Tweaks

[Megageth]

From the steam forum:

AA, Vsync, Voice, MP Ports etc

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=998374

Coop Fix:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1006804

[J_Th4ng]

LEG-END!!

I see from that post that the game appears to have it's own built in VoIP. Must check that out...

[Megageth]

Still cant get my backup version working. Losing my cool with Steam. Again.

[J_Th4ng]

Okay, I read through the linked tweaks thread, and spent a fair amount of time finding specific tweaks that (a) work, and (b) make a big difference. Here are a few that I suggest applying. I've tested them and they all work fine on my installation.

NOTE: You're going to be modding two files, and as with anything of this ilk, I strongly recommend backing the original two files up first.


Before I start, two things that are a bit of an issue with this game:
1. Anti-Aliasing support – Basically there is none. It can be forced to work running under DX10 mode, but the performance penalty is severe, so I don’t recommend it. I found that once I had fixed my FOV, the aliasing didn’t seem to be as much of an issue.
2. VoIP. The game HAS built in VoIP for MP. Although that sounds great, there is one major problem with it. There is no push to talk option. This means that everyone is transmitting all of the time. Great for console gamers (apparently), but not cool for us. With this in mind, I suggest disabling the in game VoIP (explained below), and using TS for our games. As a clan we have three TS channels, we should be able to manage with these.

First things first:
Load up the game, and do all of the customisations and settings that you want to in there i.e. your key bindings, graphic and audio options, invert mouse etc. The tweaks should be applied after all of this, because in order to ensure that they don't get lost, you're going to make your .ini files read-only.

Files to edit
The files that you are going to mod can be found from a route within your 'My Documents' folder. The location of this varies by version of windows, so you'll need to find that for yourself...

Once in 'My Documents' browse to >My Games>Borderlands>WillowGame>Config

The two files that you're going to mod are WillowEngine.ini and WillowInput.ini. They can be opened with notepad (right click, open with)

Tweaks

The first two tweaks are applied in the WillowEngine.ini file.

Disable startup videos

The start-up videos for this game are long and boring, and can’t be skipped in-game. You can disable some of them using this tweak, but a couple will still appear.

Search for the section containing the following:

[FullScreenMovie]
StartupMovies=2K_logo
StartupMovies=Gearbox_logo
StartupMovies=NVidia
StartupMovies=Loading
SkippableMovies=2K_logo
SkippableMovies=Gearbox_logo
SkippableMovies=Attract
SkippableMovies=NVidia

Comment out each of the videos by putting a ‘;’ in front of it. In the end it should look like this:

[FullScreenMovie]
;StartupMovies=2K_logo
;StartupMovies=Gearbox_logo
;StartupMovies=NVidia
;StartupMovies=Loading
;SkippableMovies=2K_logo
;SkippableMovies=Gearbox_logo
;SkippableMovies=Attract
;SkippableMovies=NVidia

Disable in-game VoIP

Search for the section containing the following:
bHasVoiceEnabled=True

No prizes for guessing how to fix this…
bHasVoiceEnabled=False

The rest of the tweaks here make amendments to the WillowInput.ini file. Note that within this file, a lot of the commands appear more than once. The only ones that you need to change are the ones at the bottom, under the heading [WillowGame.WillowPlayerInput]

Hold to duck

By default, the duck key in the game is a toggle i.e. press once to duck, and press again to stand up. I prefer a hold to duck option. In order to create this, paste the following two lives in at the bottom of the [WillowGame.WillowPlayerInput] section. NOTE: that I use LeftControl to duck, you can substitute this with any key that you prefer:

Bindings=(Name="Duck",Command="Button bDuck | Axis aUp Speed=-1.0 AbsoluteAxis=100")
Bindings=(Name="LeftControl",Command="Duck",Control=False,Shift=False,Alt=False,LeftTrigger=F alse,RightTrigger=False,bIgnoreCtrl=False,bIgnoreS hift=False,bIgnoreAlt=False)

Field of view (FOV) Fix

One of the most irritating things for me in the game is the fact that it has an extremely narrow field of view. IN fact, the default FOV may be fine for old style 4:3 monitors, but anyone running on a WS monitor will most likely want to change the FOV to something wider.

