Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteStart with ray tracing off, then tune toward a frame-rate cap your PC can actually hold. For most dark, third-person action RPGs, the fastest path to smoother play is to disable ray-traced effects, keep your display resolution when the GPU allows it, reduce shadows, volumetrics, reflections and view distance in that order, and test one change at a time in a demanding area. A stable frame time is more useful than a brief peak-FPS number.
The exact menu labels vary between games. The examples below use Elden Ring and Lies of P, but the method applies to other gothic or gothic-adjacent Soulslikes. Treat every preset as a starting point: your GPU, CPU, memory, resolution, storage, drivers and game build determine the result.
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The recommended starting point
Use this baseline before changing individual options. It avoids the settings that usually consume the most GPU time while preserving detail that is inexpensive on modern cards.
| Setting | Starting value | Change it when |
|---|---|---|
| Ray tracing | Off | Only test it after ordinary rendering is already stable and you have substantial GPU headroom. |
| Resolution | Native display resolution | Lower it or enable the game’s resolution scaler when the GPU is the limiting component. |
| Shadows | Medium | Lower to Low if busy scenes still miss the cap; raise only after frame times are consistent. |
| Volumetrics or fog | Low or Medium | Lower first in areas with mist, smoke, shafts of light or heavy weather. |
| Reflections | Medium | Lower when water, polished floors or wet streets cause large GPU spikes. |
| View distance | Medium | Reduce it if outdoor traversal or distant geometry produces GPU-bound dips. |
| Anti-aliasing | High or the game’s default temporal mode | Trade down only after the expensive lighting and effects are under control. |
| Sharpening | Low or neutral | Adjust to counter softness from a scaler; excessive sharpening can make shimmering more obvious. |
| Textures | Highest level that fits available VRAM | Lower when you see texture pop-in, hitching during area changes or VRAM warnings, rather than simply because average FPS is low. |
| Frame-rate limit | A value the system can hold in the hardest areas | Choose a lower cap if an uncapped rate repeatedly falls below your display’s refresh target. |
Apply the changes in sequence, restart the game if it requests a restart, and use the same demanding location for every comparison. Changing several options together hides which one helped and makes it harder to reverse a quality loss.
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Why frame-time stability matters more than the highest FPS
Frames that arrive at uneven intervals feel like hitching even when an overlay reports a high average. A game that alternates between 60 and 42 frames per second can feel worse than one locked at 50 if the latter delivers nearly identical frame times. Traversal through a new district, a camera turn that reveals a large vista, or an effect-heavy boss attack is more revealing than an empty corridor.
A 60-FPS target is a useful goal for a capable PC. PC Gamer’s 2022 guidance presents 60 FPS as the practical target for Elden Ring, while a Digital Trends test in 2023 reached 60 FPS at 1080p on medium settings. That test is a single configuration, not a guarantee for every PC, patch or area. Your target should be the highest rate that remains steady during the worst scenes you actually play.
Step 1: Disable ray tracing before lowering everything else
Ray-traced lighting, shadows or reflections can consume far more GPU time than conventional effects. If performance is poor, turn this option off before sacrificing resolution or texture detail.
Elden Ring menu path
- Open the title menu or pause menu.
- Select System.
- Open the Graphics tab.
- Choose Set Ray Tracing Quality.
- Set it to OFF, apply the change and reload an affected area if necessary.
Bandai Namco specifically warns that ray tracing can be enabled unintentionally and gives this path for disabling it. The publisher also advises checking the operating environment and updating graphics drivers when ray tracing causes instability.
Ray tracing is not automatically a bad choice on a high-end card. It is a quality option with a measurable GPU cost. Re-enable it only after your non-ray-traced settings hold the chosen cap in demanding locations, then test whether the visual improvement is worth the frame-time increase.
Step 2: Pick a target your hardware can sustain
Choose the cap before chasing individual sliders. A 60-Hz display and a system that can sustain 60 FPS call for a 60 cap. If the game frequently falls into the 40s, a lower cap that remains flat may feel better than an uncapped result that oscillates. On a high-refresh display, do not assume the game can maintain 120 FPS simply because the monitor supports it.
Lies of P documentation and console guidance discuss 30, 40 and 60-FPS targets, but those figures do not establish one universal PC limit. Some PC versions expose an in-game limiter; others rely on a display-driver or platform setting. Use the limiter that produces the most consistent frame times and does not introduce visible pacing problems.
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A practical cap test
- Stand at a demanding checkpoint, outdoor vista or boss arena.
- Run the same route or camera sweep for several minutes.
- Record the lowest sustained rate and observe frame-time spikes, not just the average.
- Set the cap a few frames below the rate the slowest section can hold.
- Repeat the route after each major graphics change.
If the cap is missed only during asset streaming or a one-off effect, investigate stutter separately rather than lowering every setting for a momentary event.
