


> If mine is the only cfg, it should be fine.
> 
> No-one else has had a problem, and there arent any commands that should cause any of those sorts of issues,



It may indeed be a hardware issue. I was playing Crysis Warhead. and there will be the odd tree in the distance that is stuttering. This didn't happen when i was using my 8800gts in crysis. i recently installed my 4870 x2


----------



## FilipM (Sep 25, 2008)

I tried this in Vista and with the same settings as in XP - DX9 and that config file, 16% increase and in DX10, a 6.7% increase in performance. Nice!


----------

