Call of Duty Warzone is a top-rated game, but this game can lag if you don’t select the correct settings. Follow all the steps in the guide to get the best and smooth gaming experience. It will provide you with the best and most consistent visual experience without stuttering and the minor latency input.
Modifying Installation of Warzone
Firstly, you need to modify the installation files to help clean the extra files and reduce the size of the game.
After launching the battle.net launcher and navigating to the warzone, click on the “option” on the right side of the PLAY button, then tap on the “Modify Install”.
A new window with the title “Modify Installation” will pop up, and you have to click on the “Modify install” under the “Game Content”.
You will need to uncheck all the options you are no longer using. The only option that you are going to use is “Warzone”. Doing this, 60GB plus space will be free.
Cleaning Old Config Files.
Now, you have to delete some of the old config files that were part of older versions and are slowing down the performance of COD Warzone. For this, you need to click on the “Windows Button” and then on the “Document,” navigate to the “Call of Duty Modern Warfare” folder. After that, go inside “Players.” The directory of the “ADV” file will be
“C:\Users\Name\Documents\Call of Duty Modern Warfare\players”. (use it without commas)
You have to find the file named “adv_options.ini” and delete it. It is essential for users who have been using the “COD Warzone” for a very long time. The system will automatically create a better-optimized version of the “ADV” file when you launch the game.
Game and Launcher
You will need to make some changes to the game and launcher. Open the launcher, navigate to the upper left side corner, and click on the “Settings.”
Starting with the “General” tab, you have to navigate under “On Game Launch” and choose the “Exit the Battle.net App Completely’ option.
After this, scroll down and ensure that “Use browser hardware acceleration” is unchecked. These changes will free up some extra background resources.
Brand New EXE fixes
For brand new exe fixes, you need to go to the option besides the “Play” button and click on the “File Explorer,” and find the “ModernWarefare.exe.” Right-click on it, navigate toward the “Properties,” and click on the “Compatibility” tab in this window.
In “Compatibility,” check the “Run this program as an administrator.” Making changes in your setting will give some errors because the game is not running as an administrator. If you have an old or lower-end PC, you should check the “Disable full-screen optimizations” and then click on “Change high DPI settings” and then check the “Override high DPI” tap “OK” and then apply and press “OK.”
Game Settings
After the basic settings, it is now time to change the “Game Setting” for the best performance and visual for a clean and competitive image. Make sure that your shaders have installed 100 percent for multiplayer as you move into the game.
So, now you need to navigate to the “Option” toward the bottom left side and click on the “General”. In “Field of View”, the best FPS would be 90, and the recommended would be 90 to 110 (based on the testing).
Skip Introduction Movie”, enable this to decrease the game’s starting time. Another change you can make to get a better image is to disable the “Dismemberment & Core Effects.”
After completing the “General” section, head to the “Graphics’ tab’. Selecting the “Fullscreen” display mode is preferred as it significantly lowers the input latency. And make sure that the display adapter is set to the main graphic card. “Screen Refresh Rate” needs to be maxed out as it will lower the input latency and improve the smoothness of the game.
Custom Framerate Limit (Graphic)
It must be set to unlimited, and do not use an in-game cap as you may experience lag and stuttering in the game.
NVIDIA Highlights (Graphic)
You have to disable it as it has no such benefits.
NVIDIA Reflex Lower Latency (Graphic)
You must set it at Enabled + Boost as it helps to reduce the lag and rendering, but if you are using a laptop, you can get better results while keeping it Enabled.
Streaming Quality (Graphic)
It’s recommended to set it as normal as it improves the visuals.
Texture Resolution (Graphic)
You will need to set it to normal as it also improves the visuals.
Texture Filter Anisotropic (Graphic)
You have to set it at High for the smoothes textures.
Particle Quality (Graphic)
You have to set it as high.
Bullet Impacts and Sprays (Graphic)
You will need to disable it to reduce the visual clutter.
Tessellation (Graphic)
If you want the best FPS competitive advantage, you must disable it, but you must set it to “All” for better visual fidelity.
On-Demand Texture Streaming (Graphic)
You have to disable it as it has no such benefits.
Shadow Map Resolution (Graphic)
Set it as normal as it helps smooth shadows and helps players be more visible.
Cache Spot Shadows (Graphic)
You will need to disable it as it can cause texture popping issues during loading into the game.
Cache Sun Shadows (Graphic)
You also have to disable it as it can cause texture popping issues during loading into the game.
Particle Lightening (Graphic)
You have to disable it.
DirectX Raytracing (Graphic)
You must disable as it has no such benefits.
Ambient Occlusion (Graphic)
Disable it as it has no such benefits
Space Screen Reflection (SSR) (Graphic)
You have to set it low as it smooths reflected lights, helping indoor gunfights be clearer.
Anti-Aliasing (Graphic)
You will need to set it as SMAA 1X as it will make the visuals more appealing.
Depth of Field (Graphic)
You must disable it.
Filmic Strength (Graphic)
You have to set it as 0.
World Motion Blur (Graphic)
You have to disable it.
