Gta 5 how to do 2x anti-aliasing. Grand Theft Auto V

Release grand theft Auto 5 showed that game developers have a really wide range of options for optimizing their creations for different generations computers. GTA 5 can be safely called the standard of high-quality optimization, thanks to which even the owners of very modest hardware could enjoy an amazing gameplay.
The ability to fine-tune the graphics is really amazing. By adjusting the values ​​and using the software of the video card, we can achieve good performance on almost any PC. Naturally, you will hardly succeed in admiring the beauties of the city of Los Santos, which the game engine is capable of producing, but there will be no problems with the gameplay.
Let's try to analyze in detail the process of optimizing GTA 5 on a PC, taking into account all the options that are available in the graphics settings mode.

DirectX

The choice of DirectX version plays an important role in optimizing settings for weak machines. In any case, if you do not have a top-end computer with a powerful video card, we recommend choosing version 10 of DirectX, since version 11 only opens up additional settings for image smoothing and tessellation.

Screen resolution

Any gamer knows that resolution directly affects FPS. GTA 5 is no exception - the smaller the better performance. It is worth noting that a lower resolution significantly degrades the quality of the picture, so resorting to such emergency measures should be the last thing.

Ignore memory limit

This function is intended for rather powerful video cards that do not have such a large amount of video memory. For example, GeForce GTX 660 with 2GB of memory. Enabling this option will allow full load on the GPU, ignoring the memory limit. For powerful video cards - the function is useless, for weak ones it can slightly increase FPS.

V-sync

If enabling this option does not greatly affect performance, it is better to leave it enabled. Vertical sync significantly increases picture quality, smoothes the image and removes various judder and extraneous effects. Disabling, in turn, can increase FPS.

Texture quality

If you have a video card with 2GB of video memory, then you should try setting this parameter to high values. If the FPS drops significantly, switch to medium. The minimum quality does not affect performance so much, but it significantly worsens the picture.

Shader quality

On most computers, you can safely set the shaders to high quality, since this parameter is not so demanding on hardware. It is especially important to set high-quality shaders, if you have chosen the average quality of textures - this will visually align the image

Shadows, reflections, water

All these settings increase the beauty of the environment, but it is quite possible to do without them. Owners of modern computers definitely include. On weak PCs, disabling these options will help increase FPS.

Anti-aliasing FXAA, MSAA

FXAA - be sure to turn it on, since it has almost no effect on FPS, and the image becomes much nicer. The MSAA anti-aliasing option is not available on DirectX 10 and is very demanding on hardware, so we recommend not looking at it at all.

soft shadows

A very interesting option. If there are problems with optimization, it is better to set the minimum value. The shadows will be angular and ugly. If the computer allows, we turn it to the maximum - nice smooth shadows improve the perception of the game.

Anisotropic filtering

A great option to help align textures if they are set to medium or low quality. We set it to the maximum and lower it if there are problems with FPS.

Additional settings

The advanced settings section offers advanced settings for top-end graphics cards. They do not greatly affect the image, so you can safely turn them off.
All in all, optimizing GTA 5's graphics is a lot of fun. Try, experiment, turn on your imagination and connect the software of video card developers - the game will open up a lot of possibilities for you!

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The system requirements of GTA 5, judging by the first trailer, promise to be very serious. And finally, the developers announced OFFICIAL system requirements, which are published on their website. Everything that differs from them is rumors and fakes!

GTA 5 official system requirements :

GTA Online on PC will support the game on 30 players. Online will be available immediately with the release of GTA 5, GTA Online Robbery will also be available.

On PC there will be a higher level of detail running on 1080p and 60 fps with 4K resolution. Will support systems with up to three monitors, as well as NVIDIA 3D Vision.
GTA V for PC includes a new editor that gives players a complete set of tools to edit and publish gameplay videos directly to Social Club and YouTube.

Minimum requirements:

  • OS: Windows 8.1, 8, 7, Vista 64 bit (NVIDIA video cards are recommended for Vista)
  • CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 cores) / AMD Phenom 9850 Quad-Core Processor (4 cores) @ 2.5GHz
  • RAM: 4 GB
  • Video card: NVIDIA 9800 GT 1 GB / AMD HD 4870 1 GB (version no lower than DX 10, 10.1, 11)
  • Sound card: 100% compatible with DirectX 10
  • Disk space: 65 GB
  • DVD drive
  • OS: Windows 8.1, 8, 7 64 bit
  • CPU: Intel Core i5 3470 @ 3.2GHZ (4 cores) / AMD X8 FX-8350 @ 4GHZ (8 cores)
  • RAM: 8 GB
  • Video card: NVIDIA GTX 660 2 GB / AMD HD7870 2 GB
  • Sound card: 100% compatible with DirectX 10
  • Disk space: 65 GB
  • DVD drive

Pay attention to the requirements of 4 cores! It is possible that owners of processors with fewer cores will not be able to run the game (more precisely, they can, but with the help of a separate program). So it was with the game Far Cry 4, which we will talk about below, the owners of 2-core processors had to download Dual Core Fix to start the game, without it the game would just freeze with a black screen.

Testing GTA 5 on different computers

Will your game work?

Will it work for me??? To be honest, I don’t want to personally explain to everyone whether GTA 5 will work for him. There is an easier way: install Far Cry 4. If it goes to the maximum settings, there is nothing to worry about, if it is on the minimum settings with lags, then in GTA 5 the lags will be even stronger.

  • OS: also 64-bit Windows versions 8.1, 8, 7
  • CPU. For Intel processors you need more powerful, for AMD the requirements are the same. Intel® Core i5-2400S 2.5 GHz (i5 3470 @ 3.2GHZ) or AMD FX-8350 4.0 GHz
  • RAM: also 8 GB.
  • DirectX: For FarCry 4 only version 11, for GTA 5 - DX 10, 10.1, 11
  • video card. Graphics requirements for GTA 5 are lower. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2 GB (NVIDIA GTX 660) or AMD Radeon R9 290X (AMD HD7870)

PS4 Specifications

Recently, the Internet is full of different options for system requirements. There are even such that the requirements of GTA 5 were taken, almost according to the maximum possible computer configurations. Judge for yourself what income the publishers will have if the game GTA 5 is not bought by everyone because of weak hardware. There were others who posted GTA5 requirements, where only 25 GB was allocated for the game, although the PS4 takes about 50 GB, but in reality it turned out that it was necessary 65 GB. And nothing, fakes were actively spread.

