“Fallout 4” turned out to be a wonderful game, but the developers made a little mistake with optimization. Even on relatively powerful computers that meet the minimum, or even recommended, system requirements, there are lags and freezes that spoil the overall impression.
Fortunately, even from such a deplorable situation there is a way out. This article is dedicated to how to increase FPS in Fallout 4 and make it playable even on a weak PC.
Preparation
No matter how strange it may sound, the optimization process should begin not with the game itself, but with the computer on which you are going to run it. Here's what you need to do before increasing your FPS in Fallout 4:
- Install the latest drivers. Pay special attention to the software for your video card.
- Defragment your hard drive. The loading speed of various objects directly depends on how quickly the game reads data from the hard drive.
- Remove everything unnecessary from startup. This way you will free up some part of the RAM, which, of course, will have a positive effect on performance.
Also, before increasing FPS in Fallout 4, make sure that there are no viruses on your computer.
Now it’s time to use the tools that are available in the game by default. Of course, we are talking about the Fallout 4 settings. Here are the ones that impact performance the most:
- Permission. By reducing it you will gain a lot in performance. True, you will either have to play in the window, or see “ladders” on the edges of objects.
- Shadows. The second most gluttonous parameter. On a weak computer, it is recommended to turn it down to minimum.
- Sun rays. The lighting effects in the game look really nice, which greatly impacts performance. Don't hesitate to set this parameter to the minimum value.
The remaining settings will not bring such a noticeable increase in FPS as those listed above. However, if your computer is very weak, you can make them minimal too.
ENBoost
Gamers all over the world suffered because of the bad. However, some of them did not give up and began to create mods that improve performance. One of such modifications is ENBoost.
So, before increasing FPS in Fallout 4, you need to download the mod, install it, and then do the following:
- Go into the game and press the key combination Shift+Enter. This will take you to the ENBoost settings.
- Enable the ForceVideoMemorySize option. This will “strengthen” your video card using free RAM.
- Next, find the line VideoMemorySizeMb and enter here the total value of the memory of your video card and RAM.
Now apply the changes and see how they affect performance. The effect will be especially noticeable on PCs with dual-core processors.
Shadows and textures
And finally, several mods for Fallout 4 for weak PCs. All of them in one way or another affect the quality of textures or shadows and, accordingly, optimization:
- Shadow Boost. The modification monitors the current FPS and automatically adjusts the shadow drawing distance to it.
- Optimized Vanilla Textures and Textures Optimization Project. Two mods for optimizing textures without significantly degrading picture quality. These modifications cannot be used at the same time, so it is worth paying attention to the one that gives a greater performance increase.
- Wasteland 512 Textures. The so-called “extreme” texture mod. Reduces their resolution to 512 and 1024 pixels, but it allows you to gain several additional frames per second.
Also, don't forget that nothing will improve productivity more than buying new hardware. However, this is a completely different topic that requires a separate article.
Fallout 4, which runs well on our computer, is the necessary minimum of simple gamer happiness, important for each of us. The open world of the wasteland is one of the most cruel and at the same time exciting: here you can walk with zombies, rob raiders, build cities and even babysit a dog.
So, below is a detailed guide to properly setting up graphics in this rather hardware-demanding game.
First of all, you need, as always, to study the “requests” of the fourth part of Fallout to your computer.
Minimum system requirements for Fallout 4
Operating system: Windows 8.1 64 Bit, Windows 8 64 Bit, Windows 7 64 Bit Service Pack 1, Windows Vista 64 Bit Service Pack 2
CPU: Intel Core i5-2300 @ 2.8 GHz / AMD Phenom II X4 945 @ 3.0 GHz
RAM capacity: 8 GB
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 2 GB / AMD Radeon HD 7870 2 GB
If your computer does not even meet these requirements, then it is better not to even try to run Fallout 4. Especially if you are the owner of a laptop, you will lose it very quickly due to overheating. Therefore, you can try using the services of one of the cloud gaming services. For example, good old Playkey.
Operating system: Windows 8.1 64 Bit, Windows 8 64 Bit, Windows 7 64 Bit Service Pack 1
CPU: Intel Core i7 4790 @ 3.6 GHz / AMD FX-9590 @ 4.7 GHz
RAM capacity: 8 GB or more
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 3 GB / AMD Radeon R9 290X 4 GB
Those lucky ones who can boast of the characteristics of their “computer” are close to recommended requirements, at first glance you can relax and enjoy Fallout 4. However, it’s not so simple! To fully enjoy the game, it needs to run at a stable 60 frames per second (60 FPS). Often, even top-end configurations may not fully handle absolute ultra settings in heavy titles like Fallout. Therefore, just in case, also read this material more carefully.
