Risen 2: Tweaks & Tuning
 

to minimize flickering and pop-in effects:

1) goto c:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\risen 2\data\ini
2) backup ConfigDefault.xml
(example for ViewRangeQuality="High")

3) edit bold text to:

So in addition to Beta testing for PB with this release, it is up to the community again to fix their games! I have seen all these pop-ins and growth graphical problems in the beta videos on youtube, so PB knew about these problems long ago and yet have not fixed them. I guess PB's moto is 'In our community we trust to fix our games' - or is it 'show us the other cheek'!

Wasn't it blatantly obvious that there was no public beta? It was an early demo, nothing more.

I've put even more extreme values and graded them by 500 increments (I have not started to play but I don't mind tweaking). Pop in is not an issue anymore and FPS stay above 38-40 (jungle).

Just please don't tell me that DOF distance and the balloon plant transition effect distance is hardcoded :( Can't seem to find a value for them… Untill then DOF at least stays off…

Another hint: While Risen 2 doesn't suffer from tunnel vision there is always room for improvement so if you have a beefy system then you can change the field of view to a higher value by editing this entry under the 'Render' section in the INI. The default is 75. As you can see I changed it to 90 which works well and does not cause a fish eye effect yet. It's nice and more natural in my opinion to be able to see more of your surroundings…

For NVIDIA gfx-cards use the newest BETA Driver:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-wi…ta-driver.html

-> disable 3DVision

I play to many games in 3D to disable 3d vision for 1 game.

Not sure how it works but why does 3d vision affect risen 2 if you not playing in 3D?

I don't think that it matters what it is called, the important issue is that the current problems were present then and developer had so much feedback (see comments from members of the watch with access to this 'demo') on this early 'demo' - in fact reading current reviews and opinions about the problems is like reading the previews that were published months ago! A decent developer would have addressed these obvious issues with a day-one patch.

Anyway, this talk makes no difference - moving on please.

Playing with the Speedtree distances even further:

SpeedTree_Small="12000.0"
SpeedTree_Medium="22000.0"
SpeedTree_Large="32000.0"

This doesnt seem to be working for me. I changed the Default one, is this correct?? i also followed advice to change low, medium and high to the same. im using an Nvidia card and still have all this pop-in etc

Thanks!

None of it works, looked for the configuser file too and it isnt even the same as the default one.

woeful game.

The ConfigUser.xml has a higher priority than the ConfigDefault.xml.

Here's is an even more agressive setting that improves all but the morphing vegetation.
(you have to to edit the High section if you use the High setting)

PS:
The ConfigUser.xml is here:
C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Risen2\Config

Thanks, is that entered in User or Default?

Any insight into the performance impact of this? I have a modest system and Risen 2's performance is pretty ordinary.

Edit ConfigDefault.xml and make sure these sections are not in the ConfigUser.xml.

I have a GeForce GTX 560ti - and no problems with these settings.

I have done config default and it does not work. how come??

gtx 580 sli

Risen 2 seems to have some problems with SLI cards:
Discussion and solution.

->
301.24 BETA

Well here are my values, they push the pop in far enough to a distance that I consider unobtrusive. Oh you will still see it if you go looking for it but it should not be noticeable under actual gameplay… FPS took a somewhat nasty hit on my 5870 though (15 fps on average with a min of 30 measured). But I consider them acceptable for this sort of game…

I think the game looks pretty good really (with DOF off). I'll hold out a bit in the hope (against hope) that they do something about the bizarro plants, but I am sure I am going to have no trouble "training" myself to not see them if it comes down to that in the end ;)

I've seen that growing plant effect before but not right in front of my eyeballs, there's gotta be a way to push it back! The GFX engine in the first Risen was fine, as was combat - if it ain't broke…

Anyway the PB magic is still there, but as usual you gotta work for it.

Another tip that was posted by PB's Quy here. Anyone who would prefer a fixed chase cam instead of the free cam can edit the configdefault.xml and add this entry directly under the 'Game' tag:Note that this is an unofficial and unsupported feature (like the Retro Quest Message System that can also be activated in the INI like with Risen 1).

Which .ini values should I use on a Radeon 6850 / Phenom 2 X4 PC?

I think HiddenX's ones should be ok for your Rig (i.e reducing the pop-in without killing framerate too much). Perhaps raise the small values a bit if your PC can handle it ?

