Very important! Please read ALL text between the pics. I am only showing pics of my personal settings. This is simply a good starting point for anyone with an ATI card. You can adjust any of the settings I suggest up or down to fit your needs.
I know this is long overdue. I am updating this page to include the many changes that have been made to the game and to the ATI drivers and control panel over the last 2 years. Most settings are similar but I am adding comments to include tweaks for the wide variety of cards now.
With that said, there are also many different tastes out there. My personal taste may be the opposite of someone else with the same rig. It is up to you to decide which will make this game the most enjoyable with the equipment you have. I personally like to have the best playability while still enjoying very nice Image Quality(IQ). If it comes down to gaining five fps by making an IQ adjustment lower, I will likely do it as long as it is not real noticeable in real time playing. This is a very fast game and some of the adjustments I make may surprise you. But, I challenge anyone to see the difference while actually playing in game. If you want to take some really cool screenies then crank the settings up, but turn them back down for maximum playability. My 2 cents worth, read on!
IL2 Setup Driver Tab
IL2 Forgotten Battles should be played in Open GL
I used to play in 1152x864x32 resolution. I have since re-evaluated this. I now play in 1024x768x32. I just find it much easier to find planes and other objects on the lower res. With the quality of the ATI AA now, I really do like it for playability. If you have a monitor that has to be played at higher res, then be prepared to get a few less fps. Note: I always keep my desktop the same res as I play the game. I have just found this easier than having to deal with refresh force and such. I can also raise my refresh rate to 100mhz on 1024x768 vs. 85mhz for 1152x864. I am still using my 19" Viewsonic CRT. So, Why is that so important?
If you use V-Synch(more later), Your max FPS will be determined by your refresh rate.
If you choose to use a resolution in game that is different than your desktop, Windows XP will default the refresh rate to 60hz. Some people complain that anything below 75hz will strain their eyes. Plus, I want a higher FPS than 60! If you do this, you will need a small utility to lock the refresh rate in game. You can get Refresh Force HERE
Now onto the Video Tab.......
Video Tab
These settings are what works best for my system and for my taste. I recommend these settings as a starting point for the 9500pro and higher.
I know some of you will be appalled that I am running "bilinear" on the mipmap filter with my X800XL card. Well I am sorry, it is a nice increase in fps and I challenge anyone to see a difference between aniso and bilinear while playing the game. Texture compression "NONE" for any card with 256mb of memory or more. "S3TC" for a few more fps and cards with less than 256mb ram. I always uncheck "use dither" and "polygon stipple". Try it and see for yourself. Not real sure what use dither does in this game, but polygon stipple is not needed if you are using "stencil buffer" which you should be. The rest are up to you. Some will say to check "clip hint", some will say to uncheck the aniso extensions. I have personally never seen a difference in fps using or not using either. As for the others not mentioned, don't mess with them.
PF Ver 4.02m PERFECT SETTINGS UPDATE
If you are having trouble running perfect PF, Try these settings for a few more FPS:
First, start the game and set your video settings on Excellent and fly the game for just a few seconds. Close game and Open your main FB folder and find your conf.ini file. Open this file in notepad. Go all the way to the bottom until you see the OpenGL settings. Find the line that says: HardwareShaders=0 Change the zero to one.
Now go down to the: Water=1 and change the one to Zero. Save changes and go give it a try! If you are still having some probs, try going back to conf file and change: Forest=2 to a one. Hope this helps.
Onto the Sound Tab.....
Sound Tab
I have an Audigy2 card and some very good Klipsch 2.1 speakers. These settings work best for me. Hope they work well for you. Good Luck!
