Age of Conan Video Optimization (Tweak) Guide It's a guide to experiment with AOC's video settings and in connection with your PC's hardware to achieve best possible fps result
Notes • There are mods available which can offer additional video options for Age of Conan. For the purpose of this guide we use only the stock video options.
• For testing purposes FPS comparisons were made using the default "High" settings and making adjustments based on these settings. Average FPS on "High" was 41.2.
• The default "High" setting does not enable maximum settings.
• A custom UI was used during testing.
• FPS tests were performed with a motionless character and very little activity in the area.
• Results will vary depending on processor, graphics card, RAM, operating system, resolution and drivers.
• FPS will vary by zone, for testing purposes we used Khopshef Province.
Test System Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz
Memory: 4.00 GB
System Type: 32-bit Operating System
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
Driver Version: GeForce Release 175 WHQL, 175.16
Windows Edition: Windows Vista Home Basic (DX9)
Resolution: 1280x1024
Testing Default Low, Medium and High Settings The first task was to test the default Low, Medium and High graphics settings in Age of Conan, located in the "Overall Quality" section under Video Options -> Basic. Below you will find in-game images at each setting, along with their frames per second.
Default High Setting - 41.2 FPS
Default Medium Setting - 80.4 FPS
Default Low Setting - 91.2 FPS
Visual Observations:
The most noticeable difference between the three images (initially) is foliage removed from Medium and Low settings. If you look at the character's robe you can see the texture quality degrade. The water is of a lower quality in both the Medium and Low settings. View distance is reduced as quality is lowered, as is view distance quality. You will also notice that NPC view distance quality is poor on the Low setting.
Basic Settings
Anti-Alias Quality: Anti-aliasing is the technique of minimizing the distortion in digital photography, computer graphics, digital audio, and many other applications. In Age of Conan anti-alias options include: none, 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x, 8xQ, 16xQ. The "Q" stands for "Quality". Note that not all graphics cards support 16x or 16xQ.
Anti-Alias Quality: none
Anti-Alias Quality: 16xQ
Anti-alias quality: none (41.2 FPS)
Anti-alias quality: 16xQ (34.2 FPS)
Difference: 7.0 FPS
Visual Observations: Not much difference visually. Shadowing appears slightly sharper in 16xQ. If you experience system lag in Age of Conan, the recommended setting is "none".
Enable Bloom Bloom aims to recreate the optical effect known as the Airy disc. In the real world, when light passes through a circular aperture such as your eye it diffracts, causing flaws that limit the maximum resolution of even a perfect lens. These defects are negligible for normal incoming light, but very bright sources can appear to bleed into surrounding darker objects.
Enable Bloom: Disabled
Enable Bloom: Enabled
Bloom: Disabled (41.2 FPS)
Bloom: Enabled (37.5 FPS)
Difference: 3.7 FPS
Visual Observations: Details are slightly sharper with Bloom enabled. This is most evident if you compare the mountains in the above images. The difference here wasn't very noticeable, and would not be considered enough to sacrifice FPS. The default setting is off.
View distance How far into the distance you can see. The slider will take you from 50m to 3500m.
View Distance: 50m
View Distance: 3500m
View Distance: 50m: 55.0 FPS
View Distance: 3500m: 42.0 FPS
Difference: 3.0 FPS
Visual Observations: Your field of view is greatly diminished at 50m. If you are experiencing system lag in Age of Conan we recommend keeping the slider somewhere around 2000m. Shave off FPS elsewhere or you won't be able to see two feet in front of you.
Advanced Settings
Global Shader Model Version
Shaders are used by the graphic resources primarily to perform rendering effects. Available options are 2.0, 2.x, 3.0 and 4.0 if you are using DirectX 10. Shader complexity depends on the version of Direct3D used.
Shader Model Version: 2.0
Shader Model Version: 2.X
Shader Model Version: 3.0
Shader model version: 2.0 (74.9 FPS)
Shader model version: 2.x (52.0 FPS)
Shader model version: 3.0 (41.2 FPS)
Difference: 33.7 FPS
Visual Observations: The difference in shader models is more evident in smaller details than in the big picture. If you compare the images above, you will see that both 2.x and 3.0 provide higher quality detailing in things such as the character's robe, the sail on the boat and the wood grain of the dock. Both 2.0 and 2.x sacrifice moving foliage. The shader model version was also noticeable in details such as character eyes and body markings. Finally, 2.x appeared to over-write the 3.0 contrast settings to some degree. If you're looking for a drop in FPS and normally play with grass disabled then 2.x should be adequate.
