In case you somehow missed it, the open beta for Tom Clancy's The Division 2 went live today. This is a chance to go hands-on with the co-op loot shooter for four days in one final test ahead of its March 15th launch.
With such a short time period to go until The Division 2 is actually out, this beta test likely provides some great insight into the sort of performance we can expect at launch.
We've put together a Division 2 PC performance guide to help you achieve the perfect balance between great visuals and high frame rates. We've benchmarked each and every one of The Division 2's lengthy list of graphics options.
Using the chart below, you can find out just how demanding each graphics option is in TD2. demonstrating the percentage drop in frame rates when turning the graphics setting from Low to Ultra. This can provide an at-a-glance look at which graphics settings affect the frame rate the most in Tom Clancy's The Division 2.
Together with this, we've given priority scores based on how important we believe it is to enable these graphics options for the optimum PC gaming experience with Division 2.
The Division 2 System Requirements
For the benchmark results below we used a PNY GeForce RTX 2060 6GB XLR8, an Intel Core i7-5820K processor, and 16GB DDR4 memory. The tests were performed running a block around the White House during the daytime, taking average frame rates.
The Division 2 Graphics Options Performance Breakdown
The further right the bar goes, the more demanding the graphics option is. Down below the chart we've also provided priority ratings. Graphics settings with high priority and low performance impact are recommended to enable first. Those with low priority are deemed luxury graphics options.
What are the most demanding graphics options in The Division 2?
It comes as little surprise to see Resolution Scale is one of the most demanding graphics options in The Division 2. We usually consider this a video setting rather than a graphics option. Unlike a lot of games, it only scales from 25-100%, so it doesn't actually allow you to scale beyond your render resolution. The performance cost is equal to the resolution bump and you should be aiming for 100% resolution scale. If you're still struggling with the frame rate then either drop your resolution or use Resolution Scale to drop it in smaller chunks.
In terms of the proper graphics options, Volumetric Fog is the most demanding setting, and by some distance. Turning Volumetric Fog to Ultra can result in frame rate dips close to 30%. I initially wrote this off as being unimportant as Volumetric Fog effects are typically quite rare to see during gameplay. However, The Division 2 is absolutely filled with the stuff depending on the time of day so you will need to adjust your settings for stable frame rates while fog is on-screen.
The other biggie is Shadow Quality. This is typically a fairly demanding graphics option but does result in higher resolution shadows that greatly improve image quality. However, depending on how you scale it in conjunction with Spot Shadows and Contact Shadows, you may be able to turn this to Medium or High without a huge frame rate hit in The Division 2.
One final thing to point out is that there's no dedicated antialiasing setting whatsoever in The Division 2 at this point. It uses TAA but there's no way to tweak it, which is odd considering how in-depth the rest of the settings are.
The Division 2 Graphics Settings Priority
Shadow Quality
Set the level of quality of shadows for objects in the scene. Primarily affects shadow resolution.
Performance Impact - 4/5
Priority - 4/5
Spot Shadows
Set the number of spotlight shadows that can appear onscreen.
Performance Impact - 1/5
Priority - 2/5
Spot Shadow Resolution
Set the level of resolution on shadows created by spotlights.
Performance Impact - 0/5
Priority - 2/5
Contact Shadows
Set the quality of contact-shadowing of direct lighting for objects in the scene, making objects feel grounded rather than floating.
Performance Impact - 2/5
Priority - 4/5
Resolution Scale
Adjusts the resolution at which the scene renders. Lowering this graphics setting reduces the rendered resolution and increases performance. Raising the setting increases the rendered resolution and decreases performance.
Performance Impact - 5/5
Priority - 5/5
Sharpening
Focus or soften all elements on-screen.
Performance Impact - 0/5
Priority - 4/5
Particle Detail
Particle Detail sets the quantity and quality of particles emitted by particle systems in The Division 2. The higher the setting, the more particles are present in the scene. For example, flicking embers from a fire.
