PC players can run into their fair share of errors, such as the notorious Fallout 4 low FPS issue. Many users aren’t a fan of problems like those, we know we definitely aren’t. Therefore, it’s best that you get straight into the fixes of this issue and get back to playing at full tilt. After all, the Commonwealth awaits the sole survivor.
Among other errors, check out our Fallout 4 Black Screen Issue Fixed guide if you’re facing that problem.
How To Fix Fallout 4 Low FPS Issue
A bit of background on the game before we proceed. Fallout 4 on PC is widely infamous for being poorly optimized. Over the course of its release, the game has been blasted a multitude of times for performance losses, FPS drops, and everything of the like. People have had to take to mods to get their game in a workable state, and this has caused a decent amount of unrest in the PC gaming community.
Therefore, do keep it in mind that the Fallout 4 low FPS bother isn’t all because of your gaming rig or setup. The blame is shifted to the developer’s end as well, but luckily, the isn’t all that irreversible. This guide entails the best solutions there are to quickly resolve this error and resume playing. Be sure to follow each listed fix meticulously for the best results. Without any further ado then, let’s jump right in.
- While you continue the read, it’s worth noting that different fixes are required if Fallout 4 keeps crashing. The Best Methods to Stop Fallout 4 Crashes need to be followed for that matter.
Turn off the Vibration and Controller Settings
You must be thinking: what does turning off the game vibration have anything to do with this? You’re right about that part, except you’re wrong. For reasons unknown, unchecking the vibration and controller box is a well-known Fallout 4 low FPS fix.
These two settings are causing the game to stutter and decrease the framerate. People who have tried doing everything, including uninstalling the game, verifying the game files, and even removing the mods had reported no luck, whatsoever, until they tried this solution.
It makes sense to try something as effortless as switching off two settings before venturing into more complicated fixes. People playing the game on Steam have reported that their FPS rate went from 35-45 right up to 55-60. In addition, the stutter failed to persist anymore. Therefore, you certainly need to try out this fix right away if you’re in a similar boat as other people who once had low FPS.
The following steps are going to take it from here.
- Begin by launching Fallout 4 and loading the main menu. Once you’re inside the game, continue to the next step.
- Go to the “Pause Menu” next and click on “Settings” to proceed.
- Select the “Gameplay” tab right after that to finally find the settings we need to uncheck.
- The last step is to scroll down a bit and find “Vibration.” Once you’ve found it, toggle the setting so it turns off.
- Lastly, find “Controller” similar to how you found Vibration, and check the box beside it to switch it off.
- Exit the “Pause Menu.”
- Restart the game.
That should do the trick for the Fallout 4 low fps PC issue. Try playing the game and head to different areas of the game world to see if the problem has been resolved. With some luck, you should now be playing perfectly on your PC, but if the issue is still there, continue reading for more top-tier fixes.
Disable VSync for Fallout 4
Another possible way for fixing unacceptable FPS levels in Fallout 4 is to bid farewell to VSync. This is a feature that’s solely responsible for regulating a game’s frame rate and the refresh rate of the monitor. In doing so, both of those processes happen in sync with each other, thus the name VSync.
This procedure is quite handy in those situations where your CPU rig can dish out more FPS than what the monitor is capable of.
That said, it’s in the best of our interest if we disable VSync for Fallout 4 and let the game run without it. In several instances, it can be detrimental to utilize VSync in terms of power consumption and performance lags. Many troubled players have been able to get their FPS rate back up to normal levels just by negating this seemingly useful process.
You will be needing to explore two directors to disable the VSync on Fallout 4 and fix the low FPS issue. The first one is easily accessible through the Steam desktop client. You simply access the game’s properties, select the local files, and browse the local files to get to the Fallout 4 game directory. The other area of interest is approached by the “Documents” folder in your Windows “File Explorer” application.
Disabling VSync can surely get lengthy, so let’s take aside a dedicated section for it so even the most newbies of gamers can understand the procedure painlessly.