Although this is easily done by typing in a simple FOV= bind, there is an additional problem. Whenever you enter or exit a vehicle, or transition between areas, or even sprint, the FOV will reset back to its default value. A good solution to this is to bind all of your movement keys to change the FOV value to whatever you want it to be. Then, any time you move, the FOV will be forced back to the value that you want it to be. Some experimentation may be required to find the FOV that you are most comfortable with, but I found an FOV of 90 to be pretty good, and a lot better than default (which is set to 70). Some people like FOV’s up to ~105, so set the value to what suits you.
Once you have decided what FOV you want, it’s a simple matter of replacing the movement key bindings in the [WillowGame.WillowPlayerInput] section with the following commands (obviously you should set the FOV value in each one to be the FOV that you want). I use the typical WASD keys for movement, and LeftShift for sprint:

Bindings=(Name="S",Command="MoveBackward | Axis aBrake Speed=+1.0 | FOV 90",Control=False,Shift=False,Alt=False,LeftTrigger=F alse,RightTrigger=False,bIgnoreCtrl=False,bIgnoreS hift=False,bIgnoreAlt=False)
Bindings=(Name="W",Command="MoveForward | Axis aGas Speed=+1.0 | FOV 90",Control=False,Shift=False,Alt=False,LeftTrigger=F alse,RightTrigger=False,bIgnoreCtrl=False,bIgnoreS hift=False,bIgnoreAlt=False)
Bindings=(Name="A",Command="StrafeLeft | FOV 90",Control=False,Shift=False,Alt=False,LeftTrigger=F alse,RightTrigger=False,bIgnoreCtrl=False,bIgnoreS hift=False,bIgnoreAlt=False)
Bindings=(Name="D",Command="StrafeRight | FOV 90",Control=False,Shift=False,Alt=False,LeftTrigger=F alse,RightTrigger=False,bIgnoreCtrl=False,bIgnoreS hift=False,bIgnoreAlt=False)
Bindings=(Name="LeftShift",Command="advancedbutton bAdvancedButtonAux6 | FOV 90",Control=False,Shift=False,Alt=False,LeftTrigger=F alse,RightTrigger=False,bIgnoreCtrl=False,bIgnoreS hift=False,bIgnoreAlt=False)

Weapon Drop

Lastly, and particularly for MP. The ability to drop the weapon that you are currently holding, without trawling through the inventory menus. Find a key that you want to bind for this, and past the section below into the bottom of the [WillowGame.WillowPlayerInput] section

Bindings=(Name="J",Command="ThrowWeapon",Control=False,Shift=False,Alt=False)

Once you have finished adding all of the tweaks that you want, save and exit the file. Then in order to ensure that the game doesn’t overwrite your tweaks, right click on the file, select properties, and tick the ‘Read only’ box.

Sorted. I think that this will improve most peoples Borderlands experience. Any more tweaks that you’ve found that work well? Post them here.

[Stu]

Still cant get my backup version working. Losing my cool with Steam. Again.


Have you attempted validating the install via steam? I did this after getting a couple of crashes and now it seems to be working.

[Megageth]

Tried many things.

Fix to show more item attributes.

"Go to your Borderlands install directory.
Nagivate to %BORDERLANDS%\WillowGame\Localization\INT\
Find the gd_globals.INT file. MAKE A BACKUP.
Open the gd_globals.INT file.

Replace
Code:

AttributePresentationTranslation="$NUMBER$ $CONSTRAINT$ $DESCRIPTION$"

with
Code:

AttributePresentationTranslation=<font size="10">$NUMBER$ $CONSTRAINT$ $DESCRIPTION$</font>

You can also adjust the size from 10 to 8, or 12, whatever you wish."

