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For smoother Soulslike play, start at 1080p, disable ray tracing, use a balanced or high preset, and cap the frame rate at the highest level your PC can hold consistently. A stable 60 fps is preferable to an uncapped rate that repeatedly falls during combat or traversal. Then adjust resolution scaling and the most GPU-heavy effects while watching frame pacing, not just the average counter.
What “smooth” should mean in a Soulslike
Soulslike combat depends on timing. Dodge invulnerability, parries, charged attacks and healing all become harder to read when frame delivery is erratic. The practical goal is therefore a stable target rather than the largest number an uncapped counter briefly displays.
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- Choose a cap your system can sustain. Use 60 fps if your hardware can hold it in ordinary combat and exploration. If it cannot, a lower, steady cap is usually easier to play than frequent drops from a higher target.
- Judge frame pacing as well as average fps. A high average can hide short pauses or uneven frame times. Test a busy outdoor area, a boss arena and a loading transition before deciding that a setting is acceptable.
- Start at 1080p. It gives the GPU a manageable baseline and makes it easier to identify whether the graphics card or processor is the limiting part.
A reliable setup sequence
- Update Windows and your graphics driver. Restart after installation so the game is not sharing resources with a pending update.
- Set the display mode. Use the game’s fullscreen or borderless option that behaves correctly on your monitor. Disable extra overlays temporarily while you establish a baseline.
- Select a balanced or high preset. Do not begin by changing every option. Record the preset, resolution and frame-rate behavior in the same test area.
- Turn ray tracing off. In ELDEN RING, open System → Graphics → Set Ray Tracing Quality → OFF. Bandai Namco warns that ray tracing can affect frame rate and resolution.
- Set a frame-rate limit. Pick the highest cap that remains stable during demanding sections. If the game does not provide a useful limiter, use the control-panel or display software limiter you already trust.
- Check utilization. GPU usage near full load while frame rate falls points toward resolution or graphics effects. Low GPU usage with drops can indicate a CPU, streaming or game-engine limit.
- Lower one expensive setting at a time. Apply the change, repeat the same route, and keep it only if frame pacing improves without an unacceptable image-quality loss.
Graphics settings that usually matter most
Menu names differ between games, so treat the following as a tuning order rather than a universal preset. A setting that is inexpensive in one title can be costly in another.
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| Setting or group | When to change it | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Ray tracing | Disable first when performance is the priority or GPU usage is saturated. | Reflections, shadows or lighting lose the ray-traced effect, but frame-rate and resolution pressure are reduced. |
| Render resolution or resolution scale | Reduce after confirming the GPU is the bottleneck. | More performance at the cost of softness and fine detail. |
| Shadows, volumetric effects and reflections | Lower these before reducing textures when memory is sufficient. | Less lighting depth, fog quality or reflection detail. |
| Grass, foliage and view distance | Adjust when outdoor traversal causes drops. | Fewer distant objects or less dense vegetation. |
| Textures | Lower when the graphics card is short on VRAM or streaming causes hitching. | Surfaces look less detailed; average fps may barely change if VRAM was not the limit. |
| Anti-aliasing and image sharpening | Use after the major performance controls are balanced. | Changes edge smoothness and clarity rather than solving a CPU-bound drop. |
Keep native resolution when the GPU has headroom. If it does not, reduce render resolution or use a scaler that the game and your system support. Microsoft Support notes that enabling or disabling in-game scaling can change quality or frame rate, and the result varies by game, settings and system; test the actual title rather than assuming a scaler is always beneficial.
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ELDEN RING: a practical 1080p baseline
ELDEN RING is the clearest example of why a Soulslike preset must be matched to the individual game. Its official requirements are substantially heavier than the older DARK SOULS III listing, and the game requires DirectX 12 according to its Steam support information.
Official PC requirements
| Tier | Operating system | Processor | Memory | Graphics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Windows 10 | Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 3 3300X | 12 GB RAM | NVIDIA GTX 1060 3 GB or AMD RX 580 4 GB |
| Recommended | Windows 10 or Windows 11 | Intel Core i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X | 16 GB RAM | NVIDIA GTX 1070 8 GB or AMD RX Vega 56 8 GB |
These are official eligibility baselines, not a guaranteed 60-fps table. A PC that meets the minimum may need reduced settings and a lower cap, while a recommended-class machine can still encounter a short traversal hitch or a demanding scene.
Recommended order in the menu
- Set 1920×1080 and choose the game’s balanced or high profile.
- Open System → Graphics → Set Ray Tracing Quality and select OFF.
- Cap at 60 fps if your test route remains stable. If it does not, lower the cap instead of leaving the game uncapped.
- When GPU usage is consistently high, reduce render resolution or scale first, then lower shadows, volumetrics, reflections and grass in that order.
- When GPU usage is low during a drop, restore image-quality settings and investigate CPU load, background tasks and streaming behavior instead; lowering every graphics option will not fix a processor-bound limit.
DARK SOULS III: why its settings should not be copied to ELDEN RING
DARK SOULS III’s official Steam listing is much older and lists a lighter graphics baseline, including GTX 750 Ti or Radeon HD 7950-class hardware and 64-bit Windows support. That does not establish a universal frame rate, but it explains why a computer that handles DARK SOULS III comfortably may still need compromises in ELDEN RING.
