FPS in games depends on many factors - from the power of the computer's hardware to aspects related to the state of the software: the absence of viruses, loaded RAM, the relevance of video card drivers, and so on. Despite the fact that there are many reasons why a particular project lags or does not start on a PC, among them there are several most common ones, which means that there are also common methods for solving problems.
This guide presents general ways to increase FPS in games, fix crashes and remove lags, and optimize the gameplay. The guide concerns the most popular methods of increasing FPS, and does not address specific causes of crashes and lags in specific projects.
The main ways to increase FPS in games
FPS stands for the number of frames per second. In most cases, 60 FPS is enough, and sometimes 30, but only if the frame rate is stable. You can increase this parameter in many ways:
- Replacing PC components: Always pay attention to the system requirements of the project to understand whether it can work reliably. If most of the new releases do not start, then it is time to update your computer.
- Correct graphics settings: set the settings in accordance with the capabilities of the hardware.
- The drivers are up to date and the Direct X and VC++ Redist distributions are installed on the PC. Don’t neglect driver updates: often, especially recently, when more and more releases on computers come out in mediocre quality, a new version can not only increase FPS, but sometimes also revive a problematic application that previously did not run.
- The system is loaded with additional background applications: sometimes clearing random access memory (RAM) frees up a resource that the title lacks for stable FPS.
- Proper PC care. Clean your computer every six months or a year: dust and dried thermal paste increase the temperature of the processor (CPU) and video card (GPU), which can cause the former to throttling.
In the future, methods will be discussed not only for increasing FPS and smooth operation, but also for solving frequent problems of game crashes on PC.
Update video card drivers
A video card driver is software that allows it to interact with the OS. As graphics technology advances, both in hardware and software, graphics card manufacturers update their drivers to improve frame rates and fix bugs. Update your graphics drivers regularly, especially if you are experiencing problems with a recently released product. Sometimes an update can not only increase performance by 5-15 FPS, but also cure a graphical glitch or annoying bug. In some cases, it is the driver update that helps to launch the title at all or get rid of a crash at a certain point in the passage. Next, we'll explain how to choose drivers for your GPU model, and also talk about installing drivers for Nvidia, AMD, and Intel cards.
NVIDIA
For Nvidia cards there are 2 update methods: manual and automatic. The method through the GeForce Experience utility allows you to download Game Ready driver updates from the official website in express mode:
- Go to the GeForce Experience utility, or download from here and install.
- In the utility, go to the “Drivers” tab.
- Click on the "Check for updates" button.
- The program will find and offer to install the latest compatible driver.
- Click the green “Express installation” button or select the directory manually by clicking “Custom installation”.
Wait for the process to complete and evaluate the result.
A manual search option can help specify the driver version for specific needs, although in most cases this is not necessary:
- Come on Nvidia website.
- Select your product, GPU series and model, operating system and language. Click the “Start Search” button.
- The search engine will display a list of compatible drivers of different versions. Choose the one you need and download.
- After downloading the file, run it and follow the installer's instructions.
If the latest version of the software causes problems with FPS, which sometimes happens, manual searching allows you to roll back to earlier versions and test their work.
AMD
In the case of AMD cards, there are also two ways to search and update drivers: manual and automatic. The AMD Auto-detect and Install tool automatically identifies the video card installed in the PC, selects the latest driver for it and installs it. Here's how to do it:
- Download and install AMD Auto-detect and Install tool (“Download Windows drivers” button). There is no version of the site in Russian.
- During the installation process, the utility itself will offer video card drivers in two versions: current (Recommended) and optional (Optional). Select one of the versions and click “Next”.
- In the future, the utility will ask you to install additional AMD products, such as AMD Privacy View. If you don’t know what it is, then don’t install it (option “Do Not Install") and continue.
Manual search is also available for those who want to choose from more update versions:
- Come to the AMD driver site.
- Use a search engine to specify your GPU model and click “Submit.”
- The search engine will return a list for various operating systems, including Linux. Select the one you need and click the “Download” button. Please note: even in the drop-down list for each OS version, the site will offer to download the driver auto-tuner (Auto-Detect and Install).
To get to earlier versions of drivers, follow the poorly visible link called "Previous Drivers“, which is located under the list returned by the search engine upon request. Go there if the current version of drivers causes games to run worse.
Intel
Currently, the Intel website is closed with a stub about the suspension of activities in Russia, at least for some providers from the Russian Federation, although in January 2023 the company announced that access to resources related to software downloads had been restored. If you have difficulty accessing the site, do the following:
- Change the IP address; any country except the Russian Federation and Belarus is suitable for downloading drivers.
- Go by direct link and select drivers for your card.
An alternative update method does not require using the site:
- Go to Settings (Win + I) > Windows Update > Advanced Options in Windows 11. For version 10, go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update.
