AER 2.0 is an absolute game changer and can finally make this game both look and run almost flawlessly if you have a better system.
I have a 4090 and an i9 3900k and the guide will be focused on the best of the best for that system. Everything should be scalable though and I’ll attempt to point out some things that should help if you’re on a lower system.
After trying the new AER 2.0 update, I was incredibly impressed with how smooth the game runs now. I could maintain a steady 90 fps at the highest set graphic settings the mod allows and using AER 2’s Spacewarp, it really feels like 180 fps for the most part.
The main issue is just that the game looks quite grainy when any higher amounts of sharpening is applied. I already had Link Sharpening on my Quest Pro and so the default mod’s sharpening settings look quite “fried” and grainy and you could see the ghosting around the edges even worse from the broken TAA when using AER.
I tried turning off TAA, but that’s far too grainy. Turning down the sharpening in the mod settings made most of it look much better, but sadly it also looks quite blurry.
If you’d rather watch a video version of this guide (or run into issues following this), Dr Greg has put together a guide here (though I wouldn’t follow everything. I don’t agree that you need to drop your texture res to low (see below for using a texture back to get it even higher) and some of his conclusions of using legacy over AER 2.0 seem odd (will need to look into that):
I asked Luke about getting the resolution higher than the 2900x2900 res it has as its max, but he explained that shadows break when you go above that. I did test addingr.DynamicRes.MinScreenPercentage=140 to the game’s ini and could see what broken effects he was talking about. The shadows have this white and green shimmering clouds over them.
THANKFULLY, the creator’s of Flawless Widescreen have made a fix for this issue.
Download the free app here:
Flawless Widescreen - Gaming the way it should be!
and select FF VII Remake. You’ll want to make sure that the GreenFix V2 is turned on. Then you can set the resolution higher. I have mine set as above (which shows as 3600x3600 in-game in the mod settings).
The results are AMAZING! The TAA ghost issues are almost completely gone and everything looks clear and sharp without looking fried. The image has a rich depth to it.
If you have a lower GPU, I would try running your HMD at 72 hz with AER 2.0 and seeing just how high you can get the resolution so that it keeps that steady 72 fps (or maybe even as low as 60 hz)
AER 2.0 only works well if you can keep a steady FPS of what your HMD’s hz is. Then it does its magic so both eyes have a new image each frame. Whatever you set it to, just make sure you’re getting the full fps of your headset’s hz.