Black Desert Online - system requirements | Game mechanics Black Desert Online Guide

Last update: 11 May 2016

Black Desert Online log on window

Black Desert is fantasy-themed MMO-RPG developed by Pearl Abyss, which has been published in 2014 in Korea. Having witnessed the success that the game achieved in the far East, developers decided to publish it also in the West and on 22 December 2015 the first beta tests finished. The game itself is an absolute piece of art, when it comes to graphics. Thanks to the engine developed by Pearl Abyss themselves, the game is capable of generating a huge world vibrant with life, while retaining low system requirements. Of course, if you want to enjoy the graphics to their fullest, you need to keep in mind the huge requirements, when it comes to the graphics card and the CPU. The game offers an abundance of special effects that you can modify in the way that allows you to reach a compromise between performance and the looks. This guide has been prepared on the first version of the game on the closed beta version CBT1 and many of the problems discussed here may be resolved at the moment of the game's release. This guide has been prepared on the computer with Intel Core i5 4460, MSI Radeon R9 270x GPU and 8GB RAM. Due to the class of the system, it proved impossible to play at the highest graphical settings. The only effect that seemed to overload the system was the "Hi-End Mode" which is now undergoing optimization. Predominantly, it adds lighting and particle effects that have not been that noticeable in CBT1. Hi-End Mode is the most resources-hungry graphic option, which barely yields 25 FPS on a system with Nvidia GTX 960. Since Black Desert is an MMO, to work at the rate of 60 FPS, it requires a CPU unit of relatively high performance (and this means a high-performance i5 second-gen at least, or i7). A big surprise was the fact that even with a high number of players on the screen and dynamically-changing times of the day and weather, the game retained steady framerate. When it comes to RAM itself, the situation is much better than in other MMO games. At the highest graphics settings (including background programs) the allotted amount did not exceed 5GB.

The graphical side is a strong point of the game. However, it has problems drawing objects and shading. This is the so called pop-up, which consists in drawing only a half of the objects from afar and drawing the rest while you are approaching. Not only does this apply to objects and plants, but also to their shadows. This makes to negative experience of the game world. The game does not use the effect of single jumps in the looks of a given object, nor the effect of cascade rendering of shadows, but multiple increasing of detail level. This means that, while approaching a tree, the object constantly changes in front of your eyes. To alleviate this effect, you can enable Improve Distance and set the graphics to Very High, which still falls short of expectations. The important issue of the graphics is also lack of real-time shadow rendering. This means that shadows do not change fluently with the change of lighting and they change in jumps.

Graphical settings have been divided into two presets that have been aimed at high-end systems and ones and the low-end ones. The first preset is medium and high:

Anti-aliasing - the graphics option that smoothens edges. The type used here is FXAA, thanks to which it is possible to blur textures and which may b unacceptable for some. This option does not require high resources for proper functioning.
Depth of field - this option is responsible for the effect of depth of sharpness of the image. The techniques used here is not too advanced and it has been combined with chromatic aberration, thanks to which colors blend together, if viewed at the right distance. This does not cause overloading the system.
Show blood - adds the blood and splatters of blood on the ground. This effect depends on your system.
SSAO - SSAO which is the standard technique of ambient occlusion adds realistic shadowing of lit surfaces. This effect has limited impact on the GPU resources. Those of the players that do not have sufficiently powerful GPU units should consider disabling it.
Improve Distance - increasing the draw distance is one of the most resource-consuming effect in the game. It uses up the power of the CPU unit, the GPU unit and RAM. This should be disabled for-lower-end computers.
Screen Filter - the filter set by the developers that improves the image quality. There are several pre-set filters to choose from, which enhance contrast and color.
Hi-End Mode - the most resource-consuming option in the game. This option adds several lighting and particle effects. It is recommended only for the players with high-end computers (GTX980 class GPU).

The options mentioned above are standard ones recommended for all of the players. The game also provides options addressed at the players with lower-end computers. It should be kept in mind that using any of the ones mentioned below decreases the overall quality of the image.

Crop Mode - decreases framerate for the animations in the game world, which automatically increases framerate for the entire scene.
Upscale - this allows you to render the scene at a lower resolution than the one set in the options, where it is scaled to match the selected resolution. This option causes a boost in framerate for those of the players who own lower-end GPU units. It decreases the detail of the image and LCD owners will be annoyed by the blurred image displayed.
Remove others' lanterns/effects - disables light effects and light sources of the other players. Enabling this option boosts the framerate basing on the CPU unit.