Weapon Motion Blur (Graphic)
You will need to disable it.
Film Grain (Graphic)
You must set it to 0.
Dynamic Resolution (Graphic)
You have to enable it.
Dynamic Resolution Frame Rate Target (Graphic)
You can set it according to the performance based on your PC Specs.
Disabling Instant Replay and Game Filter
For those using NVIDIA Graphic cards, press ALT+Z at the same time. It will open up the NVIDIA Geforce experience, and you have to disable any game filter you are using and disable the instant replay.
Windows Optimizations
Now coming to changes that need to be done in Windows to gain a better FPS and lower latency rate, you have to press the windows button and search for the Game Mode and after navigating to the Game Mode, turn it on.
After doing this, type GPU setting on the Start menu and Click on Graphic Settings. Look for the Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling; you can turn it on or off based on the experience that you are getting.
Windows Power Plan
After that, type “power plan” in the search bar of Start Menu and hit enter. Then you have to select the “Power Option” in the navigation bar at the top. If you are using a lower-end PC or laptop, you should select balance, and if you have a higher-end PC, you can click on the High Performance for better performance.
Installing Third Party Program (ISLC Program)
The ISLC program will help clean up the RAM with background resources. You have to download this program from the internet and open the downloaded folder; these files are below.
Click on the Intelligence standby list cleaner ISLC.exe. After this, you see a program as given below. Make a few changes as the following:
- The list size must be at least: 1024
- Free memory is lower than set this half of your system memory.
- Wanted timer resolution: 0.50
- Check the Enable custom timer resolution.
- Type 1000 in ISLC polling rate (ms) for lower to medium-end PCs and 500 for medium to higher-end PCs.
- Then click start.
- And then click the Purge Standby list.
Note: For playing the game, you have to run this program in the background.
Advanced Game Options
If you experience lagging or off, you have to clean up the “adv_options.ini” folder. The directory of the “ADV” file will be C:\Users\Name\Documents\Call of Duty Modern Warfare\players.” After that, you need to modify this file for better optimization. For this, double-click on the file and then open the task manager. In task manager, click on the (Performance) and look for “Cores’ and its value, and change the “RendererWorkerCount” in ADV file to half of this value. Then change VideoMemoryScale to 0.6 as recommended to all and save the file.
GPU / Graphic Card
Right-click anywhere on the desktop and click on the “NVIDIA Control Panel” it may be different based on your card.
Click on the Adjust image setting with a preview on the upper left side and then select the advanced 3D image setting option.
Then click on Manage 3D settings; make sure to make these changes as following:
- Image Sharpening: Sharpening off, disabled scaling
- Power management mode: Prefer maximum performance
- Shader Cache: on
- Texture Filtering Quality: High performance
- Threaded Optimization: Auto
After that, navigate to the Adjust Desktop size and position on the left side and set it as “No scaling” if you play at your native resolution for your monitor.
Hardware Changes
First, check your RAM to make sure it sets up correctly for reducing fps by 30 %, open the task manager and click on performance on the upper side and look for how RAM is installed in your pc, make sure it’s installed even with a gap in between or fill up all the RAM slots.
For example, if you have 3 rams and 4 slots, it’s better to use only 2 rams (Dual Mod) installed, leaving a slot that must be of the same configuration.
It’s highly recommended to upgrade your CPU or turn on your CPU overclocking (better recommended to use all core-overclocking) as enabling overclocking will not cost you a single penny. It has a more positive on fps performance despite doing so changes in the system. And do some research on the motherboard and memory kit you are using, which will provide you with massive gain in FPS.
Correctly Capping FPS
Using correct capping FPS will smooth the frame time and also prevents stuttering. It is recommended not to use in-game capping as you may experience stuttering issues. To apply this optimization, you have to download MSI Afterburner, and while installing it, make sure that you check the “RiverTuner Statistics Server.”
Once the program is installed, you have to open it and then minimize it and look for RiverTunerStatisticsServer in the task icon tray at the right bottom of your screen. Click on it, and it opens; simultaneously open the game application and navigate to show in Explorer by clicking on the option. Once the folder is opened, navigate to the installation path, double click on it, and copy it.
Then click on the Add on RiverTunerStatistcsServer.
And go to the directory that we have just copied and then look for WarfareModern.exe and select open.
Then select the WarefareModern.exe in “RiverTuner” and set the application detection level to medium and type 160 into the frame limit. Once it’s done, minimize the tab. Navigate to the MSI Afterburner and click on the settings if you want to see the in-game statistic. Then tap on monitoring, check the framerate and frame time, and check “Show in On-Screen Display.” Head to the On-Screen Display tab and set the hotkey “/” to enable or disable the overlay.
And then, navigate to the RiverTunerStatisticServer and enable the “Show own statistics,” Once all is done, you can move back to the game.
One final step needs to be done to reduce the major fps drops. Turn on the game, head to the graphics in settings, look for the “Dynamic Resolution Frame Rate Target,” and set this 10 frames less than your set fps cap as it helps in reducing 99% of the FPS drops.