Shadows Shadow Quality
Fairly self explanatory, available options are Disabled, From characters only and From everything.
Shadow quality: Disabled (60.1 FPS)
Shadow quality: From everything (41.2 FPS)
Difference: 18.9 FPS
Visual Observations: As expected, setting shadows to "disabled" removes shadows from the game. If shadows are important to you then you will also take another FPS hit when you set your shadow resolution (see below).
Shadow Resolution The quality of shadows. Settings are: Low, Medium, High and Ultra.
Shadow Resolution: Low
Shadow Resolution: Ultra
Shadow resolution: Low (44.5 FPS)
Shadow resolution: High (41.2 FPS)
Shadow resolution: Ultra (40.0 FPS)
Difference: 4.5 FPS
Visusal Observations: If you are going to play with shadows enabled then you will have to set shadow resolution to high in order to get the full effect. Setting to low makes shadows more blobby, and there's not much point taking a FPS cut for both having shadows enabled and setting a shadow resolution if you are not going to have them at high quality.
3D Ambient Occlusion Quality Ambient occlusion is a shading method used in 3D computer graphics which helps add realism to local reflection models by taking into account attenuation of light due to occlusion. Available options are Disabled, Low, High.
Ambient Occlusion: Disabled
Ambient Occlusion: High
3D ambient occlusion quality: Disabled (43.8 FPS)
3D ambient occlusion quality: High (41.2 FPS)
Difference: 2.6 FPS
Visual Observations: If you compare the two images above, you may note that playing with ambient disabled gives the background a more "cartoon-ish" look. Whereas playing with ambient set to high appears to give the game a slightly more realistic feel. The changes here are very subtle, disable ambient occlusion to save a couple of frames per second.
View Ranges High Quality View Distance
Controls density of texture pixels on the screen. Disabling will improve frame rates.
High Quality View Distance: 0%
High Quality View Distance: 100%
0%: 42.6 FPS
100%: 40.9 FPS
Difference: 1.7 FPS
Visual Observations: The differences here are best seen in the mountain pillars and the buildings in Pashtun. Both show a higher level of detail with the high quality view distance at 100%. This would probably be a good place to cut back a bit.
Low Quality View Distance Defines cut off point for normal rendering. Beyond the world will be rendered with lower quality. Ranges from 0m to 2048m.
Low Quality View Distance: 0m
0m: 73.8 FPS
2048m: 41.2 FPS
Difference: 32.6 FPS
Visual Observations: The changes here are night and day. If you can't run Age of Conan with low quality view distance set towards the high end of the slider, then you are sacrificing one of the features that AoC is known for... great graphics!
Particle View Distance How far particles will be rendered. Ranges from 0m to 1000m. Screenshots taken while spell casting.
Particle View Distance: 0m
Particle View Distance: 1000m
0m: 41.2 FPS
500m: 39.5 FPS
1000m: 34.0 FPS
Difference: 7.2 FPS
Visual Observations: Recommend that at a minimum you keep the slider in the middle. While you will sacrifice some FPS doing this, if you put the slider at 50m then you will miss out on things such as particles from harvesting nodes, smoke in the distance and other details that can help you throughout the game. In addition, with the slider on low you will not even see your own spells being cast. If you raid or siege this setting should be turned to low prior to starting, or your FPS will drop drastically with all of the spell casting in your vicinity.
View NPC Distance How far NPCs and player characters will be rendered. Range is 5m to 500m.
View NPC Distance: 5m
View NPC Distance: 500m
5m: 44.4 FPS
200m: 41.2 FPS
500m: 40.4 FPS
Difference: 4.0 FPS
Visual Observations: As you can see from the first image, the view distance of 5m is such short range that you will not even be able to fully scroll out in 3rd person view. The default "High" setting for view NPC distance is 200m, which provides as much quality as a setting of 500m. In the second image, both settings of 200m and 500m will allow you to see mobs in Pashtun.