After many months of anticipation and hype, we finally got our hands on the much-awaited looter shooter from 2K, Borderlands 3. Borderlands was one of the very first games to establish the looter shooter genre and the game obviously got a ton of praise from everyone for being innovative, fluid and extremely addictive. However, it has been a very long time since the last entry in the main Borderlands series came out. When Borderlands 2 came out, way back in 2012, it was still one of the only AAA looter shooter around and didn’t really have much competition.
The times have changed now, though. We’ve got many new looter shooters like the Destiny games and The Division games, both of which have received high praise from the critics and fans alike. Many people were skeptical about a new Borderlands making an entry into this modern gaming landscape. However, Borderlands 3 has had an amazing start to its life and has managed to impress everyone. It wouldn’t be false to say that in a world where a very good Destiny 2 exists, Borderlands 3 is still the undisputed king of looter shooters.
Being a good game is good news but what isn’t good is the fact that Borderlands 3 has had a terrible launch from a technical standpoint. The game suffers from some extremely weird game-breaking bugs and bad optimization. Many people have complained about the constant dips in FPS, random crashes and choppy textures. While 2K is probably working on a fix for most of these issues, there are still some things you could try to improve your experience. I mean, no one wants to sit around waiting for a patch while your friends level up and finish the game without you, right?
1. Minimum System Requirements:
First and foremost, before diving into the fixes, you need to make sure whether your PC is even capable enough to run Borderlands 3 smoothly or not. If you don’t have a powerful enough PC, no fix in the world would be able to make things work for you. So, the minimum system requirements to run Borderlands 3 are as follows:
Operating System: Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 8 64-bit | Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i5-3570 or AMD FX-8350
Memory: 6GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB or AMD Radeon HD 7970
DirectX: Version 12
Network: Broadband Internet Connection
Storage: 75 GB of available space
Sound Card: DirectX 11 Compatible
2. Install the latest video card drivers:
Borderlands 3 just came out a few days ago and chances are that you forgot to update your graphics card drivers. Usually, after a big release, NVIDIA and AMD release newer graphics card drivers that are fully compatible with the new game. So, you should always make sure that you’re updated to the latest drivers. If, for some reason, auto-update doesn’t work for you, you can follow these links below to find the latest drivers for your graphics card.
NVIDIA Graphics Card Drivers
AMD Graphics Card Drivers
3. Disable the integrated GPU:
Sometimes, a game can decide to not use your dedicated graphics card, for some weird reason. This can result in the load transferring over to the integrated GPU instead resulting in appallingly low framerates. However, the good news is that you can change that and force the use of your graphics card. The fix only works for NVIDIA users and here’s how to do it:
1. Right Click anywhere on the empty desktop.
2. Select and open the NVIDIA Control Panel.
3. Choose the “Manage 3D Settings” option.
4. Search for Borderlands 3 from the list of games and select your NVIDIA graphics card on it.
5. If you’re unable to find Borderlands 3 on the list, you can also add it by just browsing for the executable (.exe) file for the game.
4. Run Epic Launcher as an Administrator:
Before we dive down into the deep end, there is one more thing you could try to potentially solve your low FPS or compatibility woes. Sometimes, launching an application using Administrator mode can help solve some issues so, doing the same with the Epic Launcher might do the trick for you. If you don’t know how to do that, follow these steps:
1. Go to the Epic Games Launcher folder.
2. Right click the Launcher executable file (EpicGamesLauncher.exe) and click on Properties.
3. Navigate to the Compatibility tab and select Change Settings for all users.
4. Under the privilege level option, select “Run this program as administrator” and apply.
5. Change Graphics Card Settings:
If none of the previous methods work for you, you can try tweaking the graphics card settings for the game. This has helped a lot of people in the past and might just do the trick for you as well. Note that this method is only for NVIDIA Graphics card. Just follow the these steps:
1. Open the NVIDIA Control Panel by right clicking on the desktop.
2. Select the “Manage 3D Settings” tab.
3. Go into the Program settings.
4. Search for Borderlands 3 in the list of games under the “Select a program to customize” menu.
5. Once you’re in, change the Power Management setting to Highest Performance Mode.
6. Change the Multi-Display option to Single Display Performance Mode.
7. Turn on Threaded Optimization.
8. Change Max Pre-Rendered Frames value to 1.
9. Turn off Low Latency Mode.
10. Change the Texture Filtering Quality to Performance Mode.
11. Enable G-Sync if you have a compatible monitor.
6. Change in-game settings for Borderlands 3:
You can also try to change some Borderlands 3 video settings to get the best performance out of the game. Just launch the game, go to the video settings, and apply the following settings for optimal gameplay:
1. Turn off VSync.
2. Set the Resolution Scale to 100%.
3. Change the Field of View to 70 (Vehicle FOV to 75)
4. Turn off Anti Aliasing.
5. Turn off FidelityFX Sharpening, and all types of Motion Blur.
6. Set the Graphics, Material, and Texture Streaming Quality to Medium.
7. Change the Shadows and Draw Distance to Low.
8. Set the Character Texture Detail to Medium with the Character Detail being Low.
9. Turn off Volumetric Fog and Screen Space Reflections.
10. Set the Foliage and Terrain Details to Medium.
7. Remove Secondary Display:
Sometimes, having a dual monitor setup can also affect the performance of a game. There have been reports of a massive drop in FPS once two monitors are being used. So, disconnecting the secondary monitor from your PC by pulling out the HDMI or Display Port cable and restarting PC might do the trick for you.
8. Task Manager Priority:
If all else fails, the last thing you can try is dedicating more resources to the game. In order to do this, follow these steps:
1. Run Borderlands 3.
2. Alt+Tab out of the game and open Task Manager by right clicking taskbar.
3. Go to the Details tab and find Borderlands 3 on the list.
4. Right click Borderlands 3 and Set Priority to High.
If after all of these changes, you’re still having issues with the game, then you might need to wait for an eventual patch from the developer. However, if one of these did fix your game, then voila! Have fun playing Borderlands 3!