Limitations of the Dunia Engine

Far Cry 4 is Core 3 limited on both Intel and AMD hardware. This is very important when considering not only the hardware you're using, but the framerate/resolution you want to achieve. People with Ryzen/older FX-series AMD series CPUs will struggle to run this game at 60fps in certain areas. The only way you can somewhat alleviate this limitation is to set Geometry to Low. This will somewhat reduce load on the CPU.

Ideally you're going to want to use an i5/i7/i9 that is clocked over 4.5ghz -- if your BIOS allows per-core overclocking, set core 3 as high as you can -- 4.8-5.0ghz+ is ideal. I have an i7-7700k 4.7ghz and a GTX 1080, I run the game at 1440p 144hz, and I still can only get ~75-80fps in populated/NPC areas.

Please note; all of these depend on your gpu.


AO: HBAO+ to SSAO/SSBC 5-10 fps gain
AA: 2x TXAA/MSAA to SMAA 20-40 fps gain -- This is the second setting you should change.
Fur: On/Enhanced to Off ~20% GPU hit
Geometry: Ultra to Low -- This is the first setting you should change.
Godrays: Nvidia to Off 10-15 fps gain
Shadows: Nvidia PCSS to Ultra 15-30 fps gain
Tree relief: On to Off 10-15 fps gain
Vsync: Off (use the Nvidia Control Panel)

Notes: Anything "Nvidia Enhanced," turn off. Then go to AA, then Fur, Tree Relief, and Godrays. Those settings have the biggest impact on performance.

Again, some of these are relative, and for nvidia cards only.
Texture Filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization: ON
Texture Filtering - Negative LOD Bias: ON
Vsync: Adaptive (Only set this if you're playing at 60hz.)
GPU Max Buffered Frames: 1 (Works best for me, experiment with this.)
Power Management Mode: Maximum Performance

Note: I don't have any settings for AMD GPUs -- I've owned a 970, 1070 and 1080.

- Open My Documents < My Games < Far Cry 4
- Open GamerProfile.xml with Notepad++
- Change these settings;

DisableLoadingMip0 = "0"

to

DisableLoadingMip0 = "1"

Save & close.


- Open My Documents < My Games < Far Cry 4
- Open GamerProfile.xml with Notepad++
- Change these settings;

AntiPortalQuality="default" to "high" or "ultrahigh" (greatly improves draw distance/pop-in)
PortalQuality="default" to "high" or "ultrahigh" (greatly improves draw distance/pop-in)
OtherQuality="default" to "medium," "high" or "ultrahigh" (haven't tested in detail, also for draw distance/lod performance)

CPU: i7-7700k 4.7ghz
RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3000mhz RAM
GPU: EVGA GTX 1080 SC (+75 Core, +400 Memory)


Textures: Ultra
Shadow: Ultra
Post FX: Ultra
Geometry: Low
Vegetation: Ultra
Terrain: Ultra
Water: Ultra
Ambient Occlusion: HBAO+
Anti-Aliasing: SMAA
Godrays: Enhanced
Fur: On
Trees Relief: Off

Note: This tweak comes from this Steam Discussion.

This fix seems to improve frametimes significantly for me -- I'm not sure why this is, or why it works, but I do play at 144hz. If you are playing at >60hz, or are getting frame 'microstutter,' I would try this.

1. Navigate to X:\Users\[YOUR USERNAME]\Documents\My Games\Far Cry 4\3ac8db72-0bd0-446d-9e15-2208d62525a4\GamerProfile.xml (you need to open this in Notepad/Notepad++)

2. Ctrl + F to GPUMaxBufferedFrames="0" and modify it to GPUMaxBufferedFrames="1", save & close.

In the Nvidia Control Panel;

3. Go to 'Manage 3D Settings' < 'Program Settings' < Select farcry4.exe

4. Set 'Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames from 'Auto' or '1' to '3', Apply and close.