Hello everyone,
for I know that Sandstorm reacts differently on different systems let me give you some background on my individual history with this game (summary below):
At some point during Beta, I upgraded my Laptop from 1x8GB to 2x8GB RAM, i.e. not only 16 GB which are recommended for this game but also dual channel. That didn't give me more FPS but a much smoother game experience.
Still I refunded the game on December 20th because the performance got worse again with the last patches. The next day on 21st the new patch came out, but I did not rebuy because I was finally fed up. (At least, it drove me to buy R6: Siege which I am very very thankful for.)
Finally bought Sandstorm again a few weeks ago, and it turned out the performance got much better with the update from December 21st.
With the new update it got worse again, or so I thought. No FPS drops but the game felt incredibly slow and wonky and blurry. Then I followed the steps from community update and: it works as smooth as never before! Constant 60fps on higher settings than before; almost no FPS drops, only when there is very much going on. I am very glad because performance was the Number 1 issue for me.
Here the link to the community update:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/581320/announcements/detail/1807537703510922375

To summarize (based on my own experience, no guarantees):
(1) Upgrade your RAM to 16 GB, and if you can: use dual channel! It is the cheapest way to upgrade and there are a lot of other games that will benefit from this.
(2) I've installed the new Nvidia driver.
(3) I've deleted the WindowsClient folder.
(4) Get some knowledge how to tweak the graphic settings. See link above for some tips.
My own tips:

  • Turn Motion Blur off always, in every game
  • Shadows are the most consuming option so turn them down. (Note that there are several options for shadows, e.g. shadow resolution)
  • FXAA looks not that good but it is very light on your GPU.
  • Use the setting to limit your FPS to a number your system can handle!
  • Turn off all Special Effects like Foliage Interaction etc.

All in all: the gunplay never felt better, and the MP5 is queen!

Still, and this goes to the devs: I will drop a negative review on Steam in a few days anyway because there are so many game breaking bugs and mechanics and I just can't believe you have not fixed them yet!

last edited by banani2804