Tag Archive

New Fallout 4 Dynamic Shadows Mods Greatly Improves Average FPS

Posted on November 21, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Are you still wandering through the wastes of Boston weeks after release? Are you playing the Windows PC version on mid-range hardware? If you answered yes to both questions, then I might have the right mod for you! Don’t worry Vault-tech isn’t involved in any way!

“FPS dynamic shadows” mod by creator Shadow Beast adds the ability for the game engine to dynamically shadow draw distance and level of detail based upon your desired frame rate. The mods creator offers the following description of it:

Many of you may have noticed that in some locations of Fallout 4 fps gets low even with a good hardware, like in the City, mostly it happens in theareas with lots of objects. Since the game isn’t properly optimized, almost everything that it does with objects which it renders takes more time thanit actually should. One of the most time consuming operations in Fallout 4 is shadow rendering and because the game has only predefined shadow drawdistance, which applies everywhere in every location just the same, we have a choise either we set it to high value with having a good picture but eventually facing fps drops in locations with lots of object or we lower the value to make fps more stable in general. And this is exactly the pointwhere this plugin comes handy!

With this mod installed I saw my frame rate increase in diamond city from 35 FPS on average to a respectable 55. Outdoor areas like the commons faired even better never dipping below my target of 60 frames per second even during intense battles. Before installing the mod I was ranging between 40 – 50 during intense firefights with super mutants. I don’t know all the technical ins and outs of this mod but it seems to work wonders.

If you’re wondering what kind of rig and graphical settings I am running to achieve these results – I’ve got everything except Godrays set to ultra with maximum draw distance enabled. My system specs just meet those recommended by Bethesda with probably my graphics card being the weakest component.

My system:

4.0 GHZ 8-Core AMD Processor
16GB DDR3
Radeon R7 270 2GB Overclocked
Fallout 4 installed on a mechanical hard drive

Installation of the dynamic shadows mod is really easy as well. If you’ve installed mods for Fallout 3 or Fallout New Vegas you might be familiar with having to use tools like the nexus mods manager or even the built-in plugin loader to ensure everything worked without a hitch. To install the dynamic shadows mod you just drag the files into your games directory and you’re good to go!

Users on Reddit are reporting similar findings to mine in terms of performance on cards as high as the Geforce 970. Interesting posters on the Reddit thread are also comparing the capability of this mod to 2011’s RAGE which featured a dynamic graphics performance system designed to optimize the user’s experience on lower end hardware.

We’ll keep you posted on any other interesting Fallout 4 mods as they continue to emerge.

[Source]

0

Modder Discovers Unused Weapon in Fallout 4 Data

Posted on November 21, 2015 by Broken Joysticks

A modder that goes by the name xxdeathknight72xx has found an unused weapon in Fallout 4’s data and has since released it as a mod on NexusMods. This may be something from an unreleased DLC, or simply something they chose not to include in the final game for whatever reason. The gun is a sweet looking “underwater” weapon that’s basically a harpoon gun in both appearance and function. The mod itself overrides the Railway Rifle, as it is a direct replacement for the time being. I’ll include a video from a YouTube user named Tyrannicon featuring the mod at the bottom of the post right after the mods’ link.

You can find the gun/mod here.



0

Fallout 4: Bethesda to Release 1st Patch for Game to PC, (and later Xbox One and Playstation 4)

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Tamsin Heineman

Seems by next week we’ll have our first (much needed) patch for Fallout 4 from Bethesda, which is coming to PC first followed later by Xbox One and Playstation 4 releases.

Our process for updating the game will include releasing a beta patch on Steam, followed by full release on PC, then release on the consoles. This process has worked well for us in the past and allows us to get more fixes out faster. Expect to see more updates, that are smaller and more frequent, than a few big ones. This allows us to make sure each fix is working right, as any change can have unintentional side effects in a game this huge. We expect the first beta patch to be up next week.

Official blog post here with full details.

0

Surprising No One Fallout 4 Is Still The 2nd Most Played Game On Steam

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Bethesda’s Fallout 4 is the 2nd most played game on Steam a week after its release with 256,000+ players. This comes after the game broke existing records when it launched last week with 360,000 players – the game went live at midnight on November 11th. Previously RockStar Game’s Grand Theft Auto V held the record for concurrent players with 301,000+ when it was released on PC this past April.

