Tweaks to graphics settings I find useful

The following is based on my experience with the "Ultra" setting on a Ryzen 7 3700X CPU, RX 6800 (not XT) GPU, and decent fast RAM – on a 2560×1080 display at 75hz – and gets steady 70-75FPS performance on everything except intense on foot combat where the FPS will vary wildly between 35-55FPS (i.e. sometimes passable, sometimes powerpointy). Hoping update 7 improves that.

If your system has a 4K display or worse components, your mileage will vary especially as the following settings do not use upscaling AMD doodah. For 4K definitely use upscaling.

IMPORTANT TIP make a backup copy of every file mentioned and call it xxxxxx.original (or whatever)

First, check

%LocalAppData%Frontier DevelopmentsElite DangerousOptionsGraphicsStartPreset.start

— file contents =

Ultra

(if your preset file contents is anything else you may want to change it here to Ultra – set it back to what it was if you get worse performance)

Then check,

[LOCATION OF YOUR GAME INSTALLATION, e.g.:]steamappscommonElite DangerousProductselite-dangerous-odyssey-64OptionDefaultsUltra.fxcfg

— file contents (I suggest making the file read only after editing) =

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<RenderOptions PresetName="Ultra">
    <FOV>60.000000</FOV>
    <TextureQuality>1</TextureQuality>
    <TextureQualityEx>2</TextureQualityEx>
  <!--NOTE the next property is set here beyond the in-game slider maximum-->
    <LODDistanceScale>1.980000</LODDistanceScale>
    <AAMode>4</AAMode>
    <DirectionalShadowQuality>4</DirectionalShadowQuality>
    <SpotShadowQuality>3</SpotShadowQuality>
    <AOQuality>3</AOQuality>
    <BlurEnabled>false</BlurEnabled>
    <BloomQuality>3</BloomQuality>
    <EnvmapQuality>1</EnvmapQuality>
    <MaterialQuality>3</MaterialQuality>
    <EnvironmentQuality>3</EnvironmentQuality>
    <FXQuality>3</FXQuality>
    <GalaxyMapQuality>2</GalaxyMapQuality>
    <SSAAMultiplier>1</SSAAMultiplier>
    <DOFEnabled>1</DOFEnabled>
    <TerrainQuality>3</TerrainQuality>
    <TerrainLodBlendingQuality>2</TerrainLodBlendingQuality>
    <GpuSchedulerMultiplier>0.5</GpuSchedulerMultiplier>
    <SurfaceMaterialQuality>3</SurfaceMaterialQuality>
    <SurfaceSamplerQuality>3</SurfaceSamplerQuality>
    <JetConeQuality>3</JetConeQuality>
    <VolumetricsQuality>3</VolumetricsQuality>
    <TextureFilterQuality>4</TextureFilterQuality>
  <!--NOTE these next three Odyssey-related properties are not in the default Ultra config-->
    <DirectionalShadowQuality>4</DirectionalShadowQuality>
    <SpotShadowQuality>3</SpotShadowQuality>
    <UpscalingQuality>0</UpscalingQuality>
</RenderOptions>

Then check

%LocalAppData%Frontier DevelopmentsElite DangerousOptionsGraphicsCustom.4.0.fxcfg

— file contents (TIP: I suggest making the file read only after editing to prevent reverting to default in-game option UI maximums) =

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<Root PresetName="Custom" MajorVersion="4" MinorVersion="0">
    <BlurEnabled>false</BlurEnabled>
    <AOQuality>3</AOQuality>
    <DOFEnabled>1</DOFEnabled>
    <BloomQuality>3</BloomQuality>
    <EnvmapQuality>1</EnvmapQuality>
    <MaterialQuality>3</MaterialQuality>
    <EnvironmentQuality>3</EnvironmentQuality>
    <FXQuality>3</FXQuality>
    <GalaxyMapQuality>2</GalaxyMapQuality>
    <GUIColourQuality>0</GUIColourQuality>
    <TerrainQuality>3</TerrainQuality>
    <TerrainLodBlendingQuality>2</TerrainLodBlendingQuality>
    <SurfaceMaterialQuality>3</SurfaceMaterialQuality>
    <JetConeQuality>3</JetConeQuality>
    <VolumetricsQuality>3</VolumetricsQuality>
    <DirectionalShadowQuality>4</DirectionalShadowQuality>
    <SpotShadowQuality>3</SpotShadowQuality>    
    <UpscalingQuality>0</UpscalingQuality>
    <TextureQualityEx>2</TextureQualityEx>
    <AAMode>4</AAMode>
    <TextureFilterQuality>4</TextureFilterQuality>
    <SurfaceSamplerQuality>3</SurfaceSamplerQuality>
    <PerformanceQualitySetting>0</PerformanceQualitySetting>
    <ResolutionSetting>0</ResolutionSetting>
    <SSAAMultiplier>1</SSAAMultiplier>
  <!--NOTE the next properties are set beyond the in-game slider maximum-->
    <LODDistanceScale>1.980000</LODDistanceScale>
    <GpuSchedulerMultiplier>0.6</GpuSchedulerMultiplier>
</Root>