Deza’s Guides – Spore Graphics

On 11.03.09, In Guides, by Deza

Hi there people, its Deza here to tell you how to get the most out of your spore game graphics wise. This guide is intended for people who have medium to good computers, and a little bit of time to get everything working.

I’ll start of by saying that you need to make sure your graphics drivers are up to date. By doing this you will probably increase the graphical compatibility throughout your computer, and decrease the amount of graphical bugs that your computer inflicts on games such as spore. This isn’t such an easy task as some might assume so to help you here are a few links google pulled up; Link 1 Link 2 Link

Once your Graphics drivers are up to date, it is time to load spore up. For those who have the Galactic Adventures Expansion Pack, its in your interests to start on a blank planet with a few buildings and (non – aggressive) creatures and vehicles. If you lack GA, then go to one of your saved games on the creature stage (the reason you did this is so you could see the effects of your Graphics tweaking). Now click the start button in the bottom left hand corner and click on settings. Start of by putting everything on low, if there is no lag, no problems, then you are all good to continue. Below I have made a list out of all the graphics options in order of importance, meaning you would put them on high before anything else.
WARNING: PUTTING EVERYTHING ON HIGH MIGHT CAUSE GAME SLOWDOWN

Player Model Quality – Increases the quality of everything player made, a must.
Texture Detail – This improves the quality of texture on buildings and vehicles, type in “high res texture level” in the cheat menu (pull it up by pressing CTR-ALT-C in game) and its takes it a little step further.
Lighting Quality – Adds a nice finish on everything, introducing some pretty good lighting effects, keep in mind though that there isn’t much difference between high and medium.
Planet Quality – Adds grass to planets on medium and makes the water more realistic.
Depth of Field - Increases the distance at which you can see objects, its quite good, but it takes a little processing power from your computer.
Graphic Effects – Doesn’t add much, just some ripples in the water and moving parts on buildings, doesn’t take that much processing power.
Shadows – Adds shadows to objects and creatures. On the lowest setting its a fuzzy circle, which is good enough for most, but as you put it higher it takes a lot of effort from your computer.

You also need to take into consideration the fact that shadows and lighting quality are the most demanding of the Graphics settings, putting these both on low will allow you to put others on high and medium without causing you to lose to that many FPS.

You also want to combine the settings so you get the best Graphics to Speed ratio possible, If your eye isn’t good enough to tell you what the speed is your games running at you can download this, a free tool that can show you how many fps your getting.

The last thing I’m going to recommend to you is this, free software that shuts down all background processes while you are playing your game. This allows your computer to be able to focus 101% on your game your playing and nothing else. Although it makes the biggest difference on older computers, it does do some changes on average and high spec computers, so its worth a try if you’ve exhausted everything else.

Now this guide is drawing to a close its time to draw your attention to one crucial factor, don’t forget to have fun. Spend some time sorting out your graphics, but then forget about them, and enjoy the best spore has to offer. I learnt this from a friend, when he pointed out I spent more time fiddling with the graphics than actually playing the game. Keeping everything I’ve said here in mind, its time for you to maximize the graphical potential of your spore game. Good luck!