- In the updates menu, click on the link “Optional updates” (Win 11) or “View optional updates” (Win 10).
- Expand the “Driver Update” drop-down list: here look for names containing “Intel” and “Display” or “Graphics”.
- Click "Download and Install".
Finally, device drivers can also be updated via Device Manager:
- Go to “My Computer”, right-click, select “Properties”.
- A menu will open with a description of the system: on the left in the list there is “Device Manager”.
- In the list of equipment, expand video adapters, select the Intel video card, right-click and “Update driver”.
- The installer will offer to automatically find the latest drivers. Click “Automatic search for drivers”: if an update is needed, it will download and install.
Increase swap file
The page file is used to compensate for the lack of RAM. A hidden system file on the hard drive, which can serve as RAM, in some cases will reduce the load on it, which, in turn, will increase the FPS.
On Windows 7
Pagefile.sys parameters are adjusted in the OC system panel:
- Open "My Computer", right-click and select "Properties". This will take you to the System menu. In the system menu in the left corner, select “Advanced system settings” (opened only by the Administrator).
- Go to the “Advanced” tab, look for the “Performance” option and click on “Options”.
- In the new performance window that opens, open the bottom “Advanced” tab, in which the bottom option will be “Virtual memory”.
- Uncheck the “Automatically select paging file size” checkbox, check the “Specify size” checkbox and select the initial and maximum paging file sizes. The recommended page file size for a RAM less than or equal to 2 GB will be 4 GB, and if the size is greater than 2 GB, then set the size to 1.5 times the amount of available RAM: 6 GB for a computer with 4 GB of RAM, 8 GB for a machine with 6 GB , and so on. Let the initial and maximum sizes be the same.
- Click the “Set” and “Ok” buttons.
In most cases, the paging file will help with optimizing performance, especially on older PCs with a small amount of RAM, but only if there is not enough RAM for normal program operation.
[info]Please note: as of January 1, 2024, Steam will officially stop supporting Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 operating systems. After this date, existing Steam clients on these operating systems will not receive updates.[/info]On Windows 10
For version 10, you can change the paging file in an identical way, through the menu of additional system parameters:
- Open This PC, right-click and select Properties, which will open the Systems window.
- On the left side of the system menu, select "Advanced system settings."
- Select the “Advanced” tab, in the “Performance” menu, click on “parameters”.
The further process is no different from that presented for WIndows 7: in the virtual memory menu, manually set the paging values.
On Windows 11
Editing the swap file in version 11 is no different from the previous ones, but the path there is slightly different:
- Go to Windows > Settings > System > About > Advanced system settings.
The properties window will open. The further process is no different from that on versions 10 or 7: look for the performance parameter, the “Virtual Memory” tab and edit the paging file at your discretion.
What to do if the game does not start
Further recommendations will revive projects that refuse to launch or crash soon after launch.
Check compatibility mode
If you are experiencing problems with a retro release that was released earlier than the current version of Windows currently installed on your PC, you need to run compatibility mode for it:
- Find the program's exe file. If you access the application via a shortcut, RMB > “File location” will take you to the game folder.
- Right click > Properties on the exe file.
- Select the “Compatibility” tab, enable this mode and select the version of Windows recommended by system requirements from the drop-down list.
- Click Apply.
Compatibility mode helps you run some old games from the 10s and even 11s on versions 90 and XNUMX.
Verify integrity of game files
If the game experiences crashes, crashes, glitches, and missing textures, checking the integrity of the files will help. The Steam and Epic Games services have built-in functions that check the application for broken or missing elements.
On steam
Go to the Steam library, find the problematic product in the collection, right-click on it and select “<font><font>Materials</font></font>">"Installed versions">"Verify integrity of game files". A scan will run, based on the result of which Steam will find and restore damaged files, if any.
At Epic Games
Go to the Epic Games client library, click on the 3 dots under the icon of the problematic game and select “Manage”. Next, use the “Check files” function. The process takes a few minutes.
Install the required software
Almost all modern releases use the following software to work:
Often these programs are installed automatically, especially when it comes to installing applications on Steam or Epic Games, but sometimes this does not happen. Moreover, each game, depending on the year of release, requires a certain version of the listed technologies and platforms, and there is no backward compatibility with, say, DirectX. For this reason, in order to play some old release on Windows 10 or 11, you sometimes have to manually download software packages.
Fix DLL error
Problems related to the lack of necessary DirectX or C++ Runtime Library libraries are often encountered when trying to launch a game. As a rule, in this case the program displays “The program cannot be started because there is no X.dll", Where "X.dll" is one of many possible files, such as d3dx9_43.dll, d3dx9_34.dll, MSVCP100.dll. In most cases, the error can be resolved by installing software packages:
- DirectX, if there is no DLL with a name like d3dx9_43.dll, d3dx9_34.dll, and so on.