How to Disable VSync In Fallout 4
The following steps are going to take it from here. Follow each of them as instructed to maximize the efficiency of this Fallout 4 low FPS fix.
- Open the Steam application on your Windows 10 desktop and find Fallout 4 to begin. Once done, perform a right-click on the name of the game and select “Properties.”
2. As soon as you do that, a pop-up will appear pertaining to all things Fallout 4. You will have to select “Local Files” from the top tab here to continue.
3. You’ll be shown a new page on this pop-up window as soon as you click on “Local Files.” The next step is to click on “Browse local files” and get yourself another window launched.
4. Once you’ve opened the local files of Fallout 4, it’s time that you click on the folder called “Fallout4_Default.ini” to get to the next step. This directory is where we will be tweaking the VSync setting and disabling a portion of it.
5. The folder will open up as soon as you click on it, but the next part is what’s the most important. You have to look for an entry called “IPresentInterval=0.” All that you need to do here is replace the “0” part with “1” and you’ll be good to go. You will have to click on “File” and then “Save” as well after finishing the optimization. All of this is essentially the VSync option that needs to be tweaked.
Once you’ve got this one down, keep on moving and do the same with the rest of the “IPresentInterval=0” entries. Tip: An easy to find whatever entry you need to is by pressing the “CTRL” and “F” keys together to bring up the search bar.
6. The next folder that we have to say hello to lies just above the Fallout4_Default.ini file. You will be needing to click on a folder called “Fallout4” to reach it, however. Look for it in the area of your game’s local files and select it to get to the next step.
7. Another file similar to the above-optimized entry will appear right after you click on the Fallout4 folder. This will be called “Fallout4Prefs.ini.” Click on it to continue.
8. You now have to simply repeat what you did in Step 5. Look for an entry called “IPresentInterval=0” and replace the “0” part with “1.” That’s about it basically. To speed up the search, use the aforementioned shortcut key combination. Once done, don’t forget to click on “File” and then “Save.”
9. You’re now done with the first half of this fix. The next step is to open the “File Explorer” application on your Windows 10 PC and select “Documents” from the left column.
10. You now have to click on the “My Games” folder in the “Documents” section to proceed. This is where your Fallout 4 game files are stored right along with the rest of the games you have.
11. Clicking on the “My Games” folder will lead you to another page. This is where you’ll be able to access the “Fallout4” folder, similar to how you did in Step 6. Select it to proceed further.
12. You now have to open another Fallout 4 file that will lead you to disable VSync. The procedure is the same: you basically have to repeat what you’ve been doing for the last couple of minutes. Click on the “Fallout 4.ini” folder to continue to the next step.
13. The last step of this Fallout 4 low FPS fix is to get down to business with the “IPresentInterval=1” entry and change its latter part with 0. Find it more painlessly with the shortcut key combination of “CTRL + F.”
That’s about it for disabling VSync on your Windows 10 PC. Take a deep breath and launch Fallout 4 again to see if the issue in question still persists. There’s a substantial chance that you won’t be running into low FPS rates anymore.
If you’ve finally fixed the problem, there’s another facet of this whole fiasco that you have to be wary of. Disabling Vsync means that your PFS rates are going to run wild. You genuinely need to cap your frame rates in order to play the game error-free.
Otherwise, it’s common to experience time scaling issues, inappropriate physics implementation, and a bevy of other bugs. Some good options for putting a cap on your FPS are RivaTuner and NVIDIA Inspector.
All that is under the impression if disabling VSync has helped correct the problem for you. If you’re still getting low FPS on Fallout 4, we’ve got other fixes lined up for you below.
Disable Volumetric Lighting
Volumetric lighting is more commonly known as “God rays” in the PC gaming scene. This 3D graphics rendering technique permeates the view with sunlight more realistically and thereby creates a visually aesthetic effect. The good part is that you can play most games just fine with God rays disabled.
Furthermore, the God rays technique has been implemented outright terribly in Fallout 4. They do look impressive but compromising them for higher FPS values seems like a logical approach.
