Hey u/slappycrappygand, welcome to the Battlegrounds!

I can see that you are already in good hands - there are a lot of veteran players around willing to help out newbies! Let me share some of my experience as well!

Game Settings

Graphics - Having optimal settings for your setup is key to maximising performance. Every pc setup is unique in its own way and will perform differently than others, so it is recommended to play with the settings until you find what works best for you. Lowering all settings down to very low can have a negative effect on performance as all the workload gets shifted onto the cpu. You want to have an even workload between your PC components. Here are some notes:

• Anti-Aliasing is one of the settings that can greatly help out shift the load from cpu onto the gpu if used at a higher setting. It is true that some players find the image to be a bit blurry though. However, using the sharpen setting on a 2k resolution monitor has fixed that for me. I recommend trying out medium to max setting AA + sharpen on and off to see what you like the most.
• Textures & View Distance are going to depend on your GPU as well so there isn't so much downside in keeping them at higher settings.
• DirectX Version is another setting that can have great impact on performance. Jump into a training mode and find your combination of settings that works for you!

Controls - There are A LOT of keybinds and controls which can be overwhelming at first. Although subjective - not everyone likes the default controls and there are certainly some unique and "crazy" setups out there (I don't think you'll want to know about mine :D). Here are some of the tips that some players change to make their experience smoother from default controls.

• Sensitivity is an obvious one. You can fiddle around in the settings until you work out what works best for you!
• Aim & ADS is default hold + click. ADS can be set on hold by turning both it on hold in the "controls" menu and splitting your "Aim / ADS" keybind (to remove a keybind you need to click it then hit ESC) into two separate ones. A lot of people like to move their Aim keybind to "CTRL" which is the default for Walking and when you Aim you automatically walk so the two work together well on one button.
• Quick Marker allows you to mark something in the world which will cause the compass at the top to receive a brief marking towards the location / direction of your mark. Many people have this setting double bound to a neutral keyboard button as well as the left mouse click so that your teammates can orient themselves easier when you suddenly start going full rambo on some poor guy and forget to announce it. Tapping the radio message wheel "F3 Default" will spawn a 3D marker at the location of your cursor. I have this double bound to the same key I have my quick marker setting on my keyboard.
• Having a keybind for energy drinks and bandages somewhere convenient is a lifesaver. If you have some extra mouse buttons, those will come in handy. I do not have binds setup for painkillers and syringes or medkits because if I am going to use an item that takes 6+ seconds than I have enough time to press tab and click it - and it saves me a keybind or three.

Gameplay - There are a few settings here that can make your life easier while playing - depending on your preferences of course.

• Inventory Character Render is a convenience setting that may cause slight performance issues on lower end PCs. All it does is it displays a 3D version of yourself in the middle of your screen when you open your inventory.
• Minimap dynamic zoom may is helpful while driving as the minimap zooms out, showing you more of the map.
• Default firing modes for weapons are very useful settings. These will make your guns set to your prefered firing modes each time you pick them up.
• Auto equipping attachments is another good one which can save you lots of time while changing weapons and looting in general.
• Additional Action Queuing will make some of the gameplay actions smoother like being able to enter ADS mode immediately after jumping or performing a similar action.
• Highlight recommended Ammo/Equipment can be useful to show you, a bit more clearly, that there are items that you can pick up, that are better than your current ones (i.e. you have a lvl 1 helm -> the setting will highlight helmets of higher level for you)

Gameplay

With the boring part out of the way, now you can start learning the game mechanics, weapon recoil, how each weapon behaves with different attachments, how each vehicle behaves on and off road, map knowledge etc.

Although there are no shortcuts for most of those, the training map & the Team Deathmatch modes have made it a lot easier to practise weapon recoil and behavior with various attachments. You can teleport to highlighted areas on the map, while on training map, and practise in various environments. TDM is great to practise your aim and recoil control, but some players prefer to shoot at a wall in the training map, which is convenient in seeing how the recoil works and what you need to do to improve.

Map knowledge is one of the most important things in the game. Being able to outmaneuver / outposition your enemy can give you a huge advantage. God aim is not going to help you win all of the time. Your enemy might have cover advantage which can allow them to dip in and out of cover as they please while you sit there out in the open, praying that they will stand still for a second to take your shot. This will come with time. The more you play the more of each map you will learn. Watching streamers with a lot of game xp will undoubtedly make you learn faster about postitioning, among other things.

Having a vehicle is almost a must on the large maps, so do make sure you secure one before you go on a reckless looting spree. Blue zone can catch you off guard and mean the end for you. I like to secure a vehicle first, then loot later. If there is no vehicle around me then I prioritize getting essential gear and moving on to find a vehicle before I continue to loot more or engage in fights as both of these things can cause you to lose sense of time and get stuck in the blue.

Inventory management is a skill, and an important one. Overstocking on something will cause you to miss out on other important stuff. You'll find that most people usually carry 3-5 first aids, or less if they have a medkit, a total of 4-6 boosters, a few smokes and frags as well as stun nades and molotvs (utility is very useful and can turn a disadvantaged fight in your favor). Most people carry 20-40 sniper bullets, 100-150 dmr bullets and 100-150 ar bullets. SMG ammo weighs less so you can carry more. And you will need more as those bullets just disappear from your inventory fast! So keep those things in mind as well!

There are many ways to play the game. You can land hot, in the middle of everyone and put your life the hands of the rng gods, or you can somewhere close to a hotdrop and infiltrate once you've secured some gear. Of course, there is always the most peaceful option, and that is to land as far away as possible from the flight path and just enjoy your time looting!

Finding a duo or squad teammate, if you are not a solo player like me, is going to be very important! There are many communities out there on Discord that have LFG channels for you to do just that! You can find our official discord server as well as this subreddit's one on the sidebar of this subreddit!

Hope to see your first normal match chicken dinner post here soon. Have fun!