[SlipperyDuck]

Just a note for the FOV thing....
If you're into ACID the go do the FOV changes, if you're like everyone else, leave the default.
Seriously, from what I could see, the only MOD that's useful is the one to disable the intro movies.
The FOV adjustment makes the screen jerk around and warp whenever you move, but if you're into that sort of thing, then go for it.

I'm quite happy with th defaults.

I do want to try MrMega's suggestion above though, more info is always good.

[J_Th4ng]

Just a note for the FOV thing....
If you're into ACID the go do the FOV changes, if you're like everyone else, leave the default.
Seriously, from what I could see, the only MOD that's useful is the one to disable the intro movies.
The FOV adjustment makes the screen jerk around and warp whenever you move, but if you're into that sort of thing, then go for it.

That is very weird. I've been running the FOV fix since I started playing, and the game looks soooo much better with a wider FOV. And I get no warping, jerking, or anything like that. In fact, it looks a lot smooter than the default FOV of 70.

Are you sure you implemented it correctly, Lee? What FOV did you use? If you don't bind it to reset FOV on all of your movement keys, that could be the problem. FOV will reset itself on certain circumstances, so that might cause the warping to which you are referring. Did you test it in SP and MP, and if so, was it a problem only in MP (I've not tried this yet, so can't testify to it).

I also find the 'Hold to duck'; mod to be extremely useful. But then I always hate toggle duck in games - maybe your duck status makes you more adaptable in this regards :)

[SlipperyDuck]

I pretty much did a copy paste from above (the fov that is).

Plus my Duck bind didn't work, ended up doing exactly the same as hitting C, ie. duck n hold.
Ah well, not too fussed, already used to the set up.

The real winner is Mega's suggestion. There really is a need for more info, a lot of the time you browse a weapon or item and don't have visibility of those extra bits of info and a Green or Purple item actually seems less powerful than the White one that you've got, which simply doesnt make sense........until now.

It's the 1st thing I'm gonna go do when i get home later....whip out the text editor FTW!

[SoSheOhPathix]

The interface that gets me is the driving. Steer by mouse... eish. I drive into all sorts of things.
But the rocket launcher on the roof is certainly handy.
You dudes using vehicles in MP?

[SlipperyDuck]

YES! the mouse steer is funky - but functional.....It's a good laff to run over 10+ badguys

[J_Th4ng]

If the duck bind didn't work, then you definitely must've done something wrong. It works like a charm for me.

Erm, hold on.


Plus my Duck bind didn't work, ended up doing exactly the same as hitting C, ie. duck n hold.
Ah well, not too fussed, already used to the set up.

Duck n hold is the mod. Normal duck is a toggle i.e. press once to duck, press again to stand up.

As for the FOV binds, you did put them into the right place in that file i.e. in the [WillowGame.WillowPlayerInput] section (not up the top where the default player input binds for teh engine are), replacing the stock binds for the WASD and LeftShift keys? Also, I note from my post that it's split the scripts for the S,W and LeftShift binds over two lines. They should all be one line, with a space between 'FOV' and '90'.

Lee, please can you test this again? I'm curious as to why you are getting Weirdy View and I'm getting Smooth-o-Vision using the fix. In fact, if you want to validate this, you could set the FOV values to 70, and try the binds. The game's default FOV is 70, so that should make absolutely no difference to your display. If it still causes visual pyrotechnics, then either:

- It's been done wrong somehow, or
- you really are on acid ;)

Also, don't forget that the .ini file will need to be set to read only when used.

[SoSheOhPathix]

Anybody got any ideas on how to get the in-game voice comms to work properly?
It is very 'choppy' most of the time. Can't really hear what people are saying when I play online

[Megageth]

Not I, we have been using one of our Teamspeak servers for MP.