Many players have reported fixing the low FPS issue in Fallout 4 just by turning volumetric lighting off. It’s best that you follow suit and try playing with little to none God rays to see if doing so brings any changes. Now, there are two methods that you can go about doing this.
We’ll cover both of them below so you know your options and can flexibly choose between the two.
How to Disable Volumetric Lighting Manually
There’s a way to disable God rays on your Windows 10 PC without relying on any third-party software. This is done by manually inputting a specific key in a Fallout 4 game file.
It’s pretty much clockwork, but only if you have some easy-to-understand steps to follow. Thankfully, you do, and they’re laid out right below.
- Head over to the “My Games” folder in your “File Explorer” application to begin. It will usually be present within the “Documents” folder.
2. Select the “Fallout 4” folder right afterward to open up its game files. Here, you’ll be seeing a file called “Fallout4Custom.ini.” Click on it and open the file to continue to the next step.
3. With the file now open in your Notepad or any other text editor, you’ll now have to enter a specific entry into it. Copy the following and paste it into the Fallout4Custom.ini folder to minimize the amount of God rays in your game. This should get your FPS back to normal levels.
Observe how the latter part of the command says, “gr off.” It’s actually giving instructions to the game to disable volumetric lighting. Don’t forget to click on “File” in the toolbar above and save your recently-made settings.
[General] sStartingConsoleCommand=gr off
That’s about it for this method! You’ve successfully learned how to switch off the God rays and potentially fix the Fallout 4 low FPS issue. However, before giving your game another shot just yet, try out another method of disabling volumetric lighting.
How to Disable Volumetric Lighting By Downloading a Mod
Mods are at the heart of every PC gamer enthusiast. They help unlock the untapped potential of gaming and allow gamers to live their fantasy with no bounds in sight. In other news, they can also help fix some badly optimized titles, including Fallout 4. This is one of the reasons PC gamers took to social media and bashed Bethesda on releasing an unfinished game.
Still, you have to make do with the lemons life deals you with at times and, therefore, mods are the way to go for the challenge at hand. We thankfully have Nexus Mods with the God Ray Disabler to fix the Fallout 4 low FPS issue.
The following steps are going to show you how to install a mod from Nexus Mods.
1) Click on this direct link to get straight to the God Ray Disabler mod on the website.
2) You will be needing to create an account on this website to download any mods. There’s a free one that lets you enjoy basic features to a reasonable extent. Furthermore, there’s also a premium-grade version that can be purchased, offering users a slew of advanced benefits such as uncapped download speeds, no ads, and automatic downloads. Continue with the process by clicking on “Register” at the top-right corner.
3) Once you’ve signed up on Nexus Mods, it’s high time to download the God Rays Disabler mod to tone down the Fallout 4 low FPS issue. Use this direct link again or manually dig up the mod and click on the “Download” button beside “Manual” to move further.
4) The last step will take you to another small-scale area. You can click on “Slow Download” here if you didn’t decide to purchase a Nexus Mods premium account. This will trigger the download to commence.
That’s about it for downloading the God Rays Disabler mod on your Windows 10 PC. You should now be able to load this mod directly from within the game menu and get it to increase your FPS count significantly. Hopefully, you’ve now fixed the unacceptable state of frame rates in the game.
There is still a possibility that the Fallout 4 low FPS scenario still continues to exist. If that is the case, indeed, keep on reading for more helpful fixes.
Try the Insignificant Object Remover Mod
It appears that we now have to rely on mods and get them to fix our Fallout 4. Kudos to the PC modding community, to say the least. It has been doing the developer’s work and then some for a little over 65 years now. The next mod that can uplift low FPS in Fallout 4 is the Insignificant Object Remover mod. What it does is basically what its name depicts it does.
It takes out all the objects in the free-roaming gameplay of Fallout 4 and lessens the load on the GPU. This makes the system prioritize rendering those game components that you can actually see, rather than what slide by in your peripheral vision.