Step 3: Keep native resolution until the GPU is proven to be the bottleneck
Native resolution gives the cleanest image. It is also one of the most expensive levers because every pixel must be shaded. Capcom’s PC guidance notes that reducing resolution and turning processes off can reduce processing load, and that the chosen resolution should match the PC’s specifications.
When to lower resolution
Use a lower output resolution or the game’s scaler when GPU utilization is near its limit and lowering effects does not provide enough headroom. A scaler can preserve the display’s output resolution while rendering internally at a lower percentage, although fine geometry and distant foliage will look softer. Increase sharpening only enough to restore clarity; aggressive sharpening can accentuate shimmer and temporal artifacts.
When not to lower resolution
If the GPU is lightly loaded while the frame rate remains low, the limit may be the CPU, game thread, shader compilation or background activity. Lowering resolution in that situation can make the image worse without improving frame time. Check the other bottlenecks before accepting a softer picture.
Step 4: Lower expensive effects in a deliberate order
After ray tracing and resolution are set, adjust one costly effect at a time. The following order generally gives the largest performance return for the smallest visual loss, but a particular engine can change the ranking.
Shadows
Shadow quality controls map resolution, filtering and how far shadows remain detailed. High settings can be expensive in large outdoor scenes and during fights with many light sources. Move from High to Medium first; use Low only if the demanding area still misses your cap. Watch for blocky edges or shortened shadow distance as the trade-off.
Volumetrics and fog
Mist, smoke, god rays and dense atmospheric layers add substantial overdraw. Gothic games use these effects heavily, so lowering volumetric quality or fog resolution can recover GPU time in cathedrals, swamps and streets without changing character texture detail. Compare the same scene with and without the setting to identify whether it is responsible for your spikes.
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Reflections
Screen-space or ray-traced reflections become costly on wet stone, polished floors and water. Medium or Low reflections usually preserve the scene’s mood while removing expensive samples and update frequency. If a game offers separate reflection resolution and distance controls, lower resolution first and then distance.
View distance and visibility
View distance determines how much geometry and foliage the renderer keeps active. Reducing it can help outdoor traversal, but too low a value causes visible pop-in. Lower it one step, travel through the same route and stop when the frame-time gain is smaller than the distraction caused by newly appearing objects.
Step 5: Tune anti-aliasing and sharpening after the big wins
Anti-aliasing controls edge stability, while sharpening changes perceived clarity. These options often trade a small amount of GPU time for a large change in image quality, so they belong after shadows, volumetrics, reflections and distance.
Lies of P’s technical documentation describes a visible trade-off in temporal anti-aliasing: lower temporal-AA sample values can reduce jitter, but they also reduce geometry anti-aliasing quality. If foliage or thin geometry shimmers, try the higher temporal setting first. If ghosting or jitter is the problem, test a lower sample value and inspect moving edges before deciding.
Sharpening cannot restore detail removed by a low internal resolution. Raise it gradually after enabling a scaler, and compare hair, railings and distant architecture while the camera moves. A static screenshot can hide temporal artifacts that are obvious during play.
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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Step 6: Set textures according to VRAM, not average FPS
Texture quality primarily consumes video memory. When the selected textures fit comfortably in VRAM, changing them may have little effect on average frame rate. When memory is exhausted, however, the game can stream or evict assets, producing hitching, blurry surfaces and sudden stalls as you enter a new area.
Keep textures high if the memory budget allows and the game remains free of streaming problems. Drop one level when the symptoms appear. Do not lower textures as the first response to a GPU-bound frame rate; use resolution and effects for that job.
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Hardware and resolution reference: Elden Ring ray tracing
Bandai Namco’s 2023 ray-tracing requirements illustrate how sharply hardware needs rise when ray-traced effects are enabled. They are publisher figures for Elden Ring, not universal requirements for every gothic action RPG.
| Configuration | Memory | Processor | Graphics card | Resolution and quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low-quality, low-ray-tracing reference | 16 GB RAM | Intel Core i5-10600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600XT | GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB or Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB | 1920×1080, low quality, low ray tracing |
| Recommended ray-tracing reference | Not separately stated beyond the publisher’s requirements table | Intel Core i7-10700K or AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT | GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 8 GB or Radeon RX 6900 XT 16 GB | 1920×1080, high quality, high ray tracing |
These figures show why disabling ray tracing is the first troubleshooting step. They do not promise a particular frame rate, and they should not be reused as requirements for Lies of P or another game.
