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Ultron's UT3 Tweaks(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)
Posted by: Ultron
Greetings, fleshlings.
I have created this thread as sort of a collection of tweaks that I have picked up over the course of posting on these forums, the release of the Beta Demo and the Retail Game, and through reading the TweakGuide. My goal here is to put all of the important fixes in one spot, to better help others who might want to have a more enjoyable experience. I have also posted this in the Epic Games UT3 Troubleshooting & Technology forum for others to see.
Who is this thread for? Anyone who has problems running UT3. Anyone who wants to max out their graphics better than what they can do in-game. And anyone who wants to have a number of useful tweaks that eliminate some of the weird default settings of the game.
There are 4 configuration files we will edit using a text editor like Notepad or Editpad. These can be found in My Documents\MyGames\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Config.
They are:
UTEngine.ini
UTGame.ini
UTInput.ini
UTWeapon.ini
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I have three goals:
1) To show a highly-compatable setup that allows players with older, lower-end video cards to play the game, and to help weed out technical issues by troubleshooting from a basic configuration.
2) To show a super high quality setup that allows players to play with the best possible graphics, regardless of framerates.
3) To fix a number of issues that many like myself do not like. This last section will have no real effect on graphics or performance.
Another thing, nothing that I write here is above constructive criticism. If you have technical reason why anything I say is incorrect, please reply to this thread with any corrections. Without further ado...
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--- SECTION I - High Performance Changes, and Troubleshooting ---
Open your UTEngine.ini file. Most of the changes will occur here. Note: This _will_ make the game look ugly, but it will provide more than double the framerates of a maximal quality setup. Note: I have the resolution set to 1024x768 here, but you can change it to whatever resolution you use either in the configuration file or in the game.
Edit the following options like so:
[Engine.GameEngine]
bSmoothFrameRate=TRUE
MinSmoothedFrameRate=0
MaxSmoothedFrameRate=60
This gives you a range of up to 60FPS in terms of smooth graphics, and works with the Vsync setup to ensure no screen tearing even at lower framerates. If you want to disable Vsync for any reason I recommend you set the bSmoothFrameRate option to FALSE instead. At that point the other SmoothedFrameRate lines are meaningless. But if you are using a LCD it will most likely have a refresh rate of 60Hz anyways, so it's not really neccessary to do that in that case.
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[Engine.Client]
MinDesiredFrameRate=60.000000
This ensures that dynamic lighting, decals, and possibly other visuals are not used if your framerates drop below a certain speed. In this case, 60FPS. I recommend this be set to your maximum refresh rate for your monitor. If it's a LCD it's most likely 60. If it's a CRT it's most likely 85Hz or higher. This setting is largely useless if you've already disabled all the graphic options in the SystemSettings section of the UTEngine.ini.
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[SystemSettings]
StaticDecals=False
DynamicDecals=False
DynamicLights=False
DynamicShadows=False
LightEnvironmentShadows=False
CompositeDynamicLights=True
DirectionalLightmaps=False
MotionBlur=False
DepthOfField=False
Bloom=False
QualityBloom=False
Distortion=False
DropParticleDistortion=True
SpeedTreeLeaves=False
SpeedTreeFronds=False
onlyStreamInTextures=False
LensFlares=False
FogVolumes=False
FloatingPointRenderTargets=True
Trilinear=False
oneFrameThreadLag=False
UseVsync=True
UpscaleScreenPercentage=True
Fullscreen=True
AllowD3D10=True
EnableHighPolyChars=False
SkeletalMeshLODBias=0
ParticleLODBias=0
DetailMode=0
ShadowFilterQualityBias=1
MaxAnisotropy=0
MaxMultisamples=1
MinShadowResolution=32
MaxShadowResolution=512
ResX=1024
ResY=768
ScreenPercentage=100.000000
These settings pretty much strip all the high quality visual effects from the game, but it should be much clearer. The only graphical tweak I leave in there is the FloatingPointRenderTargets line, which is set to True. And that is because it allows you to see the Sniper Rifle tracer, and the smoke effects from behind the Flak ball, making it appear more like the Flak ball, instead of a glowing orange.