Judging the quality of the graphics by the version for xbox 360 and PS3, then the GTA 5 game could well have run on computers 5 years ago. But with the release of the GTA 5 trailer on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, it became clear that the requirements would be much higher (the maximum requirements will not be lower than those of PS4 Xbox One hardware, their characteristics are listed below).

  • CPU: AMD Jaguar 8-core x86-64 processor - 1.6-2.75 GHz
  • RAM: GDDR5 8 GB (5500 MHz)
  • GPU: Integrated, approximate equivalent to Radeon HD7850/7870

Characteristics of the PS4 version of GTA 5.

  • Resolution 1920×1080, 30 FPS, double buffering.
  • 2xMSAA (2x anti-aliasing).
  • Increased in size and relief (bump maps) textures.
  • HDAO.
  • Tessellation.
  • Decreased latency when switching characters from single player to GTA Online.
  • Increased the number of pedestrians and vehicles on the roads.
  • The best quality of gaming videos.
  • The best quality of music in the radio.

Compared to the xbox 360 and PS3 version, you can notice the following improvements that increase the requirements for hardware:

  • Improved waves, water ripples, water in the rain and when passing cars.
  • There will be more grass, bushes.
  • Improvements to various structures. For enterprises, smoking pipes and workers will be added.
  • More traffic on the roads.
  • Significantly improved interior of cars.
  • Increased draw distance, shadow range.
  • Improved textures.

Max Payne 3 system requirements

With the release of Max Payne 3, more information has been added for comparison. Graphically, the PC version on powerful computers looks more beautiful than on consoles. The resolution in Max is scalable, you can even display it on 6 monitors. In addition, Max Payne 3 supports DirectX 11 and, therefore, there are Tessellation, Hull, Gather4, Domain Shaders, Stream Output, FXAA, Geometry Shaders. But the developers promise that even owners of old cars will be able to play Max Payne 3.

Minimum Requirements

OS: Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
CPU: Intel Dual Core 2.4GHz or AMD Dual Core 2.6GHz
Memory: 2GB
video card: AMD Radeon HD 3400 512MB RAM or NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 512MB RAM

OS: Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
CPU: Intel Dual Core 3GHz or equivalent AMD
Memory: 3GB
video card: AMD Radeon HD 4870 512MB RAM or NVIDIA GeForce 450 512MB RAM
Bottom line: 30 FPS at 1920x1080

OS: Windows 7/Vista (32 or 64 bit)
CPU: Intel i7 Quad Core 2.8GHz or equivalent AMD
Memory: 3GB
video card: AMD Radeon HD 5870 1GB RAM or NVIDIA GeForce 480 1GB RAM
Result: 60 FPS at 1920x1080

The highest tested

OS: Windows 7/Vista (64bit)
CPU: AMD FX8150 8 Core x 3.6GHz or Intel i7 3930K 6 Core x 3.06GHz
Memory: 16 GB
video card: AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB RAM or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB RAM

Building a PC for GTA 5

The fifth licensed part of Grand Theft Auto, having successfully emptied the wallets of console players, after a long delay came to personal computers. A large open world and a trio of crazy bandit heroes await those who are ready to share their adventures. But today we will not talk about how GTA 5 can entertain the player, and not about the features of the gameplay. It's about performance and fine-tuning graphics settings.

GTA V offers a diverse game world with completely different locations - business districts of the metropolis, slums, industrial complexes, mountain ranges, forests and deserts. Huge scale, great variety and detailed study of the environment. You can enjoy some of the views from the screenshots below at a resolution of 2560x1440.




The game pleases with good clear textures and embossed surfaces, for which parallax mapping is actively used. Even ordinary lawns have a raised texture, rather than using the usual hand-drawn texture.



As a clear illustration of how parallax mapping works, let's take a screenshot, which at the same time clearly shows the work of the effect of changing the depth of field, which is actively used in the game.


This lens effect blurs backgrounds, allowing for a more natural perception of the overall panorama.


The time of day and the weather in the game change. All objects cast regular soft shadows away from the sun. Pretty sunrises and sunsets are complemented by rainbow effects.


The range of drawing objects is very high. By default, there is a noticeable change in the clarity of detail as you move away from the camera. When using additional settings, the effect is leveled. This will be discussed in more detail below.


The general physics of the interaction of objects at the level traditional for such games. The environment is mostly static, but the pillars and storefronts break. AT story missions, where big explosions are provided, GTA 5 puts on a good show with a bunch of scraps. Management and physical model of the behavior of cars at the usual GTA level, without any complications. In particular, only very serious damage affects the behavior of the machine. Externally, the cars look great - they shine in the sun, reflect all the surrounding buildings and lights on a smooth glossy surface.


Water surfaces look nice, but nothing more. In Watch Dogs, the water was prettier and more alive.


If we make a general comparison of the graphics with Watch Dogs, then the technological advantage of the Ubisoft game is felt. But GTA V has a more meticulous attention to detail and more external variety.

The computer version of GTA 5 has a lot of graphic settings. Not all of them are clear to the average player. The name of some does not always directly indicate the effect they have on the overall picture quality. Sometimes the very meaning of the settings is lost due to the free translation of specific names. We will help you understand all their diversity. Let's see how individual parameters affect the image, and how this affects performance. Based on the results, it will be possible to draw conclusions about which settings are the most critical for performance, which ones hit hard on visual beauties, and which ones do not. Such information will be relevant for owners of mid-range graphics cards and below. Based on our guide, it will be possible to choose the optimal ratio of parameters that allows you to increase performance with minimal loss in image quality.

Those who want to get the most out of the game will not be forgotten either. There will be a comparison of different anti-aliasing modes. Let's find out which of them are the most successful, which are the most resource-intensive. Let's explore the impact of "advanced display settings" that allow you to raise the bar of graphics above the level that the game offers by default.

