Best Elder Scrolls Online Gold Road PC graphics settings

When it comes to Elder Scrolls Online (ESO), getting the right graphics settings is crucial for smooth gameplay, especially when navigating complex areas like the Gold Road. Although there's no universal setting that works for every player, optimizing your PC's graphics can make a significant difference in performance, ensuring a fluid and immersive experience.

The settings below are tailored to provide optimal performance while maintaining decent visual quality, making sure you can explore Tamriel with ease, even in the more demanding regions. Whether you're playing on a high-end gaming rig or a more modest PC, these recommendations will help you find a good balance between performance and visual fidelity.

1. Video Settings

Display Mode: Fullscreen
Always run ESO in fullscreen mode to ensure the game gets the full attention of your system's resources. Windowed or borderless modes can cause unnecessary distractions, and might slightly reduce performance.

Resolution: Native (select the resolution that supports your monitor)
For the best clarity and performance, choose the native resolution of your monitor. If you're having performance issues, consider lowering the resolution to something more manageable.

Multithreaded Rendering: On
This setting allows the game to better utilize multiple CPU cores. Turning it on will significantly improve performance on systems with multi-core processors. If you have a modern CPU, this setting should be enabled.


2. Graphics Settings

Texture Quality: High (depending on the VRAM of your GPU)
If you have a powerful GPU with plenty of VRAM (4GB or more), setting texture quality to High can make a noticeable difference in visuals. However, if you have a less powerful GPU with 2GB VRAM or lower, it’s better to opt for Medium or Low textures to avoid stuttering or crashes.

Anti-Aliasing: NVIDIA DLSS
For users with an NVIDIA graphics card, DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) is one of the best options to improve visual quality without sacrificing performance. It uses AI to upscale lower-resolution images, resulting in a sharper image with less GPU load.

DLSS Mode: Quality
While DLSS offers various modes such as Performance and Balanced, the Quality setting provides the best combination of visual fidelity and performance. It’s the ideal setting for most players, especially those with higher-end systems.

FSR Mode: Off
AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) is a good alternative to DLSS but isn’t necessary if you’re using NVIDIA’s DLSS technology. Keeping FSR off avoids redundancy and ensures that the game runs as efficiently as possible.

Shadow Quality: Low
Shadows can have a massive impact on performance, especially in areas with lots of complex environments. Set shadow quality to Low for better FPS, and reduce the visual clutter caused by complex shadow calculations.

Screen Space Reflection Quality: Off
Reflections can look beautiful but are very demanding on the system. Turn off Screen Space Reflections to improve performance, particularly in areas where water or reflective surfaces are abundant.

Planar Reflection Quality: Off
Like screen space reflections, planar reflections add realism but can significantly hurt performance. Keeping this setting off will help the game run smoother, particularly in large open-world areas.

Maximum Particle System: 1080 (move the slider to about a quarter of the bar)
Particle effects like explosions and fire are visually stunning, but they can take a toll on performance. Set the Maximum Particle System to around 1080 to balance visual quality with FPS performance.

Particle Suppression Distance: 50 (move the slider to about a quarter of the bar)
This setting determines how far particles are visible in the world. Setting it too high can create unnecessary strain on your system. Keeping it at 50 provides a good balance between performance and visual appeal.

View Distance: 42 (move the slider to about a quarter of the bar)
Adjusting the View Distance controls how far ahead you can see. While it's tempting to max it out, reducing it a bit can improve your frame rate, especially in vast open-world areas. 42 is a good setting for balancing visual quality and performance.

Best Graphics Settings, Elder Scrolls Online, Gold Road, PC
Ambient Occlusion: SSAO (Screen Space Ambient Occlusion)
Ambient Occlusion (AO) improves depth and realism by darkening areas where light is blocked. SSAO is a more optimized version that provides reasonable quality with minimal impact on performance.

Grass: Low
Grass density can be particularly taxing in some areas. Lowering grass settings to Low can significantly improve frame rates without sacrificing too much visual detail.

Depth Of Field: Off
Depth of Field (DoF) creates a blur effect for distant objects, simulating camera focus. While it adds to the realism, it’s generally not necessary for most players. Turning it off will boost performance and provide clearer visuals.

Character Resolution: Medium
Setting Character Resolution to Medium ensures that character models look good without overloading your GPU. While High resolution may offer slightly better details, it’s often unnecessary and comes with a performance cost.

Bloom: Off
Bloom effects create a glow around bright light sources, which can look stunning but can also drain performance. Disabling Bloom will keep your game running smoothly and improve clarity, especially in bright areas.

Distortion: Off
Distortion effects, such as ripples or heat haze, can impact visual performance. Unless you prefer the additional effects, turning them off is the best choice for optimizing gameplay.

Sunlight Rays: Off
Like Bloom, sunlight rays can look great in certain environments but are not essential for smooth gameplay. Turn off Sunlight Rays to improve FPS without sacrificing much visual quality.

Show Additional Ally Effects: Off
Turning off additional ally effects helps reduce visual clutter and improves overall performance. This is especially helpful during large battles where multiple spell effects are present.


Conclusion

These settings represent an excellent starting point for most players, striking a good balance between performance and visual fidelity in Elder Scrolls Online. While it’s always worth experimenting with individual settings to tailor the experience to your specific system, these optimizations should give you smoother gameplay while exploring Gold Road and beyond. By adjusting these settings, you can ensure your ESO experience is free of lag and stuttering, allowing you to immerse yourself fully in the world of Tamriel.

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