UT3 Performance Tweak Guide For Older Cards/Low End

**spyder** · Mega Joined: Jun 21, 2008 Posts: 80 Status: **Offline**

These settings should be good for older cards:

ATI: X1600, X1900, x1950, X2900, etc.
Nvida: 7600, 7900, 8600, etc.

For the in depth guide go here

These are the settings I use, they have been all thoroughly tested. They provide the best performance and gameplay improvement without sacrificing too much detail.

Also I suggest installing Patch 3 http://www.epicgames.com/download/UT3Patch3.exe

Windows Settings:
Set monitor refresh rate to maximum
Disable Anti-Alias
Turn off Vsync
Turn off any extra 'eye candy' features.

In Game settings
Video Settings:
Screen Res: 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x1024 (Provides best detail to performance ratio)
Brightness: 10
Post processing: Default
Reduced Gore: Yes
Subtitles: No
Hardware Physics: No (Unless you have Physx card)

Advanced Video Settings:
Screen Percentage: 100
Texture detail: 1
World detail: 1
Enable Vsync: No
Framerate smoothing: No
FOV: 90 or 100
Motion Blur: No

Audio Settings:
OpenAL: No (Turning this on with XFI soundcards causes huge problems)
Mute everything except SFX volume.
SFX Volume: 3

Input Settings:
Disable mouse smoothing
Mouse sensitivity: 2000-5000

Generic mouse: 4000-5000
2000dpi - 2000
4000dpi - 1000

Player Settings:
Network Connection: LAN or Cable
Dynamic Netspeed: No
Allow Custom Characters: No (Increases performance)

Weapon Settings:
Crosshair scaling: 4-6
Crosshair type: Normal
Weapon switch on pickup: No
Weapon hand: Hidden (Hard to get used to, but shots are more accurate)

Hud Settings:
Show Objective paths: No (Turns off annoying white triangles)

####
DO NOT CHANGE ANY IN GAME SETTINGS AFTER YOU HAVE TWEAKED YOUR INI FILES, YOU WILL LOSE ANY CHANGES
####

INI Settings

Instructions: Find the variables in each file and replace the value with the ones listed in the guide. Do not copy and paste from this guide. Also make a backup of the INI files in case you experience problems.

INI Folder: My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Config

UTGame.ini:

[UTGame.UTPawn]
Bob=0.0
bWeaponBob=false
(Disables crosshair movement when walking)

[UTGame.UTPlayerController]
bLandingShake=false
(Disables screen movement when landing/falling)

[UTGame.UTHUD]
bShowMap=true
MapDefaultSize=175
(Shrinks hud map down to a less annoying size, it is highly recommended for WAR players to have their map turned on)

UTEngine.ini

[Engine.Engine]
TerrainMaterialMaxTextureCount=8
bUseTextureStreaming=True
bDisablePhysXHardwareSupport=True
AllowShadowVolumes=False
(Disables shadows, strips excess layers from terrains)

[Engine.GameEngine]
bSmoothFrameRate=true
MinSmoothedFrameRate=100.000000
MaxSmoothedFrameRate=105.000000
bUseTextureStreaming=True
bUseBackgroundLevelStreaming=True
bUsePostProcessEffects=False
(Provides a smooth and stable, but faster framerate)

[Engine.Client]
MinDesiredFrameRate=150.000000
(This setting probably does nothing)

[SystemSettings]
StaticDecals=False
DynamicDecals=False
DynamicLights=False (Leave as true for projectiles to emit light, if your machine can handle it)
DynamicShadows=False
LightEnvironmentShadows=False
CompositeDynamicLights=False
DirectionalLightmaps=False
MotionBlur=False
DepthOfField=False (Gets rid of game blurriness)
Bloom=False
QualityBloom=False
Distortion=True (set as true, or nightshade is totally invisible)
DropParticleDistortion=True
SpeedTreeLeaves=False (Turns off trees)
SpeedTreeFronds=False (Turns off trees)
OnlyStreamInTextures=True
LensFlares=False
FogVolumes=False (Removes fog/sand)
FloatingPointRenderTargets=True (Set to false to turn off water visibility, and some other items, makes game look horrible.)
Trilinear=True
OneFrameThreadLag=True (Seems to improve framerate a lot)
UseVsync=False
UpscaleScreenPercentage=False
Fullscreen=True
AllowD3D10=False
EnableHighPolyChars=False
SkeletalMeshLODBias=1
ParticleLODBias=2147483647
DetailMode=0
ShadowFilterQualityBias=-1
MaxAnisotropy=8
MaxMultisamples=0
MinShadowResolution=32
MaxShadowResolution=256
ResX=1280
ResY=1024
ScreenPercentage=100.000000
SceneCaptureStreamingMultiplier=1.000000
FoliageDrawRadiusMultiplier=1.000000
ShadowTexelsPerPixel=0.000000 (Disables shadows)
TEXTUREGROUP_World=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=128,LODBias=2)
TEXTUREGROUP_WorldNormalMap=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=128,LODBias=2)
TEXTUREGROUP_WorldSpecular=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=128,LODBias=2)
TEXTUREGROUP_Character=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_CharacterNormalMap=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_CharacterSpecular=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=128,LODBias=2)
TEXTUREGROUP_Weapon=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=128,LODBias=2)
TEXTUREGROUP_WeaponNormalMap=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=128,LODBias=2)
TEXTUREGROUP_WeaponSpecular=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=1,LODBias=2)
TEXTUREGROUP_Vehicle=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_VehicleNormalMap=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_VehicleSpecular=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=1,LODBias=2)
TEXTUREGROUP_Effects=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=64,LODBias=2)
TEXTUREGROUP_Skybox=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=1,LODBias=1)
TEXTUREGROUP_UI=(MinLODSize=1024,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_LightAndShadowMap=(MinLODSize=128,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=2)
TEXTUREGROUP_RenderTarget=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=512,LODBias=0)
(Texturegroup settings reduce the quality of all textures and blur unimportant ones, but leave players and vehicles sharp so they stand out, also eliminates specular textures)