But for those who are between the minimum and recommended requirements, this article will be most useful. That is, those who have a processor more powerful than the AMD Phenom II X4 945, but weaker than the Intel Core i7 4790, and a video card more powerful than the AMD Radeon HD 7870, but weaker than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780, and so on.
Setting up Fallout 4 graphics
The following are all the image settings in Fallout 4. Some of them affect performance more, some less, and some have no effect at all. We tried to briefly describe the essence of each of these parameters, as well as give advice on optimizing them.
Character draw distance
high.
In the original, this setting is called “Disappearing actors”, and by actors the developers mean all virtual living beings: people, monsters or animals. There are a lot of divisions on the setting slider, but values beyond the middle are practically not justified: when traveling through the wasteland, it is extremely rare that any large concentration of characters can be seen from a distance further than average. This is mainly due to the ruggedness of the landscape (mountains, lowlands, valleys, forests, bushes, etc. everywhere), as well as the fairly common occurrence of tall buildings.
“Character Drawing Distance” consumes quite a lot of resources, so we advise you not to set it further than the middle, and in most cases - to a third or even a quarter.
Ambient Occlusion
Performance Impact: low.
The option is responsible for self-shadowing. Objects with “ambient occlusion” turned on become visually more voluminous and believable. Small convex details of an object cast a shadow on the object itself, approximately as this happens in the real world (look carefully at the keyboard of your computer).
Turning off AO can help you gain up to 7 frames, but we highly recommend that you do not do this. The picture in Fallout 4 will immediately become much less natural.
Anisotropic filtering
Performance Impact: extremely low.
Honestly, I personally hope that in 2017 this setting, as well as “Texture Quality”, will no longer be left to the mercy of illiterate customizers. After all, it has long since made any sense to set values lower than the maximum possible in these cases - the impact on performance is almost invisible. This parameter is responsible for the clarity of the display of textures from different angles.
Smoothing
Performance Impact:
- FXAA: average,
- TAA: high.
Anti-aliasing removes jagged edges of 3D objects in the game. Disabling it completely can significantly speed up the game if you have a very weak computer. If the power of your PC is somewhere in the middle, choose the option with FXAA technology. Because of this, however, the textures will be slightly blurred, but the option above should slightly compensate for this. And if you can boast of a configuration close to the recommended requirements, then you can easily choose one of the TAA values. Your eyes will thank you.
Decals quality
Performance Impact: average.
Decals are various effects on the surfaces of surrounding objects (mainly on walls): traces of blood spatter, dents from bullets, soot, and more.
In the game you can adjust the number and density of decals. If you have a fairly powerful computer, you can set it to a high value, but it’s better not to set it to “ultra” at all, since in fierce firefights performance can begin to seriously sag. In other cases, set it to medium or, in extreme cases, low.
Depth of field
Performance Impact: low.
Depth of field is a special artistic effect that can also sometimes hide lack of detail in distant objects. Its essence is that everything located close to the player or close-up characters are displayed clearly, and the rest of the environment is blurred using a special filter. This is especially true in various scenes on the game engine and dialogues. You can choose to enable either the standard effect, or “Bokeh” (improved version), or disable this option altogether. We recommend that you always turn on at least the standard option, since only a couple of frames will be lost.
Object detailing
Performance Impact: low.
Objects in Fallout 4 refer to various buildings, highways over dry wasteland ponds, large rocks, stairs, and many other large environmental details. In addition to quality, the setting also affects the quantity of all of the above. The impact on performance is very small, so always set it to at least the average value.
Volume Ray Quality
Performance Impact: medium (at high values), low (at low and medium values).
Volume Rays are a more advanced version of the famous God Rays. If the latter usually do not affect performance too much, then this NVIDIA development eats up resources quite well. However, this is only at high settings, and the big difference between the maximum “Volumetric Beam Quality” settings and the low ones can only be seen on 4K displays. Therefore, we recommend that if you have a good PC, you leave it at a medium or low value. Otherwise, you can turn it off, thereby gaining up to 8 frames per second.
