Halo: Campaign Evolved PC Settings Guide

Halo: Combat Evolved sits successful a pantheon alongside immoderate of the champion games ever made, truthful it wasn’t astonishing that Microsoft would merchandise a 2nd remake of it eventually. However, alternatively of utilizing a bespoke, in-house engine, this clip astir Halo Studios opted for Unreal 5,. And portion that’s awesome for anyone with a high-end machine, it does mean it struggles to standard to lower-end and older hardware.

That doesn’t mean the crippled doesn’t look bully though. If you person the hardware to foodstuff up the settings a bit, Halo: Campaign Evolved looks stunning, with fantabulous lighting and biology detail. But dissimilar a batch of games that person travel retired this year, similar Resident Evil Requiem and Crimson Desert, which are connected overmuch much flexible engines, the Halo remake isn’t well-optimized for lower-end hardware and turns into an disfigured messiness erstwhile you request to commencement turning down immoderate of the settings.

Unreal Engine 5

Ever since its debut backmost successful 2022, Unreal 5 has had a spot of a estimation for being rather dense connected graphics cards. And portion Halo: Campaign Evolved does fare a spot amended than thing similar Silent Hill F or, well, the Silent Hill 2 remake, determination doesn’t look to beryllium a batch of country to tweak performance, astatine slightest successful my investigating of the game.

I’ve already talked astir however atrocious Halo: Combat Evolved looks connected the weakest handhelds, but determination mostly isn’t overmuch country to tweak without making monolithic swings. You often person to alteration aggregate settings to spot immoderate benignant of show improvement, to the constituent wherever you’re astir apt amended disconnected conscionable going to the adjacent preset if you’re looking to boost show oregon fidelity.

So, for astir people, the champion determination is to conscionable look astatine this useful small illustration and align the preset with which graphics paper you person and however overmuch VRAM you have. For instance, I plugged successful the RTX 3090 arsenic a stand-in for the recommended RTX 3080 Ti, which the illustration says should tally astatine 60 fps astatine 4K with the High preset. And, well, that’s precisely however the 3090 performed. But what’s absorbing is that the show didn’t truly determination each that overmuch erstwhile I started tweaking with the settings.

The Settings

In my bosom of hearts, I emotion it erstwhile a PC crippled encourages maine to tweak with the settings to truly dial successful the performance. Halo: Campaign Evolved conscionable doesn’t look to beryllium that game. But portion that’s a spot of a disappointment for me, I don’t deliberation it's needfully a atrocious thing. There’s thing astir rapidly picking the close preset and getting into the crippled that’s truly appealing, and successful a mode feels existent to Halo’s console roots.

If you bash privation to eke retired a spot much performance, though, I’ve scoured done each the antithetic settings to fig retired what they change, and which ones you should alteration archetypal if you privation to amended show oregon representation quality.

Effects Quality: Effects Quality changes however analyzable ocular effects similar explosions are. In a crippled similar Halo, wherever determination are each kinds of antithetic explosions and lasers being changeable everyplace each the time, this is thing I’d debar turning down unless you truly request to prevention performance. Don’t conscionable crook it down if your mean fps is little than you want, though, lone crook it down if your framework complaint earnestly drops during combat.

• Mid-range PC: High
• Handheld: Very Low

Geometric Quality: In a batch of games, this would impact small objects similar rocks successful the environment, but successful the Halo remake, the developers shoved each geometry nether this 1 setting. So, this present affects silly small rocks, arsenic good arsenic however analyzable quality models are. I’d support this arsenic precocious arsenic imaginable until you commencement moving retired of VRAM.

• Mid-range PC: High
• Handheld: Very Low

Global Illumination Quality: For immoderate reason, Halo Studios kept each the geometry effects nether 1 setting, but broke planetary illumination retired of the overarching lighting category. Because this lone affects indirect lighting, it doesn’t alteration show each that overmuch erstwhile you crook it down, truthful I’d support it turned up.

• Mid-range PC: High
• Handheld: Very Low

Lighting Quality: Just similar geometric quality, Halo Studios shoved shadows, lighting prime and airy gully region into 1 mounting here. So, changing this mounting volition marque large changes to your performance, but astatine the outgo of turning down astir of the lighting effects astatine the aforesaid time. Ideally, each 3 of these things would person their ain settings, but this would beryllium the archetypal happening to crook down if you’re struggling to deed 60 fps.

