Hi ! I’m a 2D artist, I fell in love with game dev one year ago and now I want to make my own 3D game on UE5 just for fun. However one big question remains : Where are the limits for graphics ?
I try to visualize my world, to define an art style. But I don’t know how much I can let my creativity run if I want my game to run on average PCs. Can I make high-end graphics ? Or should I go for something more simple ?
I see beautiful ingame footages of AAA games made on UE5, full of foliages, detailed meshes etc. But if I try to do the same, it wont run on my PC even with an RTX 3070 
I used (game ready) assets to build a map to see how it runs. I learned about optimization, LOD’s, Texture Streaming… I dont understand how such AAA games can run on a PS5 while I cant run a project with half the graphics quality on a twice as powerfull setup.
I dont pretend to want to make a game with such graphics but I’m curious. What to they do more to optimize their games this much ?
If you’re running into problems with a 3000 series card, then you do need to learn more about optimization 
It is possible to get an open world with rugged terrain and foliage running on a phone, if you know what you’re doing. ( I’m not saying that’s me, but I know that’s possible ).
If you want your game to run on average machines, then you’re looking more at 1000 series cards and below ( possibly well below ). So aim to get it looking good down there, and let the players turn on everything if they have a 2 or 3 series card.
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The difference between PIE vs Packaged can be dramatic. Or are you talking about the final product already?
Also, Blueprints vs C++. And AAA will utilise custom solutions in order to address bottlenecks. Do note that the big boys collaborate with GPU drivers’ engineering teams. Hardware driver Game Profiles have been a thing for years. You must have seen something along the lines of nVidia 500.xx boosting this TombRaider by 13% or thereabout months after the release…
There’s a plethora of tricks, smoke & mirror techniques when it comes to optimisation. One can’t compare a solo dev to a team with 20+ years of experience.
The opposite also happens as often, the final AAA product runs like a three legged dog only to receive a ‘performance patch’ that reduces the fidelity of the visuals 
Besides that, consoles are closed ecosystems and, unlike the PCs, boast virtually no modularity. You know the exact hardware of PS 2,3,4,5 - you get to optimise with a lot of confidence. There are few moving parts. Also, as the time goes by, developers learn how to squeeze more performance from the same console hardware. It’s a must since 7 years is a looong cycle.
A well optimised console game will perform much better than on a PC with matching hardware. On the other hand, an average PC gamer will happily exchange the innards of their PC at least twice in the same time period, eventually outclassing the console. If you throw enough £££ at the problem, you’ll end up with a solution one way or another.
Scalpers + Covid shortages created a weird dynamic where folks were unable to upgrade that easily, though.
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I’m not running into problems, I run most maps/premade levels at 4k 60fps. It’s just… when I saw the Black Myth: Wukong trailer or Horizon Forbidden West trailer… it’s so far beyond the maps I’m running. But I start to find some clues. Thank you for your advice, I will try to build my game as if I had a 1000 series.
I tried both Pie and packaged. I did not see big differences, but there was no code, only a forest map maybe that’s why. I plan to learn visual scripting. And if a got the money for, maybe hire a C++ programmer one day. Should I start the project in C++ rather than Blueprints if I want to share the project with someone?
Thank you for your explanations now I understand better why it’s beyond my comprehension for now.
Also, I tried nanite. And it’s incredible. I spawned 8000 poor optimized houses. 6fps. Turned them into nanite, 80 fps. I will work around it. For a construction game it’s a revolution.
This definitely helps because with a team it is way easier to work with text based files compared to binary blueprint assets which need to be locked and synchronised properly
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Ok, thank you. I will keep it in mind