Ghost Recon BreakPoint
Ghost Recon BreakPoint
You're right about this. As I mentioned earlier, shadows are definitely useful in most games. However, Ghost Recon Wildlands stands out as one of the rare titles where they aren’t required. It still catches me off guard. I also appreciate the significant FPS improvement it provides.
Regarding textures, they generally don’t impact frame rates much. They do consume a lot of VRAM, but most games allow you to keep them at Ultra without noticeable effects. I’ve found that setting Terrain Quality to High or Very High gives a great visual without hurting performance. The Ultra setting adds extra detail but only provides minor FPS gains—often just shadow effects similar to ambient occlusion. I personally favor Very High for its balance of quality and performance.
Shadows are definitely unnecessary in Fortnite either. It can run smoothly with everything set to Low, except for textures, view distance, and anti-aliasing. Adjusting these three settings to Epic barely affects FPS. I’d even prefer using the High setting if I need a bit more speed.
You’re correct again—researching custom settings is worthwhile. Take Fortnite as an example; it performs well with minimal tweaks. In games like GTA 5, MSAA or FXAA can be set to Low/Off and still deliver solid performance. TAA works beautifully in many titles, including Battlefield 1 and Wildlands.
I regularly test different settings across dozens of games. It’s part of my routine. I understand your perspective fully. I’m confident you’ll see my point. I also wholeheartedly agree on motion blur—mostly it doesn’t affect FPS much. Leaving it off is fine unless you want a slight performance hit, since blur is already implemented in many games through other means.
Of course, shadows are rarely needed in Wildlands. Trying them might not give the same boost as you expect. I recommend giving it a go if you haven’t already—play for hours, not just a few minutes. I’ve spent over 140 hours in Wildlands without shadows. If I used them, the increased FPS wouldn’t match the extra visuals. Plus, half the game is played at night, so natural darkness enhances the experience.
If you’re looking for a performance lift, consider these adjustments:
- Level of Detail can be set to High, but the FPS gain is minimal.
- Draw Distance is adjustable; I sometimes lower it for extra speed.
- Vegetation can be set to High, though it adds visual detail without major CPU cost.
- Other settings are mostly fixed, but I find that lowering them slightly can help.
Vegetation is beautiful at Low, and Ultra only makes a noticeable difference. For the rest, I prefer keeping things simple—especially since most games already deliver great performance with default settings.
God rays and other effects are appreciated, but they’re not essential for a smooth experience in Wildlands. If you want more, try tweaking them a bit, but don’t feel obligated. The game’s design makes shadows unnecessary for most players.
Don't buy yet! I currently have 35 hours in Coop. This game requires at least another 6 months of development. It's an incomplete, simplified version of Wildlands, featuring a weak enemy AI and many bugs.
I've been curious about how Wildlands started since some players complained about bugs there. Now it seems there are very few, if any. The only issues I've found are with certain co-op missions not finishing properly. The solution is to complete them alone. What kind of problems are you running into?
It's even worse than Wildlands when it came out. It's completely terrible.