DayZ Optimization/Tweak Paste                                                       Last Updated 6/29/12

These are raw pastes (not edited) from threads and such, so anything referring to images (obviously) isn't here. I've posted the link to a couple screenshots (before/after on the second guide) for reference.

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Original Optimization Guide (credit to an anon):

I hope somebody reads this and thinks it's useful ;_;
If you want your game to be a LOT smoother:
Make sure "Video Memory" in Video Options is set to Default, not Very High. Very High = 512MB VRAM, while Default detects your video card's full VRAM.
Nvidia users: Go in your control panel, in the profile for Arma 2 OA, set the following:

Ambient Occlusion - Off
Anisotropic Filtering - Application controlled
AntiAliasing Gamma Correction - On
AntiAliasing Mode - Application controlled
AntiAliasing Setting - Application controlled
AntiAliasing Transparency - Off
Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames - 0
Multi-Display/GPU Accelaration - Single Display
Performance Mode
Power Management Mode - Prefer Maximum Performance
Texture Filtering Sample Optimization - On
Texture Filtering Negative LOD Bias - Allow
Texture Filtering Quality - High Performance
Texture Filtering Trilinear Optimization - On
Threaded Optimization - Auto
Triple Buffering - Off
Vertical Sync - Off

ATI Users: Just find the equivalent in your control panel
Now go to My Documents/ArmA 2, open up the file called "<profilename>.ArmA2OAProfile" Change these lines to the following: shadingQuality=0 fovTop=0.975 fovLeft=1.55999999 mouseSmoothing=1
Enjoy zero mouse lag, higher FPS, and being able to see more.

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Making DayZ Look/Perform Better (also credit to an anon):

I've spent some time going through arma 2's config files and video settings, to get the game working smoothly with good graphics.

just using high settings rapes your fps, but there's a very good compromise you can reach

for the record, my specs are: i7 920 4ghz, hd6950, 8gb ram, SSD

this is the game on playable settings: shitty AA, awful shadows, etc, etc

>cont'd

And this is the game on my settings, with 40-70fps. Good AA, good shadows, good foliage. So, here's how you do it:

in my documents\ARMA2OA.cfg, set the following:

AToC=6;
PPAA=1;
PPAA_Level=1;

AToC controls anti-aliasing on foliage. setting it to 6 disables AA on grass, which gives you a massive performance boost. the PPAA commands enable a very light, basic FXAA, which gives you back AA on the grass, and finishes off other details in-game. Combining FXAA + normal AA = more fps, looks better.

Then, use the following settings in-game:

Anti-Aliasing: HIGH. low and normal look worse and don't improve your performance
Video Memory: default. this makes it use all your vram
Object detail: very low to normal. I recommend low. this setting will always rape your fps, so go easy on it. it pretty much only affects grass.

shadows: this one is important. look at the two screenshots, and notice how the trees actually cast shadows when I have this set to high. when it's on normals, trees just cast a square block as their shadow. it looks awful. one of the biggest visual improvements you can make. set it to high

post-processing: low. setting it to normal adds SSAO, which also kills performance

Before: http://s8.postimage.org/jri4xhvbn/2012_06_27_00019.jpg

After: http://s17.postimage.org/vs5gx7ut9/2012_06_27_00020.jpg

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How to adjust your FoV (aka, how to cure ArmA2 tunnel vision!) (http://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/ug6wu/how_to_adjust_your_fov_aka_how_to_cure_arma2/):

Hi r/DayZ - I'm sure many of you have noticed that the default FoV in ArmA 2 is pretty damn narrow. You can sort of solve this by double tapping numpad "-", but that doesn't work with weapons with scopes, and in my opinion is TOO wide of an FoV, which results in weird fisheyeing and a lower framerate. Yesterday I finally overcame my laziness and decided to manually tweak my FoV, and was annoyed by how I couldn't find a comprehensive guide. So I pieced together what I could, and figured I'd share it with reddit. ArmA2 uses a "vertical FoV" system, like Bad Company 2, which puts an additional hurdle in the process of adjusting your FoV. In addition, it uses radians! So, here's what you do:
1) Go to My Documents/ArmA 2/ and open up USERNAME.ArmA2OAProfile in notepad. Scroll to the very bottom and you'll see two values, fovTop and fovLeft.
2) Calculate what vertical FoV corresponds to your desired horizontal FoV using this calculator. Make sure the "resolution" information is correct!
3) Take that number, go to Google, and search "X degrees in radians" to convert it. It should be a small number, between .5 and 1.5 in all likelihood. Round it off at the hundredths - I hear ArmA will chop off any digits after that anyway.
4) Enter that value as fovTop in notepad.
5) Using a calculator, divide that number by the second number in your aspect ratio - in my case, 16:10, so I divide it by 10. Then multiply it by the first number, in my case 16. Now enter that number for fovLeft, and round it the same way (leaving only 2 digits after the decimal point).
Boom! Load up ArmA 2 and witness how much more you can see. I also encourage you to bind a thumb button to the Freelook command, as it also helps with situational awareness. I'm a stickler for Hardcore servers, but many of my friends couldn't bear the lack of third person until I walked them through this. Now they feel totally aware of their surroundings, and we don't have to worry about campers using 3rd person to look around/over cover.
I hope I helped, and please let me know if I did anything wrong. I'm a Computer Science / Game Design student and even I am confused by ArmA's convoluted FoV system.

Calculator: http://www.rjdown.co.uk/projects/bfbc2/fovcalculator.ph