Add a command line parameter to force better graphics

Dec 10, 2014 09:36 GMT  ·  By

BioWare has revealed a workaround for the various graphics issues that appeared on the PC platform after patch 2 arrived for Dragon Age: Inquisition, showing users just how they can get their game to look gorgeous once more, while pledging that an official fix will appear as soon as possible.

Dragon Age: Inquisition launched last month, and given the pedigree of the series, millions of fans flocked to the role-playing experience to see if BioWare managed to capture the sprawling essence of the first Dragon Age: Origins or if it used the lackluster strategy employed with Dragon Age 2.

The game was a success, thankfully, and many players were delighted with the RPG across plenty of different platforms, even if some encountered issues relating to broken quests, errors with certain non-playable characters or companions, or crashes that happened particularly on the PC platform.

Patch 2 fixed existing problems but also added new ones

In order to solve some of these errors, BioWare rolled out a few hours ago a special patch #2 that was supposed to fix plenty of different problems across most platforms, with the PC in particular receiving a lot of care.

Patch 2, however, also added a suite of new issues on the PC platform, as apparently the game was now forced to run in the graphics quality presets designed for the PS3 or Xbox 360 consoles, which are quite low in comparison to most PCs used by fans of the series. What's worse, it seemed that there was no way to change the new presets, so quite a lot of people got upset with the studio.

A fix is coming and a workaround is now available

The developer, however, has wasted no time in answering the controversy, stating on the official forums that it's working on getting a hot fix released on the PC to remedy the graphics issues as soon as possible.

Until then, a special workaround has been shared by one of its employees, and it seems that the results are positive.

First up, players will have to check to see what sort of Mesh Quality setting they have inside the game, which can be found in the Options>Graphics section. Afterwards, they need to exit the game and add a new command line parameter to the title.

You can do this by opening up Origin, right clicking on the Dragon Age: Inquisition entry, going to game properties, and typing the new parameter in the Command Line Properties box.

You can also do this by right clicking on the game's shortcut on the desktop, selecting properties, and then under the target field, going to the end and typing the command line parameter.

The actual parameter you have to type is –ShaderSystem.ShaderQualityLevel (quality setting). Instead of the quality setting portion, input the level you saw in the game, be it low, medium, high, or ultra.

Once the hot fix is available, players will have to remove the parameter, as it will no longer be needed.

Check out our Dragon Age: Inquisition review on PC.

Dragon Age: Inquisition Workaround (3 Images)

Adding the new parameters
Click on Properties in OriginClick on Properties on the desktop shortcut
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