The First Descendant is quite heavy on PC hardware, so players struggle to run the game smoothly. There are FPS drops, crashes, and errors, but some are easily fixed with a few steps. However, some problems stem from optimization issues, so some might get fixed externally. Nevertheless, here are a few steps you can take to increase your FPS and improve performance in the First Descendant.
How to Improve FPS in The First Descendant
Disable Instant Replay on Nvidia’s GeForce Experience
You can ignore this tip if you don’t have Nvidia’s GeForce Experience installed or activated. When I started playing The First Descendant, I was experiencing frequent FPS drops. Lowering the settings helped, but the main issue that helped me reduce the FPS drops was turning off Nvidia’s GeForce Experience Instant Replay feature.
The Instant Replay allows you to record videos while you are playing the game, and if it is on, you can capture the last 5 or 10 minutes of your playthrough with a press of a button. However, the FPS drops weren’t worth it, and it surprisingly helped increase FPS once it was turned off.
Lower Graphic Settings
Users with less VRAM or a weaker GPU might experience FPS drops because of the high graphic settings. Lowering these graphics to at least low or medium should do the trick. You can always check your GPU with external apps, but you can also open the Task Manager and look for the GPU category under processes. If you are hitting 80-90% GPU usage, you will need to lower the graphics to put less pressure on your GPU.
Close Other Applications to Improve Memory
With the Task Manager and The First Descendant open, you can look at the Task Manager’s memory usage and see if you are hovering over 90% memory usage. You can close other applications that use up memory so you can avoid FPS drops. If your memory usage goes over 100%, you might even experience game or PC crashes.
Close all unnecessary applications, especially ones that also work the GPU, like playing a video in the background.
Move Your Installed The First Descendant Folder to an SSD
To improve the reading speed of the game, you can put your The First Descendant install folder in your Solid-State Drive. This will increase the speed of your loading screens and the speed of setting up those shaders and assets in the game. If you load them quicker, the more you can increase your FPS.
Lower Resolution Settings
If the other methods did not work, you can always switch to a Windowed mode under the Display Mode and lower the resolution. The game will feel weirder because you are lowering the size of the screen, but this should be a last-ditch effort to improve your FPS. It is a trade-off between playing with a lower FPS or a smoother gameplay experience on a smaller screen. You can always upgrade a few pieces of hardware if the worst comes to worst.
There are many problems that can cause these FPS drops, but you also have to differentiate one problem from another. If you are using a controller with a third-party application, you might experience a different problem. If you are getting some DirectX12 Error, you should look at this guide instead.
