Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced PC Settings Guide

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag came retired way backmost successful 2013, and portion the crippled was demanding for its time, PC gaming has travel a agelong mode successful the past thirteen years oregon so. If Ubisoft simply released a remaster for the game, it’d apt beryllium highly casual to run, adjacent connected weaker hardware. But, instead, the crippled uses the aforesaid mentation of the Anvil Engine arsenic past year’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and that crippled was perfectly gorgeous, adjacent if it was hard to tally connected low-end hardware.

With Black Flag Resynced, though, Ubisoft seems to person widened the nett of hardware that’ll beryllium capable to tally the crippled well. Because wherever I wouldn’t adjacent deliberation astir moving Assassin's Creed Shadows connected a handheld gaming PC, Black Flag Resynced has 3 full presets for handheld gaming PCs.

At the high-end, Black Flag Resynced is an incredibly gorgeous and demanding PC game, but it’s inactive scalable capable to tally connected beauteous overmuch immoderate modern machine. Ubisoft itself is lone requiring an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and an AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT to tally the game, and that’s not precisely a ton of horsepower.

What’s Old is New Again

Even though Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is simply a remake of a now-ancient game, it’s perfectly stunning. The crippled looks a batch similar Shadows, with luscious vegetation and immoderate of the astir beauteous h2o effects I’ve seen lately. The second is ace important, obviously, arsenic you walk a batch of clip connected the Jackdaw doing, you know, pirate stuff.

That’s really wherever the crippled performs best, too, successful my experience. The worst show patches are erstwhile you’re walking done a crowded thoroughfare with a batch of NPCs. But erstwhile you’re retired sailing and engaging successful a spot of ship-to-ship combat, framework rates soar. This is apt due to the fact that the crippled doesn’t person to render truthful galore idiosyncratic NPCs, and the wide-open areas marque shadiness enactment a batch little demanding.

Luckily, Ubisoft really included a wide array of knobs and buttons to fto you tune however the crippled looks and performs. Unlike 007 First Light, which launched backmost successful May with nary graphics preset and a beauteous tiny magnitude of idiosyncratic settings to change, Black Flag Resynced has 10 antithetic presets ranging from “Handheld Low” to “Ultra High”. And beyond conscionable the presets, determination are 20 antithetic settings you tin tweak to truly dial the representation in.

Just similar with beauteous overmuch each modern game, Ubisoft released strategy requirements for Black Flag Resynced calling retired definite resolutions and prime settings for each ‘tier’ of hardware. For its 1440p setup, which I inactive deliberation is the aureate modular of PC gaming, Ubisoft calls for an RTX 3080 oregon an AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT. I don’t person a 3080 lying astir close present – that GPU is six years aged astatine this constituent – but I bash person an RTX 4070, which performs astatine astir the aforesaid level. Now, Ubisoft says it should beryllium capable to bash 60 fps connected the ‘High’ preset with ray tracing acceptable to ‘Standard’ astatine 1440p, and that’s with dynamic solution and DLSS enabled.

With those settings, the RTX 4070 is capable to transcend that 60 fps threshold, coming successful with an mean of 76 fps. But, erstwhile I crook disconnected dynamic solution and permission DLSS acceptable to ‘balanced’, the framework complaint really goes up, averaging 100 fps, but with a spot of a softer image. That’s due to the fact that the dynamic solution algorithm wants to support you arsenic adjacent to 60 fps arsenic possible, scaling up the solution erstwhile it has the overhead to bash so.

Of course, I’m ne'er satisfied conscionable utilizing a preset, truthful I did a spot of tweaking, lowering the prime of clouds and getting escaped of hairsbreadth strands, successful bid to boost h2o quality, loading distance, and ‘micropolygon,’ which reduces pop-in astatine the outgo of representation – and the 4070 has plentifulness to spare astatine 1440p. With my customized settings, I got an mean of 101 fps, but with amended h2o and little pop-in. And, sure, hairsbreadth doesn’t look arsenic good, but does that truly substance successful a crippled wherever you’ll beryllium spending a batch of clip connected a vessel successful the mediate of the ocean? I don’t deliberation it does.

Even if you don’t similar upscaling, my customized settings get an mean of 65 fps astatine autochthonal 1440p. However, they bash dip down to the precocious 50s erstwhile you’re successful a crowd.

Best PC Settings for Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced

For astir radical that conscionable privation to footwear up the game, prime a graphics preset and conscionable commencement playing, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is 1 of the champion games to bash that with. But, if you privation to dive successful and get the champion representation without losing excessively overmuch performance, you’re going to person to tweak the settings a bit. Luckily, I tin assistance explicate what each the small knobs really do.

Raytracing Mode: Ubisoft has included 2 antithetic types of presets here, conscionable similar it did with Assassin's Creed Shadows. The modular mode conscionable enables ray traced planetary illumination, and the extended mode besides enables ray traced reflections. Unless you person a beast of a GPU, I’d urge sticking with standard. It doesn’t taxation show too much, and it does marque the crippled look rather a spot better.

Raytracing Quality: This changes the solution and quantity of rays being cast. When you acceptable the ray tracing mode to standard, this volition default to Medium. You tin crook it up if you want, but it volition marque a immense interaction to performance, particularly successful analyzable scenes and it doesn’t adjacent marque that large of a quality to representation quality.

BVH Quality: BVH stands for bounding measurement hierarchy, which fundamentally calculates however galore objects successful the situation rays tin bounce disconnected of. Basically, little settings means airy rays bounce disconnected of less objects, and higher settings means much airy bounces. Just similar with ray tracing quality, permission this as-is unless you person a almighty GPU.

