Semi-Official Dear Esther Tweak Thread

[brisck1]

This thread is for those of you who want to know how you can tweak DE that little bit further in the visual department.

I'll start the thread off with some of the hidden console commands and other tweaks which will help increase the eye candy!`

Increase the detail foliage rendering distance:

(open the console and type) cl_detailfarscaledistance

The default max is set to 4000 but can be set it to anything you want, within reason! I don't recommend setting it higher than 10000, simply because you cant see it from such a distance anyway!


Higher quality anti-aliasing on Foliage

• Locate your steam folder, and navigate to the following folder: (Your Steam Folder)\steamapps\common\dear esther\dearesther\materials\detail\

• Open up the following files in notepad:
  
  detailsprites.vmt
  detailsprites_001.vmt
  detailsprites_night.vmt

• ...and uncomment the following lines (uncomment=removing the '//' at the beginning of the lines):
  
  "$AlphaTestReference" "0.6"
  "$AllowAlphaToCoverage" "1"

• Save the files and restart the game, and you should see smoother anti-aliasing on the detail foliage!

NOTE: This can be costly in some areas, so be warned!


Other Useful Console Commands:

ui_lastmap_played

This unlocks chapters, so ui_lastmap_played 2 unlocks chapter 2 and so on.

ui_gamecompleted 1

This unlocks the alternative ending.

I will update this with more when I can. In the meantime feel free to post your tweaks below!

-Rob

[DirectVic]

Thanks Rob! Gonna check these out in a bit, and will let you all know what the results are.

[jalex3]

Cool I was hoping for something like this. Thanks Rob.

[HeroOfHappyland]

To get it back to the way it was before, do you just change the files back to the way it was? I haven't tried it yet, but I'm paranoid about doing so.

[Deluxius]

Dear Rob

I have tweaked the settings and made a couple of screenshots.

Deluxius Screenshots

The resolution is currently set to 3840x1024 with everything maxed out. I will try to go for the 5760x1080 resolution which is the max my machine can do.

But is that even possible? Have you tested Dear Esther at these higher resolutions?

Are there more settings I can try to enhance the graphics?

[Deluxius]

Some progress. I am now playing at 5040x1050. I have added some new screenshots.

However, setting it to 5760x1080 it locks up with black screens and I have to force quit Dear Esther with CTRL+ALT+DEL and I can re-adjust the resolution by editing:
C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\dear esther\dearesther\cfg\video.txt

(BF3 & Skyrim on 5760x1080 play okay)

[Yadda]

Has anyone tried forcing Ambient Occlusion in 'NVInspect' and gotten it to work?

I have tried it under a couple of profiles but I've had no luck thus far.

[el_pitaya]

hey guys can any of you post a thread with the console commands to have freedom to move and make zoom

I want to explore the whole island

[jalex3]

Originally Posted by el_pitaya

hey guys can any of you post a thread with the console commands to have freedom to move and make zoom

I want to explore the whole island

sv_cheats 1 then noclip

[install gentoo]

Originally Posted by Yadda

Has anyone tried forcing Ambient Occlusion in 'NVInspect' and gotten it to work?

I have tried it under a couple of profiles but I've had no luck thus far.

Causes pretty serous flickering and aliasing in most games, I don't think Dear Esther would be any better, especially with its foliage. SGSSAA works extremely well and I'd recommend it highly to anyone with a capable GPU. My 580 runs 8x just fine but even 4x is a huge improvement in immersion over any kind of MSAA.

[Andrea_23]

Woah, nice thread :Q.
Thanks Rob, bookmarked : Q.

[brataccas]

Originally Posted by jalex3

sv_cheats 1 then noclip

Ive sussed the no clip but how do you make more zoom without using noclip? I want to simulate im equipped with binos!

[sh4dow83]

Originally Posted by install gentoo

Causes pretty serous flickering and aliasing in most games, I don't think Dear Esther would be any better, especially with its foliage. SGSSAA works extremely well and I'd recommend it highly to anyone with a capable GPU. My 580 runs 8x just fine but even 4x is a huge improvement in immersion over any kind of MSAA.

i second that. i used the same. and 3x3 supersampling for regular AA

the difference is stunning. i wasn't able to spot a single jaggy. my 570 ran it at ~60fps at 1280x960.

and in case some people are wondering about forcing SLI - i tried it and it works but not well. you're better off with single GPU with this game (but if you wanna try, just use the SLI compatibility bits for half life 2: episode one).

[jorre22225]

I tried this but I felt like nothing changed. Even though it is less jagged, it looks like everything is blurred out that way. It was on 1920x1080. I think that it will indeed do better on high resolutions. I like the way the game is by default (on highest settings of course).

Also, increasing the distance of the foliage is pointless imo, it's not that you are literally looking for the smallest details in the far end of your view. Maybe you'll do that for 5 seconds for the fun, seeing how far your computer can go, but that's all. Unnecessary CPU power for little to no effort. Just my opinion ^^

[Tody_too]

I can't seem to be able to access the console. How do you do it?