Watch Dogs: Legion PC performance thread

[GrrImAFridge]

(Click for general game info.)

🖥️ System requirements:

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🧰 Latest drivers: (as at 24/02/2022)
AMD: 22.2.2
Nvidia: 511.79

📊 Benchmarks:
ComputerBase (German; launch build)
DSOGaming (English; review build)
GameGPU (Russian; review build)
Guru3D (English; launch build)
Hardwareluxx (German; review build)
PC Games Hardware (German; review build)
PurePC (Polish; review build)

📊 Performance guides:
Digital Foundry (English; review build)
Hardware Unboxed (English; review build)

🎩 Tips and tricks:
Cap the frame rate/potentially improve frame times: Download RivaTuner Statistics Server (if you use MSI Afterburner, then you already have it installed), input your desired framerate limit in the "Framerate limit" box, and hit Enter . Alternatively, those with an Nvidia GPU can either cap the frame rate at the driver level via the Nvidia Control Panel (requires the 441.87+ drivers) or use Nvidia Inspector to force a vsync internal lower than one-half (click the small tool icon to open the game profile section).
Note: Useful if your system can't maintain, say, 60fps and you're sensitive to the wild fluctuations, or you're experiencing uneven frame times. The greater window the engine has to render a given frame, if you're imposing a lower frame rate than the game can otherwise provide, may also help in alleviating stuttering related to data streaming.
Fix random controller disconnections: Disable the Uplay overlay by navigating to Uplay -> Settings -> General and unticking "Enable in-game overlay for supported games". (Credit to Linus815.)
Enable full performance monitoring overlay support: Disable BattlEye anti-cheat by setting -BattlEyeLauncher as a launch argument. (Credit to Kaldaien.)
Note: This will disable multiplayer functionality.
Fix the game displaying at 4096x2160 on 4K TVs: Follow these instructions. (Credit to Paz @ Steam Community via Faces of Death.)

When posting your own tip/trick or something else you'd like to see here in the OP, be sure to tag my username (@GrrImAFridge), as this way I'll receive a notification. I may miss your suggestion otherwise.

⚙️ Graphics settings:

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Video adapter: Self-explanatory
Window mode: Windowed; Windowed borderless; Fullscreen borderless; Fullscreen
Display: Self-explanatory
Resolution: Self-explanatory
Monitor refresh rate: Self-explanatory
Vsync: Off; Normal (equal to refresh rate); Sparse (half refresh rate)
FPS limit: Off; 30 -> 120 in increments of 1
Field of view: 70 -> 110 in increments of 1
Menu position: ???
Multi-monitor HUD: Auto; Fixed; Fit

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DirectX: D3D11/D3D12
Graphics quality (preset): Low; Medium; High; Very High; Ultra; Custom
Geometry: High; Very High; Ultra
Environment: Low; Medium; High; Ultra
Texture resolution: Lowest; Low; Medium; High; Ultra
Texture filtering: Low; High; Ultra
Shadows: Low; Medium; High; Very High; Ultra
Headlight shadows: Off; Your car; 2 cars; 3 cars; 4 cars
Reflections: Low; Medium; High; Very High; Ultra

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Depth of field: Off/On
Motion blur: Off/On
Bloom Off/On
Ambient occlusion: Off/On
Post-process anti-aliasing: Off; FXAA; SMAA; TAA
Subsurface scattering: Low/High
Ray-traced reflections: Off; Medium; High; Ultra
DLSS: Off; Performance; Quality; Balanced; Ultra Performance
Extra details: 0% -> 100% in increments of 1%
Temporal upscaling: 25% -> 100% in increments of 5%

 

[GrrImAFridge]

To unlock the game version early via VPN:

1) Download and install F-Secure Freedome (no hard limits, but the trial period expires after five days), FlyVPN (20-minute session limit), ProtonVPN (speed-limited), TunnelBear (500MB data limit), VPN Gate (no hard limits) or VyprVPN (no hard limits, but remember to cancel within 72 hours)
3) Connect to a server in Australia, New Zealand, or Asia
4) Restart EGS/Uplay (if you're logged in)
5) Wait for the executable and any updated data to download

Edit: No longer necessary.

 

[Lashley]

To unlock the game version early via VPN:

1) Download and install F-Secure Freedome (no hard limits, but the trial period expires after five days), FlyVPN (20-minute session limit), ProtonVPN (speed-limited), TunnelBear (500MB data limit), VPN Gate (no hard limits) or VyprVPN (no hard limits, but remember to cancel within 72 hours)
3) Connect to a server in Australia or New Zealand
4) Restart EGS/Uplay (if you're logged in)
5) Wait for the executable and any updated data to download

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Should be able to play it now, yeah?

 

[Rodrigues solitaire]

Should be able to play it now, yeah?

