Full break down of S1Engine.ini

So I've done a few graphical guides to improve how Tera Online's performance works and also explained why the client is so terable. I figured it would be a good idea to provide a full break down for people that are looking for more ways to modify performance or for the players that want to try and mess with max quality and max out the game even more on current computers.

If you've used other settings from the other guides your S1Engine.ini file will be read only you need to take that off to modify it further and also keep in mind that each person's card and the effect that some of the settings will have on your computer might differ person to person. But this will at least educate you to what each of the confusing settings do.

MaxParticleResize=0

While set to 0 this allows an unlimited number of particles to be displayed for medium performance this number would range between 1000 and 10000 depending on your video cards abilities. Setting the value to below 100 effects will disappear all together.

If you notice the size of the effect is shrunk while setting it to 3 setting this to 1 will crash the game.





MaxParticleResizeWarn=0

Adds a log if particle's go higher then this number.

bCheckParticleRenderSize=True

When set to true it will perform particle checks for size.

bDisablePhysXHardwareSupport=False

This setting is related to enabling / disabling  PhysX Hardware on video cards not sure what this will do for older cards which have no PhysX support but if it is set to True with a newer card this will cause issues.

bInitializeShadersOnDemand=False

Change if you experience crashes using a nvidia video card leave it to false for performance otherwise.

DisableATITextureFilterOptimizationChecks=True

This is an ATI troubleshooting option and should be set to false only if you are having issues.

UseMinimalNVIDIADriverShaderOptimization=False

When set to true this can reduce stuttering on geforce 6 and 7.

PumpWindowMessagesWhenRenderThreadStalled=False

This is related to cut scenes and how they are rendered not sure whether this will do anything
and I have no cut scene problems so I have no reason to change this. But if you're having issues
this might be an answer.

bSmoothFrameRate=True
MinSmoothedFrameRate=22
MaxSmoothedFrameRate=62

The max frame rate for tera online is capped and the value gets determined by the MaxSmoothedFrameRate which is by default is set to 62FPS. Developers have done this to prevent FPS spikes. If you set this to false you would remove the FPS cap. If your FPS jerks often you would be best setting it back to True. By uncapping your FPS you will not increase overall performance. While set to True the settings MaxSmoothedFrameRate and MinSmoothedFrameRate will be enforced this allows you to smooth how the FPS will look usually it is best to set the cap to match
your computers refresh rate even with Vsync disabled frame rates above your refresh rate for the monitor will be partial frames. You can experiment with this setting to see if using a higher frame rate cap is better over smoothness and performance but keep in mind a low performing video card will most likely prefer smoothness and performance because that card will not hit much higher FPS in that case. Also keep in mind the engine itself has a cap of 90FPS regardless of settings and cannot be uncapped.

bClearAnimSetLinkupCachesOnLoadMap=True

This while set to true this will clear all animation set linkup caches while a map is loaded this needs to be set to true otherwise skeletal meshes will not load properly.

[System Settings]
StaticDecals=True

Static decals are posters markings in game that are decorations by the map designer these are not created by players. Setting this to false will make these not noticeable and can improve performance but it may not be that noticeable of a change.

DynamicDecals=True

These decals are the marks left by players using weapons on surrounding when set to false weapons will show impact but will not leave marks on scenery. Turning this to false can improve performance mostly in combat.

DynamicLights=True

This effects how realistic lighting is shown if you want a noticeable increase in performance especially during combat you can set this to false.  This will increase FPS 2x but the game looks darker.

My FPS in ZF is normally 15-25 but turning off dynamic lighting brings FPS to 50 to 62 FPS but makes it darker as you can see. This is with the 9000 series graphics card Nvidia 9800GT.


DynamicShadows=True

Controls interactive objects in the game and casts shadows on them disabling this can improve performance at the cost of realism. 

LightEnvironmentShadows=True

This setting controls whether sunlight creates shadows when set to false this will disable shadows for many objects.

CompositeDynamicLights=False

When set to true this enables a less accurate form of dynamic lighting that might improve performance but at the cost of image quality.

