System for reference: Q6600 @ 3,1GHz + 4GB Ram + GTX 260 (1680x1050)
Location:
"Planet E353-Kappa" beam down location
My FPS dropped to 30 as i beamed down so i started fiddling arround with the Video Options to get it back to 60, lets look at what i found:
please watch at "High Detail Objects", all it does on this Planet is show some very ugly and pixelated GRASS texture.
note: I included the FRAPS overlay in the right upper corner as proof of Framerate.
1: lowest possible settings = 60 FPS (GRASS ON)
http://www.imagebanana.com/img/r3owq2e1/1ALLOFF60.jpg
2: +200% World Detail Distance (means more grass) = 34 FPS !!! (without anti aliasing)
http://www.imagebanana.com/img/jr1mwhbe/2DISTANCE34.jpg
3: all other setting to 200% and high again, including 4xFSAA, 16xAF = 29 FPS ...only -5 FPS to lowest wow...
http://www.imagebanana.com/img/00u0fbke/3ALLUP29.jpg
4: + Shadows... = 16 FPS... conclusion grass = EVIL, grass + shadows = SATAN!
http://www.imagebanana.com/img/8o0b9i4e/4SHADOWS16.jpg
5: High Detail Objects (GRASS!) OFF = 60 FPS
http://www.imagebanana.com/img/zgzf6xbf/5DETAILSOFF60.jpg
(with Crew)
http://www.imagebanana.com/img/lvijfbu1/6CREW.jpg
needless to say that the FPS stayed at 60 for the rest of the mission
(there were some enemy mobs and fights too)
Conclusion:
lowest settings with grass runs worse then highest settings witout grass and shadows make the effect the grass texture has on the FPS even worse.
Get rid of any GRASS Textures on any Planet please, for once it is an ugly flickering pixelated texture even with 4xFSAA and 16xAF it does not look any good and it kills FPS in a not accaptable amount.
// i also filed a ticket ingame, but i thought this might get more attention with some jpegs.