Actually i'm glad they invested more in how the aircraft fly and operate than in the ability to run everything maxed out. It's easier to improve an engine's performance over time and gradually turn on dormant features, than introduce completely new game mechanics at a later date.
Lobi runs with original size textures and i'd risk a bet that's his main resource hog there.
I'm running it fine on two year old hardware: i7 920 @ 2.7 Ghz, Ati 4890 1GB and just 3 GB of RAM, win 7 64bit.
My settings are: 1680 x 1050 (native monitor resolution), roads/grass/shadows/vsync on, SSAO off, AAx2, building detail and forest on low, buildings amount unlimited (to get rid of the pop-up), land shading high and everything else on medium.
I consistently get 30-60 FPS (capped there due to Vsync), unless flying over London. Even over London though i have to fly at low altitude to get below 30 FPS and even so it's a steady 22 FPS in the stock QMB mission, unless i go below 400-500 feet. That's the only scenario where it gets the hiccups for me, skimming the rooftops over London.
In fact, since the recent beta and now with this patch i managed to increase my building amount to unlimited which i had set to medium before. This does gives me an occasional FPS drop the first time i'll spawn in a mission or when a chuck of textures are loading, but on average i get better and better performance with each patch, enabling me to even increase a graphics setting from time to time.
My only wish is that the bombers would get some love in the next patch because there's a few known issues with some of them and a couple are in need of a revised control scheme/logic when on the bomb run. That's pretty much the only thing i miss right now, some gameplay specific fixes, because it already runs as well as can be expected on my PC.
On a final note, that E-1 is a beast. It's not very good against bombers, but it chews up fighters like nobody's business with four of those fast firing MGs. I think it will become the prime air superiority platform for blue pilots online because its lower weight, high rate of fire and ample ammunition supply are ideal for properly hosing down enemy fighters and making a quick getaway.
|