Path of Titans player tries The Isle for the first time

So, I like the concept and how absolutely scary the environment is, but I had a few issues that really made it hard to start.

First, having to change the branch right off the bat is wild. Somebody told me I had to do this and it's the only reason I didn't spend even more time trying to figure out why my game wasn't working.

Next, I know my laptop is going to have trouble running the game, so I immediately go to settings to put all the graphics as low as I can. It makes me restart the game and it fails to reboot a few times, but whatever. At least my graphics will be changed. Wait, no they aren't. I tried to change the graphics settings five more times, restarting the game each time and eventually restarting my whole laptop, and every time when I checked we were right back at epic and high settings like I'd done nothing.

I spent some time googling and I eventually pieced together a few different things I found and figured out I could go directly into the user config file through file manager and change the settings in there, with a number value corresponding to what I want. I do this and hallelujah! My settings are now on low so I can see if it runs.

I go into an official server that has a ping over 200 because I figure that's good and I choose Galli because I know it's fast and I will not be trying to keep a carnivore alive to start with. I know Q to sniff and I can open my mutations.

I spawn at night and figure out X is night vision. Then I get to sniffing and running. My fps hovers around 10 with a few dips even lower, so it's a bit of a slideshow but playable enough for what I'm doing. My main issue from this point on is figuring out what the symbols mean when I sniff, and I'm still not sure on all of them. Luckily, I can graze so I have plenty of time to figure it out.

I was uh, unable to figure out how to locate food on my own even with knowing Q was important. Ended up logging and looking it up, so I think I wasn't holding Q down for long enough... Maybe.

I really like the environment of this game, but my biggest complaint is definitely having to go into the file to change the graphics settings. I don't know why it wasn't working for me otherwise, and it made it hard to even start. Fps is still really bad, but I can try changing a few more things... Doubt it will get much better.

I don't know if I should just go for a refund. I like the concept and it's much scarier than PoT, but if I run into another dino the frame rate is going to kill me. Love my laptop, but I think this might just be too much for it. Path runs great at least, so I can always just play permadeath over there when I want to suffer, it's just not nearly as much of a horror game.