Test configurations

Main test stand:

  • Processor: Intel Core i7-3930K (3, [email protected].4 GHz, 12 MB);
  • cooler: Thermalright Venomous X;
  • motherboard: ASUS Rampage IV Formula/Battlefield 3 (Intel X79 Express);
  • memory: Kingston KHX2133C11D3K4/16GX (4x4 GB, [email protected] MHz, 10-11-10-28-1T);
  • system disk: WD3200AAKS (320 GB, SATA II)
  • power supply: Seasonic SS-750KM (750 W);
  • monitor: ASUS PB278Q (2560x1440, 27″);
  • GeForce driver: NVIDIA GeForce 350.12;
  • other Radeon driver: ATI Catalyst 15.4 beta.
This system was used to test the performance of different graphics modes.

For processor tests, an additional test bench of the following configuration was used:

  • Processor #1: Intel Pentium G3258 (3.2 GHz nominal, 3 MB);
  • Processor #2: Intel Core i7-4770K (3.5GHz nominal, 8MB);
  • motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary (Intel Z97);
  • memory: GoodRAM GY1600D364L10/16GDC (2x8 GB, 1600 MHz, 10-10-10-28-2T);
  • system disk: ADATA SX900 256 GB (256 GB, SATA 6 Gb/s);
  • power supply: Chieftec CTG-750C (750 W);
  • monitor: LG 23MP75HM-P (1920x1080, 23″);
  • operating system: Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64;
  • GeForce driver: NVIDIA GeForce 350.12.
Test Methodology

Testing was carried out using the built-in benchmark, which includes five test scenes. The average fps for each scene was taken into account and the final average value was calculated. To reduce the error, four runs of the benchmark were made. Note that the test results are not displayed in the game, all data is stored at c:\Users\Username\Documents\Rockstar Games\GTA V\Benchmarks as a text file.


The logs also record the minimum fps for each test scene. But these values ​​are too unstable and differ with each new run. At the same time, even in the case of real "lags" visible to the naked eye, these values ​​differed slightly from the minimum fps on the cards that produced a smooth picture. We ended up using Fraps for additional monitoring. And the minimum fps on the charts is the average minimum value for each of the four benchmark runs, recorded by the program.

When considering the effect of settings on performance, one video card will be used - a non-reference GeForce GTX 760 2GB with frequencies at the level of standard versions. The testing procedure is as follows: the configuration of the maximum graphics settings without anti-aliasing at a resolution of 1920x1080 is taken, one of the parameters is changed, the performance is tested at different quality levels of this parameter, comparative visual materials are provided demonstrating the difference in image quality. Then all parameters are again set to the initial maximum value, and the change of another parameter begins with the corresponding tests.

Active ignoring restrictions, which allows you to use the heaviest parameters. All tests were carried out in the DirectX 11 rendering mode, since this API has long been the main one even for budget graphics solutions. But the game also supports DirectX 10.1 and DirectX 10.

The order in which the individual parameters are learned corresponds to their order in the game menu. An exception is made for the shadow settings, of which there are several, and they are interconnected to a certain extent. After considering the main parameters of the graphics, let's move on to additional ones, where a phased joint inclusion of all items will be made.

The next stage of the article is comparative tests of different AMD and NVIDIA video cards with high graphics quality. At the end, there will be testing of processor dependence using Intel CPUs of different price categories.

Smoothing Modes

The game supports FXAA and MSAA anti-aliasing. TXAA anti-aliasing is also available to users of GeForce video cards. The latter is activated after enabling MSAA in the settings as an additional option. Urban environments and industrial landscapes are always full of straight lines, so that the stepped edges of objects are clearly visible here. The stepped outlines of the car against the background of a light road surface are no less visible. So anti-aliasing is indispensable. You can evaluate the effect of activating different methods with anti-aliasing in comparison with the mode without anti-aliasing using the screenshots below.






The color saturation of the car in the foreground changes slightly due to a slight fog effect. We do not pay attention to this, we carefully study the surrounding objects and elements. For greater clarity, let's compare the same fragments of each screenshot.


I would like to immediately note the good quality of FXAA, which is not the case in all games. The worst effect of smoothing "steps" on the boundaries of objects gives MSAA in 2x mode, which is quite expected. Switching multisampling to 4x improves the picture. The transition to TXAA provides even more smooth edges. And from this point of view, this mode is the most effective. But with it, the overall picture is a little washed out, the clarity of details is lost. Compare the pavement, grass, and shingles in the larger screenshots - these elements show the difference most clearly. The relief texture of grass with TXAA is generally lost. FXAA gives a clearer picture.

The best balance between edge smoothing and clarity is provided by MSAA 4x. Pay attention to the crane and the neighboring house in the background. With MSAA, they are clearer, even the inscription on the poster shows through, which is not at all visible with FXAA.

We also note that the game has an interesting parameter "MSAA for reflections". It is quite logical to assume that it affects the smoothing of the edges of reflections, which are most often seen on the surface of cars. In practice, we did not record any difference in reflections with and without MSAA 4x. Perhaps we are talking about reflections on other surfaces. It is possible that the very effect of this smoothing is weakly expressed.


It's time to take a look at how all these modes affect performance. Experienced video card - GeForce GTX 760.


Activating FXAA relative to the mode without anti-aliasing gives a drop in fps by only 4%. Enabling MSAA 2x relative to the non-anti-aliased mode on the test card results in a performance drop of 21% at the minimum setting and up to 30% at the average game frame rate. Going to MSAA 4x results in a 16% reduction over the simpler multisampling mode. TXAA 4x is another 3-4% harder. If MSAA 4x is additionally enabled with an anti-aliasing mode for reflections of a similar quality, then we get a frame rate on the same level as the TXAA mode, which is 46-57% lower than the initial level without AA.

FXAA gives a good visual effect and minimal impact on performance. MSAA is slightly better in terms of clarity, but the performance loss is impressive. Such a serious decrease in fps may also be due to insufficient memory. Even without anti-aliasing, the game shows that about 2.5 GB will be used at 1920x1080.

population

Three points are related to the density of people on the streets of the city. These are Population Density, Population Variety, and Distance Scaling. Each has its own scale with 10 gradations. The first two points are quite obvious - they regulate the number of people on the streets and the use of various models for them. Distance Scaling probably sets the distance they spawn. We gradually reduced all parameters from maximum to half (we will consider this 100% and 50%). Based on the results of several minutes of playing in different modes, we can state the minimum difference in the number of people on the streets. Presumably this also affects the density of traffic on the roads. You don't notice any of this unless you deliberately focus on the task at hand.

