To access the full suite of in-game settings, launch Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and select the Options item on the main menu, then select Settings. The main graphics-related options are covered in detail later in this guide. First we examine the general gameplay, sound and control options in this section. None of these settings has any significant impact on performance.

Gameplay

Subtitles: If set to Enabled, text subtitles will be shown at the bottom of the screen during conversations and cut scenes, while Disabled removes all such subtitles. This option is specific to campaign mode.

Graphic Content: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 contains content which some players may find disturbing. If this option is set to Disabled, as much of these elements as possible is removed from the game without changing the storyline. This includes blood and gore effects, foul language, and any violent historical footage shown during the campaign. This setting has no impact on multiplayer mode.

Player Name Indicator: This setting controls the information displayed above player heads in multiplayer mode:

• Full Name - The player\\\'s rank icon and rank, any clan tag, and name will be displayed, in that order.
• Abbreviated - Only the player name, devoid of rank or clan tag, is shown.
• Icon Only - Only the rank icon and rank level is shown, without any name or clan tag.

Color Blind Assist: If set to On, this option changes the colors used in the minimap so that they are more easily distinguishable for people who are color blind.

Chat Messages: If set to Show, this option will allow the display of player text chat messages on the screen in multiplayer mode. If you find these messages distracting or annoying, you can remove them by selecting Hide for this setting.

Sound

Volume: There are multiple sliders here allowing control of the volume level for various game audio elements. This includes: Voice for spoken dialog, Music for in-game background music, SFX for special effects such as gunfire and explosions, a Master volume slider that controls the overall volume of all elements, a Cinematic volume slider that determines the level of audio for in-game cut-scenes during campaign mode, and Codcaster sliders to control the volume of gameplay and commentary when watching a pre-recorded game. None of these sliders has any impact on performance, so set them to suit your taste.

Hearing Impaired: If this option is enabled, spoken dialog will be enhanced over any background audio to make it easier to distinguish.

Sound Device: This item is may not be selectable if you have only one sound output device connected. It displays the name of the sound hardware that Black Ops 2 is currently using to output game audio on your system. If a connected device is not being identified correctly, or you are having problems with audio output on it, then you will first need to check your Windows sound settings under the Sound component of the Windows Control Panel, then check your sound card or motherboard manufacturer\\\'s website for the latest sound drivers.

Presets: There are five preset audio mixes here, each determining the way in which game audio is processed:

• Headphones - Boosts audio response at both ends of the spectrum to provide richer audio on standard headphones.
• Treyarch Mix - The recommend audio processing for most systems with standard two or more channel speaker setups, as well as high-end headphones.
• Bass Boost - Increases the low frequency response to provide heavier bass. Suitable if you prefer more bass, or have small speakers.
• High Boost - Increases the high frequency response to provide crisper audio.
• Supercrunch - Provides exaggerated sound output at all frequencies. This can make it easier to detect any noise, particularly during multiplayer.

Once a preset is selected, you can click the System Test option to initiate a brief test sequence. However, any changes to the presets during the test sequence will not be reflected until the test is run again.

Controls

The Controls section of the settings allows you to remap your mouse, gamepad and keyboard control assignments. Make sure to go through this section, not only to customize it, but to also become aware of all the various settings. Of note are the following:

Invert Mouse Look: If set to Yes, pushing your mouse forward will make your character aim down, and moving your mouse back will make him aim upwards. If set to No, the arrangement is reversed.

Mouse Sensitivity: This slider determines the level of responsiveness of the mouse to your movements. The further to the right the slider, the more responsive the mouse will feel. Keep in mind that if your mouse movements feel laggy, even after raising the Mouse Sensitivity, there are several other things you should check:

• If your framerate falls below around 30 FPS at any time, particularly during heavy combat, you will start to notice reduced responsiveness. You will need to adjust your graphics settings to raise your minimum FPS.
• Check the Max Frames Per Second graphics setting (covered later in this guide) to make sure it isn\\\'t set to a low cap, such as 30 FPS. This is too low a maximum frame rate to allow for sufficient responsiveness in a fast-paced game like Black Ops 2; it should be set to at least 60.
• If the Sync Every Frame setting is enabled, or you have Vertical Sync set to On or Adaptive in the NVIDIA Control Panel, this can contribute to a less responsive feel to mouse movements. See the Sync Every Frame setting in the Graphics Settings section later in this guide for more details.

Mouse Smoothing: If set to On, this setting attempts to reduce the jerkiness of mouse movements by taking the average of several input samples, rather than just a single sample at any time. Note that mouse smoothing is not the same as mouse acceleration/deceleration. The main benefit of enabling mouse smoothing is that it can increase precision and, as the name implies, provide a feeling of smoothness in mouse movements. The major drawback is that it can result in noticeable mouse lag, making the mouse feel less responsive, particularly during fast-paced action. On balance it is best set to Off for maximum responsiveness in Borderlands 2.

Also keep in mind that a high mouse sensitivity, while it can improve responsiveness, may also reduce accuracy.

On the next page we begin our look at the various graphics-related settings in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.

Graphics Settings

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has a large number of graphics-related settings, and these can have a substantial impact on the way the game looks and plays on your system. To access all of the available graphics settings, select Options under the Main Menu, then choose the Settings item. In the following section we\\\'ll go through each of these graphics settings in detail, and see exactly how they affect performance and image quality.

In the performance graphs shown, for each setting we start with a \\\"baseline\\\" where all options are set to the maximum possible, as well as 4x MSAA, FXAA On, Depth of Field Low, Sync Every Frame Off, and Max Frames Per Second set to Unlimited. From this baseline, we vary individual settings to measure their effect on performance and image quality. From this baseline, we vary individual settings to measure their effect on performance and image quality. To see how various combinations of settings work for other NVIDIA GPUs, check out the Optimal Playable Settings section of the site.

Full System Configuration

• GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB
• Intel Core i7 3960X (3.3GHz)
• 8GB RAM
• Win7 64-bit
• NVIDIA 310.54 WHQL Drivers

Please go read the full guide here:

http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides/black-ops-2-tweak-guide#1