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Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
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EVERGREEN aka TheSleepwalker

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TheSleepwalker

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About this mod

Overhauls graphics without sacrificing performance or stability. Comes in multiple balanced versions as well as bonus "Extreme" and "Virtual Photography" versions.

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1. DESCRIPTION

A fully stable, performance friendly graphics mod.
Extensive performance profiling & in-game testing was done on a GTX 1060 6GB and a RTX 2080 super. This avoids reaching the engine limits, huge framerate drops, and last but not least: is fully stable! 

There's multiple versions to choose from based on users requests:
  • Recommended, that was thoroughly tested, one with and one without FXAA,
  • Alternative, that adds more distant shadows (Like Distant Sunlight Shadows), with or without FXAA. It's a bit more demanding.
  • Extreme, that maxes out LoD and shadows resolution (16k) at the cost of performance. Comes with a "Virtual Photography" version which maxes out literally everything for cool looking screenshots. Both are really, really demanding - but I would recommend the Extreme version if you have a 3060ti or better.

2. FEATURES

  • Higher draw distance & Better LoD: The low detail planes of pseudo-terrain overlayed on top of actual geometry are pushed much further making them less noticeable. Buildings and the like are also more detailed, you'll see more small props being rendered even far away. Additional formations of rocks, trees and roads are rendered in the distance. 
  • An additional Shadow Cascade: meaning shadows are casted further, providing shadowing from the sun even at longer range, without lowering close shadows resolution too much.
  • Less grass & terrain pop-in.
  • Fully stable and maintains a steady 60 FPS at resolutions up to to 1440p. Yes, even on Mother Base. On a 2080 Super, 1440p60hz locked.

To go along with these tweaks, I would recommend using HBAO+ on Quality setting instead of the game's Ambient Occlusion (SSAO). HBAO+ looks far better but is only available on Nvidia GPUs and is more demanding. 

3. INSTALLATION

  • Use SnakeBite Mod Manager of course! Install only one version. If you want to try another, uninstall the current one first.
  • Set everything to Extra High in the game's settings. If you switch a setting to High, you'll get the vanilla High setting - I didn't edit those.


4. KNOWN ISSUES & COMPATIBILITY

  • With the additional Shadow Cascades, any shadow casted by the sun will be less defined. The recommended version adds one, the Alternative version adds two, making those shadows even less defined. The Extreme version adresses this, but is way more demanding.
  • Should be compatible with any mod that doesn't edit gr_init_dx11.lua.
  • Popular mods that are not compatible includes the FXAA Disabler and Distant Sunlight Shadows and Cloud Shadows. Both of these mods features have been merged into Beyond Ultra. The Alternative version was basically a suggestion from morbidslinky, the author of Distant Sunlight Shadows himself, in order to have a one-stop-shop mod. 

And if you like this small mod, consider endorsing it!

5. COMPANION MODS
Spoiler:  
Show

I Can't Believe It's Not Reshade (ICBNR) - By Morbidslinky. Brings back some vibrance and colors with no performance hit. Highly recommended, and bring your Night-Vision Goggles. You'll need 'em.
Yet Another Weather Mod (YAWM) - By Morbidslinky. Overhauls the weather to be a bit more interesting. Has an impact on gameplay too. 
Enable GZ Cloud Shadows - By Mordbidslinky. Enables the cloud shadowing effect present in GZ. They are fake however, so they can appear when there's no clouds at all and can be jarring.
Oldschool Centered Camera Modes - By Charon96. Centered camera angles closer to older MGS games. The Stylish preset emulates pre-release camera angles and movement, giving you a more cinematic vibe. If you want that "back-of-the-box screenshots" experience, it's right there.
Kingdom of the Plants - By JimLafleur. A complete makeover of almost every plant, grass and trees in the game. An amazing mod that is truly game-changing. However, it has a big performance impact due to engine limits so keep that in mind. 

6. CREDITS & SPECIAL THANKS

  • Neato, with whom I tested this mod and did a lot of performance profiling. He's the dude that has the 2080 Super, and thanks to him I was able to find settings that do push the graphics as far as possible without causing crashes. In the process, a lot of crashes happened. Press F.
  • morbidslinky, for his suggestion to make an Alternative version and his approval to roll his mod's features into this one, being an awesome dude, and providing a lot of good screenshots. All the gifs comparisons were provided by him. Thanks a lot!
  • CODEMJ, that found a setting that allows to push the LoD further than any previous mod could,
  • GPUnity for providing a nice and handy template for comparison screenshots, the thumbnail picture and logo, 
  • And as always, everybody from the Modder's Heaven Discord!