Insurgency: Sandstorm

Insurgency: Sandstorm

26 ratings
Sandstorm Optimization (for Beta)
By Shun
This guide is based on the latest Beta update so far (Sep 6th 2018)
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
Specs for reference
*If you're playing the sandstorm with a gaming monster and does not care about any performance issues, then skip ahead.

I've been playing Sandstorm for weeks on several rigs, and then it came to me that you might do something to make it better, without upgrading your computers, in a few steps. There is still no official system requirement listed on the store page at this time, but there is still my personal specs reference for you guys.

CPU - A quad-core processor will be preferable, such as Intel Core i5, is recommended.
GPU - I play it with a nVidia GTX 1050 (2GB), which is quite acceptable with a stable frame(50-70 with optimization)rate experience. A comparable level graphic processor is recommended.
RAM - At least, a 4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz memory is necessary, yep, necessary, larger is better.
*DISK*Important
It's strongly recommended that you should install this game in a Solid State Driver (SSD).
I previously ran Sandstorm in a Hard Disk (both 5400/7200 R) and only to find it extremely intolerable, the game stutters almost all the way you play and the disk usage rate maintains in 100%.
Later I tried it with a SSD and everything changed. It's worth.

With the list above, I guess you're ready for the Sandstorm.
Basic Optimization
1. Set admin access to Sandstorm
Browse local file by clicking on the game properties(Disable fullscreen optimization might be working, your call)


2. Temporarily disable Windows Defender or other anti-virus software
It's alternative.


3. Turn off Windows Superfetch service*
You can leave it on as Superfetch helps a lot especially when your Windows is running in a normal hard disk, and your RAM is 8 GB or higher. Anyway, you can try to decide.


4. Unistall/Disable Geforce Experience
For some nVidia gamers, do not select the Geforce Experience while installing the graphics driver. If you have, disable it or unistall it, which would be helpful to increase frame rate.
For more info about this, please refer to Geforce Experience[www.nvidia.com]
In-game Basic Video Settings
While in game, go to Video and adjust the settings. There are some tips that might help you.

*Display
  • Set Fullscreen mode
  • Turn off Vertical Synchronization

*In a borderless fullscreen or windowed mod is more system consumption.

Camera
That doesn't matter. You can set it any number.

*Quality
Set all high
  • Anti-Alisaing - FXAA
  • Texture Quality
  • Effects Quality
  • Foliage Quality
  • Shadow Quality
  • PP Quality

*As I mentioned before in the previous section, if you're playing it with a GTX1050, you can just set it all high in the Quality settings, or turn down Shadow quality to gain a higher FPS (but I tried before, high and low do not make a noticeable difference)


In-game Advanced Video Settings
Scrolling down to Advanced settings provides more adjustable options for you, I will try to make every term explained.Pay attention to term marked with *



*Frame Rate Smoothing - ON
Enable is recommended, to reduce the instability of frame rate.

*Frame limiter - 60/120 fps
Enabling this offers a fixed FPS in game, you can leave any number or turn it off, depending on your graphic card(s). For GTX 1050 or a similar level rig, you can just turn it off. For GTX 1060 or higher, set 60 fps or 120 fps.

*Motion Blur - OFF
Personally, I leave it OFF in every game where this option is available. Your choice to keep it or not. Low motion blur increases FPS

*Scope Quality - HIGH
This one is tricky, as I set it high before moving it to a SSD, whenever you're zooming, the game stutters a few seconds, even you set it low.(1-3s). Therefore, if the game is installed in a SSD, leave it High, that's OK.

Dismemberment
That...is still your call. Whatever I don't find any distinguished difference between ON/OFF

*Ragdoll Count - Low
Set it low for graphics lower than GTX 1060.

Foliage Interactions - ON
Same as dismemberment, this one does not matter.

*Super Sampling -OFF/x1.25
Wow yeah it's SS. Please leave it off, if you are not playing this game with a high-end rig. It consumes much video resources.

Ambient Occlusion - ON
I leave it ON with my GTX1050. No big deal.

*Anistrophic Filtering - x8/x16
I'm not particularly staring at the textures, so x8 is sufficient. Try to reduce the multiplier if you encounter with frame rate issues.



*Tessellation - OFF
OFF for 1050 or lower to reduce video usages.

*Texture Streaming Pool Size - Default
I have not yet tried this.

*Dynamic Shadow Resolution/Cascaded Shadow Map Resolution
Set the lowest res if the frame rate is too low for you. For GTX 1050 or lower, 1024x1024 for both term is working well. Set highest res for GTX 1060 or higher.


