Battlefield 4 and lightboost

[etegv]

Hi, im trying to run lightboost and b4 and Id like to know if im doing everything right

Im confused with the framecap. I thought capping fps at 120 would be the best because thats what im playing at, but then I read yesterday about keeping it at 118 or 119? can anyone explain that to me?

I just want to make sure im doing everything right and aslo want to reduce lag as much as possible. I have n r9 290. Is there some special option i should turn off?

I like using lightboost but i thought there wouldve been a bigger jump between that and 144 hz. That was the general consensus so Im wondering if im doing anything wrong? I have all the right hardware but I think I need more info on settings

thanks

[Chief Blur Buster]

Im confused with the framecap. I thought capping fps at 120 would be the best because thats what im playing at, but then I read yesterday about keeping it at 118 or 119? can anyone explain that to me?

This matters more with CS:GO than with Battlefield4. Using a framerate cap one or two fps below, avoids the tear-artifact harmonics between framerate and refreshrate.

120fps@120Hz = smooth but more-annoying stationary tearline
119fps@120Hz = mostly smooth with slow rolling tearline
118fps@12Hz = less smooth with faster rolling tearline
117fps@120Hz = a bit less smooth with very fast rolling tearline

Now BF4 fluctuates in frame rendertimes so much that you don't easily see tearing-artifact harmonics as easily as you can with Counterstrike:GO, which has very consistent GPU frame render times.

Sometimes, people combine fps_max 118/119 with VSYNC ON, to get slightly lower input lag than fps_max 120 with VSYNC ON, if you are trying to avoid tearing, and hate VSYNC OFF but want the lowest-latency VSYNC ON for competitive gameplay.

I just want to make sure im doing everything right and aslo want to reduce lag as much as possible. I have n r9 290. Is there some special option i should turn off?

It is very game dependant, and configuration dependant.

I like using lightboost but i thought there wouldve been a bigger jump between that and 144 hz. That was the general consensus so Im wondering if im doing anything wrong? I have all the right hardware but I think I need more info on settings

-- When prioritizing on fluidity over latency -- LightBoost performs best with perfectly consistent VSYNC ON (locked 120fps@120Hz stutterfree) and with a mouse configured to 1000Hz. This is the only way to get the "TestUFO smooth" effect in your game, perfectly framerate-refreshrate-locked motion that's stutterfree, for the full butter-smooth zero-stutter effect, but you usually sacrifice a smidgen of latency in order to achieve the best possible motion.
-- When prioritizing latency while trying to mimize microstutters, LightBoost tends to performs best with either capped VSYNC ON near framerate or uncapped VSYNC ON well in excess of 300fps (e.g. Counterstrike:GO running high fps_max values). Framerates that are ten or twenty fps away from the refreshrate, tends to look very microstuttery (e.g. 110fps@120Hz or 130fps@140Hz look quite microstuttery, since the harmonic/beat-frequency between framerate versus refreshrate is 10Hz in those 110fps or 130fps situations, which is quite easy to see). This is why 300fps@120Hz looks so good with LightBoost; it is high enough to avoid objectionable microstutter effects.

Strobing eliminates motion blur but amplifies the visibility of stutters, to the point where there's a noticeable difference between 150fps@120Hz (more microstuttery) versus 300fps@120Hz (less microstuttery). The microstutters are caused by harmonics between framerate versus refreshrate, and the lack of motion blur makes the microstutters more visible.

To witness the best-looking lightboost effect (even at increased lag), you want to temporarily test VSYNC ON and lower details until framerates stop falling below 120fps. This is very hard to do in BF4, but easy to do in CS:GO and other games. Bioshock Infinite looks great with VSYNC ON 120fps, though you want to bump shadow detail by 2 notches and view distance by 1 notch, to make it a consistent 120fps on a R9 290, GF 780 or FG Titan.

To witness LightBoost with minimum lag, you'll always have to live with some amplified microstutter (which decreases the quality differential between slightly-more-microstuttery-but-less-blurry LB 120Hz and the less-microstuttery-but-more-blurry non-LB 144Hz)

It's also quite possible that a framerate cap of 120 might be working just fine for you in BF4, especially if frame rendertimes are varying a lot, you're using VSYNC OFF, and you're not seeing tearing. And since you need to use VSYNC OFF during competitive gameplay where latency is more important than perfect fluidity. So in this case, just ignore my advice here.

That said, now you know why some people are using frame caps of 118 or 119 for various situations -- often as a compromise between input lag, tearing visibility, microstutter visibility, motion fluidity quality -- that are often more visible in certain games (e.g. CS:GO).

[etegv]

thank you so much for all the info. I tried to follow all your advice and really want to use optimize my pc for lightboost

I am playing with v sync off. I want to reduce lag/latency as much as possible.

Do you know if theres a setting that I should disable for ATI? I know nvidia users have to disble 3d sterostopic (something like that)

also, can you explain mouse settings to me? I have a CP Spawn mouse
http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product ... ct_id=3021

theres an option for pointer acceleration and I set it to medium. I feel like thats the best but im not sure, lol. I can also turn it off or set it to low.

Also I tried Marck C mouse fix, and in one video the reviewer said to keep the dpi low. HE recommended 800 or 1000 and said that would allow more data to flow. I tried 800 and didnt like it. Currently my options are 800, 1800, and 3500. Is there one dpi I should just stick with? Or is it preference

thanks again

[Chief Blur Buster]

Also I tried Marck C mouse fix, and in one video the reviewer said to keep the dpi low. HE recommended 800 or 1000 and said that would allow more data to flow. I tried 800 and didnt like it. Currently my options are 800, 1800, and 3500. Is there one dpi I should just stick with? Or is it preference

It is mouse-dependant, game-dependant and preference. Some competitive gamers prefer a lower DPI on mice that performs very accurately at lower DPI. However, there's many great mice that performs great at high DPI, and you simply adjust the in-game mouse sensitivity setting downwards if mouse is too fast. This allows very accurate small mouse movements. It also depends on if you're optimizing for sniping, or optimizing for fast flick 180's, as optimizing a mouse response for specific activities that require short mouse swipes versus long mouse swipes. I recommend reading the mouse guide at http://www.eliteownage.com/mouseguide.html and also at http://www.blurbusters.com/mouse-guide/

Strobe tech such as LightBoost adds a very minor amount of input lag (half a frame average; ~4ms), so you need to make sure your human performance improvement from improved motion clarity (no motion blur obstruction) outweighs the very minor added input lag. A great example is the "Scout" character in Team Fortress 2.

Many competitive gamers will recommend a 500Hz setting which may work better with your mice in some competitive settings. Older systems could not keep up with a 1000Hz mouse pollrate, but that is no longer an issue.

However, for LightBoost usage and GSYNC usage, the 1000Hz setting performs noticeably better since the motion fluidity enhancing technologies actually benefit more from the extra pollrate. Thus, if you do indeed turn on LightBoost, use one of the better 1000Hz mice, and enable the 1000Hz setting. NVIDIA recommends 1000Hz for GSYNC usage, as an example.