Fallout 4’s numbers are nowhere near the reigning champion, Valve’s DOTA 2, which had 318,000 concurrent players as of press time and a peak today of nearly a million players today! Comparing Fallout 4’s numbers to DOTA 2’s isn’t exactly fair since one game is a single player immersive RPG and the other is a 5 Vs. 5 MOBA.

Rounding out the top ten include PC staples like Valve’s own Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Team Fortress 2. Surprisingly Activision’s latest entry in the Call of Duty franchise, Black Ops III is the last place on the top ten. I would have thought Black Ops III would have been a bit higher but I guess you can’t deny the power of the wastelands.

CURRENT PLAYERS PEAK TODAY   GAME
318,155 806,386   Dota 2
256,633 292,202   Fallout 4
250,258 586,014   Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
40,526 54,472   Team Fortress 2
37,893 58,566   Football Manager 2016
30,565 39,535   ARK: Survival Evolved
27,964 33,635   Sid Meier’s Civilization V
22,566 26,840   Garry’s Mod
21,037 26,366   The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
19,739 35,395   Call of Duty: Black Ops III

[Source]

0

Kenny’s Fallout 4 Log – Day 7

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Kenny Keelan

resizedimage640332-vault-boy-2

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

November 18th, 2015

So, here we are: I’ve had this game for a full week and even the acquisition of NHL 16 hasn’t slowed progress any… that’s saying a lot because I’m a humongous hockey fan. It’s been a long time and the path through the Commonwealth has been fraught with small victories and huge losses and while Fallout 4‘s improvements made themselves apparent right away, a lot of the franchise staples have made themselves apparent as I, finally, start to embrace the main quest line that the game has set out in front of me.

Read More

0

Kenny’s Fallout 4 Log – Day 3

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Kenny Keelan

resizedimage640332-vault-boy-2

How Seth Got His Groove Back

November 13th on PlayStation 4

Yeah, so, my character’s name is Seth: there’s a bit of a story behind that name and there’s about four I try to inject into just about every self-injection game lead I can but that’s a different story for a different time. I’ll tell you now, memory has not served me well and it did not do my skills with the game justice as I was expecting things to kind of go a certain way and they most certainly don’t.Read More

0

Fallout 4 Configuration Tool by Bilago

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Tamsin Heineman

One of the biggest complaints with Fallout 4, perhaps the only complaint, is the poor optimization for PC. Well the good news is an audacious and well known modder named “Bilago” has released a configuration tool to help things run better on your rig. Most options are self explanatory and let you adjust things like frame cap, Kodix’s FPS boost(which may not work on all PCs), world and first person FOV, and various other standard tweaks. I want to also mention here that if you uncap your framerate it is highly recommended to turn on Vsync for the game in your video card’s control panel(ATI Catalyst/NVidia Control Panel) .

You can grab the configuration tool here.

0

I’m Ten Hours Into Fallout 4 And I think I’m Starting To Glow

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

The desolate wastes have been calling out to me ever since the anticipated reveal of Fallout 4 this past E3. Like the game’s main character, I too hid underground although figuratively speaking. For the past few months I ignored any small gameplay snippets, cell-phone videos and plot details that leaked out of Bethesda ahead of the game’s release. With the large steel doors of Vault 111 finally open as of yesterday I’ve finally got the chance to spend nearly ten hours in the Boston wasteland. Here’s a brief journey of my character’s journey from the relative safety of Vault 111 to the streets of Diamond City.Read More

0

Collect Some Bottle Caps With Real World Fallout 4 Beer

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

You can ensure your survival during a real world nuclear apocalypse not by reserving a spot in a Vaul-Tec vault but by stashing away some bottle caps from a case of official Fallout 4 beer. Bethesda Softworks is partnering with UK brewer Carlsberg UK to offer European Fallout 4 fans the chance to order a case of 12 bottles through Amazon UK, which will ship on November 5th

Currently priced at 29.99 Great British Pounds (approximately $60 CDN) the Fallout 4 official beer ships in twelve 330ML bottles. According to the product listing the Fallout beet has been brewed “using a unique blend of malted barleys combined with selected hops, to produce a light coloured lager with a fruity aroma and a crisp bitter finish”.

