The game needs a few tweaks here and there however with this short guide I am to share what I did and got me actual results, tough, I can only speak for myself. You can try still.
Guide to Fix FPS and Performance Issues
Сrеdit gоеs to FFox!
Info
I’ll keep this simple, game clearly needs an update regarding performance. However here I’ll list the things I’ve done to stabilize the frametimes and most of the lag spikes or stutters. Can’t tell this will do it for you, I can only speak for myself.
The main game executable itself
Head to your Steamapps folder where the game is located an open the main folder. Look for
HorizonForbiddenWest.exe > properties > check and mark the “Disable Fullscreen Optimizations” box.
For NVIDIA users it is said that you can force Run in compatibility mode as Windows 8 and in theory it should help aswell.
External Programs
RTSS – RivaTuner aka the most used and most popular FPS limiter…
I personally tried both with it and without. No major difference whatsoever but I’ve noticed without it,
Means closing it before you play could result in slightly better stability. Just make sure to not overlap them, if you have various frame limiters stick to just one. Do not use various or several frame limiter methods all at once. If you are unsure, open up RTSS, Global > Application Detection Level > None. Same for HorizonForbiddenWest.exe – so you dont have to manually open and close before or after you play. This way it will ignore the game entirely. I’ll explain how to manage without it down below.
If you have “ISLC” (Intelligent Standby List Cleaner) a little program to free some ram, if you have it make sure to add the main executable to the exclusion list, as it will constantly clear up the stand-by list everytime of how much RAM the game uses leading to even MORE stuttering. This I can confirm 100% does NOT help the game at all, at least if it is running during the play sesion. So either close it or add HorizonForbiddenWest.exe to the exclusion list.
Windows settings
Pagefile management it is fully Automatic, managed by Windows on my both drives. I have the game on a HDD and once the shaders compiled it loads pretty fast NGL. Windows is smart on how it manages the system paging file, leave it AUTO.
In game settings
Use Fullscreen or Exclusive Fullscreen <- Exclusive Fullscreen for the best results.
I know this sounds crazy but, yes, set the refresh rate of your display to 60hz (in the game menu of course) and enable VSYNC. Trust me. The game is not ready for unlocked FPS and if you are CPU limited it is best to keep it that way.
Even for me this is ridiculous having a FreeSync display but this results in the best stability and frametimes which is important. Frametimes became so much stable and better with the game running at a solid 60fps cap getting rid of most of the stuttering. If you are a Radeon user I suggest you to open up your Radeon panel, see the HFW profile and Enable Anti-Lag and set FreeSync to off – Disable it for this game only. Stick to the in-game VSYNC + 60hz exclusive fullscreen refresh. For now any other external application could result in undersired performance drops.
Extra note for nvidia users only
Do not use Reflex! It actually does all the opposite and messes up the frametimes entirely. Major stuttering granted. Keep it off.
Audio output
Set this to TV. It will make the game slightly louder. Because sounds and dialogue are really difficult to hear, they play at a really low volume somehow.
So far, these tweaks got me to a very solid experience despite the normal frame drops typical of the just released game which will be adressed soon I hope.
Controller
Apparently there are rumours of gamepad controller related issues. My suggestion is to use a controller or if you want/cant remove it, head to the game’s steam properties, controller and disable any type of input and steam input. Let the game handle it or do not use it at all. Unplug it.
Closing
If you wonder. I have a RX6600 with 8GB of VRAM. My game is on a HDD. I can play this with high textures and a mix of other medium settings generally around 60fps. My system has 16GB of total physical RAM and here are the numbers: It doesnt use more than 12.7gb of RAM and with the High textures the VRAM reaches 7500mb or so. It can go near a gigabyte lower if I set them to medium.
The best working tip right now to fix performance and framepacing issues is to disable Direct Storage. Rename or move away the two libraries dstorage.dll and dstoragecore.dll in the game folder.
FreeSync works nice on my Navi GPU, except in settlements like Plainsong where it starts stuttering like mad. The framerate displays 55 but the screen refresh is obviously choppy until I exit the settlement and go back to the wilds where FreeSync kicks again.
I read that part where you recommend to turn off NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency, and I also tried to do that. But for some reason I can only toggle between “On” and “On + Boost” and can’t disable it at all.
make sure you are on exclusive fullscreen so the “hz” become available, pick a refresh rate of 60 to begin with I know that GPU is much more powerful. And enable Vsync, disable framegen. It should work.