Character Quality: This changes however NPCs look. Unlike immoderate games, this is baking successful a batch of antithetic settings into one. This volition alteration quality meshes, shadows, and tin adjacent hitch the beards disconnected of characters faces. I’d permission this connected high, due to the fact that crowds are already the astir demanding portion of this game, and changing to precise precocious doesn’t truly marque a difference.

Hair Strands: This mounting volition animate idiosyncratic hairsbreadth strands either conscionable connected Edward Kenway’s caput oregon connected each character. As chill arsenic the effect looks, I don’t deliberation it’s a truly invaluable usage of GPU resources. But, hey, if not having much realistic hairsbreadth is simply a dealbreaker for you, it’s determination if you privation it. Everyone other should astir apt conscionable crook it off, though.

Post Effects: Just similar with quality quality, this mounting changes the prime of each the post-processing effects. Things similar bloom, LoD and godrays. I permission it connected high, but if you similar those spiffy small effects, consciousness escaped to crook it up a bit, it won’t marque that overmuch of a quality to your performance.

Particles Quality: This simply changes the prime of particle effects. There are a batch of them successful Black Flag Resynced, truthful I’d support it arsenic precocious arsenic you tin without losing performance. However, the stronger your CPU is, the little of an interaction this volition have.

Water Quality: This changes the prime of the water. Honestly, this is astir apt the astir important mounting here. This crippled is famously chock-full of the stuff, and it looks perfectly stunning erstwhile it’s maxed out. I would little different settings conscionable to person the h2o prime higher. But, evidently if you person a lower-end GPU, you mightiness person to marque bash with little settings.

Texture Resolution Quality: This is conscionable the texture prime setting. Turn it down, and the solution of textures goes down. Turn it up, and the other happens. Rule of thumb is to crook it up arsenic precocious arsenic you tin without moving retired of VRAM. With the RTX 4070, that didn’t happen, but if you person little than 8GB of VRAM, you’ll person to crook this down

Loading distance: This changes the region astatine which objects are loaded into the game. Whenever I’m playing a immense unfastened satellite crippled similar Assassin's Creed, particularly erstwhile there’s a full mechanic built astir climbing immense towers to scope retired your surroundings, I similar having the load region higher. Now, that comes astatine the outgo of VRAM and CPU performance, truthful crook this down if you commencement stuttering.

Geometry Quality: While loading region changes however distant objects are rendered, this changes the prime of adjacent objects. There’s precise small quality betwixt precocious and precise high, truthful I’d conscionable permission it astatine precocious unless you’re facing VRAM issues.

Micropolygon: Micropolygon sounds similar the sanction of a King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard album, but it’s really awesome that Ubisoft has included it here. This changes the magnitude of representation allocated to render objects successful the scene. Turning it up reduces pop-in. I’ve been playing the crippled with this mounting maxed retired and person experienced virtually nary texture pop-in. This is worthy cranking up if you person the VRAM fund for it.

Screen Space Effects: This is different mounting that changes aggregate things, namely ambient occlusion and reflections. These are immoderate of the astir taxing effects successful modern games, truthful they should beryllium the archetypal happening you crook down erstwhile you’re moving into show problems. On the 4070, though, I tally it astatine high, and person nary occupation staying supra 60 fps.

Light Source Quality: This changes the prime of the airy sources successful the game. This is different mounting that’ll truly propulsion your GPU, truthful I’d permission it precocious unless you person a almighty paper similar the RTX 5070 oregon Radeon RX 9070. It does look beauteous bully maxed out, though.

Shadow Quality: This changes the prime of shadows, and besides however acold distant from you they tin render. Shadows are ever an effect that tin deed show hard, but the precocious mounting keeps the crippled looking rich, without tanking your framework rates excessively much.

Cloud Quality: This mightiness beryllium a blistery take, but I don’t truly attraction however the skybox looks successful a game. This mounting tin marque the clouds look perfectly gorgeous, but unless you’re staring astatine the sky, you’re astir apt not going to announcement it. As such, this is 1 of the archetypal things I’d crook down, conscionable to determination immoderate of the GPU fund towards things that matter, similar h2o quality.

Fog Quality: This mounting changes the density of fog effects. Just similar with clouds, it’s bully to person truly bully looking fog, but not a necessity. Turn it up if you person oodles of GPU budget, but it’s not truly worthy its show cost.

Terrain Quality: Another mounting that changes 2 settings. This changes the loading region of terrain geometry, and besides affects tesselation. Leave this 1 astatine high, determination truly isn’t that overmuch of a quality betwixt that and the ultra precocious setting.

Scatter Density: This conscionable changes the density of clutter connected the ground. I person it acceptable to high, but I tin hardly archer the quality betwixt the debased mounting and the highest setting.

Deformation: Deformation conscionable changes the prime of things similar footprints successful the sand. It’s a insignificant effect, but it’s ever chill leaving footprints successful the terrain. But this is different effect that you tin crook down to prevention GPU budget.

Terrain Texture Quality: What bash you know, a 2nd texture prime mounting has appeared! This conscionable changes the textures of terrain, which volition beryllium peculiarly noticeable connected beaches. Just similar the different texture setting, crook this arsenic precocious arsenic your VRAM volition allow. It won’t truly interaction show until you tally retired of memory.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor astatine IGN and the PC components queen. You tin travel her @Jackiecobra