Grass draw distance
Performance Impact: low.
There isn't much grass in the post-nuclear world of Fallout 4, and it slows down the game quite a bit. We advise you to always set the maximum value.
Object drawing distance
Performance Impact: low.
By items, the guys from Bethesda mean everything that you can take and put in your inventory: weapons, ammunition, bottle caps, forks, armor, clothes, buckets, fans and other useful and not so useful things. Just like with the characters, it is very rare in the game to see a huge accumulation of objects in one field of view. So just set it to a high or maximum value here and move on.
Glare
Performance Impact: extremely low.
“Flare” is also called “Lens Effects” (in the original it sounds like Lens Flare). If you point the player’s camera at a source of bright light, then some kind of “sunbeams” will appear on the screen - luminous translucent polygons.
Glare has almost no effect on performance, so you can safely turn it on.
Lighting quality
Performance Impact: extremely low.
By default, Fallout 4 uses a fairly advanced lighting system, and this setting actually only affects its additional effects. For example, the sky becomes a little cleaner and more picturesque, and people’s skin begins to not only absorb, but also reflect light.
Even with ultra settings, only 1-2 frames are lost, so you can turn everything up to the maximum here. As a last resort, set the average value.
Object drawing distance
Performance Impact: average.
This setting is similar to Object Detail, but its scope is long distances. It consumes quite a lot of resources, so on weak machines it is better to set the values between low or medium, and on powerful machines it is better to be closer to high.
Drawing range of object details
Performance Impact: extremely low.
Subtly adds detail to distant objects. It’s almost invisible to the eye, and FPS, even at the maximum value, only drops by one and a half frames. Crank it all the way!
Rain occlusion
Performance Impact: low.
If you enable Rain Occlusion, the rain will not drip through the roof, and FPS may drop by up to 5-6 frames. Only turn it off if your PC barely meets the minimum requirements.
Reflections on screen space
Performance Impact: average.
Screen space usually refers to the area that is visible to the player from a certain angle and camera rotation - what you see right now on the screen if you release the mouse. If within this space there are surfaces on which there should be reflections, then they will be there. This is how the immediate surroundings appear on the water, and one of the pre-prepared panoramic textures appears on the shiny body of the assistant robots.
In some situations, gameplay may slow down by 9-10 frames. So you can turn off Reflections if you have a low-power PC. But it’s better to enable it if you are somewhere in the middle between the recommended and minimum requirements.
Shadow drawing distance
Performance Impact: average.
As usual, shadows are a rather voracious parameter. The range of their drawing (I think from the name everything is clear about the essence of this setting) is not very greedy on resources, but the next parameter is very much so. In any case, try to set "Shadow Draw Distance" to a value lower than high, only if you are not doing too well with the hardware. For a good impression of Falout 4 graphics, this parameter is very important, and you will lose no more than 7-8 frames.
Shadow quality
Performance Impact: high.
Shadow clarity and detail. Performance, as mentioned above, is affected quite strongly. But the most reasonable compromise between FPS and picture quality will be the average value. The price for this pleasure will be quite tolerable: about 7 frames per second. If your computer is close to the recommended requirements, you can try a high value. And set it low only as a last resort, as the image will suddenly become less attractive.
Texture quality
Performance Impact: absent.
Like anisotropic filtering, it’s high time to exclude this parameter for settings in modern games. There is absolutely no point in setting the texture quality to low, since this will not add frames, but may only free up some video memory. Only if your video card does not have enough memory for Falout 4, then the game will be a slideshow in any case. Like most other modern AAA projects. Just set the maximum value and move on.
Humidity
Performance Impact: average (during rain), absent (during dry weather).
And here is the last setting. “Dampness” is the wetness of the surfaces of the game during rain. It looks very cool and consumes resources quite moderately (5-7 frames). Moreover, he does not always eat, but only when water pours from the sky. So turn it off only if everything is completely bad with your “machine”.
Fallout 4 Graphics Settings Table
Once again we summarize the results using a table:
Click to enlarge
* * *
Thanks for reading! Come play Fallout 4 on high settings on our main site, but don’t forget to be outdoors more often!
This guide will help the Fallout 4 player modify any weapon to suit his playing style. The modification process can be quite addictive, so here we have tried to cover all the points that need to be taken into account to create a cool gun.
