Assassin's Creed Tweak Guide

[Page 9] Advanced Tweaking (Pt.2)



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DARE.ini


[Renderer DS3D Options]


DS3D_CACHE_SIZE=2097152


This is the cache used specifically for temporarily storing DirectSound3D audio in the game. It appears to be a value in Bytes, as 2097152 Bytes equals exactly 2048 KB, which is exactly 2MB in total for the cache. By increasing this value, you may be able to reduce stuttering or prevent small pauses prior to audio loading at various points in the game. Try a value of 4194304 (4MB) or even 8388608 (8MB) to start with and see if improves overall performance for you. In fact if you increase the number of channels with the NB_AUDIBLE_VOICES variable below, I recommend increasing the cache size as well.


NO_OPTIMISATION_SOUND_CARDS=


This line appears to be designed to specify certain sound cards which automatically cause audio optimizations to be disabled when detected. If the line is blank in your .ini, it is best to leave it blank.


DISABLE_OPTIMISATION=FALSE


If this variable is set to =TRUE by default on your system, then Assassin's Creed has detected that your audio device is incapable of all the advanced audio functions such as EAX Reverb and has disabled them - you should leave this =TRUE in such cases, unless you want to troubleshoot. If this variable is FALSE and you're experiencing audio glitches in the game which no other method can resolve, set this variable =TRUE and restart the game to see if helps fix your issues. As always, make sure your audio drivers are completely up to date, as a new driver may improve compatibility with Assassin's Creed.


[Sound Manager Options]


NB_AUDIBLE_VOICES=48


This .ini variable determines the maximum number of voices, or channels, which the game will use. Different sound cards have different capabilities when it comes to the maximum number of audio channels they can support, and some older or lower-end sound devices can only support 32 channels, while most standalone sound cards from the past few years can support at least 64 channels (e.g. Audigy 2 and above), and even 128 channels (e.g. X-Fi series). If you find you are missing some sound effects or voices during gameplay, you can experiment with this variable, either raising it from its default of 48 to 64 for example, or lowering it to something like 32, to see if this fixes your audio issues. Note that altering the number of audio channels may also help with some stuttering problems, again depending on your audio device.



Console and Command Line


At the moment I have not been able to find any way to access the in-game console, nor any method of applying working command line tweaks to the game's launch icon. If anyone has found a method which is actually tested and works, please Email Me with details for inclusion in the guide. There are a range of commands available in the game's main executable file, however as I say none of these will work no matter how I apply the commands. I suspect the console has been deliberately disabled in the game, and the syntax for applying command line tweaks seems to be more complex than just using a - or / in front of the command name in the Target box of the DX9 or DX10 .exe launch icon.



The next page brings the guide to a conclusion with some important tips.