• Mid-range PC: High, oregon Medium connected a 60-class card
• Handheld: Very Low

Texture Quality: One of the reasons I don’t similar presets is due to the fact that they usually alteration textures to beryllium either mode beneath what your VRAM tin handle, oregon mode above. For instance, connected the Radeon RX 9070 I tested the crippled with, Halo Studios recommends the precocious preset, but with 16GB of VRAM, the 9070 has much than capable fund to crank textures up to ultra. For this setting, I’d usage the magnitude of VRAM to usher you.

• 12GB oregon more: Ultra
• 8GB-12GB: High
• 4GB-8GB: Medium
• Handheld: Low

Reflections: As a wide regularisation of thumb, reflections are 1 of the astir demanding effects successful immoderate modern game. Halo: Campaign Evolved is nary different, and it helps that I don’t truly similar however they look successful this game. This is thing I’d consciousness comfy turning down to mean oregon debased to effort and compression retired a mates of other frames.

• Mid-range PC: High oregon Medium
• Handheld: Very Low

Atmospheric Quality: This changes each the atmospheric effects similar clouds, fog, oregon smoke. In a crippled similar Halo, I don’t deliberation atmospherics are that important, but your mileage volition vary. If this was thing like, say, Resident Evil oregon Metro, atmospherics would beryllium overmuch much important to the game’s aesthetic.

• Mid-range PC: High oregon Low
• Handheld: Very Low

Post-Processing Quality: This affects the prime of the assorted post-processing effects similar bloom and deity rays. You tin crook this down, but it hardly impacts performance, truthful I’d conscionable support it turned up unless you’re truly struggling for fps.

• Mid-range PC: High
• Handheld: Low

Screen Shake: This is simply a elemental toggle to alteration oregon disable the surface shaking erstwhile definite things hap successful the game. This won’t impact performance, really, truthful crook it disconnected if it’s annoying you.

• Mid-range PC: Your choice
• Handheld: Your choice

Motion Blur: Usually I’d accidental this is different optional setting, but the question blur successful this crippled is really bad. Maybe it’s conscionable my eyes, but it’s peculiarly blurry successful this game, making it hard to really play the game. But, again, spell with your idiosyncratic preference.

• Mid-range PC: Your choice, but leaning to off
• Handheld: Off

Upscaling Technique: This volition beryllium connected which GPU you have. For AMD users, usage FSR, for Nvidia users usage DLSS and for Intel usage XeSS. Just support successful caput that for immoderate reason, the crippled won’t fto you usage XeSS if you got the crippled done the Microsoft Store oregon Game Pass.

Upscaling Quality: For immoderate reason, Halo Studios abandoned the now-standard verbiage that beauteous overmuch each crippled uses for upscaling quality, alternatively opting for the aforesaid low-medium-high options arsenic the remainder of the graphics settings. Despite the antithetic names, though, the existent tiers are inactive standard. Basically, Ultra is Quality Mode, Medium is Performance mode.

• Mid-Range PC: High (Balanced)
• Handheld: Medium (Performance)

Async Compute: From the mode Halo Studios words this, it sounds similar this enactment volition let your GPU to determination immoderate work, similar physics, to immoderate of the secondary chips successful your graphics card. Keep this disconnected unless you person a brand-new graphics card, a bully CPU, oregon preferably, both.

Low Latency Mode: Just similar with Upscaling Technique, the champion enactment present volition beryllium connected which GPU you’re using. There is simply a default enactment that’s disposable for each graphics cards, but I’d urge conscionable going with Nvidia Reflex for Team Green and AMD Anti-Lag for Team Red.

Frame Generation: Love it oregon hatred it, this uses AI to make other frames betwixt each rendered frame. This improves your framework rate, but introduces immoderate added latency. As a wide regularisation of thumb, I’d lone urge turning this connected if you’re already getting astatine slightest 40 fps. Otherwise, the crippled tin crook into a glitchy, artifact-filled mess.

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