Setting sail in the popular pirate adventure game, Sea of Thieves, requires more than just a sturdy ship and a trusty crew. To truly enjoy the breathtaking graphics and immersive gameplay, you need to ensure your PC settings are optimized for the best possible performance.
In the following guide, we delve into how you can boost FPS in Sea of Thieves, providing a smooth, uninterrupted gaming experience. We’ll help you navigate through both Windows and in-game optimizations to get the most out of your system and the game.
Windows Optimization
One of the key components to enhance your Sea of Thieves experience is optimizing your Windows settings. Start your journey by activating the Game Mode. This feature has been substantially improved over the years, focusing your system resources on the game, providing a significant boost in performance.
As for the Xbox Game Bar, it might seem counterintuitive, but it’s best to keep it deactivated. Despite its potential usefulness, it’s been known to cause occasional stuttering and crashing in some games. In the same vein, disable the background recording and recorded audio in the capture settings to prevent any potential performance hindrances.
Next, enable the hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling if your Nvidia card is from the 1000 series or more recent. This feature can help alleviate bottlenecks, leading to less stuttering and a subtle boost in performance. Be sure to have the latest drivers installed for your GPU, regardless if you’re using AMD, Nvidia, or even Intel.
A relatively new feature from both Nvidia and AMD, image scaling, can be utilized to boost FPS in Sea of Thieves. Nvidia’s NIS and AMD’s Super Resolution allow you to play at a lower resolution while the software scales it back up to your monitor’s native resolution. This process can provide a significant FPS boost with minimal impact on the image quality.
Another crucial aspect of Windows optimization is the energy profile. Ensure you’re using a performance-oriented profile, such as Balanced or High Performance. This adjustment is particularly important if you’re gaming on a laptop, where energy settings can vary depending on whether you’re plugged in or running on battery.
Lastly, consider using the Intelligent Standby List Cleaner. This software is incredibly useful, especially for systems with lower amounts of RAM. It frees up memory and optimizes your standby list, potentially reducing stuttering and improving overall performance.
Sea of Thieves In-Game Settings
Once you’ve made sure Windows is appropriately optimized, it’s time to tweak the in-game settings of Sea of Thieves for that optimal performance. Begin by setting the game’s resolution to match your monitor’s native resolution. For the display mode, Full Screen is the way to go, as it offers the best performance.
Vsync and Frame Lock should be configured based on your monitor’s capabilities. If your monitor supports Freesync or G-Sync, keep Vsync off. However, if screen tearing bothers you and your monitor doesn’t support adaptive sync technologies, turning on Vsync could be beneficial, though be aware it might add some input lag.
The game’s Performance Counter is a useful tool to monitor FPS and Ping. It provides valuable feedback on whether performance issues are due to network latency or FPS drops. For the resolution scale, it’s best to keep it at 100, avoiding any unnecessary scaling.
Adjusting the field of view (FOV) can also contribute to better performance. A lower FOV means less on-screen objects to render, hence better performance. However, remember that a lower FOV might limit your peripheral vision in the game, so adjust this setting with care.
Graphical details
Shadow detail is one of the most impactful settings on your game’s performance. By setting shadows to “cursed,” the lowest setting, you can significantly boost FPS in Sea of Thieves, potentially gaining up to 22% performance increase.
Model detail is a more balanced parameter. By setting it to “rare,” which is equivalent to a medium setting in most games, you’ll get a good balance between decent image quality and satisfactory FPS.
Texture detail depends on your GPU’s VRAM capacity. For most modern GPUs with 4GB or more VRAM, “mythical” would work just fine. For GPUs with 2GB VRAM, “rare” is recommended, while for those with less than 2GB, “cursed” would be the safest bet.
The water detail in Sea of Thieves is a real treat for the eyes, and it’s quite tempting to crank it up to the max. However, for the sake of better performance, start with “common.” If your performance is still up to par, feel free to increase this setting, but remember not to go too low as it can significantly detract from the game’s visual charm.
Lighting detail and particle effect quality and resolution are also crucial for performance. Setting these to “cursed” can lead to a noticeable boost in FPS without significantly impacting image quality.
Animation quality depends on your CPU. For modern quad-core or higher CPUs, “rare” should be the perfect fit. For older or less powerful CPUs, consider “cursed” to ensure smoother gameplay.
Lastly, for an optimized Sea of Thieves experience, it’s recommended to disable blur, screen shake, and rat effects. These settings can hinder visibility and cause minor performance issues, especially on older systems or integrated GPUs.