Therefore, you get a better frame rate by giving up something that you probably don’t need. On the flip side, you can also try immersive Fallout 4 mods but that is a topic for another day, another time.
The following steps will walk you through the process of installing the Insignificant Object Removal mod for Fallout 4.
- Click on this direct link to get straight to the mod in question. You will be downloading the Insignificant Object Removal mod from Nexus Mods, similar to how we covered the God Ray Disabler mod. Create an account right now if you haven’t already to get to the next step.
2. The next step is to click on the “Download” button that’s resting adjacent to “Manual.” This will take you to another page on the screen.
3. This is where the standard vs premium account debacle comes in. If you’re not in the mood to shell out some bucks, the basic version of Nexus Mods will do. Click on “Slow Download” to begin.
That’s about it as far as downloading the Insignificant Object Removal Mod is concerned. After having it downloaded on your PC, you should be familiar with what to do next. The subsequent process typically goes by loading the mod from within the Fallout 4 game menu.
In addition, you can also install Vortex for effortlessly managing your Nexus downloaded mods and launching your favorite games right from the program.
Implementing the Insignificant Object Removal mod should make a considerable impact in terms of boosting your FPS. It operates by eliminating the need for rendering unwanted game world elements and thereby lets your graphical processing unit breathe a little easier.
Still haven’t fixed the Fallout 4 low FPS issue? We have got a couple of more fixes to help you find your way with the game again.
Reduce Your Draw Distance
Another trick that can be utilized to revamp your FPS rate on Fallout 4 is the reduction of the draw distance. To clarify what this phenomenon is, the draw distance is the extent to which 3D objects are drawn in a game.
For instance, picture yourself standing on top of a hill in Grand Theft Auto V. You have a whole scenery in front of you and a colossal mountain atop the horizon is as far as the eye can see. In this case, the mountain is the maximum draw distance because that’s up until where the objects have been rendered to be shown on the screen. In summary, your field of view and all the objects rendered in it is known as draw distance.
You can also optimize the draw distance in the game to potentially fix the Fallout 4 low FPS issue. There’s an option within the Fallout 4 game to reduce this parameter for different game elements. To discuss this in detail, continue reading and proceed to the next subsection.
How to Reduce the Draw Distance for the Fallout 4 Low FPS Fix
You can get to the “Draw Distance” area in Fallout 4 by accessing the last tab of all in this options from the in-game launcher. You will have to tweak a bunch of different parameters to lower your draw distance altogether. This will allow an FPS boost for your PC in a collective manner. To get started with reducing the draw distance, check out the tutorial below.
The first game parameter whose draw distance can be scaled down to achieve higher frame rates in Fallout 4 is “Items.” While this parameter doesn’t make a substantial difference out of all the other ones, it’s worth keeping the current value to 3 for the best results. Items include junk stuff in the Fallout 4 game world. Once you’ve clicked on the “Minus” button, click on “Accept” and continue to other parameters.
“Objects” is an important draw distance parameter that dictates the quantity of content you see on the screen. This includes cars, trees, rocks, structures, and a bunch of other stuff. Its default value in the game is 5 but it’s better that you tone that down a little bit and finalize with the 3 value. Click on “Accept” as soon as you’re done and proceed further to the next entry.
“Actors” is a fairly important draw distance parameter that can come in handy when you’re out and about in long distance bouts. However, if you want to achieve a trade-off of high FPS, you have to decrease this value by 4. Click on the “Minus” button and select “Accept” to move on.
“Shadows” is something that couldn’t be cared less for in Fallout 4. It would be in the best of your interest to keep the Shadows value to 0. It’s unclear what this parameter actually means: whether it tightens or relaxes the circle around us or affects areas outside of settlements. You shouldn’t take your chances in any case, so deal with this parameter pronto and you should be good to roll.
That’s all about reducing the draw distance on Fallout 4. With some spell of fortune, you should now be able to freely play the game without that much of an issue in FPS. Reducing the draw distance isn’t the best of options available for the Fallout 4 low FPS fix, but is surely necessary if you’ve tried everything else.
