A Youtuber nicknamed LowSpecGamer has prepared a set of tutorials on how to run more or less hardware-intensive games on computers that do not meet their minimum hardware requirements. Among the titles discussed, you can find, for example, our native hit, The Witcher 3: Wild Gon.
Probably most of us at some point in our lives have had a computer that – even when we doubled and tripled when adjusting graphics settings – could not cope with new games. What’s more, sometimes, one or another life situation does not allow us to make hardware upgrades or purchase a more modern set. With such a turn of events, we usually have to do without a taste and deny ourselves at least this or that Witcher. In response to this problem, a YouTuber with the artistic pseudonym, nomen omen, LowSpecGamer, has prepared a set of video tutorials in which he advises how to run new games on hardware that does not meet their minimum hardware requirements. Of course, such a procedure is usually associated with a horrendous drop in graphics quality, but as the folk wisdom says: better a fish than nothing.
The Witcher 3: Wild Game in pixels
To play last year’s home-grown hit, The Witcher 3: Wild Gon, for example, on an aging tinkerer or budget laptop, one has to do a bit of tinkering with the “user.settings” configuration file and W3HC’s fan-made Witcher 3 Hunter’s Config tool, but the result of such a grind is a really significant performance boost (compare the slideshow with a relatively playable twenty-something FPS). The entire process is shown in the guide below.
More of this type and similar optimization tutorials, not only for gaming in inhumane conditions, can be found on LowSpecGamer’s YouTube channel. Developed productions include Grand Theft Auto V, Fallout 4, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Unfortunately, not all games are susceptible to this type of operation for one reason or another, so it is in vain to expect tutorials on them. However, LowSpecGamer has compiled a list of them, which is available at this link.
Interestingly, in an article that appeared on PC Gamer, we can read that LowSpecGamer’s efforts were sometimes noticed and appreciated by the developers themselves. The material in question cites the example of Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty!, a refreshed version of the 1997 classic Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee. The developers of that game contacted an indefatigable FPS seeker and gave him tips on squeezing extra frames out of their creation.
Of course, similar solutions are not to the taste of all gamers. LowSpecGamer’s activity is the subject of some discussion about the wisdom of giving up playing on the settings provided for in the minimum plan by the game’s developers. However, such objections can be countered with the classic “graphics are not the most important thing,” leaving aside, of course, the subjective nature of this quasi-truth of the gaming community or factors such as wages in particular countries. In the era of brawls over so-called “graphical downgrades,” it is actually difficult to say how much the average gamer values the visual experience. And how is it with you?
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