F.E.A.R. Tweak Guide

I found that this game is the most resource-taxing game on my system other than the soon to be bought "Oblivion". Therefore, I decided that I would experiment with the graphics settings, and post the results here to allow people to tweak their systems in the most effective way. This guide helps you keep good graphics on par with a good Frame rate. I based this off another tweak guide, but I made many adjustments and additions of my own to make it a better guide.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (Tweaked for more accuracy):

Windows® XP or 2000 with latest service pack installed
• DirectX® 9.0c (included)
• Pentium® 4 1.7 GHz or equivalent processor
• 512 MB of RAM
• 64 MB Video Card that has full DirectX 8.1 support, T&L & Pixel Shader support.
• 5.0 GB free Hard Drive Space for installation
• 4x CD-ROM drive (for Director's Edition, this will have to be DVD-ROM)
• Any Sound Card Not Older than 3 years
• Internet Connection Required
• Mouse
• Keyboard

MY RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS (Tweaked for optimal game playing, yet not insanely expensive)

-Pentium 4 at 2.6GHZ & Above OR
-AMD 3800+ at any clock speed.
-1GB RAM
-A DirectX 9.0 supported card with 256mb Memory.
-A 5.1 Speaker Setup, with a SoundBlaster or above Sound Card

Tweaking Settings:

Resolution: If you have a card ranging from an Nvidia 6600 or a Radeon 9800 and below, set this to either 800x600 or 1024x768. If you have a 6800-7800, or a Radeon X1300 and above, shoot for the higher/highest resolutions. Remember, it all depends on your PC. This setting will greatly improve picture quality, but it can make the FPS suffer the most.

VSync: Leave this off. It usually degrades the frame rate if on, but this setting can produce small tears on the screen if kept off.

Gamma: This is pretty much the brightness setting. Tweak it according to the color chart below it.

Single Player Physics & Multiplayer Physics: If you have a CPU below 2GHZ, set this to minimum. If it is between 2.6 and 2GHZ, set it to medium. If it is 2.6 and up, set it to maximum. This controls the Havok graphics system, and is VERY CPU intensive, while not really affected by the GFX Card.

Particle Bouncing: Jack this baby all the way up if you have 128mb and above of GFX Card memory, and set it on medium if not. It is the best feature of the game, and it doesn't slow down the game too much at all. These are the insane particle effects, and they add a LOT to the game.

Shell Casings: Turn it on if you have 128mb and above of GFX Memory, and turn it off if not. The effect isn't too noticeable if it is on anyways.

World Detail: This is an important setting. Never turn it below medium unless your system barely meets the minimum requirements. If you have a 5800 or 9600 and above, leave it on medium. If you have a 6800 or X1300 and above, turn it up to maximum.

Corpse Detail: This determines how long the corpses stay and how pretty they look. If you have 64mb of GFX Memory, keep it on minimum. If you have 128, keep it on medium. If you have 256 and above, jack it up to maximum.

Effects Details: This is all about those cool DirectX 9 gun effects with blurring hot air and such. If you have a very low-end GFX Card, keep it on minimum. If you have any other card, keep it on medium. ONLY if you have a 7900GTX or X1900 may you turn it to Maximum. This is because there is almost no visual difference in between medium and maximum, but there is a big performance difference.

Model Decals: If you have a very low-end system, keep it on minimum, while everyone else with a 2GHZ + processor or 3400+, with an Nvidia 5800 or a Radeon 9600 or above can keep it on Maximum.

Water Resolution: Unless you have a very low-end GFX Card, keep this on Medium. There is absolutely no discernable difference in between medium and maximum settings.

Reflections and Displays: This can be a big performance killer. If you have 64mb of GFX Memory, keep it on minimum. If you have 128, keep it on medium. If you have 256 and above, jack it up to maximum.

Volumetric Lights: This adds realistic lighting effects around characters. Enable this unless your system REALLY sucks.

Volumetric Light Density: ONLY if you have a 7800GTX or X1900 may you turn it to Maximum. If you have an Nvidia 6600 or Radeon 9800/X600 and below, keep it on Minimum. For anything in between, put it on medium.

FSAA: FSAA stands for Full Screen Antialiasing, a method of smoothing jagged lines on the screen. If you want to have a good Frame rate, keep this off unless your video card is an Nvidia 6800 or X1300 and above. Only use 4x for a card similar to the 7900GTX or X1900.

Light Detail: Everyone should keep this on medium, except for those who have terrible video cards. There is no visual difference in between Med. and Max.

Enable Shadows: Unless your Video card has 64mb of memory, keep this on.

Shadow Detail: If your video card has 128mb of memory, keep it on medium. If it has 256mb, put it on Maximum. Don't even bother with the lower setting.

Soft Shadows: Unless you have a top-of-the-line video card (7800, X1900), keep this off. With any other cards, it drops the Frame rate by over 30FPS by just blurring the shadows a bit.

Texture Filtering: For this, keep it on bi-linear for a low-end PC. Ignore the trilinear setting; it is the same as bilinear by most standards. If you have a 6800 or an X1300 and above, put it on 2x. If you have anything else above an X1600 or a 7600GT, turn it to 4x.

Texture Resolution: Keep this on low if you only have 64mb of GFX memory. If you have 128, keep it on medium. Unless you have a top-of-the-line video card (7800, X1900), keep it on medium. There is little difference between Med. and Max, but there is a big performance hit.

Videos: Determines the number and resolution of in-game videos used. Keep this on no matter what, on medium.

Pixel Doubling: Only use this if your video card is so shitty that lowering every other setting doesn't let you play the game at a playable Frame rate. It will make the game blockier than Doom 1.

DX8 Shaders: Only turn this on if you have a Directx 8.1 card. It gets rid of many of the cool effects, and does not boost performance significantly accept during bullet-time.

Shaders: Keep this at medium at all times, unless you MUST turn this to low due to Frame rate issues. There is almost no difference in between Med. and Max, so unless you have a top-of-the-line video card (7900, X1900), keep it on Medium.

-SilentScope

Sticky Time

Nice guide, but I just run it with everything max lol Still blazes through

"VSync: Leave this off. It actually degrades performance, however this setting can produce tears on the screen. It is your choice."

I think you might want to reword this statment.

Yes, I caught that a while back, and I forgot to change it. Thanks for the pointer.

holy crap silent scope, grea guide, I usually jack Fear on maximum on my 6800Ultra system, but now, since I am broke, and want better frames, I'll use your guide.

Ok, who are you? This is three guides that you've created out of nowhere. I'm suspicious of such charity.

Just kidding man, great work.

The one thing i disagree with in this guide is that the difference between medium and max texture resolution is small. For me personally it makes a big difference. I also noticed that i could not enable the maximum setting until i upgraded to two gigs of RAM, so i'm not sure that video card memory plays as big a role there. But maybe it's just me. Good job!

wow, talk about smooth.....

I have been writing guides on various other forums, and I'd though that I would share the wealth. I may seem new here, but I'm known on various other forums.

well i appreciate it