Why optimise your game? ⚙️
Risk of Rain 2 thrives on chaos - endless enemies, loot explosions, and particle storms. It’s a blast, but all that action can push even solid PCs to their limits, especially with mods or multiplayer.
Optimising your setup ensures smoother runs, fewer stutters, and faster load times - so you can focus on surviving, not lagging.
Step 1: Update and prepare 💻
Before changing settings, make sure your foundation is solid:
- Update your graphics drivers regularly.
- Verify your game files in Steam to repair missing data.
- Close background apps like browsers, launchers, and overlays.
- Set your power plan to High Performance on Windows.
💡 Tip: If your FPS drops suddenly mid-run, check for background updates or antivirus scans.
Step 2: Adjust graphics settings 🎮
These tweaks can massively improve performance without hurting visuals.
| Setting | Recommended | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| V-Sync | Off | Prevents input lag and FPS dips |
| Shadows | Medium | High shadows cost a lot of FPS |
| Ambient Occlusion | Off | Nice effect, but GPU-heavy |
| Anti-Aliasing | FXAA | Balanced clarity and performance |
| Texture Quality | High | Keeps detail with minimal impact |
| Post-Processing | Low | Reduces stutter in busy scenes |
🧠 Pro tip: Run the game in borderless windowed mode for easy tabbing and better stability.
Step 3: Keep multiplayer stable 👥
Co-op adds complexity and network strain.
- Host on the strongest PC or a dedicated server.
- Make sure all players have identical mod versions.
- Limit player count to 4–6 for stable sync.
- Avoid restarting mid-stage to prevent desync.
🎯 Tip: Hosting through ChipHead gives you smoother sessions with optimised CPU and network performance.
Step 4: Streamline your mods 🧩
Mods are fantastic, but too many can cripple performance.
- Remove unused or outdated mods.
- Avoid stacking heavy visual or overhaul mods.
- Keep dependencies like R2API up to date.
- Use r2modman or Thunderstore to clean your mod list.
💾 Bonus tip: After major updates, revalidate your mods, some may break or duplicate.
Step 5: Optimise launch options ⚙️
Speed things up with simple Steam launch commands:
-high -USEALLAVAILABLECORES -malloc=system
These ensure full CPU use and better memory allocation.
💡 Note: If you get instability, remove one command at a time, some systems handle these differently.
Step 6: Manage heat and FPS 🌡️
If your PC overheats, performance will throttle.
- Monitor temps with MSI Afterburner or HWMonitor.
- Clean dust filters and fans.
- Cap FPS at 120 to reduce heat.
🔥 Pro tip: Sudden frame drops late in-game often mean your GPU’s hitting thermal limits.
Step 7: Improve connection quality 🌐
If gameplay feels laggy rather than slow:
- Use a wired Ethernet connection.
- Keep ping below 80 ms.
- Close downloads, streams, and cloud syncs while hosting.
- Enable router QoS to prioritise gaming traffic.
🧩 Tip: Rubberbanding in modded servers is often from overloaded effects, not poor internet.
Step 8: Restart often 🔄
Long sessions fill up RAM and cache.
- Restart the game every few runs.
- Clear the mod cache in
AppData\Roaming\r2modman. - Verify mod load order after adding new ones.
💾 Bonus tip: Back up config files and mod profiles before experimenting with new setups.
Step 9: Monitor performance 📊
Track what’s really eating your FPS.
- Steam Overlay: Quick FPS check.
- MSI Afterburner: Full CPU/GPU metrics.
- Windows Resource Monitor: Spot RAM or disk spikes.
🧠 Pro tip: If CPU is maxed but GPU isn’t, lower physics-heavy mod activity or reduce spawn counts.
Final thoughts 💭
Risk of Rain 2 can be wild but it should never feel sluggish. With updated drivers, clean mods, and smarter settings, you’ll enjoy buttery-smooth chaos from start to finish.
If you’re running your games through ChipHead, you already have the optimised hardware and uptime to keep the loot rain coming lag-free and lightning-fast. ⚙️💥