DirectionalLightmaps=True

This setting allows improved image quality and makes it so surfaces have additional depth and detailing setting this to False can increase performance but reduces quality made by surfaces making them appear flatter.

MotionBlur=True

This effect uses motion blur which adds blurring when turning or moving quickly you can disable this by setting it to false and you will gain performance while moving.

DepthOfField=True

This is an effect that simulates how objects are focused and are sharper then objects outside of the direct field of focus. Setting this to false can be used to improve performance.

ParticleLODBias=0

This will set the particle detail -1 is for the max but this can be lowered from 0 to 10 as well.

SkeletalMeshLODBias=0

This determines the character quality 0 is the highest and 4 is the lowest.

AllowD3D10=False

This when changed to True would force the game to play in direct x 10 but this will not work in tera when tried it the game would not load.

DropParticleDistortion=False

When set to True the particles based on the world are dropped if this is allowed. The effects are reduced and game performance will be increased while it is on.

Distortion=True

Adds distortion effects when something explodes or smokes.

Bloom=True

Makes the game look more realistic adding extra lighting.

UseHighQualityBloom=True

When enabled uses a higher quality of bloom effect turning this to false can improve game performance without too much of a notiable difference in quality.

bEnableBranchingPCFShadows=False

Controls soft shadow rendering known as PCF when set to false it removes soft filtered smudged edges for shadows which may increase performance but makes the shadows look more block like.

bAllowBetterModulatedShadows=True

Increases the quality of shadows turning this off will decrease shadow quality and increase performance.

bEnableForegroundShadowsOnWorld=True

This will allow fore ground shadows setting this to false will remove all of the shadows and increase performance.

bEnableForegroundSelfShadowing=True

This enables fore ground self shadows for your character turning this to false will remove these shadows and increase performance.

FXAA=False

Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing When enabled it allows anti-aliasing, rendering high-performance visuals faster and more completely. Smooth's edges in all pixels on the screen, including those inside alpha-blended textures and those resulting from pixel shader effects.

MaxAnisotropy=4

This can be set between 2 or 4 and some newer cards can go as high as 16 setting this higher will make the game take more time to load textures but will improve the quality of the game and lower performance. This makes distant textures more clear.

MaxMultisamples=1

This setting controls multi-sampling which is used to reduce jaggedness.

MinShadowResolution=70
MaxShadowResolution=2048

Both of these determine minimum and maximum values for shadow resolution the higher the minimum is set to the more dark and rich shadows appear the lower the maximum value the more shadows will appear less noticeable and gray. Lowering and raising these resolutions will result in performance drops or rises and visual errors. The higher you raise it the more edges of shadows might seem jagged depending on other filter settings. Changing this lower will improve FPS you should change it to 512 if you plan on modifying this.

ResX=1440
ResY=900

Can be used to try out custom sizes for resolution if you cannot access the settings in game to change them or want a custom setting.

ScreenPercentage=100.000000

This setting effects how the game looks setting this below 50% will higher performance but the game will look block like or blurry.

FoliageDrawRadiusMultiplier=1.000000

Changing this to 0.000000 will remove grass from the game and increase performance.

ShadowTexelsPerPixel=1.273240

This modifies smoothness of shadows setting this to 0 removes shadows while higher values will increase quality of shadows.

UseVsync=False

While disabled you get more performance when set to true vertical synchronization keeps FPS with respect to monitors refresh rate.

OneFrameThreadLag=True

When turned off greatly improves performance when turned on it effects screen tearing and partial frames.

FogVolumes=True

When set to false this would disable volumetric fog.

LensFlares=True

This causes a lens flare effect when set to false this would remove this effect of the look of bright sunlight.
OnlyStreamInTextures=False

When set to true this will avoid loading textures that are not in use increasing quality of how fast textures load.

SpeedTreeLeaves=True
SpeedTreeFronds=True

These control how foliage is rendered when set to false this will remove some of the foliage which can improve performance and increase visibility.

If I missed any and your curious what they do feel free to post in the comments and ask and I'll add more to the article but this covers most of the effects which modify performance in game.