Deus Ex: Human Revolution Tweak Guide geforce.com

November 5, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the third game in the highly-acclaimed Deus Ex series. The events in this latest expedition into the science fiction world of Deus Ex take place in the year 2027, a quarter of a century before the first Deus Ex game. The main character, security specialist Adam Jensen, is a cybernetically enhanced former SWAT member. He finds himself in the thick of the covert wars being waged between multinational biotech companies as they strive to gain an edge in the field of human augmentation. If you enjoyed the original Deus Ex, then Deus Ex: Human Revolution (HR) should be right up your alley, giving you the freedom to fight, sneak and hack your way through an engaging cyberpunk-themed environment.
The aim of this guide is to allow you to better understand and best utilize all of the configuration options available in Deus Ex: HR.
Before proceeding further, make sure you meet the game's minimum requirements as provided below:

• Processor: 2 GHz dual core CPU
• Memory: 1GB RAM (Windows XP), 2GB RAM (Windows Vista/7)
• Hard Drive: At least 8.5GB of free space
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8000 series or equivalent
• Sound Card: Direct X 9.0c compatible
• OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7

What follows are full descriptions for all of the settings available in Deus Ex: HR's various options menus. Screenshot comparisons are provided where relevant to highlight the impact on image quality of changing these settings. Performance information is also provided for every setting, although bear in mind that the precise impact on your particular system depends on your specific hardware combination and your other game and system-wide settings. The aim here is to give you enough information so that you can make an informed choice as to the settings you enable or disable to obtain a balance of visual quality and performance acceptable to you.

General System Optimization

Almost as important as any in-game setting is the way your Windows installation is configured. A great many problems and performance issues, especially stuttering, crashes and slowdowns, can be traced directly to sub-optimal settings in Windows and out-of-date or badly configured drivers. For this reason it is recommended that you download the relevant version of the TweakGuides Tweaking Companion (TGTC) and take the time to optimize your Windows installation correctly. At the very least make sure to update your graphics drivers to the latest available version.

Performance Measurement

To successfully conduct any tweaking, you will need some way of objectively measuring your performance in Frames Per Second (FPS). The quickest and easiest way to measure your FPS in any game is to use the free FRAPS utility. Download, install and launch FRAPS before starting up Deus Ex: HR. You will now see a yellow FPS counter displayed in the corner of your screen. Pay attention to this FPS figure, particularly during graphically intense scenes, such as in heavy combat or in highly detailed areas. If your FPS dips into the low double or single digits for example, this is a good indication that you need to adjust various settings until your minimum FPS is consistently above 20-25 FPS during normal gameplay, such as when walking around or conversing with others, and higher still (e.g. 30-35 FPS +) during combat to maintain appropriate responsiveness.