--- name: "Arma 3: Performance Optimisation" type: topic aliases: ["Arma 3 Performance Optimisation"] source: https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3:_Performance_Optimisation revid: 352212 updated: 2024-02-01T23:26:04Z --- # Arma 3: Performance Optimisation Arma 3 performance has always been a great interrogation topic. This page brings light on some aspects of the Video Settings. ### General Guidelines - **use auto-detection** as a base for other settings - the autodetect button knows best, most of the time - an exception to that being that auto-detection will set the render sampling to *at least* 100% - this is not ideal if one wants to play e.g in 1920×1080 on a 3840×2160 screen. - in order to bring some relief to the CPU, play with (terrain/object) view distance - to alleviate pressure on the GPU, lower PiP settings and reduce 3D **[Sampling](../topics/Performance_Optimisation.md#general)** - to reduce stutter and greatly improve loading times, it is highly recommended to install Arma 3 on a Solid State Drive (SSD) > [!IMPORTANT] > - **Run tests on a Vanilla (no mods) Arma 3!** Some ill-conceived mods can bring performance down. > - **Run tests in a Single Player environment.** If performances in multiplayer are worse than in single player, the server/connection/mission is at fault; nothing can be done on Settings' side. ### Video Options ### Settings Impacts > [!NOTE] > ● means a heavy impact on performance > ● means an average impact > ● means little to no performance impact. #### General | Category | Setting | CPU | GPU | Additional Details | |---|---|---|---|---| | **Quality** | Sampling | ● | ● | Defines the game's 3D resolution **based on Display's Resolution setting** (in %) - e.g **50%** of 3840×2160 results in a 3D resolution of 1920×1080 (1/4 of the original resolution) | | **Quality** | Texture | ● | ● | Defines textures' quality - dependent on the GPU's memory | | **Quality** | Objects | ● | ● | Defines object's details and LOD thresholds | | **Quality** | Terrain | ● | ● | Defines terrain's geometry details at medium long range (does not affect textures) | | **Quality** | Shadow | ● | ● | Defines shadow precision | | **Quality** | Particles | ● | ● | Defines quality and the amount of particles (smoke, fire, dust, etc) visible on screen. | | **Quality** | Cloud | ● | ● | Defines if **Cloud Simulation** should be used and at which level of detail | | **Quality** | PIP | ● | ● | Adds (doubles?) the strain on the CPU - another scene has to be calculated in order to do the render. Quality here means PIP drawing distance | | **Visibility** | Overall | ● | ● | Terrain's view distance | | **Visibility** | Object | ● | ● | Object's view distance - *The* CPU killer. Set to about 1/3 to 1/2 of terrain's view distance | | **Visibility** | Shadow | ● | ● | Shadows' draw distance - range 50..200m | | **Lighting** | HDR | ● | ● | Sets HDR quality, 8 or 16 bits | | **Lighting** | Dynamic Lights | ● | ● | Sets the maximum number of dynamic lights (light sources that are not the sun or the moon) in the scene | | **Lighting** | Water Reflections | ● | ● | Defines quality of water surface reflection | #### Display | Category | Setting | CPU | GPU | Additional Details | |---|---|---|---|---| | **General** | Display Mode | ● | ● | Full Screen can solve some issues, Full Screen Window can fix some others. Windowed is useful for debug purposes | | **General** | Resolution | ● | ● | Should be set to the screen's native resolution and use **Sampling** to lower the 3D resolution if needed | | **General** | Aspect Ratio | ● | ● | Set to auto or to the screen's aspect ratio. No impact on performance | | **General** | VSync | ● | ● | **V**ertical **Sync**hronisation | | **General** | Interface Size | ● | ● | No impact on performance | | **General** | Brightness | ● | ● | No impact on performance | | **General** | Gamma | ● | ● | No impact on performance | #### AA & PP | Category | Setting | CPU | GPU | Additional Details | |---|---|---|---|---| | **PostProcesses** | Bloom | ● | ● | | | **PostProcesses** | Radial Blur | ● | ● | Adds "speed" blur to the border of the screen | | **PostProcesses** | Rotation Blur | ● | ● | Adds screen blur on fast camera movement | | **PostProcesses** | Depth of Field | ● | ● | Adds blur to non-focused background | | **PostProcesses** | Sharpen Filter | ● | ● | Makes the image sharper, but can also make it more grainy or too outlined | | **PostProcesses** | AO | ● | ● | (Screen Space) **A**mbient **O**cclusion. HBAO stands for Horizon-Based AO (Nvidia), whereas HDAO stands for High Definition AO (AMD). | | **PostProcesses** | Caustics | ● | ● | Water surface reflection on the ocean floor | | **PostProcess Color Corrections** | Color Preset | ● | ● | | | **PostProcess Color Corrections** | Brightness | ● | ● | *Post-process* image brightness | | **PostProcess Color Corrections** | Contrast | ● | ● | *Post-process* image contrast | | **PostProcess Color Corrections** | Saturation | ● | ● | Colour saturation - the higher the more colours, the lower the more black & white | | **AntiAliasing** | FSAA | ● | ● | **F**ull **S**creen **A**nti-**A**liasing | | **AntiAliasing** | AtoC | ● | ● | **A**lpha **to** **C**overage. Requires **FSAA** | | **AntiAliasing** | PPAA | ● | ● | **P**ost-**P**rocessing **A**nti-**A**liasing. Less taxing than **FSAA**, with very minor graphical glitches | | **AntiAliasing** | Aniso. Filtering | ● | ● | Anisotropic filtering | ### See Also - [Mission Optimisation](../topics/Mission_Optimisation.md) ### External Links - [Yet Another Arma Benchmark](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=375092418) Source: [BI Community Wiki — Arma 3: Performance Optimisation](https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3:_Performance_Optimisation) (revision 352212).