How to increase FPS in Apex Legends: videoconfig, settings, launch options
The in-game settings, launch options, and videoconfig.txt file of Apex Legends can be optimized to increase your FPS and unlock the cap.
On the web, you can find several configuration files to replace yours and boost the fps. Honestly, I don’t like this approach because I want to know exactly what I am changing, so I decided to review all the options in this article.
These adjustments are useful if you are struggling to reach an acceptable amount of fps as you are using a low-spec PC, but also if you have a monitor with a high refresh-rate as you bought it to gain an edge in a competitive shooter such as Apex Legends.
Note: all the settings I am going to explain are totally legit and won’t cause you any crash or ban.
Launch options - Remove the fps cap
Let’s start with the launch options in order to remove the fps cap.
Open the Origin launcher
Go on My Game Library
Left click on Apex Legends and then on the Settings icon
Select Game Properties
Go on Advanced Launch Options and click on the Command line arguments tab
+fps_max unlimitedIt removes the fps cap, which is set to 144 as default. It is not required if you have a monitor with less than 144hz, or if you are playing from a laptop and you want to save as much battery as possible.
Note that unlocking the frame rate might cause overheating problems if your system isn’t cooled properly as the game will try to render as many frames as possible.
-novidI also suggest adding -novid as it gets rid of the starting splash screens. They become tedious in the long run.
Launch options
In-game settings
Launch Apex Legend and open the Video settings. I will show you how to set up each option for maximum performance.
Display Mode: Full Screen.
Full Screen is the best choice performance-wise, but you might prefer Borderless Window if you have a multi-monitor setup and you wish to move quickly on another display.
Note: you can switch from Full Screen to Borderless Window by pressing Alt+Enter on the keyboard.
Aspect Ratio: use your native one.
In the screen below, you see 21:9 because I play on an ultrawide monitor. Your display should have a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Resolution: use your native one.
Using your native resolution is desirable for a better view, but if you badly need a performance boost, decreasing the resolution will greatly improve your fps. 720p is usually a solid compromise between quality and performance.
Field of View: it depends on your preferences.
I published an article about the best FoV in Apex Legends, containing the results of a survey and detailed explanations on each setting.
A higher field of view (FOV) increases your peripheral vision, but at the same time all the targets are smaller, and it can cause a fisheye effect. In any case, lower values will improve your performance.
V-Synch: disable it.
Adaptive Resolution FPS Target: 0.
Generally, using the adaptive resolution to gain fps is a poor choice because it lowers automatically your resolution but also forces anti-aliasing, which is very expensive. Overall, you will enjoy a better performance by lowering the resolution manually.
Adaptive Supersampling: it is greyed out because our adaptive resolution is 0.
Anti-aliasing: off.
Texture Streaming Budget: your graphic card VRAM.
This setting depends on the VRAM available on your graphic cards. Be aware that any value past medium might have an impact on the fps, so if you want to maximize them be sure to select 3GB even if you have more VRAM.
Texture Filtering: Anisotropic 2x.
You can lower this setting further, but I suggest to keep it at 2x for a better viewing experience.
Disable or put to Low all the remaining settings.
Apply the changes.
It is mandatory to set up your in-game settings before working on the videoconfig file.
Videconfig.txt file
To find your videoconfig file, press Win+R and then input the following line:
%USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Respawn\Apex\localRight click on videoconfig.txt and open it with WordPad or another text editor. I use Notepad++.
There are several options, but most of them have been already set up via the in-game settings. We will only change a few of them.
setting.cl_ragdoll_self_collisionThis is related to ragdoll physics, put it to 0.
setting.mat_depthfeather_enableThe depth of field effect when you aim down sight (ADS); change it to 0.
setting.r_lod_switch_scaleIt is the model detail setting in-game. It changes the distance at which the game displays the higher quality models.
1 = high
0.8 = medium
0.6 = low
I suggest reducing it to 0.3 or 0.4. Lower values may cause gameplay problems.
setting.csm_enabledSet it to 0. This setting brings a massive fps boost as it disables all shadows. Of course, you will be at a disadvantage in some situations in which you might have spotted the enemy if their shadow was visible, but it is a rare occurrence.
This is all; you can save the file.
Right click on the file, go on Properties, General, Attributes, and mark it as Read-Only. If you don’t, it will be overwritten as soon as you start the game, and you will lose all the changes.
If you need to alter your in-game settings in the future, it is necessary to uncheck read-only. Afterwards, you can change the settings, edit manually the videoconfig file, and set it as read-only again.
videoconfig.txt path
Autoexec.cfg and NVIDIA Inspector
Everything I have explained so far is totally legit and will improve your performance without causing issues, but there are more tools at our disposal.
Apex Legends is based on a heavily modified version of the Source engine. In particular, Respawn used previous generations of this engine in Titanfall 1 and 2, so the modding community has already uncovered all possible ways to customize it.
There are hundreds of lines you can add to the autoexec file to achieve a better performance or special effects, but I do not recommend this technique because it could cause problems and crashes.
If you look for more info, be very careful: do not just copy-paste thousands of lines of code without explanations!
Finally, Nvidia Inspector can be used to remove grass, terrain textures, and more. It immensely boosts the fps, but - IMHO - is barely legal as you also obtain a certain advantage removing any extra visual effect.
I do not recommend this method because it might even cause you a ban for cheating via Easy Anti Cheat used by the game (unconfirmed).
Beware to Chrome
This is not a joke. I have 16GB of ram and I still run into issues sometimes as I tend to keep the browser open the whole day, so it ends using over 5-6GB of ram with many tabs open.
Close all your extra software if you want to maximize your performance while gaming.
More Apex Legends articles:
Header image: Respawn