Performance Impact - 0/5
Priority - 3/5
Volumetric Fog
Thos sets the rendering quality of fog volumes. The higher the setting, the better the fog quality.
Performance Impact - 5/5
Priority - 3/5
Reflection Quality
Set the rendering frequency and resolution of global scene reflections produced by large scene objects, such as skyscrapers, mountains, etc.
Performance Impact - 3/5
Priority - 3/5
Local Reflection Quality
Set the rendering frequency and resolution of local scene reflections produced by objects nearby.
Performance Impact - 4/5
Priority - 4/5
Vegetation Quality
Set the level of quality for vegetation in TD2.
Performance Impact - 4/5
Priority - 4/5
Sub-Surface Scattering
Turn on or off the transmission of light through translucent objects. Most obvious on the skin of characters.
Performance Impact - 2/5
Priority - 2/5
Anisotropic Filtering
Enhanced the image quality of textures on surfaces that are at oblique angles relative to the camera.
Performance Impact - 0/5
Priority - 3/5
Parallax Mapping
Provides textures with a sense of depth without additional geometry. This is applied to places like brick walls, giving the appearance of 3D brickwork from a 2D texture.
Performance Impact - 0/5
Priority - 2/5
Ambient Occlusion
Set the quality of self-shadowing from ambient lighting for objects in the scene. This dictates how a step, for example, casts a shadow on the step below it.
Performance Impact - 3/5
Priority - 4/5
Depth of Field
This setting turn on or off the simulation of a camera's range of focus. Objects outside the range of focus are blurred.
Performance Impact - 1/5
Priority - 1/5
Object Detail
Object Detail adjusts the geometric complexity of in-game objects. The higher this setting is, the more detailed the objects become.
Performance Impact - 3/5
Priority - 4/5
Extra Streaming Distances
Increases the distance at which objects are rendered in. Turning this setting up uses your memory and HDD resources.
Performance Impact - 3/5
Priority - 3/5
Lens Flare
Turns on or off the simulation of the internal reflections and scattering of light caused by a camera lens' optical characteristics. This one comes down to a matter of personal preference rather than a definitive visual improvement.
Performance Impact - 0/5
Priority - 0/5
Vignette Effect
This one took a little while to figure out but this causes light bleed on the edges of the image. Again, personal taste for this as it has little bearing on either performance or quality.
Performance Impact - 0/5
Priority - 0/5
Water Quality
Water Quality, er, sets the quality level for the water graphics. From my time with the beta there isn't actually a great deal of water actually in The Division 2, and it doesn't look fantastic whichever setting you have it on.
Performance Impact - 1/5
Priority - 2/5
Chromatic Aberration
A divisive graphics setting, Chromatic Aberration in The Division 2 only applies to the UI elements, lending them a slightly out-of-focus look.
Performance Impact - 1/5
Priority - 0/5
Projected Texture Resolution
Sets the resolution size of the textures in The Division 2. This will be dictated by the amount of available VRAM on your graphics card.
Performance Impact - 1/5
Priority - 4/5
High Res Sky Textures
Simple enough, this refers to the skybox. Turn it on for high resolution, turn it off for standard resolution. The difference is fairly negligible though.
Performance Impact - 1/5
Priority - 2/5
Terrain Quality
Sets the quality level for terrain graphics in The Division 2.
Performance Impact - 1/5
Priority - 4/5
Overall performance in The Division 2 seemed pretty great, even at this beta stage. The RTX 2060 was averaging frame rates of 80-100fps with the visuals maxed out at 1080p. 1440p/Ultra at 60fps also seems to be perfectly achievable. We'll be sure to have more on The Division 2's PC performance shortly.
Login or Register to join the debate
PC Specs
As always, volumetric fog and cloud are always the most demanding settings in all Ubisoft games.
PC Specs
A possible helpful fix I found, reading the official forums, was that people could get better performance by changing a setting in the 'state.cfg' file in [My Documents>My Games>The Division 2>state.cfg].
