You may like it more or less, but it is unquestionable that the Call of Duty saga has been pampering its PC adaptations: Activision’s support studios – in this case, Beenox – make sure to optimize game play and include enough options to make sure they can hit a worthy variety of systems, including high-performance ones. Now, a Call of Duty: Vanguard comes to our hands that stomps on technical terms. How can we take advantage of it?
Well, let’s study the situation a bit first. For this installment, Sledgehammer Games serves as lead developer and uses IW Engine 8.0. That means that it should have a behavior similar to Modern Warfare (2019) and Warzone, games that worked well on PC, saving some failure that caused excessive CPU use. Fortunately, Vanguard does not have that problem: the compatible version is, in our experience, pretty soft. Let’s see how to take advantage of it, thinking about all the available game modes.
Call of Duty: Vanguard system requirements
Minima | Recommended | Competitive | ultra hd 4k | |
---|---|---|---|---|
cpu | Intel Core i3-4340 | AMD FX-6300 | Intel Core i5-2500K | AMD Ryzen 5 1600X | Intel Core i7-8700K | AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | Intel Core i9-9900K | AMD Ryzen 9 3900X |
cpu | NVIDIA GTX 960 | AMD Radeon RX 470 | NVIDIA GTX 1060 | AMD Radeon RX 580 | NVIDIA RTX 2070 or RTX 3060 Ti | AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 or RTX 3080 | AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT |
VRAM | 2 GB | 4GB | 8 GB | 10 GB |
RAM | 8 GB | 12 GB | 16 GB | 16 GB |
hdd | 36 GB (Multiplayer and Zombie Mode only), 177 GB for all game modes | 61 GB launch | 61 GB launch | 61 GB launch |
SW | Windows 10 64 Bit | Windows 11 | Windows 10 64 Bit | Windows 11 | Windows 10 64 Bit | Windows 11 | Windows 10 64 Bit | Windows 11 |
During the writing of this article and the analysis of the game, we have worked with a testing equipment supplied by our comrades at Nvidia that incorporates an RTX 3080 graphics card, an i9 10900K processor (at 3.7 GHz) and 64 GB of RAM. The driver version is WHQL 496.49, which you can download directly from GeForce Experience.
Taking as a basis for benchmarks the level of Stalingrad in the campaign, we achieved an average of 64.7 FPS playing at 2160p of resolution and in maximum qualities – with small adjustments in the budget of RAM and field of vision – whereas at 1080p it was necessary to manually close the frame cap at 120 FPS to achieve a stable experience.
Screen, resolution and FPS settings
We will find a handful of options to control the pixel and frame count during games, and even in the menus. Broadly speaking, you are interested in keeping everything in native settings from your monitor, except when it’s time to climb. Let’s see more specific situations in this regard.
- If you examine the performance of the game and see that the meter “dances” between 92 and 110 FPS, you may want to close it to 90 to avoid awkward jumps.
- DLSS is the most sophisticated way to scale the resolution of the game, so if you have an Nvidia RTX card use this option. Choose the quality mode for low resolutions, and performance for high ones. You can even raise the internal resolution of the game to take advantage of its improvements.
- If you don’t have a compatible GPU, FSR 1.0 it’s better than the game’s own dynamic resolution. The eye wear is noticeable, so use it in “ultra quality” or “quality” mode to play 1080p.
- Dynamic resolution or DSR can be useful to slightly raise the resolution of the game, if you have the frame stop well closed and controlled. For values below 100%, use DLSS or FSR 1.0.
This time, the HD textures have been hosted in the ODTS option: it is only recommended if you have a good CPU and fast internet connection
On the other hand, it is important to talk about “streaming of textures on demand “, popularly known as ODTS for its original nomenclature (on-demand texture streaming). It is an alternative to the very heavy HD texture packs which allows the user to control how much hard drive space is spent on enhancing the appearance of textures. When enabled, the game internet download better textures for the levels you play, up to a maximum of 64GB.