As an example for this guide, we chose the familiar 10 mm pistol, which the main character picks up as his first firearm in Vault 111 shortly after his awakening from 200 years of suspended animation. All other weapons in the game are upgraded in exactly the same way, the differences are only in the names of the parts and their characteristics. Some modifications that the pistol does not have are shown in the example of carbines.
It is worth noting that at first the list of available modifications is extremely small - below you will understand why, because of this, you should not pay all the attention to crafting weapons at the beginning of the game. In some places it is easier to kill enemies and take equipment from them.
Perks
The Fallout 4 weapon crafting system is directly subordinated to three perks, each of which allows you to modify the corresponding weapon:
- The Blacksmith perk is required to modify melee weapons. You can get the third maximum skill level only at level 29 of character development.
- The “Weapon Fanatic” perk is needed to modify small arms. It has 4 levels, the last of which opens only when your character reaches development level 39;
- Perk "Science!" needed to create high-tech modifications for all types of weapons. Your intelligence must be at least 6, and the last fourth level of this perk is unlocked only when you reach level 41;
So don't expect to create a cool supergun a few hours after. Some modifications are only available at high levels of the corresponding perks:
As you can see, I cannot modify the sword because I do not have the required Blacksmith level. By the way, this sword of Shem Drawn was found at: an easy way to get a lot of caps.
Therefore, it is important to take weapons from killed enemies, and remove modifications from them that are not yet available to you for installation on your guns (we will tell you how to remove them below). And the barrel itself should be disassembled for spare parts.
Before you have access to mods for your arsenal, you need to complete a number of actions, as well as obtain a certain amount of resources for crafting.
Weapon workbench
It is necessary to upgrade your weapons. To gain access to it, it is necessary to save several people, led by Preston Garvey, who will settle in Sanctuary Hills. Until this point, you cannot interact with weapon workbenches. After completing the quest, a workshop for construction, as well as workbenches for armor and weapons, will become available opposite your former home in Sanctuary Hills. Similar equipment is available at the Red Rocket truck stop adjacent to the settlement.
Go to the weapon workbench and select the "Use" button. A window will open that shows your weapon inventory. This will allow you to select one of the weapons for modification, as well as for dismantling for parts or renaming: all available options are listed at the bottom of the screen. It makes sense to rename the weapon so that there are no names like mine in the picture below with the Gauss carbine (and this is not the longest name):
On the left side of the screen you can see the current characteristics of the weapon, and on the right - a list of available modifications. Weapons with legendary properties are marked with an asterisk, such as increased damage, faster recovery of action points, etc. It can only be obtained by taking it from the corpses of legendary opponents. Ranged weapons are inextricably linked with these properties, and melee weapons can be removed with a unique property and will be available as a modification in your inventory.
Components
To create any modifications to a weapon, you need a set of certain components. For example, in order for a 10mm pistol to cause normal damage, it needs to replace the receiver with a reinforced one. This will require aluminum, bolts, glue, oil and gears:
The better the mod, the greater the number of necessary components required to install it. It is best to start mining and collecting the necessary materials from the very beginning of the game, recycling every item you come across, and continue to do this throughout the game. At a certain point, you will understand which elements you should always take, and which ones are easier to buy from merchants. You need to accumulate a solid supply of the necessary materials, otherwise you will not be able to make even the most minor modification.
The more complex the modification, the more rare components it will require. Therefore, always collect the following components that are needed to upgrade guns: bolts, aluminum, gold, lead, copper, glue, crystals, nuclear material, rubber, wiring, optical fiber and fiberglass. Other components like steel, springs and gears will appear in your possession during the game if you pay any attention to crafting.
To make the process of collecting components easier, you can take the “Junk Collector” perk, which allows you to obtain rare elements when disassembling armor and weapons. And be sure to collect everything from defeated robots and turrets!
Modification slots
Modification slots are various modules that you can replace on your weapon. Here is the slots window using the example of our 10mm friend, which displays the mods installed on the pistol:
On the right you see a list of options for modifying a standard receiver. Click the "Modify" button to view the full list of mods. Modifications increase not only the cost of the weapon, but also its weight (with the exception of installing lightweight components).
Receiver
The receiver is the heart of your weapon, and thanks to the options available in Fallout 4, its appearance can undergo dramatic changes. For example, you can change the standard receiver to a lightweight version, which will reduce weight and damage.