The setting is 'Triple Buffer = true' which needs to be changed to 'Triple Buffer = false'. This removes stutter / jittery nature in performance for some. Also have Triple Buffering set to disabled in the Nvidia Control Panel.
PC Specs
I make a new section for a specific question.
It seems that the Resolution Scale is the new graphic option. But this is not Resolution Scaling of Resident Evil 2 or Dynamic Resolution of Forza Horizon or Shadow of War?
If possible I prefer to play in 1080p all the time. Or at least mark the bench like this to know how much runs me in ultra. Then maybe if I'm interested in activating it to play
PC Specs
(I've played with dynamic Res in forza so much in off and on and it's hard to see difference in Shadow of War if I noticed when the resolution changed because they were giant stages with a lot of zoom and textures) Or does this Resolution Scale refer to the Exodus Metro Shader? In that case, I would try not to touch it by all means, since going down to 0.5 makes the Metro look very blurred. Thanks in advance. Any light on this that clarifies me if I touch the option, I would appreciate it. Both for the Benchmark and for the Game later.
A greeting!
PC Specs
Resolution Scale/Scaling are the same thing but they are different to Dynamic Resolution. From your comment I think you're aware of that but just to clarify, Dynamic Resolution pushes the resolution up and down in real-time in order to maintain a given FPS. Resolution Scaling caps at 100% in The Division 2, which is the same as playing at the resolution you set it to. So 100% scaling while playing at 1080p means the game renders at 1080p. 50% scaling at 1080p means it renders at half the numbers vertically and horizontally, meaning 540p. It means your UI stays sharp but the actual game drops in resolution.
Hope that makese sense.
PC Specs
Thanks to clarify. In the same way it would be the last option that you touch. Now we just have to wait for the game to be available and amd to make its magical hahaha.
Greetins
PC Specs
This game looks awesome.
I have tested both betas. Tonight I'll go in to see if I can adjust something else with this data in my hand. Again thanks @Jon. This game is almost almost going to buy it out. Anthem I will wait a while.
The Fog will again be my main ally together down Shadows to High
My Fx6300 overclock heats up if abuse of CPU dependent options. So in The Division 1 I lowered to 50% Extra Streaming Distance and object detail.
The rest I can almost play in Ultra at 37 fps.
PC Specs
This game like the first, looks incredible in details, reflections in the water, shading, ambient occlusion, flashes, vegetation. It is amazing.
And I think it brings a lot of improvements in the aiming and in the gameplay to give him 100 very good hours.
PC Specs
None of this should really matter much since the game is only out in open beta and you never really know what can change on the actual release and this is speaking from experience right now cause in the private beta i was getting an average of 70 fps on high settings and the open beta i am getting 78 fps on average so on the actual release we don't know if the performance will be better or worst.
PC Specs
From closed alpha to closed beta a lot has changed. From open beta to release you won't see much of a change to be honest. Considering it releases in 11 days it's too short of a time to make any drastic measures.
PC Specs
I just spoke with my friend at Ubisoft before popping on here and there is changes that will be done to the game just he can not share that information with me because of legal reasons.
PC Specs
We're not publishing FPS benchmarks just yet as it could be liable to change, so we've stuck to the graphics settings as they're likely to remain pretty stable (although will verify at launch)
PC Specs
The vignette causes light bleed on the edges ?
Doesn't it darken/mask the edges to create a more cinematic feel.
Also, PS> try the Mouse Smoothing option in Controls. Default was set at 5. Changes by 5 points at a time. I set it to 20 and it really helped the game feel SO much better. Because it removed the jitter / stutter that's present because of quick mouse movements.
PC Specs
Great article, for me in the closed alpha the game ran poorly, then it ran MUCH better in the closed beta. I did notice that turning down fog made a huge impact and was able to max the game out no problem, seems to be the case for most games these days, volumetric fog destroys FPS. Otherwise i found the game very well optimized and ran great on my build.