Fallout 4: Fallout4.ini and Fallout4Prefs.ini questions

[Infeksion]

After noticing a slow but sure decline in my gaming experience I decided to do a clean install of Fallout 4. On the the first run of the game to create the .ini files I received a notice that Fallout 4 does not recognize my graphics card and all settings are reverted to low quality. I accepted that and proceed with setting the parameters to "Ultra" and exit the game launcher.

 

When I opened the newly created .ini files, I found the Fallout4.ini literally void of data except for this one entry:

 

[Display]

sD3DDevice="NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti"

 

In the same directory (Documents\My Games\Fallout 4) The Fallout4Prefs.ini contained the settings I selected during the initial set up procedure.

 

However, in the game directory (G:\Games\Steam...\Fallout4\Fallout4 I found another Fallout4Prefs.ini file created a few minutes after the .ini file in the "My Games" directory with the "low quality" settings:

 

for example:

Fallout4Prefs. ini in "My Games" Directory:

[Display]

...

iShadowMapResolution=4096

iDirShadowSplits=2

uiShadowFilter=3

uiOrthoShadowFilter=3

iAdapter=0

iSize W=2560

iSize H=1440

bFull Screen=1

bBorderless=1

 

Fallout4Prefs.ini in Fallout4\Fallout4 Directory:

[Display]

...

iShadowMapResolution=2048

iDirShadowSplits=3

uiOrthoShadowFilter=2

uiShadowFilter=2

bBorderless=1

bFull Screen=0

iSize H=720

iSize W=1280

 

and many others...

 

My questions are:

1. How to populate the Fallout4. ini file with the correct parameters?

2. Why two different Fallout4Prefs.ini files? I am not sure which one the game is using. Should I even be concerned about this?

 

Any assistance on this matter will be much appreciated.

[DoubleYou]

The Fallout4Prefs.ini you found in the game folder is not used by the game. It serves as a baseline INI file for the Fallout 4 Launcher when it creates your INI files.

 

You should also have a Fallout4_Default.ini (I might have the filename slightly wrong) in your game folder that is used by the Launcher as a baseline for the Fallout4.ini file you are having trouble with. Please ensure that file exists and is not blank. If it doesn't, let me know. That would cause your Fallout4.ini to not populate correctly.

[Infeksion]

Thank you for the response.

 

The Fallout4_Default.ini does exist in the Game Directory and it is populated. I used BethInI to set up and manage my .ini files through the ini path setting (via the MO2 profile route as recommended). All three .ini files are populated correctly in the MO2 INI Editor, and that is sufficient for me. For now the game with the fixes and a few core mods (Unoffical Patch, MCM etc), seem to run stable. I will do the textures etc tonight, and see where we get.

Edited July 10, 2019 by Infeksion