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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Use the symptom to choose the next setting
| What you observe | Likely limit | Next change |
|---|---|---|
| GPU usage stays near maximum and lowering resolution raises FPS | GPU rendering load | Keep ray tracing off, then reduce volumetrics, shadows, reflections or view distance. |
| GPU usage is low while one or more CPU threads are busy | CPU or game-thread limit | Keep resolution and textures intact; reduce view distance or crowd/visibility options if the game exposes them, and close background processes. |
| FPS is high in a room but hitches when entering a new district | Asset streaming, shader compilation or storage behavior | Check the game installation drive, drivers and patches; graphics sliders alone may not remove the hitch. |
| Only ray tracing causes crashes or severe drops | Ray-tracing workload, driver or requirements mismatch | Disable ray tracing, verify the operating requirements and update the graphics driver. |
| Textures become blurry or the game pauses while turning the camera | VRAM pressure or texture streaming | Lower texture quality one step and retest the same route. |
A settings guide cannot eliminate every kind of stutter. Driver changes, shader compilation, CPU limits, storage behavior, background processes, patches and engine-level traversal problems require separate diagnosis. The publisher-backed actions are to verify requirements, update graphics drivers and disable ray tracing when it is hurting performance.
Game-specific notes
Elden Ring
Start with ray tracing off even if you did not intentionally enable it; the publisher notes that it may be enabled unintentionally. Use the System → Graphics menu path above, then establish a stable target before experimenting with higher quality. The publisher’s 1080p ray-tracing figures show that even the low-ray-tracing reference calls for a GeForce RTX 3060 Ti-class or Radeon RX 6700 XT-class card, while the high-ray-tracing reference moves to a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti-class or Radeon RX 6900 XT-class card and a stronger processor.
Lies of P
Use the same sequence, but pay particular attention to visibility, temporal anti-aliasing and sharpening. The game’s technical documentation makes clear that temporal-AA sample choices affect both jitter and geometry quality. Evaluate those settings while moving through the city, not only in a pause-menu screenshot. Console targets of 30, 40 and 60 FPS can help explain the game’s pacing options, but they are not a universal recommendation for every PC configuration.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to test changes without fooling yourself
- Choose one repeatable demanding scene: a foggy exterior, a large hub, a water-heavy area or a boss arena.
- Disable overlays and background applications that are not needed for testing.
- Record the baseline average, lowest sustained rate and visible frame-time spikes.
- Change one setting by one step, restart only when the game requires it, and repeat the same route.
- Keep a setting only if it improves the slow section without introducing distracting artifacts.
- After reaching your target, play for at least one normal session. Traversal and combat can expose problems that a short benchmark misses.
Compare like with like: the same resolution, camera path, weather state and game version. Patches can change performance, so note the version when a result matters to you.
Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minutePC Slower Than It Used to Be?
A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Quality versus stability: the decisions that matter most
| Choice | Visual benefit | Performance consequence | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ray-traced lighting on | More accurate reflections, shadows or illumination where supported | Large GPU cost and potentially greater instability | Only after a non-ray-traced cap is stable and the hardware has headroom |
| Native resolution | Sharpest geometry and text | More pixels to shade | Use when the GPU can sustain the target |
| Resolution scaler | Maintains the display output while reducing internal work | Softness and possible temporal artifacts | GPU-bound systems that need a small performance margin |
| High textures | Sharper materials and surfaces | Mostly VRAM usage; can cause streaming hitches when memory is tight | Keep when VRAM is sufficient |
| High shadows and volumetrics | Richer atmosphere and contact detail | Often expensive in exactly the scenes where frame rate falls | Lower before sacrificing resolution if the GPU is overloaded |
| Uncapped frame rate | May exceed the display target in light scenes | Oscillating frame times and inconsistent input feel | Use only when performance remains comfortably above the display target |
When a hardware upgrade is the honest answer
If ray tracing is off, the resolution is appropriate, expensive effects are reduced and the game still cannot hold your chosen cap, identify the measured bottleneck before buying anything. A GPU upgrade helps a GPU-bound 1440p or ray-traced workload; a faster CPU helps a CPU-limited open area; more RAM or VRAM helps when memory pressure causes paging or streaming stalls; and a faster SSD can reduce some storage-related loading delays but cannot fix every engine-level hitch.
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Match any upgrade to the resolution and target FPS you actually use. The Elden Ring figures above are examples of publisher requirements for one title and one feature, not a shopping list for all gothic action RPGs.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I cap at 60 FPS if my PC sometimes reaches 90?
Cap at the highest rate your system can hold in the most demanding areas. If 90 repeatedly falls into the 50s, a steady 60 usually gives more consistent frame times.
Is lowering resolution always better than lowering textures?
No. Lower resolution reduces GPU shading work, while textures mainly reduce VRAM use. Lower textures when you see streaming or memory symptoms; lower resolution when the GPU is saturated.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
Can graphics settings fix shader-compilation stutter?
Not reliably. Shader compilation, drivers, storage, patches and background processes can require separate troubleshooting even when rendering settings are optimized.
Should I turn ray tracing back on after disabling it?
Only if the rest of the settings already hold your target in demanding scenes and the visual improvement justifies the measured frame-time cost.
Why does a game still hitch after I lower every option?
The limit may be CPU scheduling, asset streaming, shader compilation, storage behavior or a game-side patch issue rather than raw GPU load. Check requirements and drivers, then diagnose the non-graphics cause.
Quick Recap
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