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Another thing, if you have an older Nvidia or ATI card, perhaps one that meets the minimum system requirements, but not the recommended ones, you might try one of these options, depending on your video chipset.
For older NVIDIA cards:
[Engine.ISVHacks]
UseMinimalNVIDIADriverShaderOptimization=True
bInitializeShadersOnDemand=True
For older ATI cards:
[Engine.ISVHacks]
DisableATITextureFilterOptimizationChecks=False
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Another troubleshooting tip, regardless of video card:
[Engine.ISVHacks]
PumpWindowMessagesWhenRenderThreadStalled=True
This prevents lockups in the cinematic videos in the single player campaign, and possibly other times. I have no idea why this isn't the default setting, or what it means, otherwise.
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--- SECTION II - SUPER HIGH QUALITY CHANGES ---
This is not a setup you use unless you have a high-end system that is powerful enough to make framerate issues irrelevant. I also have the resolution set here to 1024x768 for compatability sake. Be sure to use whatever native resolution is best for your monitor.
[Engine.Client]
MinDesiredFrameRate=0.000000
This ensures that, regardless of what framerates you are getting, you get all the eye candy.
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[SystemSettings]
StaticDecals=True
DynamicDecals=True
DynamicLights=True
DynamicShadows=True
LightEnvironmentShadows=True
CompositeDynamicLights=False
DirectionalLightmaps=True
MotionBlur=True
DepthOfField=True
Bloom=True
QualityBloom=True
Distortion=True
DropParticleDistortion=False
SpeedTreeLeaves=True
SpeedTreeFronds=True
onlyStreamInTextures=True
LensFlares=True
FogVolumes=True
FloatingPointRenderTargets=True
Trilinear=True
oneFrameThreadLag=False
UseVsync=True
UpscaleScreenPercentage=True
Fullscreen=True
AllowD3D10=True
EnableHighPolyChars=True
SkeletalMeshLODBias=0
ParticleLODBias=0
DetailMode=4
ShadowFilterQualityBias=1
MaxAnisotropy=16
MaxMultisamples=1
MinShadowResolution=32
MaxShadowResolution=512
ResX=1024
ResY=768
ScreenPercentage=100.000000
You can set the MaxMultisamples to 2 or higher if you want to enable FSAA if you have Vista and DirectX 10, or you can make the changes in the control panel of your video card.
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--- SECTION III - USEFUL CHANGES ---
Okay now that we've gotten past all that, let's take a look at the other improvements we can do to the game, in order to make our experience better, regardless of graphics/framerate changes.
Again, in the UTEngine.ini:
[Engine.Engine]
bAllowMatureLanguage=False
This is if you have kids. It doesn't work without the first patch Epic is coming out with, yet. There is a similar setting in the UTGame.ini - I am not sure why.
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[FullScreenMovie]
;StartupMovies=Copyright_PC
;StartupMovies=EpicLogo
;StartupMovies=MidwayLogo
;StartupMovies=UE3_logo
;StartupMovies=Nvidia_PC
;StartupMovies=Intel_Duo_Logo
;StartupMovies=UT_loadmovie1
This last section eliminates the startup movies from the game. This eliminates about 10 seconds of movies that play in the beginning.
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And now we look into the UTGame.ini.
[Engine.HUD]
bMessageBeep=true
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[Engine.DecalManager]
DecalLifeSpan=10.0
The default is 30. I set this so that decals never last more than 10 seconds. If you're hardcore crazy you can set that to a really high number.
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[UTGame.UTPawn]
Bob=0.000
bWeaponBob=false
Eliminates your weapon from bobbing up and down when your character moves.
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[UTGame.UTPlayerController]
bLandingShake=false
This turns off an effect which can get annoying, quickly.
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bNoMatureLanguage=true
Why, this looks strangely similar to the UTEngine option.
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bCenteredWeaponFire=True
The game default is to slightly offset where you aim, compared to where the crosshairs of your HUD are, to either the left or to the right of it, depending on what hand you use. If you set WeaponHandPreference to HAND_Right then you will aim to the right of the crosshair, for example. So I set the bCenteredWeaponFire to True to fire at the center of your crosshair by default, regardless of which hand you choose, or if you use Hidden.
