Far Cry 3 Tweak Guide

[Page 2] General Settings

To access the full suite of in-game settings, launch Far Cry 3 and select the Options item on the main menu. The main graphics-related options are covered in detail later in this guide. First we examine the general gameplay, audio and control options in this section. None of these settings has any impact on performance.

Gameplay

Reticle: This setting determines whether your weapon crosshair is displayed. The crosshair also changes color, turning red when it is pointed at an enemy, and green when pointing at a friendly. If set to Off, no crosshair is shown, which can make aiming harder, unless you aim down your weapon's sights.

Aiming Assist: This option is only available when a Gamepad is connected and set under the Control Type setting in the Controls section. Enabling it helps make aiming easier on controllers, by snapping to targets near your crosshair. No aiming assist is in effect if you use keyboard and mouse.

Weapon Tagging: If enabled, this feature allows you to tag any enemy within a certain distance by aiming at them with your sights (Right mouse button by default). After a moment of aiming at an enemy, you will see a marker symbol appear above them, and they will glow orange, even through walls and other objects, making them easier to spot. Setting this option to Off disables the tagging feature.

Game Difficulty: This setting only appears at the start of the game, and subsequently if you access the Options menu while a game session is paused. It allows you to alter the difficulty of the game at any time, choosing from three levels: Adventurer (Easy), Survivor (Medium, and Warrior (Hard). The difficulty level determines the degree to which the enemy artificial intelligence can successfully detect you, and their combat strategy, as well as the amount of damage you deal and can take. None of the difficulty levels alter the HUD layout or prompts.

Audio

Master Volume: This slider controls the overall level of all sound in the game.

Music: This option controls whether music is played in the background during the game. Note that disabling this option also disables the radio music in vehicles. If you prefer to keep the background music enabled, but don't like in-car radio music, you can turn off vehicle radios at any time by pressing the R key (default).

Incoming Voice: This option is for multiplayer, and if set to On, allows incoming voice communication from other players.

Language: This controls the audio language used throughout the game.

Controls

The Controls section of the settings allows you to remap your control assignments by selecting the Customize Controls option. This is also a good way to learn all of the available control options in the game. Settings of note here include:

Invert Look: If set to On, pushing your mouse forward will make your character aim down, and moving your mouse back will make him aim upwards. If set to Off, the arrangement is reversed.

Look Sensitivity: This slider determines the level of responsiveness of the mouse to your movements. The further to the right the slider, the more responsive the mouse will feel. Keep in mind that if your mouse movements feel laggy, even after raising Look Sensitivity, there are several other things you should check:

• If your framerate falls below around 25-30 FPS at any time, particularly during heavy combat, you will start to notice reduced responsiveness. You will need to adjust your graphics settings to raise your minimum FPS.
• Check the GPU Max Buffered Frames setting covered later in this guide. Although raising this setting may improve smoothness, the higher it is set, the more laggy your controls will start to feel.
• If the V-Sync setting is enabled, or you have Vertical Sync set to On or Adaptive in the NVIDIA Control Panel, it can contribute to a less responsive feel to mouse movements. See the V-Sync setting in the Graphics Settings section later in this guide for details.

Aside from the issues above, also consider that while a high look sensitivity can improve the feeling of responsiveness, it may also reduce accuracy. You can adjust this setting beyond the limits of the slider, as covered in the Advanced Tweaking section.

Mouse Acceleration: If set to On, mouse acceleration provides non-linear responses to mouse movements. This involves increasing the distance the mouse moves for faster movements, and decreasing mouse responsiveness for slower movements. You can set the degree to which mouse acceleration accelerates/decelerates movements by using the Acceleration Value slider. If you don't like variable responsiveness from your mouse, set this option to Off.

Vibration: This option controls the vibration function of certain controllers, and is only available if you select Gamepad from the Control Type setting.

On the next page we begin our look at the various graphics-related settings in Far Cry 3.

Go to Page... Page 1: General Optimization Page 2: General Settings Page 3: Graphics Settings Page 4: Resolution, V-Sync & Max Buffer Page 5: DirectX 9 & 11 Page 6: MSAA & Alpha to Coverage Page 7: SSAO Method & FOV Page 8: Textures & Ambient Lighting Page 9: Shadow & Post FX Page 10: Geometry & Vegetation Page 11: Terrain, Water & Environment Page 12: Advanced Tweaking Page 13: Adv. Tweaking Part 2 Page 14: Adv. Tweaking Part 3 Page 15: Adv. Tweaking Part 4 Page 16: Conclusion

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