Halo Infinite’s multiplayer launch was the worst kept secret in recent times. The game reached an all-time peak player count of 272,000+ players and is the most played Xbox Games Studios title on Steam thanks to the fact that it is free-to-play. Although the game is still technically in Beta, 343 claims your current progress will carry over to the final version when the game officially ‘launches’ in December.
Players are reporting that the game seems to be suffering from performance issues due to the game’s inconsistent frame pacing which makes it feel jittery even if you’re getting high FPS which is definitely going to impact your experience negatively, especially if you’re a competitive player.
Luckily, there are many ways to boost your FPS:
- Make sure your GPU drivers are up to date / Check your GPU Control Panel:
Keeping your drivers up to date is the best way to prevent any performance issues during gaming. Most of the time, game-ready drivers which include optimizations for newer games are released by AMD and NVIDIA which may result in better framerates and stability.
Be sure to check your GeForce Experience app (NVIDIA) or Radeon Software Adrenaline app (AMD) periodically to ensure you have the latest drivers installed.
Additionally, try switching your GPU Power to maximum performance in your Graphics driver’s control panel.
For NVIDIA: Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings > Add > Halo Infinite > Power Management Mode > Prefer Maximum Performance.
- Disable Multiplayer Hight-Res Textures
Halo Infinite automatically downloads high-resolution textures which are enabled by default and disabling them may net you some decent increase in framerate, especially if you’re using a low to mid-range GPU with limited VRAM.
Steam:
- Right-click on Halo Infinite and select “properties.”
- Click on DLC.
- Uncheck the box next to “Multiplayer High-Res Textures.”
Xbox PC:
- In the Xbox Game App, select Halo Infinite and open the context menu.
- Click on Manage Game.
- Uncheck the box next to “High-Res Textures.”
- Adjust your video settings
Given how we’re talking about the multiplayer component of the game, there is no need to crank everything up to the absolute max possible setting. Take some time out to play around with your video settings to get the best visuals and performance at the same time.
Try setting your minimum framerate to 60 and your maximum framerate the same as your monitor’s refresh rate and disabling VSync can help in most cases.
Graphics settings to look out for:
Texture Quality: Low (4GB VRAM) High (6GB VRAM)
Geometry Quality: Low
Dynamic Wind: Off
Reflections: Low
Shadow Quality: Low/Medium
Ground Cover Quality: Medium
Effects Quality: Low
Animation Quality: Auto
Simulation Quality: Low
ASync Compute: Off
Disable all sensory settings to reduce distracting effects.
Disable Xbox Game Bar & Windows Game Mode
Windows Game Mode sounds good on paper, but it tends to cause stuttering, frame drops, and more issues depending on the game by interfering with the processor’s scheduling. Although Microsoft claims that “Windows prioritizes your gaming experience by turning things off in the background. When you’re running a game, Game Mode:
Prevents Windows Update from performing driver installations and sending restart
notifications.
Helps achieve a more stable frame rate depending on the specific game and system.”
Head to Start Menu > Settings > Gaming > Game Mode > Off to disable it.
The Gaming sub-menu also contains the setting which enables the Xbox Game Bar, which is an additional overlay like NVIDIA’s Shadowplay and is used to record gameplay, view performance metrics, and more. But is quite resource-heavy and may interfere with your overall gaming performance, which is why it is best to disable it altogether.
If nothing else works, you’ll just have to wait for any potential updates in the future as the game is still in its Beta stages.
Halo Infinite releases on December 8, 2021 on Xbox One, Series S|X and PC.
