Install the game.
The obvious first step is to install the game and run it once, you should also configure your game settings at this point in order to create the user configuration files. This guide uses the Steam version of the game.
Multi Monitor and SLI fixes.
Dead Space has excellent scaling over two way sli and has almost issues on multi monitor and 21:9 monitor setups, however the FOV is slightly off across multi monitors.
To fix the FOV download a program called Widescreen Fixer (see important software tab up top of this page) and extract it's contents. Before launching the game open and run this program. You will need to select the game from the drop down list (green box), then click the cog icon just next to it to adjust the settings (red box). Be sure to select the game version you have (blue box) and then adjust the slider to the desired aspect ratio fix (pink box). Finally click "Save Settings" at the bottom and "Close Window". Leave Widescreen Fixer running and launch the game, remember to enable the fix once the game has launched using using the Widescreen fixer hotkeys (you can assign your own in the Widescreen Fixer menu), as this fix does not automatically initiate.
Note that 0 has no change while 1 will leave the game unplayable. Some screenshots are posted below to show the difference each setting makes. This program can also be applied to standard resolutions to remove widen the view.
Bug fixes.
1. If you have a joystick or controller plugged in then this interferes with the input for Dead Space. The simplest solution is to unplug these devices however you can fix this without unplugging any devices by creating a blank text file in your my documents\electronic arts\dead space\ folder and naming it "joypad.txt". To do this navigate to that directory, right-click and select "New text document" then name it "joypad". remember that '.txt' is the file extension, not part of the file name.
2. The in game v-sync caps the frame rate to 30 fps. To unlock your frame rate disable the in game v-sync and enable v-sync within nvidia control panel or catalyst control center.
3. This game has horrible mouse lag/smoothing. To to fix this disable the in game v-sync and enable v-sync within nvidia control panel or catalyst control center. If you just did this in point 2. then skip and move on obviously.
Anti-Aliasing.
The Anti-aliasing in this game is about as bad as it gets, however there are some techniques to eliminate the jaggies and get a sharper image overall to boot.
1. Down sampling.
Down sampling is a technique in which the game is rendered at a much higher resolution than the monitor is capable of displaying and then the picture is down sampled to match the display's resolution. By doing this anti-aliasing is applied to everything in game, but at the cost of fps. Nvidia users without sli and running standard resolutions can use DSR to perform down sampling or by creating a custom resolution in nvidia control panel to enable higher resolutions in game. AMD users have access to something similar, though without an AMD system I am unable to test this (comment below and let me know). Finally users that are running sli or multi monitors can use this method to down sample and get rid of those jaggies. Choose the method below that best suits you and follow those instructions.
Down sampling is a technique in which the game is rendered at a much higher resolution than the monitor is capable of displaying and then the picture is down sampled to match the display's resolution. By doing this anti-aliasing is applied to everything in game, but at the cost of fps. Nvidia users without sli and running standard resolutions can use DSR to perform down sampling or by creating a custom resolution in nvidia control panel to enable higher resolutions in game. AMD users have access to something similar, though without an AMD system I am unable to test this (comment below and let me know). Finally users that are running sli or multi monitors can use this method to down sample and get rid of those jaggies. Choose the method below that best suits you and follow those instructions.
2. More anti-aliasing.
You can add slightly more anti-aliasing in nvidia control panel/catalyst control center on top of the down sampling process. It appears that enabling anti-aliasing setting does nothing in game, except for FXAA. I find that, although FXAA adds blur to the image, because the resolution is so high (8640x1620 in my case) the blur is barely noticeable but edges are considerably smoother. You should experiment with various combinations of in game, down sampling and FXAA to find a setting you like.
You can add slightly more anti-aliasing in nvidia control panel/catalyst control center on top of the down sampling process. It appears that enabling anti-aliasing setting does nothing in game, except for FXAA. I find that, although FXAA adds blur to the image, because the resolution is so high (8640x1620 in my case) the blur is barely noticeable but edges are considerably smoother. You should experiment with various combinations of in game, down sampling and FXAA to find a setting you like.
Ambient Occlusion.
Ambient occlusion can also be enabled in nvidia control panel or catalyst control center. This setting will enable objects to cast natural shadows but has a significant performance hit depending on your hardware.
Modding limitations.
Unfortunately techniques for enabling better anti-aliasing techniques have been overwritten with gpu driver updates, so unless you wish to roll back your nvidia drivers by may years you cannot expose these options. Modding this game is also basically locked out, however there have been some attempts at post process injectors like Fake Next Gen or the FPS Counter And Post Processing Effects, but both of these options really don't improve the game much and one even comes with advertising so I have chosen to forgo both of these. You can view a video of the Fake Next Gen mod below: