PC Performance Strategy

“2022 was a rough year for PC ports. Between stuttering performance issues and infuriating user experience problems, I was almost broken as a reviewer for Digital Foundry. To start the year with a fresh slate, I thought it would be a good idea to put together a checklist of sorts for best practises in creating a PC port. In generating this list of dos and don’ts, I’ve called on my experience reviewing hundreds of titles across my four years at Digital Foundry.

1. Eliminate shader compilation stutter
2. Deliver visually responsive graphical options
3. Include sensible, convention-driven menu navigation
4. Do not overly nest menus
5. Refresh rate and resolution should be separate options
6. Include a field of view (FOV) option
7. Include variable aspect ratios and frame-rates
8. Include half, third and quarter-rate v-sync options with consistent frame-pacing
9. Include multiple quality levels for heavy effects
10. Include console features such as dynamic resolution scaling
11. Include HDR and surround sound if the console versions support them
12. Include console-equivalent settings as an option
13. Support all major image reconstruction technologies”