The smoothest Steam PvE extraction-shooter setup is not a universal preset. Start at your monitor’s native resolution, use fullscreen or a reliable borderless mode, cap frames at a rate your PC can sustain, keep textures within your VRAM capacity, and tune the expensive lighting, shadow and volumetric options before sacrificing image resolution. Use a temporal upscaler on Quality first; move to Balanced or Performance only when native rendering cannot hold your target. Enable Reflex when the game supports it and low latency matters, but evaluate frame generation separately from real game frames.
The procedure below gives you a repeatable baseline, explains what to lower first, and shows how to diagnose GPU, CPU, VRAM, display and shader-related stutter without mistaking a higher displayed frame count for better responsiveness.
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Start with a stable target, not the highest possible FPS
A stable frame time feels better in an extraction shooter than a fluctuating counter that occasionally reaches a higher peak. Choose a target your system can maintain during firefights, busy bases, weather effects and AI-heavy encounters, rather than one it achieves only while looking at an empty corridor.
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- For a 120, 144 or higher-refresh display, choose the highest value that remains consistent in your normal route or encounter. A stable 90 or 120 FPS is preferable to a range that repeatedly falls from 160 to 70.
- Use the monitor’s actual refresh rate and adaptive-sync behavior as the reference point. Refresh rate determines how often the display can present a new scan, while VSync controls whether the game waits for that presentation window.
Steam’s performance guidance treats refresh rate, VSync and frame pacing as connected decisions. Set the display and game mode first, then measure before changing individual quality controls.
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Recommended baseline settings
Apply this baseline before fine-tuning. It is deliberately conservative: it protects VRAM and frame-time consistency while leaving enough image quality to identify which setting is responsible for a problem.
| Option | Starting value | Why this is the starting point |
|---|---|---|
| Resolution | Monitor native resolution | Preserves interface scale and the game’s intended image detail. Reduce it only after testing the temporal upscaler and expensive effects. |
| Display mode | Fullscreen, or borderless when fullscreen is unreliable | Use the mode that gives reliable focus behavior, correct refresh selection and consistent frame pacing on your system. |
| Frame cap | A sustained value below the practical refresh ceiling | Limits runaway GPU load and avoids oscillation around the display’s synchronization limit. |
| Textures | Highest level that fits available VRAM | Texture quality mainly consumes video memory. Exceeding available VRAM can cause streaming hitching and broader performance loss. |
| Geometry and visibility | Medium or High | These controls affect recognition of enemies and cover, so lower them after cheaper image effects rather than immediately using Low. |
| Shadows, volumetrics, reflections, ambient occlusion and screen-space illumination | Medium initially | These effects commonly create high GPU cost and frame-time spikes. They are the first quality groups to test when the GPU is saturated. |
| Temporal upscaling | Quality | Quality mode reduces internal render resolution while retaining more detail than Balanced or Performance. It is the least aggressive performance step. |
| Reflex or the game’s latency mode | Enabled when supported and latency is a priority | In supported games, the mode is intended to reduce the queue of rendered work and improve input-to-display behavior. |
| Frame generation | Off while establishing a baseline | Generated frames increase displayed refresh without being additional simulation frames. Measure actual game FPS and latency separately before enabling it. |
Set resolution, display mode and the frame cap
Choose the correct display mode
Select the monitor’s native resolution in the game menu. Start with exclusive fullscreen if the title handles it correctly; use borderless fullscreen when exclusive mode chooses the wrong refresh rate, causes focus problems or behaves inconsistently with your desktop. The correct choice is the one that keeps the intended resolution and refresh rate active during play.
Use adaptive sync when it is available
If your monitor and game support variable refresh rate (VRR), enable it and confirm that the display is operating in its adaptive range. Then cap the game below the practical refresh ceiling if that produces steadier frame times. The exact cap depends on the refresh mode and the range supported by the display; the important test is whether the cap prevents repeated contact with the ceiling.
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Use VSync when eliminating visible tearing is more important than achieving the lowest possible latency and VRR is unavailable or unreliable. If minimum latency is the priority, test a capped or uncapped mode while watching frame-time consistency. An uncapped game can drive the GPU unnecessarily hard, while a cap that is too low wastes the refresh capability you paid for.
Do not judge this setting from the average FPS number alone. Compare tearing, frame-time graphs and input response during a repeatable encounter. Steam documents the relationship between refresh rate and VSync, but the best choice still depends on the game, monitor and cap you can sustain.
Protect VRAM before lowering everything
Textures are a capacity setting more than a pure shading setting. Keep them at the highest level that fits your available VRAM, then watch for signs that the game is exceeding it.
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- Lower textures when the performance overlay shows video-memory saturation or the game warns that its memory budget is exceeded.
