How can I improve performance on The Outer Worlds 2?

If you're experiencing performance issues with The Outer Worlds 2, please try the following things:

1. Verify Your PC Specs

First, let's verify your system meets the game's minimum requirements. If your hardware falls below these standards, you may experience sluggish performance or more severe issues while playing.

The Outer Worlds 2 System Requirements

If your hardware meets or exceeds our system requirements, let's continue to the next suggestions.

2. Update Your Graphics Drivers

If your system meets the game’s minimum requirements, we recommend updating your graphics card drivers to the latest version.

If you’re still experiencing issues that may be graphics-related, try updating your drivers again, this time using the “clean install” option (if available, depending on the manufacturer). This ensures old driver files are removed, preventing potential conflicts.

Finally, restart your PC after installing new drivers before starting the game again.

3. Close Video and Memory Hungry Applications

If you're running any other applications, including and especially any browser windows full of open tabs (we've all been there!), closing these applications can help to free up RAM and CPU headroom.

4. In-Game Settings That Can Help

Try the following, in order, stopping once performance feels better:

• Run the game in Fullscreen mode (not windowed fullscreen) and lower your display resolution. The less pixels your GPU has to draw, the faster it can run
• If you have a ray-tracing capable GPU, try turning Hardware Ray Tracing off - it can be very demanding and can improve performance notably after disabling
• Adjust overall graphics quality down (for example, Very High → High → Medium) until smoother
• Consider enabling V-Sync to reduce screen tearing and input lag
• Use the game's upscaling/quality modes (if available) and select Performance or Ultra Performance rather than image quality
• Set Motion Blur to zero
• Set Field of View to 90

5. PC-Specific Tips

Some PC-specific tips that may help improve performance:

• If you have multiple drives in your computer, ensure you've installed The Outer Worlds 2 to the fastest drive you have. You can use tools such as CrystalDiskMark to test performance to determine the fastest drive.
• If you notice hitching, but otherwise have decent performance, be sure to close memory-hungry applications like browsers with many tabs open.
• Make sure there is plenty of free disk space on the drive where the game is installed.