Of course, for lovers of lethal weapons, this is not the most interesting option, so you can pay attention to a reinforced receiver, which can double the damage dealt, but this will increase the mass. Of course, to craft an enhanced receiver, you need to prepare a number of necessary resources and meet the necessary conditions for character development indicated on the right side of the screen.
Trunk
Here, even without explanation, it is clear what detail we are talking about. Modifying the barrel affects the firing range and accuracy of the weapon. And, as you may have experienced in the first few quests in Fallout 4, keeping your distance from the enemy is key to survival. Therefore, our specimen is equipped with a long, lightweight barrel, which improves the accuracy of hitting a target, as well as the game value.
This guide is not about creating the coolest gun in the wasteland, so before adding a modification, look carefully - perhaps in the middle of the list there is exactly the modification that is ideal for.
Lever
Changing the shape and material of the handle leads to a change in the accuracy and weight of the product. For our pistol, a tactical grip was chosen as the most functional.
For all the weapons in the game, this will be the optimal choice.
Shop
The only external change is a larger magazine. By choosing a large quick-release magazine, you will get a high reload speed with an increased number of rounds in the clip. The weight of the weapon will also increase.
All previous versions of stores combine parts of this modification. This rule applies to any weapon in Fallout 4.
Aim
When modifying a pistol sight, its appearance and shooting accuracy change. And the scout sight marks targets and displays them visually and on the radar at the bottom of the screen.
On long barrels you can also install sights of various magnifications and sights with night vision (they are useless during the day - you simply cannot see anything in them).
Choke tube
The absence or presence of various devices on the muzzle of the barrel affects the firing range, accuracy and weight of the weapon. Thus, the use of a silencer is ideal for covert use, but the firing range is seriously affected. You can also install a muzzle brake or compensator, which will allow you to achieve improved accuracy values. In any case, it is advisable to have at least one weapon equipped with a silencer in your inventory, since in wastelands there are often situations when it is more profitable to shoot everyone covertly than to attack head-on.
Carbines and shotguns can also be equipped with a bayonet, which increases damage in close combat:
When it comes to weapon modification, it's worth spending a lot of time learning how the system works and what interesting modifications you can put together. But since you have to obtain resources for crafting yourself, and the appearance of valuable components generally depends on your luck, you should definitely save before you start crafting the gun of your dreams. Any mistake - and your efforts in the form of a two-hour search for rare components will turn into useless weapon junk taking up space in your inventory.
Therefore, it is important to remove modifications from all weapons found and keep them in your inventory. This will save a lot of time collecting resources and will allow you to get improvements that are not yet available to you.
How to remove a modification from a weapon
You can’t just take a modification and remove it, you can only replace it with another one. For example, to remove a silencer from a 10mm pistol, you must have any other muzzle attachment mod in your inventory: no choke attachment, compensator, or muzzle brake. Place a modification from your inventory on the weapon you find, and the installed one is moved to your inventory. Using the Gauss carbine as an example, it looks like this:
One modification weighs 0.5 kg. And you don’t need to carry it with you all the time, just store it in the workshop and bring the found trunks there for an upgrade. Mods can be changed by clicking the “Attach modification” button:
As you can see, everything is simple, but you will have to get at least the simplest modifications for each slot for each weapon.
Well-pumped guns can be removed from strong opponents, so you will have to start hunting for raiders, Gunner mercenaries and super mutants. Especially for legendary characters whose names have an asterisk. But sometimes something worthwhile comes out of other legendary inhabitants of the Commonwealth. For example, here is a Gauss carbine from the Death Claw and a minigun from a ghoul:
As you can see, a sufficient number of modifications can be removed from them. Except that the radroaches and flying insects did not provide weapons, only elements of armor.
Have a good war! She never changes...
If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.
In the last article, we figured out the issue and now we will put this knowledge into practice: we will look at the four most important modifications to improve performance.
The article will provide extended descriptions of each of the presented plugins, as well as instructions for installing them safely. We remind you that the content of the section depends on what exactly the portal visitors want to see in it. Write all suggestions and wishes in the comments!
So, you have installed the latest version of the game. The first thing you will most likely encounter is that the optimization is not the best. Bethesda, in its own way, released one of the "biggest" games, but did not bother to polish it to shine. The fix didn’t work out either: more than a month has passed since the release, and there are only one or two official patches, and besides, they didn’t really help those who complain about constant slowdowns, FPS drops and other troubles.