At the bottom left is a screenshot of the mode when all parameters are at maximum. On the right is an image of a similar place when all three parameters are reduced to 50%.



We did not lower these parameters to zero, since even a change from 100% to 50% did not give any significant difference in the frame rate, which can be clearly seen in the lower graph.


Reducing "population" and "diversity" has no effect. Changing the distance leads to a meager increase in fps. The result is expected, because a weak population density adjustment will not affect the workload of the GPU. This is more relevant for the CPU. Reducing these parameters can have a positive effect on weak CPUs. On more or less modern systems, you can immediately set them to the maximum.

Texture quality

It's time to experiment with Texture Quality. As noted above, at Ultra-quality in Full HD without anti-aliasing, the game already consumes up to 2.5 GB of video memory. It is logical to assume that graphics cards with 2 GB may experience problems because of this. And reducing the quality of textures for ordinary users will seem like the most obvious solution to improve performance. But is it? Now let's figure it out.

First, let's compare the image quality at the highest, highest and standard texture levels.


Texture Quality Very High



Texture Quality High



Texture Quality Normal


Differences are not everywhere. According to the first screenshots, a gradual decrease in the clarity of the elements of the environment is noticeable - patterns on the carpet and sofa, paintings on the wall, a slight change in the texture of jeans. In the second scene, the difference in the quality of the textures of the sidewalks and the road surface is striking.


The effect of texture quality on overall performance is minimal. When switching from maximum to high, it is almost not noticeable. Switching to the standard mode gives a ridiculous gain of a couple of percent, and this despite the fact that in this mode the consumption of video memory finally drops below the 2 GB bar. So the quality of textures can be set to the highest position even on average video cards.

Shader quality

Next up is the Shader Quality setting. Three levels - from standard to very high. In theory, the use of simpler shaders should dramatically affect the quality of all surfaces.


Texture Shader Very High



Texture Shader High



Texture Shader Normal


In fact, changing this parameter only affects the surface of the earth. When decreasing from the maximum level to the high level, the effect of embossed surfaces becomes weaker. In normal mode, the earth and grass completely lose volume - everything is flat. And even the clarity of the surfaces is sharply reduced, as with a decrease in the quality of the textures.


The difference between Very High and High is less than 3%. Switching to the easiest mode gives a noticeable increase in performance, at the level of 12-14% relative to High. And for the first time we see an increase in the minimum fps with a decrease in a specific graphics parameter. Therefore, it is highly critical to overall performance. But the image quality also suffers greatly from the minimum level of shaders. It makes sense to use the standard shader level only on very weak video cards.

Reflection quality

This parameter (Reflection Quality) affects all reflective surfaces - cars, shop windows, windows, etc. Four levels of quality. You can evaluate their influence on the overall picture from the screenshots below. The rest of the graphics parameters, we recall, are at the maximum level without anti-aliasing. Half of the screenshots are at 1920x1080, half at 2560x1440.


Reflection Ultra



Reflection Very High



Reflection High



Reflection Normal


In the first scene, we pay attention to the surface of the cars and the shop window. As the Reflection Quality decreases, the reflections gradually lose definition and become more blurry. And at the standard level (Normal) they actually disappear, there are only glare and frosted glass windows. At the same time, even the advertising banner on the left side of the frame looks different - the effect of iridescent gloss on the inscriptions is lost. In the night scene, everything is similar - the reflections of the lights on the surface of the cars lose their shape, and then completely disappear.

It should be noted that highly detailed reflections fully correspond to real objects of the environment. This is not Watch Dodgs, when the windows of buildings reflected not the opposite side of the street, but some kind of standard image for everyone.


Reflections have a significant impact on performance as well. The decrease in quality from the highest level to very high affects the most - an increase in fps at the level of 8-11%. And again there is an increase in the minimum fps, which is the most critical. Between the standard level and the high level, the difference in frame rate is small, but the image is completely different. So we do not recommend lowering this parameter to a minimum.

Water quality

Everything is quite obvious. Changing the Water Quality affects the display of water. Three levels of quality, which can be assessed by the lower screenshots.


Water Very High



water high



Water Normal


The difference between the maximum and average level is difficult to notice. But the standard mode differs dramatically - the detailing of the waves is simpler, there are fewer reflections and glare.


The highest water quality regimes do not affect the overall performance. Enabling the simplest display mode allows you to win up to 3%.

Particle Quality

A parameter that controls the number of particles. Originally called Particles Quality. Its influence is quite obvious, only the particles themselves in the game are not enough, except for sparks and fragments during collisions or explosions. There are no wind-blown leaves and newspapers in GTA 5. So it's not easy to tell the difference between the maximum particle level and the minimum level.

Here we will do without comparative screenshots. And even in testing we will limit ourselves to extreme values ​​- a very high level and standard.


Minimum difference. So it makes sense to reduce this parameter only on very weak systems.

grass quality

The Grass Quality parameter affects the display of grass. Four discrete values ​​- from standard to ultra. For comparison, we combined fragments of the same frame from the built-in game benchmark on one image.


Decreasing the quality of grass by one value slightly affects its density. Further decline is accompanied by the disappearance of shadows from ferns. In the easiest mode, large grass disappears. The parameter does not affect the density and quality of shrubs in any way, does not affect moss and small grass, which is implemented using relief texturing technologies.


Significant impact on minimum fps. Hence, the quality of the grass is very important for the overall performance. Switching from maximum quality to very high quality allows you to increase the minimum fps by 12%, the next decrease gives an increase by another 8%. Between the extreme positions of quality (Ultra and Normal), the difference is 29% in the minimum setting and 9% in the average game frame rate. Special effects and post-processing

Let's combine several parameters into one comparative test. In Russian translation, special effects is the Post FX parameter, which is responsible for the quality of post-processing. This applies to the effect of motion blur (Motion Blur) and the effect of depth of field (Depth of Field). There is still a slight lens effect like chromatic aberration. At the maximum level of post-effects, it is possible to manually set the intensity of Motion Blur and activate / deactivate Depth of Field. In our tests, we used Motion Blur at 50% intensity. Although in GTA it is not aggressive, so there will be no strong blurring of objects even at 100%.

