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How low should graphics settings go?
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2023
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Well a couple of issues. One is size and complexity, pretty low issue since games are already massive and where size is an issue (console physical media) they don't need to be included.
A bigger one is what does it say about the product? People are already using low settings disingenuously to say X game is ugly and not up to par, a potato setting would just exacerbate this and from an art standpoint do the developer really want to stand behind such a gimped product?
Then we have the problem of lowering details not really being able to solve the problem. A long draw distance can make it still really rough on older components due to memory constraints or ability to juggle X amount of objects. Sure a draw distance slider isn't uncommon but if the game uses said distance like say enemies spotting you from far away you can't lower draw distance such that it impacts game play. Physics and other demanding aspects might also make lowering settings hard or make for a big gameplay impact.
And finally why isn't FSR acceptable to make the game playable? It seems the perfect solution.
"Perfect" is a bit of stretch. I've tried running games with FSR on my GTX 1080 and it looks like absolute ass. By lowering graphics settings I was able to run at a much higher resolution/framerate while looking leaps and bounds better.
I realize that newer GPUs will give better results with FSR, but if I'm getting a newer GPU then presumably it would have better native performance anyway.
I'll certainly give it another go when I upgrade to an Ada/RDNA3 GPU, but until then it's just a marketing gimmick to me.
Wouldn't a potato setting also look like absolute ass? I mean few games are very pretty at 1080p Low which OP thinks isnt going low enough to accommodate old hardware. In those situations FSR can be used to make it run at 60 FPS with 1080p output but yes it will for sure not be a pretty experience, but it will run and won't destroy gameplay mechanics.
Now I do believe that the absolute best would be if developers got better at building their games and graphics engines to be resource efficient or "optimized" as the gaming community likes to call it. But that's quite an ask in reality as most studios don't build their own engine and those that do generally aren't building them with resource efficiency in mind, they're focused on what kind of games they want to build with them. Id Software really stands out but they're engine making wizards almost more so than game developers and really pride themselves with making good looking games that can be run well by just about anything. Doom Eternal runs and looks ridiculously well on the Steam Deck (in regards to what little juice that machine has) as an example.
I'm being awfully apologetic of developers here, but I really don't think the issue is that you can't run the games on older hardware, because FSR has mostly solved that imo.
The specific example I experimented with the most was Firmament at 3440x1440, targeting 100fps.
Using FSR at the recommended settings, it was a blotchy, blurry mess. Text was barely readable. Turning down shadows and basically everything except antialiasing I got native 3440x1440 at a pretty solid 100fps.
It's a real shame that the default settings in that game have FSR enabled, because I'm sure a lot of players just go with the defaults and think the game looks like shit, when actually it's very beautiful with correct settings, even on relatively modest hardware.