- Microsoft Visual C ++ to solve an error with a name similar to MSVCP100.dll, VCRUNTIME140.dll, runtime-x64.dll, runtime-x32.dll.
- Microsoft .NET Framework.
Sometimes we may be talking about specific dll files that are not related to the software listed above. In this case, check whether the antivirus has deleted one of the application files. This happens especially often if the program version is pirated. An example of such an error: missing emp.dll in Hogwarts Legacy on startup.
What to do if the game lags, crashes, freezes, slows down
The following are recommendations for combating lags, freezes and other manifestations of FPS instability.
Lower graphics settings
In most cases, lowering the graphics is the only way to cure unstable FPS and even eliminate crashes caused by throttling:
- Go to settings, look for the graphics tab.
- Set all possible settings to low or medium.
- Lower the resolution and rendering level: this can add tens of FPS or stabilize the smoothness of the picture.
- Consider locking your maximum FPS to 30 or 45 frames instead of 60.
- Include technologies like FSR or DLSS, the essence of which is to obtain a high-quality high-resolution frame based on its downsized counterpart. Technologies cope with raising FPS and stabilizing the gameplay.
It happens that even new products are not accompanied by FSR or DLSS technologies, or offer an outdated version of them. Sometimes this can be solved with mods: enthusiasts integrate the technology themselves, as was the case at release Hogwarts legacy or Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (until the official addition of DLSS in September 2023). The moral here is simple: always check the mods on Nexus mods for the presence of DLSS or other performance-enhancing addons.
Add to antivirus and Windows Defender exceptions
As stated earlier, a typical problem with cracked games is that antiviruses and Windows Defender treat the cracked files as threats, quarantining them. You need to add the problematic file to Windows Defender exceptions to cure the problem. Thus, the antivirus will not pay attention to the work. Actions to take if an error occurs:
- Open Windows Defender (we'll use it as an example).
- Open Security Log.
- Select the latest notification “Threat has been quarantined” from the list, open and find inside the data about moving to quarantine the file of the installed game. As a rule, this is a file with a crack.
- In the notification, click "Actions" and "Restore".
- Now you need to add the file to the exceptions: return to the “Protection History” menu, open the “Manage settings” link in the “Virus and threat protection settings” menu.
- In the list of settings, find “Exceptions”, click the “Add or remove exceptions” link.
- Add to the list the file that the defender/antivirus responds to, or even an entire folder.
Add to firewall exceptions
A firewall provides a barrier to network intrusions. It blocks unsolicited incoming traffic and makes the system largely invisible online, but sometimes blocks multiplayer modes, preventing you from seamlessly connecting to matches. This situation happens with many popular titles: from Rocket League to Call of Duty. Fortunately, you can set an exception in the firewall for a specific program (let's look at Win 10 as an example):
- In Windows search on your desktop, type "Firewall", open the Windows Defender Firewall application.
- Select "Allow interactions with an app or feature in Windows Defender Firewall."
- In the window that opens, click “Change settings”.
- Find the game executable file in the list, check the boxes for private or public network (depending on which one you are using).
- Click OK.
If for some reason the application is not in the list, do the following:
- In the list of allowed executable files in the Firewall, click the “Allow another application” button.
- Through “Browse”, show the folder of the application you are looking for on your PC.
- In the “Network types” column, check the boxes for the network you are using.
- Complete the process by clicking “Add”.
Adding exceptions, especially in case of problems with quite official games, is a good alternative to completely disabling the Firewall, which is not recommended for security reasons.
Clear RAM
There are situations when formally there should be enough RAM for a game, but it still slows down or crashes due to the fact that a large number of background applications occupy a large part of the RAM resource. In this case, you need to disable the automatic launch of some applications, which can free up RAM at least partially. Use a program like this for this CCleaner.
- Open CCleaner, select Tools.
- In the Start menu, check the Windows tab and turn off automatic downloads of unnecessary applications. For example, this could be Discord or some kind of game launcher.
- Reboot your system.
Wait for patches
In recent years, the quality of performance in AAA releases has noticeably decreased even on the highest-end computers: developers increasingly rely on AI technologies like FSR or DLSS to help frame stability through blurring, and/or care less about optimization, testing and fixing bugs during the process. development. Projects are released “raw” under pressure from investors and publishers, and developers, in response to criticism from players, write an apology letter and, at best, finish the project a few months later (Star Wars Jedi: Survivor), or even years (Cyberpunk 2077). In this reality, waiting for patches is not a hopeless strategy: for example, DLSS 2 and 3 technologies for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor were added later four months after release, and they really helped the project run smoother and faster.