The effect of changing the depth of field is used very actively. In the equilibrium position, it only slightly blurs the background.


The distance of the blur depends on the gaze and constantly changes, creating the effect of gradually adapting the gaze to focus on certain objects. With a sharp change in gaze, the depth of the focal length gradually changes from a minimum to a higher one. If the camera is aimed at a close object, then a slight blur will hide objects at a medium distance, enhancing the effect of concentration. All this is implemented very realistically and without particularly aggressive blurring, without creating discomfort in the game.


Decreasing special effects from high to high automatically turns off Depth of Field. Downgrading to the minimum (standard) level prevents Motion Blur from being enabled.

Testing was conducted at the maximum effect level with Motion Blur set to 50%. The next position is to lower the special effects by one point when Motion Blur is completely turned off. The next drop another point is accompanied by the obvious shutdown of Depth of Field. Next comes the minimum level of special effects.


Lubrication in motion has little to no effect on overall performance. But turning off DOF with a corresponding decrease in the overall level of post-effects gives a sharp jump in performance at the level of 14-22%. Given the widespread use of the effect of depth of field, its impact on performance is quite expected.

tessellation

Not without tessellation support. During our acquaintance with the game, we noticed its influence only on trees and palms. And, most likely, the possibilities of tessellation in the game are limited to this.

Tessellation Very High


Tessellation High


Tessellation Normal


Tessellation Off


As the quality of tessellation decreases, the palm trunk loses its complex geometric structure, becoming completely smooth without this mode. At the same time, the effect of tessellation on the geometry of the tree trunk located in the background is noticeable, although the effect is not so obvious. There is almost no difference between the highest and highest quality tessellation. Only with a very careful study of the screenshots, you can notice the complexity of the geometry in some areas.

In comparative testing, we skipped the high setting level.


No difference between different levels of tessellation. And even disabling it has little effect on the overall level of performance. So feel free to set this parameter to a high or maximum level. It makes sense to reduce tessellation on old DirectX 11 video cards, which are much weaker in processing tessellated surfaces than modern solutions.

Shadow quality

Let's move on to the study of shadows. The Shadow Quality parameter affects the overall quality and detail of shadows.

Shadow Very High


shadow high


Shadow Normal


As the parameter is lowered, the detail of the shadows decreases, they become more blurry. In the standard mode, their saturation is additionally lost, the shadows from small details disappear altogether (pay attention to the shadows of the armrests and a faint shadow at the edge of the pool).


Another important parameter for overall performance. Lowering it to a high level increases the minimum fps by 8%. Lowering the quality of the shadows further results in a smaller increase in frame rate.

With maximum shadow quality, you can increase the distance for loading detailed shadows in the advanced graphics settings. If the quality decreases, this option is disabled. With an average quality of shadows, it makes no sense to chase the effect of soft shadows. With low quality, you can also refuse global shading.

soft shadows

The game supports several levels of soft shadow effect implementation with the ability to use NVIDIA PCSS or AMD CHS technologies. This effect itself adds realism, because with scattered sunlight shadows do not have clear edges. In NVIDIA PCSS, shadows are calculated using even more complex algorithms, taking into account the distance of the shadow from its source. Therefore, for example, the upper part of the shadow from the column will be lighter than its lower part.

Soft Shadows NVIDIA PCSS


Soft Shadows AMD CHS


Soft Shadows Very High


Soft Shadows High


Soft Shadows


Soft Shadows Off


From the selected scene, you can immediately see that the detail of the shadow changes as it moves away from the character. It is also noteworthy that the AMD CHS soft shadows worked easily on the GeForce, although the slightly pronounced quadratic structure does not make this mode the best. With NVIDIA PCSS, the shadows are softer and more blurry, there is no clear transition from a detailed shadow to a less detailed one. With the usual algorithm for processing soft shadows in the “maximally soft” mode, the clarity is slightly higher compared to NVIDIA PCSS, the effect of changing the detail of the palm tree shadow is also well smoothed out. As the degree of softness decreases, the difference in the change in detail becomes more pronounced. When soft shadows are completely turned off, the shadow area on the wall crumbles into squares, and the overall feeling of a living shadow is completely lost. But note that the quadratic structure is clearly visible on the vertical surface. In the remote area of ​​the shadow on the ground, which we observe at a high angle, this is almost not noticeable.

From past game experience, we know that with NVIDIA PCSS, the overall shading pattern at long distances can change slightly. Let's see how it affects GTA.


Soft Shadows NVIDIA PCSS


Soft Shadows Very High


At close range, the shadow is softer. At a medium distance, the shadow from a tree with PCSS is not so solid, there are gaps in the crown - this is a plus. But the shadow from the roof near the house on the right is overgrown with a comb - this is a minus. With PCSS, the intensity of shading of distant trees decreases, their tops become lighter. That is, it looks different, but the overall impression depends on subjective impressions. A performance comparison will help you decide.


NVIDIA PCSS and AMD CHS are the most resource-intensive modes, eating up to 7% of performance compared to the normal mode of the highest quality soft shadows. So it's better to stop at this option, and not bother with the questions of studying shadows under a magnifying glass. If you wish, you can try one of the methods from NVIDIA and AMD, suddenly you like it more. Further reduction in the quality of soft shadows gives a meager performance boost.

AO shading

The game allows you to use Ambient Occlusion in high quality, in normal mode and without AO. Taking identical screenshots is difficult due to the need to restart the game to apply the new settings. So there may be some deviations in the position of the camera. But the overall impact of global shading can be estimated from such illustrations. These screenshots are in 2560x1440 resolution to better see fine details.

Ambient Occlusion High


Ambient Occlusion Normal


Ambient Occlusion Off


Global shading adds additional shadows and penumbras, taking into account the influence of objects on each other. With Ambient Occlusion, light shadows appear at the junction of the walls, at the place where the furniture touches the walls. The intensity of the shadows in the area above the stove increases, and the lower part of the kitchen table also darkens a little. Such details slightly enhance the overall sense of volume in the virtual world. It is a pity that there is no support for NVIDIA's HBAO+ mode, which has worked well in other games.


The impact on overall performance is weak. Switching between AO modes gives a difference of less than 4%. There is even less difference between completely turning off AO and poor quality of this shading.

