Hi,
In this post I'm going to be going over the best ways I think there are of increasing performance of the DayZ standalone.
So,
1. Launch Parameters ...You can go to your games section on steam->Right click->Set launch options->
Then type the following or copy and paste exactly(without quotation marks):
"cpuCount=8 -maxMem=8192 -exThreads=8 -nosplash"
-cpuCount=# change the # to the amount of cores your CPU has.
-maxMem=# change the # to the amount of RAM you have in MB so for 8GB is is '8192' (do the maths for working out other values where 1GB = 1024MB
-exThreads=# Change the # to the amount of threads your CPU has. Especially good for a lot of the newer Intel processors with only 4 cores but many threads.
2. Here I will be covering what can be done to your config files in order to obtain a large performance boost. Go to: Documents->DayZ->Open DayZ.cfg file. Scroll to the lines:
GPU_MaxFramesAhead=1;
GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=0;
-Change both values here to "1" (without quotation marks)
For the next part of this we will be opening one of the other files located in Documents->DayZ but this time open the file that is a 'DAYZPROFILE' file but the one WITHOUT '.vars' in the name. Here you should scroll down to the bottom and be faced with the following:
revMouse=0;
mouseSensitivityX=1;
mouseSensitivityY=1;
floatingZoneArea=0;
mouseSmoothing=30;
perspective=1;
fov=1;
masterVolume=65535;
singleVoice=0;
maxSamplesPlayed=32;
shadingQuality=10;
shadowQuality=3;
sceneComplexity=500000;
shadowZDistance=250;
viewDistance=3000;
preferredObjectViewDistance=1736.2638;
terrainGrid=12.5;
volumeCD=6.5;
volumeFX=8.5;
volumeSpeech=5.5;
volumeVoN=6.5;
vonRecThreshold=0.029999999;
gamma=1;
bloom=0.75;
rotblur=0.015;
brightness=1;
fovTop=0.75;
fovLeft=1.401099;
uiTopLeftX=0.14313728;
uiTopLeftY=0;
uiBottomRightX=0.85686272;
uiBottomRightY=1;
IGUIScale=1;
All lines of interest are highlighted in bold and all can be halved in value in order to obtain a significant boost in fps without sacraficing too much visual quality.
3. Suggested hardware changes for a higher frame-rate?
-CPU- Overclocking is HIGHLY recommended because of the 'ARMA Take on helicopter's' terrible core utilization so each individual core must be treated as important. I would recommend an overclock of 0.5GHz on top your your current clock speed for noticeable increases HOWEVER DO NOT ATTEMPT OVERCLOCKING IF YOU ARE RUNNING A STOCK COOLER, INVEST IN A 3RD PARTY COOLING SOLUTION AND REFER TO THIS BEFORE ATTEMPTING AN OVERCLOCK: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/forum-29.html
-GPU- Again, due to the ARMA engine being basically terrible at utilizing resources available to it upgrading your GPU will only have very minor effects on performance and is not very cost effective when compared to the option of a better processor or overclocking.
-RAM- More will help with load times I should think, but again, like with the GPU there is no point upgrading as 8GB is moreeeee than enough for DayZ SA currently.
-STORAGE- Having an SSD as oppose to a HDD will hugely increase load times and decrease weird pop in texture bugs currently in the alpha, just make sure that DayZ SA is in fact installed onto your SSD and not a HDD.
4. CPU un-parking. Windows is a bit odd, in that it often shuts off some of your CPU's cores even while under load to decrease heat/power consumption. Every time that windows decides it then needs that core it will go to use it, but in games (where fluidity is key and small glitches noticeable) The 'Switching on' of said core can cause problems in the form of micro-stuttering or perhaps short 'lag spikes' seen by the person playing. To disable core parking simply refer to this guide: http://www.coderbag.com/Programming-C/Disable-CPU-Core-Parking-Utility This is especially useful to those with AMD 8/6 Cores or the newer Intel 6 Core CPU lines.
5. Extra comments: It was recently announced that the DayZ SA will be moving to an entirely new game engine due to limitations with the current one. Now, in theory, because this engine is more up to date it will be able to utilize your computers resources more effectively and therefore people SHOULD see an increase in overall game performance. It should also be taken into account that this game in in ALPHA so should be treated as a work in progress as oppose to a finished Triple A title. So, this also should allow for some...'wiggle room' in terms of small changes being made to increase performance by changing architecture in the game and the way that it works. In summary, with more time will come better performance.