- Streaming hitches, delayed texture replacement and sudden stutters when entering a new area are stronger reasons to reduce textures than a small average-FPS difference.
- If VRAM is exhausted, reduce texture quality or output resolution before changing unrelated controls such as mouse sensitivity or view distance.
Steam’s performance monitor warns that exceeding available video memory is likely to hurt performance. A lower texture preset with stable streaming is preferable to Ultra textures that look sharper in screenshots but hitch during an extraction.
Lower expensive effects in the right order
Change one group at a time and keep geometry, visibility and textures intact while you identify GPU-heavy options. The following order preserves gameplay readability better than dropping every setting to Low.
1. Screen-space global illumination and ambient effects
Screen-space global illumination (SSGI) and similar ambient-lighting effects can be disproportionately expensive. In GROUND BRANCH, the official graphics announcement specifically recommends disabling SSGI, using half-resolution, or reducing its quality on lower-end PCs to preserve a usable frame rate. If your game exposes a half-resolution option, test it before removing all lighting detail.
2. Shadows
Shadow quality, distance and cascades can consume substantial GPU time, especially outdoors or in scenes with many lights. Move from High to Medium first, then reduce shadow distance or resolution if those controls are separate. Keep enough shadow detail to read cover and silhouettes; disabling shadows entirely can make dark scenes harder to interpret even when the counter improves.
3. Volumetric fog and clouds
Volumetric fog, clouds, smoke and light shafts are costly because they are evaluated through large portions of the scene. Reduce their quality after shadows when GPU utilization is high. This often produces a larger frame-time improvement than lowering texture filtering or small post-processing effects.
4. Reflections and screen-space effects
Reduce reflections, screen-space reflections and related post-processing after shadows and volumetrics. Reflections can be expensive in wet interiors and maps with many reflective surfaces, but they usually matter less to enemy recognition than visibility and geometry settings.
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5. Ambient occlusion and post-processing
Ambient occlusion, bloom, depth of field, motion blur and film-style effects can be reduced when you need additional headroom. Disable motion blur if it obscures movement or makes aiming uncomfortable; that is a visibility decision as much as a performance one.
6. Texture filtering
Keep texture filtering at its normal or standard level unless you have a specific reason to change it. AMD describes Standard texture filtering as the preferred default because its performance and image-quality impact is small. Lowering it is therefore a late adjustment, not a first response to stutter.
Choose DLSS, FSR or another temporal upscaler
Temporal upscaling renders internally below output resolution and reconstructs the image. A lower internal scale reduces GPU work and can increase frame rate, but it also softens fine detail and may introduce reconstruction artifacts. The exact options vary by game and hardware, so compare them in the same scene rather than assuming one mode is universally best.
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Select the game’s Quality mode while keeping native output resolution. Walk through a repeatable route that includes foliage, darkness, distant geometry and muzzle flashes. Check whether thin wires, railings, foliage and enemy outlines remain stable. If Quality holds your target, there is little reason to move to a more aggressive mode.
Move to Balanced only when native or Quality cannot hold the target
Balanced lowers the internal render resolution further. Use it when the GPU remains the limiting factor and Quality misses your frame-time goal. Recheck dark scenes and long sightlines, because reconstruction artifacts can be more obvious there than in a bright test area.
Use Performance as a deliberate compromise
Performance mode is appropriate when the alternative is an unstable native image. Expect a softer picture and inspect signs, scopes, distant players and foliage before committing. If the game offers a sharpness control, adjust it after selecting the upscaling mode rather than using sharpening to hide a fundamentally too-low internal resolution.
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DLAA and native rendering
Some games expose DLAA or a native anti-aliasing path instead of an upscaler. GROUND BRANCH’s official announcement lists DLSS, DLAA and Reflex support. DLAA can improve anti-aliasing at native resolution but does not provide the internal-resolution performance reduction of DLSS. Compare it against native rendering only when your GPU has enough headroom.
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Frame generation: higher displayed FPS is not automatically lower latency
Frame generation creates intermediate frames between rendered game frames. The display may show a higher total rate, but the game simulation and input sampling still come from the actual frames. Steam’s performance overlay distinguishes generated frames from actual game frames, so use both values when evaluating the feature.
- Establish a baseline with frame generation disabled.
- Record actual game FPS, frame time and input feel in the same encounter.
- Enable frame generation and repeat the route.
- Compare actual game FPS with displayed total FPS, not the total alone.
- Keep it enabled only if motion appears smoother without objectionable artifacts or added control delay.
Frame generation is most defensible when the underlying game rate is already reasonably stable. It cannot repair a CPU bottleneck, shader-compilation hitch or VRAM exhaustion, and a high displayed number can conceal unchanged simulation performance.
