I'm doing some benchmarks with different Shadow settings and found that of you don't delete the SHADERS and CBASH folders after each setting change then the Setting doesn't work correctly. I.e. Start with Low then change to Medium and there is no difference, delete those folders and rerun the have and you can see the difference between the two settings. Not sure if this is by design or not, but people may think they've changed this setting in game without noticing it's failure. Tested at Monte Carlo official track with civics.
I don't think this is by design. Those files should be autorebuilt. At least that's the way it has worked so far when you changed some settings. Track loading times increased in those cases with respect to loading a second time the same configuration. I reported no performance change regardless the player detail setting being used. I only delete shaders and cbash after switching builds. I wonder if it is the same problem that you mention? What settings have you noticed to be affected?
Shadows is the only one so far that requires a deletion of those folders that I've found, I have changed Opponent Detail and seen a difference without deletion I know that much.
I've seen a difference in shadow details and FPS without deletion, the following FPS numbers I got last week without deleting anything: Dx11 Shadows Off 74 DX11 Shadows Low 71 DX11 Shadows Medium 57 DX11 Shadows High 54
I didn't check the FPS just visually it was blatantly obvious that changing settings purely in game made no difference, besides there's been Build updates since last week so maybe something broke in them.
I'm seeing a drop in FPS changing shadow settings, without clearing shaders/cbash. Were you checking this only in VR?
Well spotted , I suspected there was something bit kooky The setting change doesn't delete & replace with new files