Performance Guides, Steam settings

 Performance Guides, Steam settings

Before you ask anything: READ THE FAQ!

The famous TweakGuides guide to STALKER SoC: http://www.tweakguides.com/STALKER_1.html
Advanced tweaking starts here: http://www.tweakguides.com/STALKER_7.html
The -noprefetch command line tweak is on page 10.

Guide for Clear Sky: http://www.tweakguides.com/ClearSky_1.html

>measuring FPS
You can see fps-counter and other stats by typing this to console:
rs_stats 1

>Performance tips:
The in-game AA slider DOES NOT WORK in SoC. You can force AA on through your GPU's control panel. Avoid anything above 2x for minimal performance hit! Also AA might put a two-line border around your screen.

In CS and CoP, if you use ENHANCED FULL DYNAMIC -mode, set its three specific settings (SSAO, Sun Quality, Sun-shafts) to LOW. You won't notice quality difference, but your performance will skyrocket!

Another easy way to improve visuals and reduce random stuttering is to lower Vision- and Lighting distance, plus Object-Quality bar to around 50%. Again quality difference is minimal, but fps improves.

Reducing the Grass Density a point or two also may help stuttering outdoors. Some stuttering is just the game switching stuff online.

Steam players: Disable compatibility mode on the Steam launcher and on the STALKER game. Check to see if your antivirus is being a little too helpful. Turn off Xfire. More info at Steam STALKER sub-forum.

Sometimes Steam has two user file locations, but it uses the one shown on the first line in fsgame.ltx in your STALKER install folder. That tells the game where to find user files like user.ltx, saves and log files.

Reminder: MS Update KB2670838 breaks your DX10/11 games including Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat. You can safely uninstall it.