so we all know that in this game, your FPS directly effects the damage you do, it sucks, but it is how it is. i've always wanted to run ultra, but it was just never practical, so i've always used a weird mix of maxed textures/models, with flashy stuff like bloom, shadows and fog turned off. and its been pretty competitive. i've recently switched to a powerhouse PC (rtx2080ti, i9 9900k, 32 gigs ram, liquid cooled, THE WORKS!) at 2k on Ultra everything with max render range my FPS was well above 100. (above 200 when out of fights) my FPS was far higher than it was on my old system and yet for some reason enemies just weren't dying. it was like EVERYONE had a handicap, i'd spray infiltrators in cqc with MCG and they'd kill me with emissary... (that isn't even hyperbole, it happened...) it seemed like i was doing hardly any damage and the enemies were spewing death, even with weak weapons. and then a few days ago i turned off shadows (kept everything else max) and BAM! suddenly i'm competitive again, people are actually killable again! it seems fair(er) again! so why are the shadows in this game such an issue that even running the current best tech you can't have shadows on and be competitive?! will shadows ever be useable? i really want to play this game with the best visuals, my rig can certainly handle it, but the difference in gameplay is just so massively negative that shadows shouldn't even be an option at the moment. TLDR if there is anyone out there playing on ultra and getting frustrated that the enemies seem to be unkillable gods and your weapons feel like peashooters, turn off shadows NOW!
I always felt that game creators develop the games on computers more expensive than ordinary players can afford.
Very interesting observation. Indeed, I've ran the game back with DX9 with Ultra after getting a gtx1080, ran smooth enough, but then got fed up with high RoF weapons seemingly tickling enemies at best. Started lowering graphics gradually and things improved considerably. Shadows off looks really bad, too. Now with DX11 in its current state of degradation it's just a must, and even on fairly low settings, shadows off ofc, the frame hitching still hurts my eyes tracking fast movements. Vehicles sometimes get really poor, like a slideshow. It's not our powerful PCs, it's the horribly unoptimized code filled with FPS robbing problems that clearly nobody can fix, not even roll back patches. Last PTS DX11 was the smoothest I've ever seen the game. Now with every patch the decline continues, until what, we're all using potato ini?
If you have 100+ fps with shadows on then you have close to max RoF and turning off shadows won't change much. RoF decrease is noticeable only when dropping below 50-60 fps. At 50 fps you lose 14% damage. At 100 fps you lose 8% At 180 fps 4% At 200 fps 2% http://iridar.net/rate-of-fire-vs-framerate/ Maybe just a coincidence?
This in an interesting topic: thanks for posting! I think I have always had shadows on but defiantly have had some shots fail to register as hits. Gonna try turning them off next session.
let us know how it goes! if it is anything like my session the difference will be night-and-day! the game will just feel way fairer.