Use Reflex and prioritize latency correctly
Enable NVIDIA Reflex when the title supports it and input latency is important to you. The setting is separate from image quality: it targets the render queue rather than improving textures or lighting. GROUND BRANCH is documented as supporting Reflex alongside DLSS and DLAA.
Judge latency while moving, aiming and firing, not from a menu or empty hallway. A lower frame cap can also reduce queue buildup by preventing the GPU from rendering far ahead, but an unnecessarily low cap can make controls feel less immediate. Keep the cap, synchronization mode and Reflex setting consistent while testing so you know which change produced the result.
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Diagnose stutter with a repeatable method
Randomly changing presets makes it impossible to identify the cause. Use one route, one weather state when possible and one change group at a time.
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- Record the baseline. Note resolution, display mode, refresh rate, VSync or VRR state, frame cap, upscaler mode, frame generation state and texture preset.
- Repeat the same encounter. Use a route that includes traversal, combat, a dark interior and a view across distant geometry. Record average FPS, 1% lows or frame-time consistency, GPU utilization, CPU utilization and VRAM use.
- Determine whether the GPU is bound. High GPU utilization with long GPU frame times points toward resolution, upscaling, shadows, volumetrics, reflections or lighting effects.
- Reduce one GPU-heavy group. Test SSGI or ambient lighting first, then shadows, volumetrics, reflections and post-processing. Do not change textures unless VRAM data indicates a capacity problem.
- Check for a CPU limit. If GPU utilization is low while frames remain slow, inspect CPU utilization, background processes, simulation-heavy scenes and game-specific patches. A single busy CPU thread can limit the frame rate even when total CPU utilization looks moderate.
- Check shader compilation and streaming. Stutter concentrated on first visits to effects, areas or materials can be related to shader compilation or asset streaming. Allow the game to complete any documented shader-preparation process, then retest the same route.
- Compare actual and generated FPS. If the overlay separates them, record both. A larger displayed total with unchanged actual FPS is a display-rate change, not proof that the simulation became more responsive.
- Validate after patches. Game updates can change shader behavior, memory use and graphics defaults. Recheck your saved settings after a major patch instead of assuming the previous cap or preset still behaves the same.
What to do when each symptom appears
| Symptom | Most likely first action | Do not change first |
|---|---|---|
| GPU is near full use and frame times spike during fog, smoke or weather | Lower volumetric fog or clouds, then shadows and screen-space lighting. | Texture filtering. |
| VRAM is full and entering areas causes hitching | Lower textures; if necessary, reduce output or internal resolution. | CPU-related settings or mouse controls. |
| GPU use is low but FPS remains poor | Investigate CPU limits, background tasks, shader compilation and title-specific patches. | Assuming a lower texture preset will fix it. |
| Image is soft after enabling an upscaler | Return to Quality, reduce sharpening extremes and verify output resolution. | Immediately enabling frame generation. |
| Tearing appears | Test VRR; if unavailable or unreliable, test VSync or a stable cap. | Lowering textures. |
| Displayed FPS rises but controls do not feel better | Compare actual game FPS and latency with frame generation off and on. | Judging the feature from the total counter alone. |
A practical tuning order for low-, mid- and high-end systems
Lower-end systems
Keep native output resolution if possible, but start with Quality upscaling and Medium geometry. Disable or reduce SSGI, use lower shadow and volumetric settings, and cap at a value the system can sustain. Keep textures within VRAM; lowering them will not solve a pure GPU-shader bottleneck unless memory is also saturated.
Mid-range systems
Begin with native output or Quality upscaling, High textures that fit VRAM, and Medium-to-High geometry. Use the frame cap to hold a consistent target, then tune SSGI, shadows and volumetrics. Move to Balanced only when those changes cannot maintain the target in the repeatable combat route.
High-end systems
Use native resolution or Quality upscaling, High textures within VRAM and High geometry if frame times remain stable. Keep expensive lighting and volumetrics at High only after confirming that busy encounters do not create spikes. A high-refresh-rate monitor with adaptive sync can make a stable cap more useful than an uncapped peak rate.
Why a high-refresh-rate VRR monitor can matter
A monitor with a high refresh rate and adaptive sync is the clearest hardware upgrade related to these settings. Refresh rate determines how frequently frames can be presented, while VRR allows presentation timing to follow a changing frame rate within the display’s supported range. No single monitor model, price or stock status is implied here; verify the panel’s refresh range, adaptive-sync support, resolution and connection requirements before buying.
Keep a profile and retest after updates
Save a profile or write down the settings that produced stable frame times. Record the cap, synchronization mode, upscaler, texture level and the three most expensive effects you changed. After a game patch or graphics-driver update, repeat the same route and check actual FPS, 1% lows, frame-time consistency, GPU and CPU utilization, VRAM use, image clarity in dark scenes and input response. A setting that was optimal on one build can behave differently after shaders, streaming or rendering paths change.
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