Graphics Settings in Update 9.0

Brynd: Introduction   Patch 9.0 introduced a new graphics settings window in Options menu of the game. We also added several new effects which can impact game performance. If game performance on your PC was affected after Update 9.0, we recommend you to take a few minutes to adjust the graphic settings.   Classic Info   Please keep in mind that the game performs at its best without any third-party modifications/add-ons. If you’re experiencing decreased perforamnce, it is advised to remove them. To do this you will have to delete all files from “res_mods” folder located in main game folder (default path - C:\Games\World of Tanks\). You should also remove your previous settings from the last patch by deleting Preferences file. This can be done by this simple file. If you want to delete preferences file manually, please follow instructions bellow:   Press the Windows Key and “R” at the same time. Type the following: %appdata%\wargaming.net\WorldofTanks Delete the file called preferences.xml   Make sure that your graphics card drivers are up-to-date. You should do this from the official drivers provided by the graphics card manufacturers:   NVIDIA - http://www.geforce.com/drivers AMD/ATI - http://www.amd.com Intel - http://downloadcente...om/Default.aspx   Graphics Window Info   The new graphics settings window contains all important settings. Some of values can significantly impact game performance. For this reason we have split them to three different categories. Please keep in mind that reducing these settings can significantly change your visual page of game and gameplay.   You can always try to improve your game performance by choosing lower (higher) graphics quality in the drop-down menu or clicking on the “Recommended” button.   Red category – Reducing the value can significantly increase game performance. Orange category – Reducing the value can slightly increase game performance. You can turn them off / set the to Minimum (or Low). All “orange” settings can help you with performance a little bit. Green category – Reducing the value makes a minimal difference in performance.     Standard / Improved Quality – Standard graphics rely more on CPU than GPU. Improved graphics use GPU significantly more than CPU. Standard is good if you have better processor than video card, but if you have normal processor and normal video card (or a good graphics card + normal processor) – try Improved. If you have issues with game performance we recommend to use Standard settings or lowest graphics settings on Improved graphics. Full screen mode – Switch between windowed and full screen mode. Please notice that the windowed mode decrease the game performance so we strongly recommend to play in full screen to improve the game performance. 3D Render Resolution – Determine game scene quality and details. You can try and change it directly in battle with Right Shift + and Right Shift -. We recommend to not change this setting in case that your game is running at least on 30 FPS. If you are running at less than 30 FPS, you can try to reduce this setting to 80-90%. You can go even lower but you will drastically reduce the graphics quality and level of detail.   Texture Quality - Quality of surfaces of game objects, especially under close examination. If you have a good video card with 1-3GB of graphics memory you can use High settings or better. If you have an older graphics card, we recommend you to use Low settings. Lighting Quality – Accuracy of setting sun rays, lighting and optical effects. Lighting settings doesn’t influence the gameplay itself. You can set this setting to low if you got the issue with FPS drops. Shadow Quality – Determines the quality of dynamic shadow processing over the entire draw distance. Complete disabling of shadows can cause strong visual inconsistency. Reducing the value of this parameter can considerably improve game performance. The appropriate Shadow Quality strongly depends on the overall system performance (including graphics card and CPU performance). If you experience issue with performance you can reduce this setting to minimum to increase FPS.   Extra Effects Quality – Determines the display quality of sparks from ricochets, explosions, smoke, and other visual effects. Reducing the value of this parameter can improve game performance. Our recommendation is to have this setting at least on Low to make sure that you will be able to see enemy/friendly tracers, etc. Extra Effects in Sniper Mode - Determines the display quality of sparks from ricochets, explosions, smoke, and other visual effects in Sniper mode. Reducing the value of this parameter can improve game performance. We recommend to use Minimum or Low settings if you experience issues with FPS drops. Flora Density – Determines the density and draw quality of grass and bushes. Reducing the value of this parameter can improve game performance. You can use Low settings to make sure that you will see bushes.   Post Processing – Determines the quality of fog, glow effects, and other post-processing visual effects. The game performance with the enabled Extra Effects in Sniper Mode strongly dependents on graphics card performance and moderately depends on VRAM capacity. Using Minimum is recommended to improve FPS. Grass in Sniper Mode – Displays grass in Sniper Mode. We recommend disabling this option in case of DPS drops in Sniper Mode; however, note that this does not help in all circumstances. Dynamic change of effects quality – Automatic simplification of effects with low system performance.   Enable track effects – Displays ground, snow, and water splashes behind the tracks. Disabling this parameter can improve game performance. Antialiasing – Determine degree of additional processing of thin lines and contours of game objects. You can reduce this setting to minimum if you experience issue with FPS drops. Terrain Quality – Determines the draw quality of map relief features. Use the minimum landscape quality only in the case of low computer performance. Our recommendation is to put this setting to at least Low.   Water Quality – Determinates the draw quality of water surfaces. Feel free to reduce this setting to Medium or Low to increase performance. Decals Quality – Determines the display quality of dirt traces, potholes, fallen leaves, and other small objects. You should have this setting at least on Low. Object LOD – Determines the number of displayed objects and their quality. Reducing this setting can improve FPS. The recommendation is to put this setting to Low or Medium.   Foliage Quality – Determines the draw quality of foliage. You can easily put this to Low or Medium. Draw Distance – Determines the display distance of relief features, buildings, enemy vehicles and other game objects. We strongly recommend to leave this setting at least on Medium. Motion Blur Effect – Determines the quality of motion blur effect of an image when a vehicle moves and camera rotates. You can turn this option OFF. Enable track traces – Displays track traces on the surface.