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[UTGame.UTDeathMessage]
bNoConsoleDeathMessages=false
[UTGame.UTTeamDeathMessage]
bNoConsoleDeathMessages=false
These enable death messages for enemies when they perish, as well as teammates.
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[UTGame.UTHUD]
bShowDamage=false
This can eliminate much of the red flashing when you take damage.
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In the UTInput.ini:
[Engine.PlayerInput]
bEnableMouseSmoothing=False
This turns off mouse smoothing.
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Bindings=(Name="U",Command="showhud")
Bindings=(Name="Z",Command="behindview")
Bindings=(Name=";",Command="throwweapon")
Bindings=(Name="F7",Command="stat fps")
Bindings=(Name="F8",Command="togglescreenshotmode")
Incidentally there is a difference between showhud and togglescreenshotmode. Showhud will leave your weapon in view. Togglescreenshotmode will hide your weapon.
These are some recommended changes on my part, though you can use different keys. If you use a key that is already in use by another action, then just put a ; in front of the line you don't want to use. For example:
;Bindings=(Name="F7",Command="set D3DRenderDevice bUsePostProcessEffects False",Control=False,Shift=False,Alt=False)
;Bindings=(Name="F8",Command="set D3DRenderDevice bUsePostProcessEffects True",Control=False,Shift=False,Alt=False)
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And now back to our tweaks.
[UTGame.UTConsolePlayerInput]
bViewAccelerationEnabled=FALSE
This disables mouse acceleration. It's a good idea to do this and disable mouse smoothing at the same time.
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You can open your UTWeapon.ini file and make the following changes.
[UTGame.UTWeapon]
CrosshairColor=(R=0,G=255,B=0,A=255)
Note: GREEN Crosshair as opposed to the WHITE default. (Thanks Warden!)
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[UTGame.UTWeap_InstagibRifle]
Priority=14.3
I basically put an arbitrary number there in the Priority, making it a higher number than any of the other weapons. Basically if you come across an Instagib Rifle in the game (probably from a third party map, or enabled through a mutator) it puts the Instagib Rifle at the top of the priority list, something you cannot change in the in-game menu, currently. So when you hit SelectBestWeapon you'll be given it.
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If you want to use a different splash page, create or copy a bitmapped image (.BMP file) that is 24-bit, and set to read-only, into the Program Files\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Spash\PC folder. Be sure to rename the existing Splash.bmp file before copying the new image into there. The new image should then be renamed to Splash.bmp.
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If you want to try to use all the different character models in the game that are available, click on F10 to open up the console, then type "unlockallchars" and you'll see the Necris become available, as well as some bonus characters in existing factions.
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--- OTHER LINKS ---
Other links of interest, with many of the tweaks listed here:
TweakGuides
Xentrum's UT3 .ini Tweaking List
Bersy's INI performance & graphics tweaks
Crotale's INI Tweaks/Console Commands
ESReality's UT3 Information Resource page
Posted by: Molotov
You sir, are a star. Just in time for my purchase of UT3 today. I already had some tweaks going in the demo but my information is scattered.
Posted by: o n i o n
Awesome to the max. I have to finish cod 4 first though.
Posted by: Rez
Supoib. Changed a lot of the 'useful' stuff you posted. 
Posted by: Morningstar
Well done, robot!
Posted by: Rez
On a related note... What port does UT3 use? 
Posted by: -Broken-
Posted by: Morningstar
quote:
Originally posted by Rez
On a related note... What port does UT3 use?
7777
Posted by: The Warden
UTWeapon.ini changes:
[UTGame.UTWeapon]
CrosshairColor=(R=0,G=255,B=0,A=255)
Note: GREEN Crosshair as opposed to the WHITE default
Posted by: The Undertaker
Outstanding effort from our local Gearhead! 
Might be worth a sticky for a while if it helps people. 
Posted by: semtex
Very impressive guide you have there Ultron. I’m still playing Bioshock and I just got Soldier of Fortune Payback. Didn’t know Unreal was out so maybe I’ll grab a copy this weekend and apply these tweaks.
