Tomb Raider 2013 Manual PLP Instructions

Game spreads perfect hor+ borderless (see uglier Fullscreen Described *).
A. FOV proper. All aim & text are proper. HUD proper, on center. Rendered cutscenes & QTEs full hor+, FMVs (rare) pillarboxed.
B. Menus all proper on center (some with hor+ backgrounds; some pillarboxed, including the campfire screen).
C. All pillarboxing is removable in borderless, but at high cost (see AspectRatio Fix).

(PLP screenshot; hair etc maxed, except pointless stuff e.g. DOF=Off for clarity)

Borderless (best choice):
1. In game launcher: uncheck Exclusive Fullscreen first (safest), then uncheck Fullscreen. Window Size = your center monitor,
Monitor Aspect Ratio = Auto. OK & Quit launcher (safest).
2. Start game (same exe), setup Borderless Gaming (BG), quit game & BG.
3. Shortcut/launcher argument -nolauncher.
4. Start BG, start game (BG auto-triggers full borderless).

OR Fullscreen:
1. SoftTH (fullscreen, DX9 x86).
2. In game's launcher, checkmark Fullscreen & Exclusive Fullscreen.
3. OK & Quit launcher (safest). Then start game (same exe) & Quit (to populate registry).
4. Find Regedit Key (here **).
A. Modify Value RenderAPI=9 (for DX9. Default is 0 for DX11).
B. Modify AspectRatio (details ***).
5. Start launcher again. Select massive Resolution & Refresh Rate, Play.

NOTES:
2. ** Regedit Key location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Crystal Dynamics\Tomb Raider\Graphics.
3. *** AspectRatio Fix:
A. This fix has side-effects: removes pillarboxes & adds Imperfections ****. It is only manditory for SoftTH.
B. Calculate aspect:
i. Width / height x 10000, round no decimals.
ii. Optional: add about 40 if borderless OR add about 10 if fullscreen. (Adding ~40or10 perfected tester's FOV, which was bare-hint-off & unnoticed.)
C. Your edit: paste calculated aspect into AspectRation Value (entered in Decimal Base).

4. * Fullscreen Described (DX9):
A. Very inferior visuals VS DX11-max & fewer graphic settings. Load-times are also double!
B. FPS is stupid-lightweight:
i. DX9 has significant FPS boost.
ii. DX-aside, fullsceen gives stupid-high FPS, where borderless stays average (on same-lowish-settings. FS not tested long, so FPS-weirdness's cause unknown).
C. Has some tearing in all cutscenes, & gets worse overall with MSI Afterburner; Vsync won't fix anything (whereas borderless works flawless).
D. **** Imperfections (caused by AspectRatio Fix):
i. Visuals: Campfires & all menu backgrounds beautiful hor+. But high cost: rendered cutscenes vert- (tolerable, not ideal) & maybe rare-abnormal QTE.
ii. Map: Default-world-map will be ~59% smaller. Clicking zoom-out-world-map likely won't work. However since default-map-view is now full-hor+ & also smaller, you don't strictly need map-zoom-out (particularly with online map ign.com/maps/tomb-raider/island).
iii. HUD: Bullet-count likely only displays when weapon-wheel is hit (& won't display when shooting, reloading). Works fine, more hardcore realistic.

5. Recommended graphics settings (launcher) for borderless DX11 beautiful quality with good-FPS:
A. Motion Blur Off. Vsync "Triple Buffer" (no-cost, while Double Buffer costs a noticable-hint; weird).
B. In Advanced tab Quality=Ultra; this maxes all settings except three high-cost low-payers:
i. Hair-TressFX (worthwhile only if you can run it, it's not central).
ii. AA-max (heavy for ~nothing).
iii. Shadows-max (just blurs shadow-edges more & not better).
C. DOF=Off (~12% FPS increase & gives clearer-view).
D. If still real-low FPS (e.g. Nvidia-card on sluggish-PC), your game will look inferior, but:
i. Maybe set SSAO below Ultra
(will immediately lose excellent-object-shading, resulting in notably inferior atmosphere).
OR ii. Maybe use fullscreen DX9 (stupid-lightweight).

6. On Win10, SoftTH fullscreen may require you physically swap left & right monitors.
7. Optional FOV (not needed): Cheat Engine table (see pcgamingwiki).
8. ShiftWindow/WinShift (+border) works ok too, but maybe not full spread (depends OS).
9. If game crashes or stutters or cutscenes have significant tearing (likely fullscreen), quit MSI Afterburner (or similar program).

View guide for general help with the instructions.