If the FPS levels still do not improve, then it’s time to move on to the other fixes we have laid out for you. Beware that the next solution does require you to shell out some bucks, depending on your current gear.
Upgrade Your Hardware
The Fallout 4 low FPS problem can have many causes as we’ve discussed in this article. However, if you’ve literally tried everything else, including reinstalling the game, then it’s best that you take a close, hard look at the hardware you’re sporting.
The following are the requirements for running Fallout 4.
| Fallout 4 System Requirements | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit OS required) | Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit OS required) |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2300 2.8GHz / AMD Phenom II X4 945 3.0GHz or equivalent | Intel Core i7 4790 3.6GHz / AMD FX-9590 4.7GHz or equivalent |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM |
| Hard Disk Space | 30 GB free HDD space | 30 GB free HDD space |
| Video | NVIDIA GTX 550 Ti 2GB / AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB or equivalent | NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB / AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB or equivalent |
| Graphics Memory | 2 GB | 3 GB |
As you can comprehend from the table above, running Fallout 4 with an appreciable frame rate requires a fairly capable gaming rig. Compare the specifications above with the ones your PC has and evaluate how the two fare against each other.
You can perform a right-click on the Windows Start button and bring up more options to check your specifications. Select “System” out of the appearing options to get to the next step.
A window will launch as soon as you select “System.” Most of the important specifications will be listed here, so fire away at analyzing them and see if your PC makes the cut or not.
If your system is on par or better yet, exceeds the minimum requirements of playing Fallout 4, you can keep on reading for other fixes of Fallout 4’s low frame rate. However, you will be needing to upgrade your hardware if the PC in question isn’t capable enough to run a title like Fallout 4.
Clear Background Processes
This is an exceedingly common fix that has knocked some sense into many rookie PC players. Playing a graphics-intensive game like Fallout 4 warrants you to remove anything heavy running in the background for the best results. There is a possibility that another program is bogging down your PC and not letting the game run in peace.
Fire up the Task Manager right away to find out if that is the case or not. Pressing the “CTRL,” “Shift,” and “Esc” keys together is the fastest method of doing that Once you’ve got the app opened, evaluate what system component is being used up the most and by what program. Select any entry that’s not of importance and click on “End task” to finalize the process.
Try playing the game with minimal background processes running and check if that makes a difference. If it does, you’ve finally diagnosed and fixed the issue. Give yourself a pat on the back and carry on the exploration with your friendly neighborhood Deathclaw in-game.
Final Takeaways
The world of Fallout 4 is a mutant-ridden wasteland that’s teeming with tons of potential. Thanks to the vibrant modding community of PC, any game, let alone Fallout 4, can benefit greatly from user-based customizations that breathe fresher life into the title. However, things can start to go south in a jiffy, especially when you start to experience low FPS issues in the game.
In Fallout 4, you even get a full-fledged companion by your side. From combat medics to vicious attack dogs, the best companion perks make sure you always have the upper hand in bouts. Variants and ghouls surely don’t want you coming at them with a plethora of farmed gears and a blood-thirsty companion. It’s smooth sailing from there on out once you’ve got the right gear and the right spirit.
In this write-up, we’ve talked about the best practices out there to fix the Fallout 4 low FPS problem. We truly recommend giving each method a go patiently before jumping to a conclusion. Do let us and fellow answer-seekers know down in the comments section if any listed solution helped do the trick for you. As always, happy gaming from eXputer!
Related: How to Run in Fallout New Vegas.
FAQs
Fallout 4 low FPS is when players start experiencing unacceptable frame rate levels within the game. This renders the experience unenjoyable and you cannot play the game at full-tilt because of it. 1
You can easily fix the Fallout 4 low FPS issue by disabling the god rays, turning off the vibration settings, and clearing any unnecessary background processes. In addition, installing some FPS-boosting mods may also prove exceedingly beneficial. 2
No, downloading a game while playing Fallout 4 does not lower FPS and rather affects the ping. Your multiplayer experience will be hindered if you do this. 3
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