And here mods come onto the scene, which can already significantly help fans of post-nuclear Boston by increasing the treasured frame rate counter to a completely playable value.
ENBoost
This very useful tool is a kind of “must-have” for anyone who plays Fallout 4. Even if you are completely satisfied with the base game and you are not going to install mods, we still recommend using ENBoost.
This tool allows you to expand the video memory (VRAM) used by the game with random access memory (RAM), and also interferes with the memory allocation process in the game. This allows you to avoid crashes to the desktop, which can occur on weak machines, and also, if possible, corrects unpleasant freezes and possible corruption of save files, which sometimes happens for a variety of reasons.
This mod will be especially useful for those who have a processor with only two cores, as well as those who have a weak video card with a memory capacity of less than 2 GB. For owners of powerful configurations, using ENBoost will not give much, except perhaps 2-3 extra frames per second, but in the future the mod will also be able to significantly improve graphics due to the ENBSeries effects, which the developer is gradually adding to new versions.
To install ENBoost, first archive the latest version (0.288 at the time of writing), unpack the contents of the WrapperVersion folder from the archive into the folder where the EXE file of the game (Fallout4.exe) is located.
ApplyStabilityPatch - fixes possible crashes and damage to saves.
UsePatchSpeedhackWithoutGraphics - disables the use of graphics functions that are provided in enbseries.ini. For now, the author is only testing their impact on performance, so we do not recommend turning them off.
ForceVideoMemorySize - enables expansion of video memory using RAM, this is the main highlight of the mod.
VideoMemorySizeMb - sets the exact memory value that will be used as VRAM. This value is the sum of the available memory of your video card and your RAM, pay close attention to this parameter, find out the exact amount of memory that your video card provides and add to this value the amount of your RAM, for example if you have a video card with 4 GB of video memory and 8 gigabytes of RAM, then X will be equal to 4096+8192, that is, 12288.
ForceVSync - activates vertical synchronization, enable this option only if vertical synchronization is disabled in the game settings and video card driver settings.
EnableFPSLimit - enables frame rate limiting, there is no point in enabling it if you play with vertical sync enabled.
FPSLimit - the value that will not exceed the frame rate when using EnableFPSLimit.
DisableFakeLights - fixes a very unpleasant lighting bug, due to which all the characters are illuminated as if from the inside, which slightly increases the load on the computer and creates an unnatural shine on the characters.
We will not decipher the remaining parameters, since they have already been set by the developer in the proper form.
When you start the game, you will see information in the upper left corner of the screen that ENBoost is enabled. You can also change some parameters on the fly if you press SHIFT+ENTER. You can also display the frame rate counter by pressing “*”, as well as do some other useful little things, which are placed in the section in the enblocal.ini config.
Shadow Boost
Another useful productivity tool from the same author. It is much easier to set up, but can give even greater effect.
The principle of operation is simple: the mod monitors the current framerate and dynamically changes the shadow drawing distance so as to maintain it at a given level. As practice shows, shadows in Fallout 4 is one of the most power-hungry settings, so use on weak computers is highly recommended.
To install Shadow Boost, first archive the latest version (at the time of writing - 1.2.37.0), unpack the contents of the Bin folder (namely the contents, not the folder itself!) into the directory where the EXE file of the game is located (Fallout4.exe) .
fTargetFramerate - the frame rate you want to achieve.
fDistChangeSpeed - speed of change in shadow drawing distance, acceptable values vary from 0.5 to 5.0.
fShadowDrawDistMin - the minimum shadow drawing distance that Shadow Boost can set.
fShadowDrawDistMax - accordingly, the maximum drawing distance.
Well, in order to consolidate this information, here is an example of file design:
Texture Optimization Project
So, now our game uses more memory to work with graphics, and can also dynamically change the distance at which shadows are drawn. Now it’s time to move on to the textures, which, as usual from Bethesda Game Studios developers, turned out to be rather crookedly optimized. They are large in size and detailed, but due to the poor compression algorithm, they take a long time to load. Both the frame rate and the appearance of the game suffer from this, because the textures simply do not have time to load, so the player can often encounter smeared and unclear walls and objects.
The Texture Optimization Project was created with the goal of reducing the size of textures while maintaining their quality. The author did not save time like Bethesda and immediately abandoned stream processing of the entire array of textures. Instead, he manually processed all the textures in the game. Thanks to this, the volume occupied by them decreased by one and a half times. Accordingly, the frame rate and loading speed have increased. This also helped fix a very unpleasant effect where, after switching weapons in the game, you had to wait several seconds for the character to take it out.