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Yup, just unlocked for me

There is a 1.6 GB Day 1 patch btw

 

[dgrdsv]

Watch Dogs Legion: RTX- und DLSS-Benchmarks - Hardwareluxx

Watch Dogs Legion: RTX- und DLSS-Benchmarks.

www.hardwareluxx.de

 

[john2gr]

Watch Dogs Legion - DLSS 2.0 & Ray Tracing Benchmarks

Watch Dogs Legion uses DX12, and takes advantage of both real-time Ray Tracing and DLSS 2.0. In this article, we'll be focusing on these two features.

www.dsogaming.com

 

[Roxas]

Just reading through, seems like my 3080 will be able to clear 1080p 60 with RTX at full with no DLSS, which is fine as my monitor is still 1080 60hz, excited, but the reviews warned about bugs so I'm concerned if they're too prevalent

 

[Tora]

What's ironman permadeath?

 

[Greywaren]

Game crashed while loading after pressing New Game. I used a VPN to unlock it, so it may have been that, because it locked me out of the game again after crashing.

 

[BoxScar]

What's ironman permadeath?

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When all your recruited playable characters die its game over. It's an optional feature though, but would make for an interesting 2nd run.

 

[Hasney]

Ignore, didn't apply the settings

 

[ANDS]

That's a bit of a load time to get in game. And Uplay crashes if the game crashes. . .o_O.

 

[Tora]

When all your recruited playable characters die its game over. It's an optional feature though, but would make for an interesting 2nd run.

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Thanks!

 

[Hasney]

4k, everything maxed including RTX apart from having no AA and turning off motion blur. Extra Details also at 0%

Ultra Performance is a little rough since it's designed for 8k, so might dial back the RTX and use performance.

EDIT: Going to performance over Ultra Performance drops it to 61 average, so I'll take it!

 

[Bony Manifesto]

Jesus, another Ubisoft open-world game severely bottlenecked by even a high-end CPU? They really need to do something about this, as it's only going to become more of an issue in the future.

 

[Faces of Death]

4k, everything maxed including RTX apart from having no AA and turning off motion blur. Extra Details also at 0%

Ultra Performance is a little rough since it's designed for 8k, so might dial back the RTX and use performance.

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That CPU usage is pretty crazy for 4K. Really looking forward to the DF video for this game...

 

[phant0m]

Specs:
Ryzen 5 3600X
RTX 3080
1440p 144 Hz

Preset: V. High / DLSS Quality / RTX Medium
Avg FPS: 72
1% low: 53 fps

No nVidia game ready driver yet? Still using 456.55

 

[Tora]

Ah man, fuck off Ubisoft lol

Runs between 45-60fps on a 3080 at 1440p using DLSS Quality

Everything is maxed out, turned RT to high and shadows to high to see how much of a difference that will make

 

[phant0m]

Ah man, fuck off Ubisoft lol

Runs between 45-60fps on a 3080 at 1440p using DLSS Quality

Everything is maxed out, turned RT to high and shadows to high to see how much of a difference that will make

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Watching the benchmark, I couldn't tell the difference between Ultra and V. High and got 8-10 fps boost by dropping down

 

[john2gr]

Ah man, fuck off Ubisoft lol

Runs between 45-60fps on a 3080 at 1440p using DLSS Quality

Everything is maxed out, turned RT to high and shadows to high to see how much of a difference that will make

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This is one of the rare cases in which the CPU and RAM play a huge part. I've tried setting my DDR4 to 2600Mhz and saw a noticeable performance hit, even at 1440p (Intel i9 9900K with 8GB of DDR4 @ 3600Mhz and RTX2080Ti). I'm really curious to see how the game runs on an Intel i9 9900K with 4000Mhz of DDR4.

 

[Tora]

Watching the benchmark, I couldn't tell the difference between Ultra and V. High and got 8-10 fps boost by dropping down

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Good to know; interestingly enough ultra claims to use an extra 600MB of VRAM, so it might be drawing shadows very far out

This is one of the rare cases in which the CPU and RAM play a huge part. I've tried setting my DDR4 to 2600Mhz and saw a noticeable performance hit, even at 1440p (Intel i9 9900K with 8GB of DDR4 @ 3600Mhz and RTX2080Ti). I'm really curious to see how the game runs on an Intel i9 9900K with 4000Mhz of DDR4.

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Agreed. Running a 3700x and 16GB of 3000Mhz ram, on Ryzen anyway i'm sure you'd see a nice uplift if you had 3600Mhz

 

[Radical Larry]

Good to know; interestingly enough ultra claims to use an extra 600MB of VRAM, so it might be drawing shadows very far out


Agreed. Running a 3700x and 16GB of 3000Mhz ram, on Ryzen anyway i'm sure you'd see a nice uplift if you had 3600Mhz

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Doubtful. 5% at the absolute most. From 2600mhz it's a different story of course.

 

[Xando]

Something funky is going on here.

Benchmark with RTX Ultra and DLSS ran at 45-65FPS on my 3080

When i get to the open world DLSS looks all kinds of blurry and fps tank to 25-35 fps.

