If you're having issues with lackluster performance in Payday 3, you're not alone. If you're experiencing lag, stuttering, or other problems, I'm here to provide you with some setting adjustments to help improve your gameplay. Payday 3 doesn't look like a performance leech, so it shouldn't treat your system like one either. Here are a few fixes that could lend you some aid on both PC and Console alike.
How to fix Payday 3 Low FPS on PC
Payday 3 has a very traditional set of settings that you can adjust to improve overall performance. Most of these suggestions also tend to improve FPS performance in other games as well. Note that all PCs are not built equal, therefore I cannot promise the below changes will improve your performance.
- Turn off VSync - There are some cases where VSync is a performance boost, but for most, it does nothing but reduce FPS. Turn it off. You should see a significant difference in performance with just this alone.
- Turn off Motion Blur - Reducing or turning off Motion Blur can improve your performance by a small amount.
- Set Shadows to Low - Shadows have, historically, negatively affected performance in most setups. In Payday 3, this is no exception. Reducing Shadows to Low does reduce overall graphic fidelity, though not by much. You may see a sizable increase in performance with this change.
- Set Anti-Aliasing to Performance - Doing so should provide a modest-at-best improvement to performance at the cost of graphic fidelity. You may have a blurry image quality or jagged edges on metal-like materials.
- Set View Distance to Low - You may not expect this, but reducing your View Distance to Low should offer a significant boost in performance. The less detailed things have to be, the better your overall performance. Inside buildings, you should not notice a change in graphic fidelity. However, in open areas, you will likely notice the change.
- Turn on Direct 12 - In Steam, right-click the game in your Library and select Launch Options. Add -dx12 to the command line and close. You should see a significant boost in FPS from this.
- Uncap your FPS - Be sure to set your Framerate Limit to Unlimited. In some cases, capping your FPS at 60 or higher can also be a performance boost. Just ensure you're option is not set at 30 FPS.
- Play in Fullscreen Mode - Sometimes playing in Borderless can actually impact your overall performance. I recommend playing in Fullscreen Window Mode if you're suffering any major FPS degradation.
How to fix Payday 3 Low FPS on Console
Unfortunately, consoles don't have as many options for improving performance. Usually, it's an all-or-nothing situation. The best solution is to turn on Performance Mode if you're suffering from bad performance. If you're still having issues, then I recommend waiting for a performance patch from the Payday 3 developers.
For more helpful guides and useful information relating to Payday 3, check out Should you enable Telemetry in Payday 3? right here on Pro Game Guides.
Darrus is a creative-minded individual with a passion for all things gaming. As a seasoned Game Guide writer that has been writing for the past 10+ years, and an active Narrative Designer for 5, he charges headfirst into the line of fire, taking on anything the industry has to offer him. The RPG genre is his home base.