Additional settings

The section of additional image settings (Advanced Graphics) is relevant for those who want to get more from the game than is offered by default. Initially, all options in this section are disabled, you need to activate them manually. Let's look at their purpose first.

Long Shadows all of a sudden makes shadows...longer. The only practical point that can be seen in this, more realistic shadows in the morning and evening, when the sun is low on the horizon. But this parameter does not fundamentally change anything, during the day we did not notice any difference.

High Resolution Shadows is an important parameter that affects the detail of the shadows. Didn't like the squarish shadow of the palm tree in the "soft shadows" section? Then we will immediately activate this item!

Loading more detailed textures during the flight (High Detail Streaming While Fly) - increases the detail of visible objects when flying on air transport.

Extended Distance Scaling for more detailed objects - adjusts the LOD, allowing you to increase the distance of detailing objects. A very important parameter to improve the overall perception. Adjustable using a scale from zero to maximum with 10 discrete gradations.

Length of shadows (Extended Shadows Distance) - using the scale, the distance for loading detailed shadows is set. Increasing this parameter will improve the detail of shadows at medium distances and add new shadows from distant objects.

All these parameters are interconnected, since it is their combination that gives the most noticeable effect of visual improvement of the picture. Without enabling high-resolution shadows, there is not much point in increasing the display distance of detailed shadows. Without increasing the last two parameters, there will be no significant image enhancement when High Detail Streaming While Fly is activated. But if you turn on everything, then the picture in flight is completely different.

For comparison, here are screenshots of the same scene with and without additional parameters.



With additional settings, shadows on distant trees immediately appear. There is a clear division into shaded and light zones near distant buildings. More details up to the fact that without additional parameters one of the buildings in the center of the frame loses its roof. More details in the very background (we look at the skyscraper under construction on the left side). Some misunderstanding is caused only by the comparison of the upper right corner. With additional settings, the shape of the trees on the slope is clearer, new bushes appear, but the grass effect disappears. Apart from this small omission, the first screenshot is better in every way.

In dynamics, the difference is visible no worse, if not better. Compare video recordings of the built-in benchmark with and without additional options at maximum quality. Special attention look at the last test with the plane. Without additional settings, a clear boundary of the zone is visible, only at the intersection of which shadows and new details appear. It comes to the point that even the wires of the power line are visible only after activating all the Advanced Graphics options.

Advanced Graphics Settings On


Advanced Graphics Settings Off


With a positive impact on the quality of graphics, everything is clear. Now let's study the impact of the considered parameters on performance. First, we will sequentially include the first three points. Then we will additionally increase the “shadow length” parameter to 50% and 100%, then we will further increase the distance for loading detailed objects.


The activation of the first item does not affect the overall performance. High-resolution shadows reduce the frame rate immediately by 30% on the minimum fps with a difference of 8% on the average fps. Loading detailed textures in flight, without adjusting the last parameters, has little effect on fps. Extended Shadows Distance hurts performance by a few percent. But the reaction to increasing the loading distance of detailed objects is extremely critical. The minimum fps drops sharply by half, noticeable slowdowns begin in some test scenes. In this mode, the game already reports reserving up to 3.3 GB of VRAM instead of 2.5 GB at the same resolution without additional settings.

As a compromise, you can set the distance of detail of objects and shadows to half of the maximum (lower values ​​in the diagram). In this case, the overall performance will be higher. Relative to the initial settings mode, this gives a performance drop of 56/21% (min/avg fps).

Video card performance comparison

Let's move on to comparing different graphics accelerators in Grand Theft Auto 5. First, a group of video adapters from AMD and NVIDIA will be tested at maximum quality settings without activating advanced settings options.

First comparison with MSAA 4x anti-aliasing in Full HD.


Immediately striking are the close results of the GeForce GTX 770 with 2 GB and the Radeon R9 280X with 3 GB on board. And this is in a mode that requires more than 3 GB of video memory. On GeForce GTX 980 peak value memory load reached 3400 MB, the Radeon R9 290X has 100 MB less. The reference GeForce GTX 780 is slightly inferior to the Radeon R9 290 in Uber mode. The performance of the GeForce GTX 780 Ti is 1-4% higher than the results of the AMD flagship, and the GeForce GTX 980 is another 9-10% faster. Most low rates the GeForce GTX 760 and GeForce GTX 960, but in this test they have no direct competitor from AMD.

Now let's see how our participants cope with the higher resolution of 2560x1440. Against the background of the top results, it is clear that the younger representatives will not be able to handle this mode with MSAA, so we will test them with FXAA.


Overall results are higher than at lower resolution with MSAA. The Radeon R9 280X has a marginal advantage over the GeForce GTX 770. The new GeForce GTX 960 is slightly ahead of the GeForce GTX 760, but both will need overclocking to provide a comfortable level of performance.

Now let's look at the performance of older participants in high resolution with multisampling.


The GeForce GTX 780 Ti and GeForce GTX 980 are faster than the Radeon R9 290X. Given the minimum fps below 30 frames, to achieve a comfortable level, you will need to overclock or reduce the quality of anti-aliasing. The leader NVIDIA uses up to 3.5 GB of video memory, while AMD representatives use slightly less memory.

The most pleasant picture is provided by the activation of all the possibilities of additional settings. But will the participants cope with such a difficult regimen? Let's find out now. We select the resolution of Full HD, set FXAA and turn on the additional parameters to the maximum. We exclude junior participants from the comparison due to deliberately low results.


Even the Radeon R9 280X has good average frame rates, but very serious drawdowns in minimum fps. In the red camp, only the Radeon R9 290X scores close to comfortable levels. But the ideal option would be the GeForce GTX 980, which is 6% better than a leader AMD in terms of the minimum parameter, and in terms of the average game frame rate, is an impressive 29% more productive. Peak loading of video memory at the level of 3370-3330 MB.

Let's use MSAA.


Performance drops seriously. Even the GeForce GTX 980 drops to 25 fps on minimum fps but maintains a very high average frame rate. The GeForce GTX 780 Ti beats the Radeon R9 290X in terms of average fps, but loses one frame in the minimum. The memory load reaches 3600 MB.

Let's try to switch to a resolution of 2560x1440, but with a more gentle anti-aliasing mode.


