Battlefield: Bad Company 2

There are quite a few performance guides out there (such as this one: http://gamers-underground.com/action-fps/32463-bad-company-2-tweaks.html), but personally I feel they're all incomplete and not very well written. So here's my version (targeted towards both noobs and more knowledgeable folks):

1.1 :: Settings.ini
First off, you may or may not know that the most important settings when it comes to performance aren't even in-game. They are under settings.ini. Open the file in a text editor (such as Notepad) and tweak away! settings.ini is located here:

In Win7/Vista: C:\Users\[you]\Documents\BFBC2\settings.ini
In XP: C:\Documents and Settings\[you]\My Documents\BFBC2\settings.ini

After you make your changes to the file & save, you will need to mark it as read-only to keep the game from changing your settings back.

If you are not very good at computers (or uncomfortable with editing .ini files), Liseda from the EA forums has made a simple tool that can change most (but not all) of the same settings for you. Get it here:
http://ohlawl.com/liseda.html


2.1 :: Settings that make the biggest performance impact
Anti-Aliasing (MSAA)
The higher you set this, the less "jaggies" you will see. Using AA takes a massive chunk out of your FPS however.
¬ Best Performance: 0 (1x)
¬ Best Quality: 3 (4x) and above

Bloom
Effect that attempts to mimic the way the human eye sees a bright object right after looking at a darker one. Makes sunsets look gorgeous in this game at the cost of FPS.
¬ Best Performance: false (off)
¬ Best Quality: true (on)

DirectX Mode (DxVersion)
Changes what version of DirectX to run the game in. The game looks "prettier" in DX10 (better water, dust, etc.), but the effect is subtle so you might want to turn it off. This setting will only affect users running Vista/Win7 with a DX10 capable GPU.
¬ Best Performance: 9
¬ Default: auto
(Note: You may experience graphical glitches running in DX9 mode, such as flickering textures and not being able to see out of the mounted turret window. AA doesn't work in DX9 mode either.)

Horizontal Based Ambient Occlusion (HSAO)
Advanced form of shadows that add depth to objects, but can negatively impact performance. Here are some comparison screenshots (from the beta but it still applies):
ON: http://img222.yfrog.com/img222/8094/hbao10.png
OFF: http://img21.yfrog.com/img21/4914/hbao9.png

ON: http://img268.yfrog.com/img268/9527/hbao14.png
OFF: http://img96.yfrog.com/img96/425/hbao13.png

ON: http://imgur.com/avj2B.jpg
OFF: http://imgur.com/7y9Gu.jpg
¬ Best Performance: false (off)
¬ Best Quality: true (on)

Shadows
¬ Best Performance: medium or low
¬ Best Quality: high

Undergrowth
Quality of the grass that is "painted" on the ground. There's a lot of this, so turning it down helps.
¬ Best Performance: medium or low
¬ Best Quality: high

VSync
Syncs the games FPS to the refresh rate of your monitor to eliminate "tearing" (noticeable on fast movement). Only turn this on if you can maintain 60+FPS constantly. Otherwise it'll negatively impact performance.
¬ Available settings: on, off

Beast.

thanks
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Thanks for the info, bro.

sticky.
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I will bump this forever. Sticky.
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