Mine i.e (I ended up setting even more extreme values increasing my mins and pushing medium and large values further) are more of a brute force approach and bring the framerate quite a bit (30 fps min) down on a core i7960 ATI 5870 (somewhat better than yours)… I just can't stand NPCs i.e popping into existanse a few "meters" away :)
(I also double the Roi value on G3 usually ;) )

I think some of your issues are ATI related. I played with the default high settings, and the only pop-in I ever saw was some minor world objects and foliage at a distance. I never saw an NPC pop in during my entire playthough.

I am not sure we are talking about the same thing.

Npcs will spawn (become visible) at the distances indicated in the .xml from the protagonist. That has nothing to do with the graphics card.

Other issues (like the geometry seeming to pop a bit as you come close) I am not so sure…

I agree your graphics card shouldn't have anything to with that, but I'm at a loss to explain why you're seeing NPCs pop in at a few meters away. I can honestly say I never witnessed that in 40+ hours of play.

That is what I meant about not talking about the same thing ;)

I did not imply that NPC's flicker in and out of existence or pop in as close to the protagonist as say the balloon plants.

But when you have a larger viewrange (i.e going downhill from the jungle towards the plantation or from the jail tower towards the starting harbor in Tacarigua) the distance in which NPCs spawn may be noticeable if it is in example 50-100 ingame meters to 300-500 i.e (very gross estimates, my final values iirc are :
NPC_Small="6500.0"
NPC_Medium="9500.0"
NPC_Large="11500.0")

This is probably less of an issue in this game that has less expansive vistas than G3 i.e. But even so I find that it enhances immersion very nicely if I can see NPCs and creatures in the distance moving among the grasses (in addition to making my pet peeve going away).

Really, if your system can handle it I cannot see why you wouldn't do those tweaks. They enhance the game quite a bit imo…

What you originally said seemed pretty clear. You stated that NPCs were popping in at a "few meters". Perhaps a bit of unintended exaggeration? ;)

With view distance set at the highest level in the menu, and no ini tweaks, NPCs are visible from a good distance. I can actually see them appear if I'm looking hard enough, but the length is far enough that I rarely notice it.

Anyways.. it's no big deal. I think some people are a little overly concerned with relatively minor details in this game. I've been having too much fun playing to even bother messing with addtional tweaks. The only thing I did was increase the speed of the Y-axis for my mouse.

Guilty as charged :biggrin: I do that some times to get a point across as you might have noticed.

Its all a matter of tolerances. If I can change it in a game I will not hesitate…

I believe the initial tweaking proposed by HiddenX is indeed necessary to enjoy the game imo. Distances were way too conservative and it was noticeable and distracting…

What I am doing on the other hand is overkill but I like fooling around a bit with that stuff before starting to play (when I eventually manage to get around to it :-/ ).

I do procrastinate a bit too much on this one but that has nothing to do with how the game looks (rather fine) or performs…

I can assure you that isn't true, because I'm enjoying the game just fine. :)

Nothing wrong with tweaking it further though if you're more sensitive to certain things than other people.

When you settle on your favourite tweaks JonNik, please post them here!

Sure, but I would actually need to start playing in earnest (i.e see them working for a significant part of the game) before I can recommend them…

Thanks for the helpful posts. The popin was winding me up. lol. Anyone know how to disable DoF? never like it any game i play.

You can disable DoF in the game menu but it will occasionally turn itself on (presumably after cinematic).

Anyone know how to tweak the in-game HDR? I find it way too dark most of the time, especially in the middle of the day. Annoying! I know it has some kind of HDR because when I look at the sun it has an effect to it (also when I look away). Experimenting around with values for brightness, contrast and gamma just messes up the colours and looks terrible. There must be a way to tweak HDR to be able to actually see something for a change.

Haven't found a way to tweak HDRI yet but I did change the SunAngle parameter to 60 (from 30). I think the jungle looks great that way and overall looks more natural. Other effects include (but might also be placebo):
- HDRI works better for whatever the reason
- day is longer
- night sky is darker

I'd love to turn off HDR and especailly SSAO. It could be done in Risen 1 and I'm sure the game uses the same engine, so it's gotta be possible somehow.

Doesn't look to me like it's using SSAO to be honest.

Fix for the morphing vegetation released:

http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum…1#post18929976

Tested and works fine :) Glad i've waited to play this game.

Very nice! will check it out tonight. Thanks vurt.

I just get a warning message trying to install: "Could not open and modify ConfigUser.xml". Some files and folders do get created in %localappdata%\Risen2\Config but that's about it. Any ideas?

You may have to manually allow write access to the folder and files in it?