Disabling the Bethesda Logo movie that plays at the start of the game is very easy and will reduce the time it takes to get into the game. To do this, simply rename, move, or delete the BGS_Logo.bik file. Depending on where you have Steam installed, that file may reside here:



Continue reading...

Anisotropic Filtering affects how sharp textures look at a distance, especially textures that are at extreme viewing angles. Skyrim allows you to choose from 2, 4, 8, 12, or 16 anisotropic samples, or to leave anisotropic filtering off.

See the below screenshot comparison of each setting (except for 12, which didn't look any different than 16). Note that these were taken on Ultra settings with anti-aliasing off (anti-aliasing didn't affect the blurriness or graphical anomalies shown in the screenshots at all).

Off	2 Samples	4 Samples	8 Samples	16 Samples

Continue reading...

Here is a table of the PC version of Skyrim's Low, Medium, High, and Ultra quality presets that you can select in the Skyrim launcher. At the bottom are screenshots showing each setting, with both an indoor and an outdoor environment comparison.

To easily compare the screenshots, download this zip file (5,236kB) containing the screenshots in organized folders. Use the next and previous buttons of your image viewer to move between quality levels and easily see the difference. Another easy way is to open each screenshot in its own tab in your browser, and then cycle through them.

Continue reading...

You can adjust the field of view in-game by bringing up the developer console (press tilde "~") and typing in fov XX, where XX is the desired numerical value. Try values ranging from 80 to 110 to see what works best for you. Skyrim appears to save the FOV setting in the save file. Once you change it using the developer console and save the game, it should "stick" for that save file and any created after it.



Continue reading...

Well, maybe not quite, but I did find it interesting that you can cover ground faster by strafe jumping in Rage. It seems to be very forgiving as well, not requiring the precise timing or angles that Quake 3 does (although you can't achieve near the max speed that you can in that game).

To strafe jump, simply move forward and jump while strafing to the left or right. Time your jumps so that you jump right after hitting the ground. Sprinting will make it faster. I did some timed tests and was able to shave 20% or more off my travel time between two points by strafe jumping.

Here is a YouTube video I found that does a great job showing strafe jumping:

Continue reading...

You can disable the three intro videos in Rage, decreasing the amount of time it takes to get to the menu, by setting the variable com_skipIntroVideo to 1. You can do this in the Steam launch options by adding:


Open Steam, right-click on RAGE and select Properties, then click Set Launch Options. You can add multiple tweaks in there, separated by spaces.

Continue reading...

Creating this folder can speed up performance on some systems when playing Rage. At the very least, it won't hurt.

Create the following folder if it doesn't exist:

Windows 7:

Windows XP:


Continue reading...

Since the patch on October 8, 2011, you can edit the field of view setting in Rage directly, instead of just adding to it. This is done by adjusting the g_fov variable in the developer console (temporary) or Steam launch options (permanent).

The default field of view is 80 for Rage. If you want to change it to 100, add this to the Steam launch options:



Continue reading...

Enabling the developer console is done by setting the variable com_allowconsole to 1. You can do this in the Steam launch options by adding:


Open Steam, right-click on RAGE and select Properties, then click Set Launch Options. You can add multiple tweaks in there, separated by spaces.

Continue reading...

UPDATE: Installing AMD 11.10 Preview 3 drivers improved performance a bit more. The game is now finally running very good, with only minimal texture pop-in.

UPDATE: If you are still having trouble getting Rage to run, I suggest downloading several different versions of your graphics driver and try each one. Create the cache folder as mentioned below. Go into services.msc (in run or search) and disable any unnecessary services related to your GPU (I disabled AMD External Events Utility and AMD FUEL Service). Defrag your hard drive and make sure nothing unnecessary is running in the background (torrent, virus scan, etc). In the Rage menu in-game, disable AA and put texture cache to large (if you have a 1GB video card or greater; if not, you may want to think about upgrading).

UPDATE: I managed to get the game running decently using AMD 11.6 drivers and disabling the two AMD services. There is still a lot that doesn't feel good about the game. Mouse acceleration, textures, etc.

I made some progress on getting Rage to run. It is still currently unplayable, but I reduced the stuttering/freezing from nearly constant to just every couple seconds. Between freezes I now get very noticeable texture pop-in, which is the main problem other PC players are experiencing.

Continue reading...