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|---|---|---|
| Official graphics baseline | Minimum GTX 1060 3 GB or RX 580 4 GB; recommended GTX 1070 8 GB or RX Vega 56 8 GB. | Steam lists GTX 750 Ti or Radeon HD 7950-class graphics. |
| Memory information | 12 GB minimum; 16 GB recommended. | The cited listing establishes 64-bit Windows support; a directly comparable RAM figure is not stated here. |
| Target to begin testing | 1080p with a stable 60-fps cap if the system can sustain it. | Begin at 1080p and test a 60-fps cap, then raise image quality only after frame pacing is consistent. |
| Ray tracing | Disable it through the documented graphics menu when performance matters. | No ray-tracing requirement is established by the cited listing; use the title’s own options. |
| Scaling choice | Keep native resolution with GPU headroom; otherwise test a supported scaler or lower render resolution. | Use the same principle, but do not assume ELDEN RING’s menu labels or behavior are present. |
How to diagnose stutter and frame drops
Short drops during combat
Repeat the same encounter with a fixed cap. If the drop coincides with near-maximum GPU usage, disable ray tracing (where available), lower resolution scale and reduce heavy lighting or reflection effects. If GPU usage falls while the frame rate drops, the cause is more likely CPU work, asset streaming or a background process than raw graphics quality.
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Hitches while riding or entering a new area
Traversal can expose streaming behavior that a stationary benchmark misses. Use an SSD when your system supports one, close disk-heavy applications and test with overlays disabled. Do not claim the issue is solved merely because an average-fps counter rises; compare the frequency and severity of the pauses on the same route.
Consistently low frame rate
- Confirm the game is using the intended dedicated GPU rather than an integrated adapter.
- Check that the display is running at its intended refresh rate and that another application is not imposing a lower limit.
- Reduce resolution scale and the expensive effects listed earlier.
- Set a lower cap that the system can maintain. A stable 45 or 30 fps can be more predictable than a 60-fps target with repeated drops.
Uneven motion despite a high counter
Check for conflicting limiters, adaptive-sync configuration and background overlays. Use one frame-rate limiter at a time, then repeat a fixed test route. If frame times remain uneven with low utilization, the limitation may be engine or driver behavior that graphics reductions cannot remove.
Ray tracing: when to use it and when to leave it off
Ray tracing is an image-quality feature, not a prerequisite for Soulslike play. Bandai Namco’s patch documentation explicitly says that performance—including frame rate and resolution—may be impacted when ray tracing is enabled. Leave it off for a stable-performance profile, especially on hardware close to the official minimum or recommended graphics tiers.
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Scaling and image quality decisions
Native resolution
Native 1080p is the cleanest starting point when the GPU has unused capacity. It preserves small interface text, foliage detail and distant silhouettes that can become soft after scaling.
Lower render resolution
Use this when the GPU is saturated and a stable cap matters more than maximum sharpness. Make a small change, test the same route and stop lowering once the target is consistent.
Supported upscaling or Windows features
A game-supported scaler can recover performance with less softness than a large native-resolution reduction, but results are title- and system-dependent. Windows Automatic Super Resolution is a software feature, not a guarantee that every PC supports it; verify compatibility in the game and operating system before relying on it.
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Compare your system with the official figures before buying hardware. For ELDEN RING, check all four categories rather than only the GPU: Windows version, processor, RAM and graphics memory. DirectX 12 support is also required. Meeting the minimum means the game is within the published baseline; it does not promise a particular preset or frame rate.
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- Below 12 GB RAM or below the listed minimum GPU: expect compromises and verify that an upgrade is practical before purchase.
- 12 GB RAM with minimum-class graphics: begin at 1080p, disable ray tracing and use a conservative cap.
- 16 GB RAM and recommended-class graphics: start with balanced or high settings, then validate frame pacing in demanding areas rather than assuming a guaranteed 60 fps.
- DARK SOULS III hardware: its older GTX 750 Ti/Radeon HD 7950-class listing is not a substitute for checking ELDEN RING’s newer requirements.
What is known about Lies of P requirements
The cited support page confirms that Lies of P has a requirements section and storefront availability, but it does not expose a complete Windows hardware table here. Exact CPU, GPU and RAM claims should therefore not be imported from ELDEN RING or DARK SOULS III. Apply the same process—1080p baseline, balanced preset, ray tracing off where offered, a stable cap and one-change-at-a-time testing—while using the game’s own current requirements as the authority.
A repeatable 60-fps profile
Use this profile when your hardware is near a game’s recommended tier and you want predictable timing rather than maximum visual effects:
- Resolution: 1920×1080.
- Preset: balanced or high.
- Ray tracing: off.
- Frame-rate cap: 60 fps only if the demanding test route sustains it; otherwise choose the next lower stable cap.
- Scaling: native while GPU usage has headroom; otherwise use a supported scaler or modestly lower render resolution.
- First reductions: shadows, volumetrics, reflections, grass and view distance.
- Textures: retain a higher level unless VRAM pressure or streaming hitching indicates they are the problem.
After every change, test the same combat and traversal route. Keep a setting only when it improves consistency without making the image distracting or unreadable.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Chasing an uncapped peak: a brief 90-fps reading is irrelevant if combat repeatedly falls to 45.
- Leaving ray tracing on by default: it can reduce both frame rate and resolution.
- Assuming one Soulslike preset fits all: ELDEN RING and DARK SOULS III have different official baselines.
- Changing every option at once: you lose the ability to identify the setting that helped.
- Using a scaler without testing: Microsoft’s guidance makes clear that quality and performance outcomes vary by game, settings and system.
- Treating official requirements as benchmarks: they establish published hardware tiers, not a guaranteed frame-rate result.
Bottom-line decision rule
Set a stable frame-rate target at 1080p, disable ray tracing when performance is the priority, and tune resolution scaling before sacrificing every visual setting. Use GPU utilization and repeatable frame-pacing tests to decide whether the next change should target graphics load, CPU/background activity or the cap itself. Check each game’s own requirements—especially the much heavier ELDEN RING baseline—before buying an upgrade, because no single Soulslike preset guarantees 60 fps on every PC.
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