Watch Dogs 2 PC Tweaks Guide, What are the Optimum Settings?

Watch dogs 2 PC has loads of settings that you can play around with. Here is all that you need to know about the settings and how they will affect you.

Watch Dogs 2 PC is out now and it has to offer much more than what you may get on the console version of the game. PC gamers will get better graphics and PC exclusive content. If you have an Nvidia GPU then you will be able to use the Ansel tool later on when it is added to the game. Here is all that you need to know about the Watch Dogs 2 PC graphics settings and how they affect the appearance of the game as well as in-game performance.

Watch Dogs 2 PC System Requirements:

Minimum Requirements

  • CPU: Intel Core i5-2400S @ 2.5 GHz / AMD FX 6120 @ 3.5 GHz
  • GPU: GeForce GTX 660
  • VRAM: 2GB
  • RAM: 6GB
  • OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
  • HDD: 50GB free space

Recommended Requirements

  • CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 @ 3.2 GHz / AMD FX 8120 @ 3.9 GHz
  • GPU: GeForce GTX 780, GeForce GTX 970, or GeForce GTX 1060
  • VRAM: 3GB
  • RAM: 8GB
  • OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
  • HDD: 50GB free space

Ambient Occlusion
This makes shadows better and adds to the realism of the game. When this setting is on shadows are drawn more accurately and it creates better-looking scenes. Turning this setting on will reducing the FPS by 3-5 FPS at 1440p. This may not be a huge loss if you are running the game on a high-end GPU but you can always turn this setting off for better in-game performance.

Bloom
The bloom setting adds minor improvements to the indoor lighting. This can go unnoticed majority of the time. This will cost less than a frame and there is no noticeable difference when you turn it off. You can keep this on if you want.

Depth Of Field
This is the feature that comes into play in the game cinematics or when you are aiming with a weapon. This will cost you a frame or two. This will be noticeable in scripted moments of the game.

Extra Details
If you want the best details as far as possible then you will want to turn this setting on. This will impact your CPU performance and it could, in turn, bottleneck the GPU. If you have a budget or mid-range CPU then you would be better off not having this setting on in the first place.

If you have high-end hardware then you can give this a shot. Using this setting draw distance is significantly decreased so if you are moving quickly through an environment things will look the same as compared to having it off. This will impact FPS by 10-18 frames depending on how high the detail is set to.

Multisample Anti-aliasing
If you have a lower end PC then you would be better off using Temporal Filtering and Post-process Anti-aliasing. For high-end PC users, you have the option for TXAA but it comes at a very high cost of 10-30 frames.

If you want better edges than you can turn this on otherwise you could use these 20 frames on better textures or shadows.

Pixel Density
This setting can be used to upscale or downgrade your resolution. Even if you have a 1080p monitor this setting will allow you to make the game look even better than 1080p. This can also come in handy if you need to play around with whether you want a better looking game or you want a smooth gameplay experience. This can also impact your FPS heavily depending on how high you set the pixel density. You will be losing 1-30 FPS.

Post-process Anti-aliasing
If TXAA is too much for you then you can opt for this setting to get some decent edges. This cost only a few additional frames and is better than having nothing at all. Having this setting will improve the outlook of the game overall without costing you too many FPS.

Reflections
This setting adds accurate reflections to the game when you stand near water or a window you will be able to see reflections. This is not a very costly setting and will cost you up to 3 FPS.

San Francisco Fog

This adds fog to the game as seen in the game trailer. This is a PC exclusive setting and it will cost you up to 30 FPS. If your GPU is not up to the mark you would be better off staying clear of this setting for now.

Shadows
There are a number of settings for shadows that improve how shadows form and look in the game but these come at a very high cost. Increasing the shadow setting past ultra will cost you up to an additional 15 FPS. To shadows are not cheap when it comes to Watch Dogs 2 PC.

Temporal Filtering
This setting will allow the game to work better and look better at the same time. It does not affect other settings so that is another plus point of having this on.

Terrain
Terrain detail can be set according to your preference. Setting this to high will save you some frame if you can stand the low details for far away objects. But that should not bother you much.

Texture Resolution
The highest texture setting uses less than 8 GB of VRAM so if you have a fairly recent GPU with ample amount of VRAM then you will be able to run the game at high texture resolutions. There is also a VRAM calculator in the game that allows you to see how much VRAM will be needed for different settings, that will be very helpful to help you decide which settings to go with.

Vegetation
Increasing this setting costs you 3 FPS. So if you are tight on frames you could turn this off as the trees look pretty great even with this set to low.

Conclusion

Watch Dogs 2 PC is a very graphics intensive game. It is recommended that you have a GTX 1060 in order to run te game at 1080p the Temporal Filtering setting will allow you to get better visuals and better in game performance and will allow you to get close to the 60 FPS mark which many gamers desire.

Bare in mind that if you have an SLI setup then this setting will not help you. I hope that this Watch Dogs 2 PC settings guide was helpful.

Sarmad is our Senior Editor, and is also one of the more refined and cultured among us. He's 25, a finance major, and having the time of his life writing about videogames.