How to optimize the game: general recommendations
This section provides basic recommendations on how to optimize Windows for games and stabilize the gaming experience.
Check system requirements
Check if your hardware meets the game's minimum system requirements and lower your graphics settings as recommended by the developers. Modern system requirements are often extremely detailed: developers show what components are needed to run their project at low, medium, high and ultra settings, at 30 and 60+ FPS, in HD and 4K resolution. Even if the card or processor resource is not enough for a stable 60 FPS and high settings, it may be enough for a stable 30 FPS with medium settings.
Check PC temperature
Often freezes, picture stuttering and even a complete shutdown of the game are caused by the high temperature of one of the components of the computer or laptop, and very often the increase in temperature is associated with a high dust content in the cooling system or drying out thermal paste. Most often, the PC processor experiences overheating problems. To find out the temperature of the processor and video card, use utilities that analyze and provide detailed system information about each piece of equipment, such as Speccy. How to work with similar programs:
- Open the utility, select the “General” tab. Leave her to work.
- Launch the game that is having problems over it. In the middle of the gameplay, look at the temperatures the utility shows for the CPU and GPU. Click on the green square to expand the detailed graph and check the temperature over time.
If the temperature of the processor or video card exceeds 80-90℃, then it’s time to clean it and replace the thermal paste. For laptops, CPU operation at 80-90℃+ is rather normal, however, if the game crashes or slows down when the temperature graph of one of the hardware elements reaches 95-100℃, then the cooling system clearly cannot cope with the load and the processor goes into overdrive. throttling, i.e. limits the maximum clock speed. In practice, such protective self-cooling of the “stone” leads to various consequences: from freezes and freezes, to crashes and complete shutdown of the PC or laptop.
Run as administrator
Some games will not launch without elevated administrator settings in Windows. Find the exe file of the problematic project, right-click and go to its properties, and in the “Compatibility” tab, check the box next to “Run this program as an administrator.” Apply the change and close the tab.
Check time and date
If the PC clock is set to a time that is very different from the real time of the location, then some online games, such as Sea of Thieves or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 may respond to this with a network connection error. If you can't connect or see a synchronization error message, follow these steps to link your PC clock to the time server:
- Right-click the clock on the taskbar.
- Select Set Date and Time.
- Turn the “Set time automatically” switch to the “On” position.
- Turn the "Set time zone automatically" switch to the "On" position if possible.
- Click Sync.
If automatic synchronization shows an incorrect time, set it manually for the selected time zone.
Check the name of the game root folder
Some games may refuse to work correctly simply because there are folders with names in Cyrillic along the path leading to the game's exe file. In this case, using English, rename all folders along the path to the game.
- Correct path: D:\GAMES\Resident Evil 4\RE4.exe
- Example of an incorrect path: D:\Games\Resident Evil 4\RE4.exe
Also check that the account name and the names of system folders, especially Documents, are in English. Windows 11 and earlier support folder aliases. For example, the “My Documents” folder in the Russian version of Windows 10 has been translated, but “Documents” remains at the file system level.
This fact can be verified as follows:
- Open "Properties" of the folder of interest.
- Open the Location tab.
- Restore the path by clicking “Default” if it has suddenly been changed and has a name in Russian, or enter your path without Cyrillic.
Check for malware
Modern viruses, such as miners, can secretly load all PC components with their work, as a result of which the PC simply does not have the resources to process the game. Make sure you buy an antivirus and regularly scan your computer for malware, or use free utilities with limited functionality, like Dr.Web CureIt.
Update external device drivers
This recommendation concerns malfunctions of I/O devices during gameplay. Often problems with mice or keyboards, in the form of delays or incorrect input, are due to the fact that its drivers have fallen, and not to a mechanical reason. In this case, they need to be downloaded again and reinstalled. In other words, if you are not sure that the dysfunction of the input/output device is mechanical, try updating its drivers.
Update PC components
If absolutely all of the methods presented above have been tried, and there is no progress in reviving the game, it’s time to go to the store for new components. Determine which hardware handles the load the worst. Identifying the weak point of a PC at a superficial level is done using utilities such as Speccy. When playing, look at the following component parameters:
- Their loading schedule. If the load is full, then the component is clearly experiencing difficulties.
- Their temperature.
When updating components, always pay attention not only to the model and amount of memory of the main components (RAM, CPU, GPU), but also to the following factors:
- Compatibility of new components with sockets (connectors) of the motherboard.
- Motherboard chipset. Choose boards that will not reduce the processor's potential.
- Energy consumption of new components. Perhaps the power supply cannot cope with the new powerful processor, and it is also better to replace it.
Read on:We hope that one of the tips helped solve the problem with crashes, freezes, low or unstable FPS in games. If you have any questions about eliminating crashes and optimizing FPS, ask them at comments to Article.