Hex
Published
MANGOHUD=0
Using Vulkan would make the game crash frequently starting in the 2nd act. This is seemingly due to some sort of memory leak. The game would start to gobble up all of the availble VRAM and then crash. The error log would show the following error [22-05-2024 12:53:11:014][D:\Jenkins\workspace\Repo\FW4\Release\Stable\LSProjects\Framework\Code\RenderAPI\vk\err\Errors.cpp 39 rf::vk::err::Error]: [rf::vk::Renderer::GPUDevice] vkCreateDescriptorPool failed with error "VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY"
This does not happen with DX11. At Ultra settings, my VRAM usage at 1440p stays at around 6-7 GB in DX11. With Vulkan, depending on the area, it would jump immediately to 7.5 and then, as you were moving around, slowly increase to 8 GB, at which point the game would crash.
Works pretty decently out of the box using the GOG version and Heroic Games Launcher. However, DX11 (contrary to most other reviews on here) seems to work better for me simply because of the memory leak issues I get with Vulkan. Vulkan does run better in general, but the frequent crashes made me switch to DX11.
gamemoderun %command%
Game works pretty much as you'd expect right out of the box. The game defaulted to "Ultra" settings. This gave me around 80-100 fps at 1440p native. I changed a few settings that I felt didn't have much impact on the gaming experience to high and one to medium (volumetric fog) which now gives me at least 120 fps in most scenarios with occasional dips to 110-ish. In less demanding areas, it can even go up to 160-190. I also turned off motion blur as I am not a fan of it. There are some slight hitches every now and then (texture streaming?) but they don't impact my gaming experience.
WINEDLLOVERRIDES="version,dxgi=n,b"
Game runs perfectly as is with the default Proton. However, I wanted to add FG using a mod and had to use a special version of Proton. Using XeSS Ultra Quality upscaling (and no FG) at the "High" preset (no ray tracing) with crowd density also set to "High" (instead of Medium), I get around 70-100 fps. Using FG, I get around 130-200 FPS. I used the mod "FSR3 Frame Gen for Cyberpunk 2077 (DLSS Enabler 2077 Edition)" found on Nexus.
Games runs about as well as you'd expect
Game runs well when it runs well, but a lot of stuttering when entering new areas. Slightly annoying, but didn't cause any significant gameplay problems.
Game runs about as well as I would have expected. The traversal stutters are, however, present, but they didn't really impact my gaming experience. 60+ FPS at all times (not counting the above-mentioned traversal stutters) at Ultra settings and 1440p native. I chose to play at FSR Quality as I have a monitor with a high refresh rate. I get around 100-120 on average with some dips here and there. Played using an Xbox Elite controller connected via USB.
DXVK_CONFIG_FILE=/home/USERNAME/fallout.conf DXVK_FRAME_RATE=60 gamemoderun %command%
Ran terrible on my 165 Hz monitor. I set the refresh rate to 120 hz and Mangohud claimed that it ran at 120 fps but... it definitely did not. Had to use a workaround used for the SteamDeck OLED to make it run properly on my machine https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/1c9akgd/a_more_robust_fallout_4_oled_workaround/. Additionally, I had to set my monitor's "FreeSync Premium" to "Auto" instead of "Off". FreeSync doesn't work very well on X11 and Gnome so I just turned it off. Not sure why turning it on just on the monitor itself works, but it works.
Now running at 60 fps at highest settings and 1440p. Certain areas, especially cities, drop the framerate a bit lower. Using anisotropic filtering x8 instead of x16 helped a bit, but some cities still sometimes drop to 40-50 fps in some select areas. But happens rarely enough to not be bothersome at all.
Taking a screenshot using the in-game photo too crashes the game. Using my OS' built-in screenshot tool works fine, though.
Played GOG version installed directly from Heroic Games Launcher and changed the version of Wine to GE-Proton9-4. Game works perfectly considering my hardware. Played with controller (8BitDo Ultimate 2.4G Controller) and keyboard and mouse, both worked without any problems. Couldn't test multiplayer, as it doesn't work without using GOG Galaxy, but I didn't feel as though I was missing any particularly important feature.
All settings set to Ultra with FSR set to Quality nets me around 70-120 fps depending on the planet. Space stations and freighters are a very stable 120 fps, certain planets are pretty stable at 100 and others drop down to 70-80. But very playable regardless. A good CPU will definitely help, especially when traversing a planet at quick speeds; many lag spikes occur which coincide with a high CPU usage (probably loading assets or generating terrain). The only problem is that trying to take a screenshot using the in-game photo tool crashes the game for me (tried in both windowed and full-screen).
The newest update was the "Worlds Part I Update" as of writing the review.
Game installed from GOG via Heroic Games Launcher. Works OOTB without any special settings and performance seems to be about as expected.
gamemoderun %command%
Applied the Engine.ini improvements from https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3369280920.
The game works as expected OOTB. This isn't to say that the performance is great, but it's pretty much on par with what it should be given the hardware. I would recommend doing some Engine.ini tinkering and lowering a few in-game settings. I have found that the foliage setting especially doesn't really have a huge visual impact but setting it from Epic to Low improved performance significantly in the open world.
gamemoderun %command&
Turning down screen space reflections greatly increased my FPS. Turning them to low and everything else to the highest, I get 70-90 fps at 1440p. Rare drops to lower FPS in areas with more reflections. Turning them off also works, the difference wasn't too great.