Alternative - nVidia Control Panle/AMD Crimson Relive
In addition, you can config more with the tools provided by the graphic drivers. Both nVidia and AMD offers their gaming customization app for you. For this, please refer to the specific one you use.
Rig Upgrade Advisor
In case where your PC doesn't seem to meet the minimum requirement for this game, and you're supposed to upgrade your PC with limited badges, here are some constructive rules for you.

*Find out what's the shortage of your PC*
Clearly to make full use of your rig, every component matters. As I mentioned in the first section, a quad-core processor is recommended. especially 4th Gen or higher. If that's what you need most, here are some adorable choices.
  • 1. Intel Xeon E3 1230 v2 (LGA 1155)
  • 2. Intel Core i5 8400 (LGA 1151)
  • 3. Intel Core i5 8600(k)(LGA 1151)
  • 4. Intel Core i7 4770(k)(LGA 1150)
  • 5. AMD R5 1400/1500(X)


Graphics
If you have been waiting for the new RTX cards, you can just wait for it. Otherwise, you can buy a used graphics card in your local store or online.
  • 1. nVidia GTX 1050ti 4GB
  • 2. nVidia GTX 1060 (5-6GB VRAM is recommended!)
  • 3. AMD RX570 4GB
  • 4. AMD RX480 4GB
  • 5. AMD RX570 8GB


Memory
Try to add more rams to your PC, 8GB or higher is recommended.

Disk
I believe most of you have a SSD installed, if so, please remove it to the SSD for a better performance. If not, it's strongly recommended that you buy one.
23 Comments
Shun  [author] 20 Sep, 2018 @ 5:06am 
@Ajoooh
That's weird
Check out what's occupying your RAM with task manager
Naturally, I have never seen that before with high RAM usage (for me, it takes up to 3-4g)

You can stil try:
Set full screen mode and adjust to the best screen res
Turn off SUPERFETCH (I guess this will be the problem)
Ajoooh 20 Sep, 2018 @ 1:56am 
i5 2500k
gtx 970
ram 8 gb
play 1280x720 , fps 0-20 (not stable) ram usage 98%, what wrong eith my PC ?
Shun  [author] 18 Sep, 2018 @ 6:42am 
@dirty
that's why they postone the release day for 3 months.
Dilly G 18 Sep, 2018 @ 6:36am 
I have a 1080ti and a 7800k and the game looks like trash. The first insurgency looked better. What is going on.
Yamashita 17 Sep, 2018 @ 6:26am 
I already have, thank you for your help though Shun, I'll try those tips out
Shun  [author] 17 Sep, 2018 @ 4:58am 
@Mein Kampfy Hat
I have been testing for weeks about the performance, and unfortunately there is still no any noticeable way to reach a comfortable gameplay. You can also post the issues in community discussion or send feedback from the game. I used to getting a quick reply from the steam community.
Shun  [author] 17 Sep, 2018 @ 4:56am 
@Mein Kampfy Hat
I encountered with the same issue since the latest update a few days ago,
my GTX1060 runs at 30-50fps and it's getting quite unstable.
Here are some tips if they would help, in terms of your GTX970
1. set Anti-Alisaing - FXAA
Texture Quality
Effects Quality
Foliage Quality
Shadow Quality
PP Quality all these high, or medium/low for Shadow Quality
2. Turn on framerate smoothing and turn off framerate limiter
3. 1.6 GB or lower for texture streaming size
4. 512x512 for shadow res.
5. Unistall geforce experience if you have.
Yamashita 17 Sep, 2018 @ 3:44am 
I have insurgency installed on my SSD, had to remove 3 games to make room for its bloated 50gigs, I have a GTX 970, 8gigs of ram and an intel i5 6400k CPU, super sampling is off and I have changed my graphics settings constantly (never with a noticable change in performance) I've set it to launch as admin, done all the DPI changes, disabled full screen optimisations too and the game is still unplayable. It freezes for entire seconds constantly and the fps is incredibly unstable, often going up to 60 then dropping down to 10 and going back and forth. I have no clue what they have done to the game because it worked perfectly fine during alpha and even during the earlier beta wave. I tried uninstalling and then reinstalling and still it's unplayable. I'm genuinely lost as to what the possible cause for it's awful performance might be.
neo_bpm 14 Sep, 2018 @ 11:46pm 
I have a Samsung EVO 840 connectec to SATA-3 port of an ASUS P6X58D Premium.
Shun  [author] 14 Sep, 2018 @ 9:19pm 
It seems getting worse with the latest 3gb update yesterday