Is it advisable to activate it? If you have a mid-range PC, no: the download is slow on ordinary hard drives, it consumes processor resources and the first visit to each level can be a painful experience to watch. If, on the other hand, you play in a high-quality team with a very fast SSD (an NVMe M.2 for example) and spacious with a speedy internet speed as well, you might find it useful to enjoy more graphics.
location | recommendation | observations | |
---|---|---|---|
display mode | “Screen” tab | Full screen | Use “borderless” if you do Alt + Tab often |
screen resolution | “Screen” tab | Native | |
Update frequency | “Screen” tab | Native | |
vertical sync (game / menus) | “Screen” tab | No | Only use it if you see tears and use a VRR monitor |
refresh rate limit | “Screen” tab | 60 FPS + | Limit the game somewhat below your average FPS |
streaming textures on demand | “Screen” tab | Situational | Detailed above |
rendering resolution | “Quality” tab | 100 / situational | Use 100 by default and use it only upwards |
dynamic resolution | “Quality” tab | No | |
Nvidia dlss | “Quality” tab | Yes | Detailed above |
fidelityfx super resolution 1.0 | “Quality” tab | Yes | Detailed above |
fidelityfx adaptive contrast enhancement | “Quality” tab | No |
Graphics quality settings
At this point, we have to understand that the campaign mode it’s not exactly the same as multiplayer or zombies. Being a shooter in the first person, anyone would ask Call of Duty: Vanguard a minimum of fluency, which for Mid-range PC translates to 60 FPS (this is, say, a GTX 1060 and a Ryzen 5); but the campaign can be asked for a plus visual fidelity that may not have much of a place in multiplayer.
For this reason, we have prepared a table of settings for the campaign that you can later modify slightly by following these instructions if you want to maximize the performance of the campaign. multiplayer and zombies.
- Lower the antialiasing, especially if you play at high resolutions.
- Just use MDAO for ambient occlusion, or say goodbye to it.
- Lower the resolution of the shadow map.
- If you had on-demand texture streaming turned on, turn it off.
Why have we chosen these settings? We have tried to sacrifice everything that we consider expendable, if it makes sense in terms of savings, in order to allow the GPU to give the most attractive results for textures and lighting: two very expensive aspects, but also very important for games with first person camera. Proximity is key, but having played the season, we know there is every reason to pamper drawing distance when possible.
recommendation | observations | |
---|---|---|
texture resolution | high | Low to normal if you go very fair of VRAM |
anisotropic texture filter | Normal / high | |
particle quality level | high | |
particle resolution | Come down | High on very powerful equipment |
bullet holes and sprays | Yes | Disable only on very modest PCs |
shader quality | high | |
terrain details | Only close | It’s a tessellation effect |
long distance level of detail scale | Short | |
close level of detail | high | |
far level of detail | Come down | If you have a good GPU, please activate it in the campaign |
visibility distance of terrain elements | high | |
volumetric quality level | Come down | |
shadows of screen space | Only local shadows | It can be a plus of immersion in wealthy PCs |
shadow map resolution | Normal / high | If you have a lot of VRAM, go ultra without fear |
waterfalls of sunlight shadows | Come down | |
solar shadow cache | Yes | Disable it if you go very fair of VRAM |
focal shadow cache | Yes | Disable it if you go very fair of VRAM |
focal light cache size | high | |
quality of focal light shadows | high | |
particle lighting | Come down | |
ambient occlusion | GTAO (ultra) | Activating MDAO looks good, but is very unnecessary |
screen mirroring | Low | The appearance does not improve much or in maximum quality |
antialiasing | SMAA filmic T2X ultra | Low AA quality at high resolutions (4K) |
Miscellaneous settings
Did you know that most console games have been limited to 70 degrees of field of view (FOV) for many years? For a first-person shooter, it’s a pretty claustrophobic perspective, so increasing that parameter is important even on the most modest teams – it’s worth cutting other things down for a more enjoyable gaming experience. In our experience playing with a 16: 9 monitor standard, about 90-100 degrees is acceptable, but try different settings.
I also wanted to take advantage of this situation to talk about Nvidia Reflex, a very interesting technology within the reach of holders of an RTX series card. Is it worth activating it? Do we put the enhancer? Don’t be afraid to use it, but don’t use the mode boost Unless you’re a foodie on the competitive landscape. It is irrelevant to the campaign, and in multiplayer it will only be noticed by those who already spend a lot of money on monitors with high refresh rates, wired peripherals and switches high speed mechanics.
location | recommendation | observations | |
---|---|---|---|
use of vram | “Quality” tab | At least 85% | Close other apps and play in full screen |
Visual field | Tab “game” | At least 90% | It depends on your screen format and usual modes |
nvidia reflex low latency | Tab “game” | Activated | Use the increase only if you play competitively |
motion blur | Tab “game” | No | Active only in the world and only to mask low FPS (30) |