Fallout 4 is scheduled to be released on November 10th worldwide for Windows PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Honestly I think the green bottles with those sweet Vault-Tec style labelling is worth the price of entry alone. It is too bad that this hasn’t been announced in North America as of press time.

Source: Bethesda Press Release

Fallout_Beer

0

Watch Ten Minutes of DOOM Footage From Bethesda’s E3 Conference

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Bethesda opened up their E3 press conference with a whole bunch of blood and guts with not one but two gameplay demos for their upcoming reboot of Doom. It is clear from the on stage presentation that this version of Doom won’t feature some of the shooter staples that have developed over the past decade – like regenerating health. Instead what we get is a pretty straightforward shooter that focuses on gory impact and over powered weapons.

As for what weapons we saw on stage – the double barreled “super shotgun” returns from earlier entries, as done a large chain gun and the gruesome limb removing chainsaw. Finishing moves were also front and center during Doom’s E3 presentation. The player character was able to crush skulls in with their hands, stomp on their foes and in one instance removing a dead NPC’s hand for to unlock a fingerprint scanner protected door.

The first demo shown on stage seems very similar to the pre-alpha demo shown during last year’s QuakeCon.

Check out the footage in the embedded player below.

[youtube id=”LChzcf5YYlg”]

Update: Footage of the second demo has now surfaced

[youtube id=”AXhpg9Qx6l0″]

0

Fallout 4 Trailer Revealed

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

As expected when the countdown that Bethesda released reached zero this morning bombs didn’t fall from the skies. Instead we got the first trailer for the previously rumoured Fallout 4. 

Clocking in at over three minutes the trailer explores both post apocalyptic and pre-war Boston. Our guide through the various locations is the player characters trusty dog companion, a series staple.

Fallout 4 has been confirmed for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The game looks absolutely gorgeous and it is expected to be showcased as an on-stage demo during Bethesda’s E3 press conference next week.

There is no release window for Fallout 4 at this time.

[youtube Id=”XW7Of3g2JME”]

0

Bethesda Expected To Announce Fallout 4 Tomorrow

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

War never changes and neither dos Bethesda’s plans to usher one of its most popular franchises on to current generation hardware. The publisher recently launched a countdown clock, which you can check out right here, ticking down to a big reveal for the Fallout franchise. It is very clear we are all going to be heading down to our local survival vaults sometime soon.

If previous rumors are to be believed Bethesda developers scoped out areas of Boston including the world famous MIT several years ago while presumably working on Fallout 4. Perhaps we will see a cinematic trailer unveiled tomorrow before a demo of the game front and center and Bethesda’s upcoming E3 press conference.

As of press time there are only 17 hours left on the countdown.. prepare yourselves!

PleaseStandBy

0

Bethesda Teases New Video Game, Reveal Tomorrow

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Joshua Rust

Bethesda, for the past few days, have released some really weird teaser clips for their next game. Announced today that the full reveal will in fact be tomorrow (April 19th, 2013), we can’t wait to see what they got up their sleeve. I know I personally am looking forward to the next Fallout game, but I’d gladly welcome any new franchise that they want to put out.

The first video features a spinning record, the second features burning flowers and a mystery background person, and the latest one features a shadow creeping around…

Can anyone make any sense of these clips? Bethesda mentioned this has nothing to do with the Fallout franchise, so this must be something new yes? Rumors say that it could be the next Wolfenstien or Zwei (next game from Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami).

0

A Hopeful Look Toward The Future Of Doom 4

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Les Major

After a recent article on Kotaku that makes for good reading, I wanted to throw in my two cents about the mentioned concepts of Doom 4.

As many of you by now know, Doom 3 was moreso a retelling of the story of Doom 4. Kotaku’s article mentions that Doom 4 was originally going to be a retelling of Doom 2. Right away that sounds like fantastic news, but it went further than that. As in the second Doom game, this concept would have taken place on Earth. That and it seems the struggle of humans in this new world would have been explored, rather than in the original Doom 2 where you didn’t meet anyone who wasn’t a zombie soldier.Read More

0

Get the latest articles and news from BrokenJoysticks and a selection of excellent articles from other sources.

Simply fill out the form below and you’ll be on your way to getting our upcoming newsletter.