The GeForce GTX 980 is still confidently leading. The predecessor GeForce GTX 780 Ti is 11-14% behind, and the Radeon R9 290X is 5-20% weaker. Upload video memory up to 3.6 GB.

As a small addition, we offer a comparison of "pensioners" in the face of the GeForce GTX 580 and Radeon R9 6970. For clarity, let's add the GeForce GTX 760 to them. The tests were carried out at a resolution of 1920x1080 at maximum graphics quality with anti-aliasing disabled. The second test mode involves an additional reduction in post-processing and a complete shutdown of the depth of field effect. In both cases, all advanced settings options are disabled.



One could say that the old men are approximately on the same level. They have a negligible difference in minimum fps, the GeForce GTX 580 wins only in average fps. But in reality, on the Radeon HD 6970, the image is jerky even in the simpler second mode, and this spoils the experience quite noticeably. Although the GeForce GTX 580 does not show significant advantages on the graphics, the game on this video adapter is much smoother and more comfortable.

Processor Performance Comparison

It's time to find out which processor can handle the game at an acceptable level of performance. During the fourth part, it was processor dependence that became the cornerstone for many players. It came to funny situations when owners of dual-core processors, who by default were doomed to unsatisfactory low performance, were arguing about the required amount of video memory.

To get an idea of ​​the impact of processor potential on overall performance, we took several Intel models:

  • Intel Pentium G3258 (3.2 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache) LGA1150;
  • Intel Core i7-4770K (3.5GHz @ Turbo 3.9GHz, 8MB L3 cache) LGA1150;
  • Intel Core i7-3930K (3.2GHz @ Turbo 3.8GHz, 12MB L3 Cache) LGA2011.
The Core i7-4770K will be tested with different core configurations at a low frequency of 3.2 GHz. By bringing the Pentium and Core to the same frequency and the same number of cores, it will be possible to reveal the impact of the L3 cache on performance. Then the remaining cores and Hyper Treading will be gradually turned on, which will show the influence of these factors. The representative of another platform, the Intel Core i7-3930K, was tested at a fixed frequency of 3.2 GHz and overclocked to 4.4 GHz. The Pentium G3258 was also tested in overclocking.

For all processors, a GeForce GTX 760 video card was used. The test mode assumes the maximum settings of the main section of the graphics settings without anti-aliasing, lowering the level of special effects to "high" and completely turning off the depth of field effect.


According to the test results, it is clear that two cores are catastrophically small. With a good level of average fps, terrible “brakes” are periodically observed, which is clearly seen from the level of the minimum fps. Increasing the L3 cache gives a speedup of 5-7%, but does not solve the problem. Only the activation of Hyper Treading allows you to achieve an acceptable level of performance. Real four cores give an advantage of up to 34% compared to two cores with HT. With four cores, Hyper Treading is no longer useful. Six cores in the Intel Core i7-3930K also do not provide any advantage. Overclocking top processors makes no sense, except when using the most productive video cards. Overclocking a dual-core processor also does not bring much benefit, but for a different reason - an increase in frequency does not relieve catastrophic fps drops.

conclusions

It's time to take stock. Let's start with lovers of visual beauty and owners of top configurations. If you want to get the most out of the game, be sure to activate the advanced graphics settings options. If this hits performance hard, try to increase the loading distance of detailed objects and shadows not to the maximum, but to smaller values. It is these parameters that most noticeably affect the final fps. Among anti-aliasing modes, MSAA will be the best, with which there is no loss of clarity of fine details. But it is also the most resource intensive. FXAA is the best option, providing good anti-aliasing quality with minimal performance loss.

To achieve greater performance, first of all, you will have to abandon additional settings and anti-aliasing. Although we would recommend using FXAA even for those who are forced to lower the quality of the graphics a little. At the same time, you can experiment with detailed shadows from the advanced settings. For example, get good growth fps by turning off the depth of field effect and slightly reducing the quality of reflections, trying to complement this by including detailed shadows and a slight increase in the distance of detail of objects. But you need to understand that such experiments require a video card more powerful than the GeForce GTX 760.

If we are talking about a card of low power, then along with reflections and post-effects, you can partially sacrifice the quality of the grass. If necessary, you can safely set many parameters one point below the maximum level. Often this is fraught with minimal loss in image quality. All shadow settings can play an important role. As mentioned above, they are interrelated. If the goal is to achieve the highest possible fps, then in addition to a serious decrease in the quality of shadows, you can sacrifice the effect of soft shadows and turn off Ambient Occlusion. But the complete reduction of all shadow parameters will noticeably affect the quality of the image. It is also highly recommended not to lower the quality of textures, shaders and reflections to a minimum - it hits the graphics a lot. It makes sense to resort to this only on the weakest systems.

Among the Intel processors, the minimum option for the game is the Core i3. You will not be able to play normally on dual-core models. The best option even for a mid-range graphics card, there is a full quad-core Core i5 that will not become a performance limiter.

Many still have a weak computer at home, and the gaming industry does not stand still - games are becoming more and more demanding on the resources and computing power of the PC. In this article, you will learn how to optimize GTA 5 for playing on a weak computer so that you can at least somehow play it.

Changing settings in settings.xml

The first thing we need to do is to unscrew all the settings to the very minimum, but this cannot be done through the game menu. gta v, so we will do everything with handles. Download the ready-made settings.xml file and replace the original settings file with it (after saving it), it is located along the path: C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Rockstar Games\GTA V\settings.xml. You just need to replace the name of the video card with yours in it, we take it from the original settings.xml, the very last line. There are 3 settings for extensions in the archive, choose which one you need, if the computer is really a bucket, then choose 800x600.

Shadows will be removed, graphics at a minimum, in general, everything will be at the very minimum, the drawing distance is minimal, but FPS will increase.

GTA 5 FPS booster program

Second - launch gta 5 through the program FPS booster, which will improve game performance by 20-30%.
How to use fps booster: the archive contains a file with detailed instructions, but I will describe it briefly. Download FPS booster, unpack to any place, not necessarily in the game folder. Next, if you have a Steam version, then run GTA 5 through the "START_GTAV.bat" file and follow the further instructions in the window that appears, if your game is downloaded from a torrent, then move the file "Non_Steam_GTAVLauncher.bat" from the standalone_scripts folder to the game folder and run the game through it.
FPS booster completes all unnecessary processes and services on the computer, even turns off the explorer, freeing up precious resources for the game, which significantly increases the playability and FPS on the old PC. After exiting the game, all services are started again.

