The Tool Desk
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Do not immediately force the entire game to Low. Acts of Blood can respond differently across GPUs, and the developer has continued to optimize lighting, assets and performance. Change one option at a time, measure frame-time behavior, and keep the setting that improves smoothness without introducing distracting shadow artifacts.
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Check the current build before changing settings
Acts of Blood is a third-person action game from Eksil Team, published by Big Fan. Steam currently lists a demo while the full PC release is planned for December 2026. The store page explicitly warns that “System requirements subject to change,” so performance advice and hardware decisions should be revisited after major updates.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
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- Powered by the NVIDIA Blackwell architecture and DLSS 4
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- Integrated with 8GB GDDR7 128bit memory interface
- PCIe 5.0
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Compare your PC with the published requirements
Use the following tiers as compatibility guidance, not as an FPS promise. No cited source provides repeatable frame-rate results by GPU, resolution or preset.
| Component | Minimum tier | Recommended tier |
|---|---|---|
| Operating system | Windows 10 | Windows 10 |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-10400F or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 | Intel Core i5-12400F or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
| Graphics card | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT |
| Graphics API | DirectX 11 | DirectX 12 |
| Storage | 7 GB | 7 GB |
A GTX 1060 or RX 580 is the published minimum class; an RTX 3060 or RX 6600 XT is the published recommended class. Matching a tier does not establish a particular frame rate because the final game, display resolution, drivers and build can change the result. If your GPU is below the minimum class, settings changes may not compensate for the hardware gap.
Establish a useful performance baseline
Before changing anything, make the test repeatable. Use the same game scene or encounter for each comparison and write down the resolution, preset, shadow options and observed behavior.
- Choose a target. Pick a frame-rate goal appropriate for your display. The available Acts of Blood sources do not define an official target or guarantee a specific FPS.
- Observe the limit. Note whether GPU utilization stays high, whether one or more CPU threads are saturated, or whether frame time jumps intermittently. Average FPS alone can hide stutter.
- Capture a baseline. Record the current preset, resolution, Shadow Quality value, Virtual Shadow Maps state and the area tested.
- Keep the test consistent. Compare average smoothness, frame-time stability, GPU utilization, VRAM pressure, shadow artifacts and image clarity at the display’s native resolution.
- Retest after restarting. A setting that appears helpful in one session should be checked again after restarting the current build.
Apply the settings changes in this order
1. Test Shadow Quality at Normal
Open the game’s graphics options and change Shadow Quality to Normal. Test the same scene used for your baseline. This is the first game-specific adjustment worth trying because a Steam Community user included it in a lower-GPU-usage workaround.
Judge the result by frame time and visual distractions, not only by the headline FPS number. If Normal removes a major hitch while shadows remain acceptable, keep it. If it does not help, restore the previous value before testing the next option.
2. Disable Virtual Shadow Maps
With Shadow Quality still at Normal, turn Virtual Shadow Maps off and repeat the same test. The same Steam Community report described this pairing as reducing GPU usage by up to 30% on that user’s PC (2026). That figure is an anecdotal, single-system report rather than a controlled benchmark, so it must not be converted into a promised FPS gain for every GPU.
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Check shadow edges, contact shadows and moving-object shadows for artifacts after disabling the option. If the frame-time improvement is small or the visual loss is obvious, re-enable Virtual Shadow Maps and keep only the change that benefits your system.
3. Do not assume Low or Medium presets are faster
The performance discussion reports that Low or Medium could perform worse for some weaker GPUs. Preset names describe a collection of choices; they do not guarantee that every option is optimal for your hardware. Compare the measured frame time of a preset against the Normal-shadow test instead of treating Low as an automatic solution.
4. Change one setting per test
Keep a short log with five entries: resolution, overall preset, Shadow Quality, Virtual Shadow Maps and the observed frame-time behavior. Changing several controls together prevents you from knowing which option helped or caused a regression. It also makes it easier to return to a known-good configuration after a build update.