Posted by: Ultron
Thanks, all!
I had been giving advice on the Epic forums for some time, but I wanted to put something together that encapsulates it all, and I finally just broke down and put it all together. One problem we've had over there is a ton of people basically saying "Help!" but not actually doing any research. Now, instead of me posting the same (or similar) answers in every thread, I can answering something specific in those posts, and then refer them to that one thread for the rest of the information. Saves me some work, and hopefully becomes a useful resource. And naturally I wanted to post here here, too.
Posted by: sKunk
Worth making a sticky
Posted by: Ultron
w00t! TY! 
Posted by: -Broken-
So, that file location in XP, is equivalent to C:\Users\%username%\Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Config in Vista, yes?
I made the changes, and nothing seems different...  Is it possible that it is a different location in Vista? I can't imagine this is the case, but I'll be damned...
I still get the red shit showing up when I get hit 
Posted by: Ultron
You might have to change the showdamage bind. This seemed to have worked better in the demo. I set it back to true and I can't really tell the difference, except that I seem to notice the directionality is back. So I am not sure what is up with that.
Or there is an option I missed somewhere. Hmm.
Regarding the location of the files? Yeah that's the right place. Did you get a dialogue box asking you to say yes or no after the changes? If you said yes it reverts it to what the default config files say.
You might try the High performance settings and then the High Quality settings and load up UT3 each time, to see if you notice a difference. If not, then there is a problem somewhere.
Then you would try to change the settings in-game, and see if that helps. Just turn all the sliders down and that should be a dramatic change. After that, you can then go into that UTEngine.ini file and see what, if any, changes were made. If none were made, then it's referring to another UTEngine.ini file somewhere.
Posted by: -Broken-
Well, I have done many of the tweaks suggested, and I am topping out at about 60FPS on my system. I don't have much candy turned off (AMD 6000+ DC 3.1GHz, 4GB DDR2 800MHz, GeForce 8600GTS), but if I move from 1024x768 to anything higher (or even native resolution - 1680x1050) FPS halves on me to around 35 or so... Frustrating.
I just got this card in August, but I will be getting the 8800GT before xmas.
Posted by: -Broken-
In one of the tweak guides I found on the utforums, it demonstrated how to set mouse sens specifically by a number, rather than the slider, so you can really tweak the sens down to the decimal place. That, combined with no mouse acceleration really has made a difference in the aim feel.
And the more I play, the more it is affirmed that this game has the UT99 'feel' that everyone has been bitching about for the last 7 years.
I am pleased.
Posted by: Demosthanese
Among other things, I found that the files in my docs do not have a control setup that matches what I set in the config menu. Further, only changes in the engine.ini file worked in the game. All changes to other files had no effect.
Edit: I had started and restarted the game a couple of times before making the post, but immediately after posting, the changes to weapon.ini and game.ini took. However, the controls remain unchanged:/
Posted by: Ultron
Youy might have to set them all as read-only, then reset them as _not_ read-only. Just a shot in the dark, however.
Posted by: =Hawk=
Can you let us nOOBs know how to show fps and ingame ping?? 
Posted by: Demosthanese
F6 for in game ping.
Console: stat fps <===Show FPS
Console: stat net <===Show ping
Posted by: =Hawk=
WTFuckle? I didn't even know this forum existed......
Posted by: JohnDoe641
Hey, this forums been around since forever. And by forever I mean a really long time that is not short but long.
It's a tough job moderating here, give me a break ffs.
Posted by: PrezElectOllama!!
Wow! That really helps a lot.
I just got around to making some of those changes (cause I'm a lazy fatass) and The difference is quite noticeable. On Vertebrae my fps went from the 40's (dipping into the 20's) to 50's (dipping in to the 40's.) Sweet!
Two questions tho.
How do I uncap framerates? If I understand this correctly multiplayer caps you at 60?
Also, as a bonus answer. Is there a way to make CTF the default when I go in to multiplayer? It's not that big of a deal to change it from Deathmatch evey time but it would be nice.
Nice one, Ultron. Thx
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