If you have done the procedures described above, but still have not achieved a comfortable FPS, then nothing will help here, except for a PC upgrade.

Graphics settings in GTA 5 are a sore subject for all people with weak and medium system performance on personal computers. This is an incredibly beautiful and interesting game that any gamer wants to plunge into. That is why a detailed analysis of the settings with an overview of system requirements in the article will greatly help to achieve the maximum FPS.

Minimum set of iron

In order for the game to simply start with the lowest graphics settings, in GTA 5 it is necessary that the system meets the minimum requirements. In this list, the main role is played by the processor and video card. The computer must be equipped with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 or equivalent from AMD. The graphics processor must be from the brand NVIDIA or the same AMD. The minimum models are 9800 GT and HD 4870 per gigabyte, respectively. Also important parameters are the presence of at least four gigabytes of RAM, as well as support for DirectX 10 technology.

In order for the graphics settings in GTA 5 not to be reset to a minimum, the personal computer must meet the recommended system requirements. It is worth noting that there is a huge increase in all parameters here. For example, a processor for smooth operation will require at least a Core i5 3470 with a clock speed of 3.2 GHz from Intel or an equivalent from AMD.

The amount of RAM is no longer 4, but 8 gigabytes. Video cards GTX 660 and HD7870 for 2 gigabytes from manufacturers NVIDIA and AMD, respectively. As for operating systems, Windows 7 of the first assembly is minimally supported, but always 64-bit.

The need for a sound card with support for DirectX 10 does not disappear. Disk space after a full installation of the game will occupy approximately 65 gigabytes. Users need to prepare the digital space in advance. It is these indicators that you should focus on when setting up an application in terms of graphics.

First steps

Before you take on the graphics settings in GTA 5 in detail, you must first understand what system requirements the user's computer meets. Based on this, making certain shawls will be much easier. It is worth noting that the developers have made sure that gamers have the opportunity to create an almost unique set of parameters for their system.

There is a large number of parameters that affect performance. Tests during setup are best done in city locations, at the docks near Trevor's house, for example. It is in these places that the subsidence of personnel is recorded in the largest number. If you manage to achieve a clear FPS indicator here, then there will definitely not be any problems in other locations. You should immediately pay attention to fxaa anti-aliasing, which is recommended to be left on medium PCs, and for weaker ones, look at the tests. The parameter improves the picture, but has almost no effect on system loading, and this is its advantage.

Further settings

If you are adjusting graphics for weak PCs in GTA 5, then the option to ignore memory limits must be disabled first. This function is designed for graphics cards from GTX 660 models, but with a small amount of memory. Such a GPU can pull the load, and therefore it will be logical for it to ignore the restrictions.

On weaker video cards, it may happen that 100% load appears without a peak in the video memory scale. This is a sure way to find stutters and smoothness in an open world game.

Not everything is so simple with DirectX technology either. Indeed, for medium and weak PCs, it is imperative to install the tenth version of the OS. If you place the technology one step higher on the computer, then additional settings will appear. But on a weak system, they still have to be disabled. At the same time, the “ten” saves two hundred megabytes of GPU memory, and DirectX versions have almost no effect on the picture quality.

Three Important Parameters

If the graphics setting in GTA 5 on a PC is carried out for the weakest system, then you should pay attention to the screen resolution. Each monitor has its own number of points, but if you put it a step or a little lower in the game, you can significantly win in FPS. It is recommended to do this only as a last resort. After all, the quality of the picture from this deteriorates at times.

msaa anti-aliasing is a very tricky point. But it is present only when installing the eleventh version of DirectX. It is recommended to turn it off even on powerful video cards if lags are observed. The parameter is the most demanding in terms of performance, while the difference between a complete shutdown and x2 is not felt. If you set it, then only on x8, provided that you have a video card of the latest models. V-sync for weak PCs should be disabled, but first you need to test. With it, the graphics look much more attractive, and therefore it is better to be convinced of its impact on performance.

Textures and population in the city

If the player does not save the graphics settings in GTA 5, then it is worth writing to the developers about this problem through Steam. With the presence of a pirated version, things get worse, and you will have to look for another version. After all, optimal performance cannot be achieved. The next parameter in the settings will be the quality of the textures. Medium should be left for video cards with a memory capacity of 1 gigabyte, and high should be set on models with an indicator of 2 times more.

The population in the city is best kept to a minimum. The streets don't become dead, and the FPS increases slightly due to this. The developers also provided the opportunity to make people in the city as diverse as possible. Only now the player will rarely pay attention to this, and video memory for such a function takes a lot. Therefore, lower this slider, along with the third one, which is responsible for focusing, to zero. You will not feel a significant difference from this action.

Operations with shadows

The optimal graphics settings in GTA 5 are those that, with a minimum of performance costs, will show a picture of good quality. The shadow parameter will help with this, which hides one small but useful feature. In the column, the quality should be left normal, you should not climb higher, since braking in the game will be guaranteed. Next, go to the "Soft shadows" item and set there maximum rate. If this is not done, then in the game world there will be an angularity of objects, and in some cases even unevenness in the form of a ladder.

The shadow operations described above will help you avoid this with minimal performance overhead. Owners of the latest graphics processors do not have to bother with this. For them, it is recommended to set the quality to high and sharp shadows in order to enjoy the excellent quality of the picture in the game world.

Latest Options

Among the latest graphics settings in GTA 5 for medium PCs, you need to set it to x16. Not a demanding indicator, but the picture quality improves significantly. Together with this setting, you should set the shader quality to high. They require much less resources for textures, and near the character, the graphics are simply amazing.

Reflection, water, grass, etc. can be completely turned off at the time of testing the main indicators. Only after receiving the FPS indicator from 30 frames in problem areas, you can proceed to setting these characteristics. In the advanced settings, you need to disable everything. After all, this column was made for owners of TOP video cards. If you do everything according to the instructions and do tests regularly after saving the settings, then the user will be able to achieve smoothness for comfortable entertainment.