The other side of the coin is a slight decrease in texture detail, which will be noticeable if you specifically compare screenshots of the regular version of the game and the modified one.
The mod can be installed in two ways - manually and using the Nexus Mod Manager organizer program, which can be found on the same website. Manual installation can be different for each mod, so most modders recommend the automatic NMM installation method, as it has the following advantages:
- does not require manual unpacking of archives and occurs automatically;
- installed mods are stored separately from the game and therefore cannot damage it.
- TOP - Base 1 of 4
- TOP - Base 2 of 4
- TOP - Base 3 of 4
- TOP - Base 4 of 4
- TOP - Hotfix 7
- 0.13 Update
- 0.14 Update
- 0.15 Update
- 0.16 Update
- 0.17 Update
- optional hotfix for grass being wierd - fix for those who have problems displaying grass
Now the game will use new textures, smaller in volume, which will give a significant increase in frame rate for those who do not have the most powerful video card. This is especially noticeable in urban areas, where FPS drops most often occur.
FogOut
Surely during the game you noticed a strange fog in the rooms. If in an open area it can somehow be understood, because it does a good job of hiding blurry distant spaces, partially covering them with itself, then in rooms such a strange atmospheric effect only wastes computer resources. Therefore, the last mod that we will consider in this article will be FogOut.
This small plugin will help remove fog from
Fallout 4 and comes in two variations:
- Basic (FogOut.esp) - the mod is used only indoors;
- Lightweight (FogOut-Interiors.esp) - works both indoors and outdoors;
In order to install FogOut on the mod page, download one of these archives, then open NMM and click the green plus button on the left panel. We indicate the path to the downloaded archive, the program will immediately add it to the list of mods. We activate it by clicking on the button with the green arrow and don’t forget to check for a checkmark next to the plugin name in the “Plugins” tab.
This is the last of four mods we'll look at today. Practice shows that together they can significantly improve the performance of Fallout 4 on weaker systems, as well as provide a small amount of additional FPS on more powerful ones. Of course, the entire setup process takes quite a lot of time and also requires some knowledge, but how could it be otherwise if we are talking about modding?
It’s clear that not everyone has a powerful computer that can run all the new stuff at 60 frames per second, especially when it comes to such a giant as Fallout 4. That’s why we decided to look at the most common ways to optimize the game with our own hands, or in other words, we decided to look at The question is how to increase FPS in Fallout 4.
Basically, several different so-called “configs” were created for the game - ini files with special parameters that need to be replaced with the standard file. It could also be several mods that correct lighting and textures + a program to clear RAM.
Replacing the ini file
We go to the address C:\Users\*username*\Documents\My Games\Fallout4 and find the required file, after which we copy it somewhere, and in the original opened through notepad, change the marked lines to the following.
uInterior Cell Buffer=12
uExterior Cell Buffer=144
bUseThreadedBlood=1
bUseThreadedMorpher=1
bUseThreadedTempEffects=1
bUseThreadedParticleSystem=1
bUseThreadedAI=1
bUseMultiThreadedFaceGen=1
bUseMultiThreadedTrees=1
iPreloadSizeLimit=262144000
Save and try to launch the game. If it doesn’t start, then we replace it with the copy we made.
How to increase FPS in Fallout 4
Modifications
Let's take a closer look at the best combination of mods:
- ENBoost for Fallout 4 - solves specific problems and blurred textures, increases stability;
- Mod manager for the game - helps you install mods more conveniently and generally activate them after that;
- Fallout 4 Configurator tool - advanced graphics settings that help remove some details that are completely unnecessary for you;
- Fallout 4 TOP - a mod that optimizes textures;
- Mem Reduct - cleans RAM at specified periods, making the game easier to operate;
All this can be downloaded from one of the large well-known sites with mods or from a foreign Nexus. There will also be installation instructions. Well, except for Mem Reduct, which is downloaded from the official website.
Also, before the game, you should kill all unnecessary open processes that do not matter, but take up RAM.
After installing and turning on all the mods (+ setting the settings as in the screenshots), simply open Mem Redux and set cleaning once every 15 minutes in the settings, and then leave it open, and then launch the game and rejoice. It is best to set everything to medium settings and not increase the resolution, since a lot depends on it.