[Engine.AudioDevice]
SoundGroups=(GroupName=Character,Properties=(Volume=6))
(Turns up enemy footstep noise)

Before - 42 FPS
After - 55 FPS

Other things that help alot:
1. Razer eXactMat (Huge improvement over a mousepad or desk surface. Has a low friction, high detailed surface. Improves your aim alot.)
2. Razer Lachesis, Razer Copperhead or other gaming Mouse (Any high DPI gaming mouse will help, but I use these)
3. 2GB of RAM or more. (Seems to speed up UT3 load times drastically, reduces game stuttering)

**spyder** · Mega Joined: Jun 21, 2008 Posts: 80 Status: **Offline**

The settings for my 4870
AA: 2x
AF: HQ-8x
EATM Enabled
Vsync: off

Disabling "Frame Rate Smoothing" gives you a HUGE advantage in dodging projectiles and aiming, but you need a card that can keep the frame rate above 100fps for it to be effective. Also when uncapping your framerate be sure to select "Lan" as your net speed or else the frame rate will be capped by the server.

[Engine.GameEngine]
bSmoothFrameRate=False

[SystemSettings]
StaticDecals=False
DynamicDecals=False
DynamicLights=False
DynamicShadows=False
LightEnvironmentShadows=False
CompositeDynamicLights=True
DirectionalLightmaps=False
MotionBlur=False
DepthOfField=False
Bloom=False
QualityBloom=False
Distortion=True
DropParticleDistortion=True
SpeedTreeLeaves=False
SpeedTreeFronds=False
OnlyStreamInTextures=True
LensFlares=False
FogVolumes=False
FloatingPointRenderTargets=True
Trilinear=True
OneFrameThreadLag=True
UseVsync=False
UpscaleScreenPercentage=True
Fullscreen=True
AllowD3D10=True
EnableHighPolyChars=False
SkeletalMeshLODBias=1
ParticleLODBias=2147483647
DetailMode=0
ShadowFilterQualityBias=-1
MaxAnisotropy=16
MaxMultisamples=1
MinShadowResolution=32
MaxShadowResolution=512
ResX=1280
ResY=1024
ScreenPercentage=100.000000
SceneCaptureStreamingMultiplier=1.000000
FoliageDrawRadiusMultiplier=1.000000
ShadowTexelsPerPixel=2.000000
TEXTUREGROUP_World=(MinLODSize=256,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_WorldNormalMap=(MinLODSize=512,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=1)
TEXTUREGROUP_WorldSpecular=(MinLODSize=256,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=1)
TEXTUREGROUP_Character=(MinLODSize=512,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_CharacterNormalMap=(MinLODSize=512,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_CharacterSpecular=(MinLODSize=512,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_Weapon=(MinLODSize=512,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_WeaponNormalMap=(MinLODSize=1024,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_WeaponSpecular=(MinLODSize=512,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_Vehicle=(MinLODSize=1024,MaxLODSize=2048,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_VehicleNormalMap=(MinLODSize=1024,MaxLODSize=2048,LODBias=1)
TEXTUREGROUP_VehicleSpecular=(MinLODSize=1024,MaxLODSize=2048,LODBias=1)
TEXTUREGROUP_Effects=(MinLODSize=256,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_Skybox=(MinLODSize=512,MaxLODSize=2048,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_UI=(MinLODSize=1024,MaxLODSize=4096,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_LightAndShadowMap=(MinLODSize=512,MaxLODSize=4096,LODBias=0)
TEXTUREGROUP_RenderTarget=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=4096,LODBias=0)

ArseDestroyer · Noob Joined: Mar 29, 2009 Posts: 4 Status: **Offline**

For Ginger:

I dunno if it's also your case, but as you know lately I had the rainbow terrain problem in lots of maps, I solved it!!!!!!!!!

I'm using most of the bush tweaks, I found this line

UTEngine.ini

[Engine.Engine]
TerrainMaterialMaxTextureCount=8

It regards terrains so I wanted to switch this value back to 16 and now biohazard-x/industria/mass explosion and other maps are with normal terrain! yayay! Try it hope it helps you too!