5. Reduce heavier image-quality controls only after the shadow test
If the shadow changes are insufficient, lower other image-quality controls one at a time, then retest. The available Acts of Blood evidence does not quantify the cost of textures, effects, post-processing or resolution individually, so there is no defensible universal ranking for those options. Start with the smallest visual compromise that moves your frame-time target.
Use the bottleneck to choose the next move
When the GPU is the limit
High, sustained GPU utilization together with long GPU frame times indicates that rendering work is the immediate constraint. The Normal-shadow and Virtual Shadow Maps test is the most specific Acts of Blood lead available. If it does not provide enough headroom, test lower image-quality controls or resolution in separate steps and compare native-resolution clarity with the resulting frame-time stability.
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When the CPU is the limit
A low GPU load does not prove that the graphics preset is the problem. If one or more CPU threads are consistently busy while the GPU has unused capacity, lowering resolution may change little. Compare frame-time behavior in the same scene after each change and avoid claiming a graphics setting solved a CPU-bound limit unless the measurement supports it.
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- Chipset: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
- Video Memory: 12GB GDDR6
- Memory Interface: 192-bit
- Output: DisplayPort x 3 (v1.4a) / HDMI 2.1 x 1.Avoid using unofficial software
- Digital maximum resolution: 7680 x 4320
When frame time spikes without a clear average-FPS change
Look for a setting that changes the spikes rather than the average. Repeat the test after restarting the game and after loading the same area again. Record whether the spike follows a particular effect, shadow transition or asset load. Because no cited source supplies a reproducible stutter benchmark, treat your own repeatable observation as a local diagnosis, not a general rule for every PC.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Practical starting profiles
These are test profiles, not guaranteed performance modes. Begin with the profile closest to your hardware tier, then validate it against your target.
| Hardware situation | Starting configuration | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Near the published minimum tier | Keep your current resolution; set Shadow Quality to Normal and test Virtual Shadow Maps off before changing the full preset. | Whether frame-time spikes improve and whether shadow artifacts are acceptable. |
| Near the published recommended tier | Start from the default or preferred quality preset, then run the same two shadow tests instead of dropping everything to Low. | GPU utilization, VRAM pressure and clarity at native resolution. |
| Below the minimum GPU tier | Try the shadow sequence, then reduce resolution or other heavy image-quality options one at a time. | Whether the target is realistic; an upgrade may be necessary if the GPU remains saturated. |
What to do when Low performs worse than expected
- Return to the exact scene and resolution used for your baseline.
- Compare the Low or Medium preset with your previous configuration using the same test duration.
- Check Shadow Quality and Virtual Shadow Maps individually; do not assume the preset selected the best combination for your GPU.
- Keep the configuration with the shorter and more stable frame times, even if its preset label is higher.
- Restart the game and repeat the comparison to ensure the result persists in the current build.
A slower Low or Medium result is not evidence that your hardware is defective. It means the preset’s combination of options did not suit that system or build, which is why measured comparisons are more reliable than labels.
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If your graphics card falls below the GTX 1060 or RX 580 minimum class and remains GPU-bound after the shadow test and conservative image-quality reductions, software tuning may not provide enough headroom. The recommended class—RTX 3060 or RX 6600 XT—offers a clearer target for a new build or upgrade, but the published requirement still does not promise a particular FPS.
Also check memory capacity when diagnosing inconsistent performance: the listed minimum is 8 GB, while the recommended tier is 16 GB. Meeting the recommended RAM figure does not remove a GPU or CPU bottleneck, but running below it leaves less margin for the game and the operating system.
Revisit your settings after major updates
Acts of Blood is still in development, and the developer has reported lighting and asset-performance optimizations. An update can change GPU cost, frame-time behavior or the visual trade-off of a setting. Keep your short test log, note the build you used, and rerun the shadow comparison after a substantial update rather than assuming an older result still applies.
Bottom line
Use the latest demo or build, establish a repeatable target, and test Shadow Quality: Normal followed by Virtual Shadow Maps: Off. Treat the reported up-to-30% GPU-usage reduction as a lead from one Steam Community user, not a guarantee. If Low or Medium performs worse, trust measured frame times over the preset name; if your GPU is below the published minimum, an upgrade may be more effective than further tweaking.
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