Are there mods to better optimize a PC port?

[Oly J]

Hi everyone, so I was looking through the Steam Store yesterday and I noticed that Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor is available for £30, which is less than it would be on console no doubt, add to that the fact I don't own a PS4 yet, so the console version I could buy won't be available for another month or so, (not even sure about getting it at launch yet to be honest)

I was probably going to get this on Steam anyway, my PC is technically superior to all consoles anyway, (at least according to those in another thread wherein I provided specs and asked how it compared) so I looked at the recommended requirements and thought "Zounds! my PC's specs are only marginally above those specified here!" and then I remembered, in the aforementioned earlier thread it was mentioned that PC ports of AAA games are often poorly optimized, needing more power for comparatively little, thing is I spent a lot of money on this rig, and it was in the hope that I'd be able to play the best version of any game for quite a while, so obviously this has me a bit worried that my rig might become obsolete faster than I would like, and I'm not confident in my abilities to open it up and modify it without disastrous consequences.

obviously if what I'm suggesting is possible it will be a case-by-case basis, but basically, are mods to better optimize a game for PC a thing? or is there another way to get a better result out of your hardware, I'm not particularly worried right now because as I mentioned my specs are still above the recommended, but I have a feeling they'll be overtaken by future games too soon for my liking. so any advice on how to combat that without compromising the settings I run the game on would be great, thanks!

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

You can't optimize a game on your own. There are some games that can be configured to lower settings than what the game allows via the options menu. That usually involves editing a couple of .ini files to lower texture and shadow resolutions, get rid of certain effects and stuff like that. Most UE3 and CryEngine games allow that.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well we generally call them graphics options.
"But OMG I must run all my games on super duper mega ultra high rainbow settings!" Then you best start selling internal organs because that jazz will cost you a rebuild every couple of months. It is very easy for devs to let you just abuse the system with sheer brute force, the hard part is getting really good results with very little power.

So if you want to play sensibly for years you might want to take the eye candy down a notch, and if you want bragging rights a fat wallet is the only one that can help.

 

[Shpongled]

Is Shadow of Mordor even a port? Wasn't it slated for release on PC right from the start?

Either way, most PC ports are generally fine. Occasionally there are issues which mods can/will fix, occasionally devs put work into improving their ports post release, occasionally bad ports just stay as bad ports. But more often than not, simply turning the graphics settings down will solve poor optimization problems, albeit at the expense of (imo) minor graphical fidelity.

It's a little early to be speculating how well the PC version of this game will, not to mention speculating about any mods that might be able to alleviate any issues that do make themselves known. You're kinda jumping the gun here.

Just to add, i don't know the specifics of your build, but you probably shouldn't be expecting a rig that's only "marginally" better than recommended specs of current games to be capable of running new games on ultra for very long. Your rig won't be "obsolete" for good long while, but don't hold up hopes of running "the best version" of games for more than a couple of years, if that. Not without upgrading certain parts, which is the best thing about PC's, and something that you really should look into if you genuinely do want to maintain high-ultra settings.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

You're asking a very strange question; one to which there is no single answer. Some ports run well without the need of tinkering, some don't. Some games have mods available, some don't. For Shadows of Mordor specifically, it's not even out yet so there's no way to answer it in this case.

PC games have settings you can tweak, usually in-game where gfx settings can altered to find the ideal balance between performance and quality. As for bug fixes, in the age of Steam patches, updates and DLC are all handled automatically, in the background and need no input. They're automatically rolled out when a game is installed, or the next time it's run.

If you have an nVidia card, they've got a software download called "GeForce Experience" (latest version 2.111 available here [http://www.geforce.co.uk/geforce-experience]) that, along with a Fraps style recording feature, SHIELD support and driver management, has a "Game Optimisation" feature available. This is on my machine:

Spoiler

Hitting "Optimise" on a given game will select a whole range of settings optimised for a specific machine, for a particular game (providing the game is supported).

Beyond that, the only advice is to wait and see. Install a game and try it and if you have an issue, then worry about a fix or mod. There are very few games that require such efforts. It's worth keeping you GFX drivers up to date but not strictly necessary. If it's a (new) game you're particularly looking forward to then it's well worth updating to the latest as they will likely include optimisations for it.

As an aside, some games have mods above and beyond what the dev provides that enhance or improve and can change graphics, gameplay, bugfixes and more. F.ex, there are EnBs [http://enbdev.com/download.htm] to enhance graphics in many games, including Skyrim, DE:HR, ME3 and more. Vampire TM: Bloodlines has fan made unofficial patches, FC3 has mods that unlock or tweak weapons and gameplay features and Skyrim/FO3/FNV with mods look and play an order of magnitude greater than the base games.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Your hardware spec is not likely to be "overtaken" any time soon. What you must consider is that there are no longer games being developed to push the PC to its limit (apart from Star Citizen). Games are made for consoles and that spec will not change during a platform's lifetime (the hardware might, but it will be throttled down to maintain the same, standard capability). If you have a PC today that outperforms a PS4, then you have a machine capable of playing all AAA games during the lifetime of current gen consoles.

If you want to improve it in the future, the beauty of having a PC is that you can. eBay your GFX card 3 years from now and buy a new one, add a hard drive if you run out of space.

For me personally, the worst thing, the thing I hate most above all others when it comes to PC games is if ported games are stuck with a console FoV. I cannot stand playing a game on PC with an FoV meant for consoles (like 75 or below). If it isn't redone for PC, or if it lacks a mod/tweak or if it lacks an in-game option (the best case) I will not play it, or if it's borderline playable, I may play it but will resent both the game and the dev who made it as a poor product and an incompetent company respectively.

You might find some games 2-3 years from now start to tax your machine a bit. As the console hardware gen matures and devs push them harder and further (consider that Oblivion and Skyrim are the same generation!), you might have to start playing some games on lower settings. Can't really be helped then.

 

[J Tyran]

If you're asking if a game can be better optimised through mods the answer is sometimes, depends on the game. Whether a game can be modded to any degree and how far depends on a combination of two things, how accessible the "guts" of the game are and how popular the game is. Some games can be modded as easily as replacing or updating a few files while others can be really difficult to mod that need complicated 3rd party tools to even make a start on simple things, how popular a game is can affect the size of the community and in particular the amount of the more technical players there are. They can make features more hardware friendly like reducing overhead for graphical features and in some cases outright improve the graphics, Dark Souls is a good example of that and so was Watchdogs.

If you're asking "can I mod a game?" the answer is maybe, no offence but if you where capable of modding it yourself from scratch you would have started it or be asking different questions. Most PC gamers couldn't sit down and make mods from scratch without creation kits or 3rd party tools although quite a few of us have a some experience messing .ini and config files to try and deactivate or activate features missing from the menus, as for installing mods others have made the answer is the same.

Some games are easy to install mods with and you can find ones that self install or that have easy to use install tools, others can be a pain where you need to spend a fair bit of time of reading about how the mods work and how to install them. That ties into how easy the game is to mod in the first place generally but not always.

I did a quick search of Nexus and Mod DB but there was nothing useful apart from some people discussing the possibility but no actual mods or WIP or anything, check both of those sites as if there is anything in the (near) future they can be found there.