Watch Dogs: Legion - PC Graphics Settings and Options

Below is a list of all the different PC video graphics settings and options for Watch Dogs: Legion, broken down into the three submenus in which they appear. Video settings are nested in the Options menu (accessible via the main menu with Escape), and Watch Dogs: Legion graphics settings fall into three categories: Display, Quality and Image.

Since VRAM usage, CPU load, and GPU load are all system dependent, they have been omitted from this list. A separate performance article detailing the impact of all major metrics will be published shortly after launch. Additionally, you can press Tab to allow Watch Dogs: Legion to choose the “best” graphics settings for your PC, but your mileage will vary. B will launch the reference tool, as long as you are not actively in the game.

Display settings for Watch Dogs: Legion

• Video adapter
  • Choose the GPU / video processor the game will use for rendering.
• Window mode
  • Window, borderless windowed, borderless full screen (FS with hidden border), borderless multi-monitor (borderless window on all monitors), full screen.
• List it Now
  • Select Monitor Watch Dogs: Legion will be displayed if you are playing with more than one monitor.
• Resolution
  • Change the rendering resolution of the display (can only be adjusted in full screen and via preset notches).
• Monitor the refresh rate
  • Refresh rate supported by your monitor (only available in full screen; default is “Auto”).
• V-Sync
  • Off, Normal (full refresh rate), Sparse (half refresh rate).
• FPS limit
  • Slider: Off to 120 (Off is unlimited).
• Field of view
  • 70 - 110 (affects performance and may cause graphics problems above 70).
• Menu position
  • Select where to display menus in multi-monitor mode.
  • Auto, Fit to display, Monitor 1, 2, etc.
• Multi-monitor HUD
  • Auto - HUD automatically stretches to all monitors that match 16: 9 / higher.
  • Fixed - HUD will center on screen and retain 16: 9.
  • Fit - The HUD will extend to all monitors in the current display.

Graphics quality settings

• DirectX (API)
  • 11 or 12 (12 recommended for modern GPUs)
• Graphics quality (presets)
  • Low, Medium, High, Very High, Ultra, Custom
• Geometry (complexity of the geometry of the world; affects all objects in the world)
  • High, very high, ultra
• Environment (LOD of terrain and vegetation, fog, simulation of foliage, bullet marks and other occlusions)
  • Low, medium, high, ultra
• Texture resolution (what it says on the tin: higher resolution textures)
  • Minimum, Low, Medium, High, Ultra (requires HD Texture Pack)
• Texture filtering (anisotropic filtering)
  • Low, high, ultra
• Shadows (shadow quality for all shadows in the game, next option excluded)
  • Low, medium, high, very high, ultra
• Headlight shadows (quality of vehicle headlight shadows)
  • Off, your car, 1 car, 2 cars, 3 cars, 4 cars
• Reflections (regular reflections, no ray tracing; anti-aliasing set to TAA)
  • Low, medium, high, very high, ultra
• Depth of field (blur objects out of focus)
  • On off
• Motion blur (blurring of moving objects)
  • On off
• Bloom (adds a high dynamic range glow around lights and other bright areas)
  • On off
• Ambient Occlusion (allows gentle shading of nearby surfaces; enabled sets anti-aliasing to TAA)
  • On off
• Post-processing anti-aliasing (reduce jagged edges in the final image)
  • FXAA - older method that blurs the final image, but has minimal impact on performance.
  • TAA - more advanced and further reduces texture flicker; the sharpness of the effect can be adjusted in the Image tab.
  • SMAA - more balanced between the two, providing better image quality than FXAA with a slightly higher impact on performance.
• Subsurface scattering (affects the way light refracts through materials and skin)
  • Low, high
• Ray-traced reflections (enable DirectX Raytracing for enhanced reflections; requires RTX 20 or 30 GPU for optimal performance)
  • Off, Medium, High, Ultra
• DLSS (Advanced AI-based supersampling; requires RTX 20 or 30 GPU to even enable)
  • Performance (prioritize performance over image quality).
  • Balanced (find an equal balance between quality and performance).
  • Quality (prioritize image quality over performance).
  • Ultra Performance (offers the biggest performance boost, but really only recommended for 8K gaming).
• Time scaling (adjust the internal render resolution, which is then scaled to the native resolution selected in the View tab)
  • 25% to 100% (adjustable in increments of 5; description lists new internal rendering resolution for each trigger).

Image

• Brightness
  • Adjust the maximum brightness level of the game world.
• Gamma
  • Make midtones lighter or darker while maintaining the same black and white points.
• Contrast
  • Change the distinction between lighter and darker areas of the game.
• Acuity
  • Adjust the boundaries between areas of different tones or colors (good for cleaning up the impact of TAA on image quality).
• HDR
  • Highly dynamic rage; requires a compatible monitor.
  • On off
• HDR maximum brightness
  • Separate brightness adjustment similar to normal brightness.
• White HDR paper
  • Adjust the base luminance of white surfaces in the game world.

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