I think i'll wait for nvidia drivers.


Set everything to low and FPS still stuck at 25-35fps? Wtf?

 

[Hasney]

Something funky is going on here.

Benchmarkt with RTX Ultra and DLSS ran at 45-65FPS on my 3080

When i get to the open world DLSS looks all kinds of blurry and fps tank to 25-35 fps.

I think i'll wait for nvidia drivers.


Set everything to low and FPS still stuck at 25-35fps? Wtf?

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Same happened here. Reducing RTX to medium got the game running smooth again and DLSS looked sharp again. Except doors with glass in them which have weird artifacts with DLSS on.

 

[Simonnnnn]

Typically, how shortly after release do Nvidia release the game ready drivers??

 

[FreezerGeezer]

Oh did not realize it was already out. Got it with my 3080, just updating and will jump in and give it a whirl.

 

[thisismadness]

Typically, how shortly after release do Nvidia release the game ready drivers??

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I feel like its usually a day or so before the game releases, especially for games they're partnered with. I guess this isn't technically suppose to be out until 29, so maybe that is why its behind.

 

[john2gr]

Typically, how shortly after release do Nvidia release the game ready drivers??

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The game officially releases tomorrow. Since this is an NVIDIA-sponsored game, we can expect new drivers today (or tomorrow).

 

[Fatmanp]

Typically, how shortly after release do Nvidia release the game ready drivers??

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I am quite surprised they are not already out but I would guess today.

 

[zerocalories]

Here we go

 

[LumberPanda]

Now to play whack-a-mole with "which specific settings do we turn down from Ultra to High"

 

[Deleted member 50232]

Will definetly wait for the Nvidia driver before playing.

Do they normally make a big different to peformance (new pc gamer here)?

 

[R dott B]

Ultra settings with DLSS Quality>Balanced>Performance>Ultra Performance

I don't know what I expected tbh but it'll do.

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[Tora]

DLSS seems to blur water quite a bit?

 

[Radical Larry]

DLSS seems to blur water quite a bit?

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That's DLSS for you.

 

[Tora]

That's DLSS for you.

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Goddamn

It works so well on Fortnite

 

[Fair Trial]

Is there someone that can test performance with GTX 1660ti?

 

[Simonnnnn]

Will definetly wait for the Nvidia driver before playing.

Do they normally make a big different to peformance (new pc gamer here)?

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I'm wondering the same, this is my first big release as a PC gamer.

 

[Hasney]

At night, RTX on high in the open world works as the benchmark said it would.

 

[Zoyos]

I'm wondering the same, this is my first big release as a PC gamer.

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A new driver can be anything from a slightly negative impact to >+10% to correcting graphical artifacts. Most big AAA games see a new driver right around release, a few days before or after.

 

[Simonnnnn]

A new driver can be anything from a slightly negative impact to >+10% to correcting graphical artifacts. Most big AAA games see a new driver right around release, a few days before or after.

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Thanks, hoping for some decent optimisation, considering Nvidia has thrown their weight behind this game... Although, this is Ubisoft..

 

[GreatBriTom]

Beware, I had numerous crashes during my time with the game. Details and evidence around 7 minutes into my review.

 

[La Fawn Duh]

yeahhhhh... runs like absolut shit. I7 8700K, RTX 2080, 16GB DDR4. playing with average 40-50fps. High Settings with RTX on Medium and DLSS set at Performance (does not even matter what i set here at all lol). Game is just not smooth at all in the open world. Close quarters and moving in buildings are good but the whole open world and the terrible driving is a mess in matter of performance and controls. My hopes are for the nvidia driver but this is not what i expected. not gonna play further. if it is not fixed in the coming weeks im just gonna buy it on a sale for the ps5.

sad sad sad

 

[Tora]

GPU utilisation on a 3080 is around 70-80% on average with a 3700x.

Really Ubi, so frustrating. Driving feels horrible because it cannot keep up

 

[Deathglobe]

I'm getting 70 and 80 usage on a 2080 super and i7 6700k. Frames are anywhere from 35 to 80 lol

 

[Davilmar]

I bought a 3080 from EVGA. Can I sell a code if I have one? Or is it linked to my account like someone said a while ago?

 

[Mini-Me]

I've had the game for several days now. I've got a RTX 3090 and a 9700k and it honestly does not run all that great as that video going around the other day showed. Even at 1440p it struggles to only the mid-70s, not even DLSS doesn't help much at all.

 

[DjRalford]

Anyone running a 2080ti, just wondering what to expect at 4K with it.

 

[Temperance]

loving that is has built in 1% and .1%. Gotta keep those above 60 for me.

 

[ANDS]

I've had the game for several days now. I've got a RTX 3090 and a 9700k and it honestly does not run all that great as that video going around the other day showed. Even at 1440p it struggles to only the mid-70s, not even DLSS doesn't help much at all.

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Link to video?