CONFIG FILE TWEAKS / OPTIMIZATION / MODS

[mr pottuh]

PC users,

Hoping to give you guys some graphics customization and performance tips for Hogwarts Legacy.

* This game is RAM (32gb recommended) and CPU intensive. Use the HLOD tweak below to help resolve choppyness during gameplay. If you're using an upscaler, like DLSS, and it's not giving you any performance gains, this may mean your GPU isn't what's holding back more FPS and could be related to a CPU bottleneck or poor game optimization.

* No, you haven't completely lost your mind, the game does in fact suffer from a lack of developer-side optimization. The performance tips below are hopefully temporary until updates roll out in the future.

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Config File Tweaks

* Go to C:\Users\PCNAME\AppData\Local\Hogwarts Legacy\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor (you will need make sure your Windows settings allow viewing of hidden files) and open the Engine.ini file.

* Once the file is opened, scroll to the bottom and add the following:


[/script/engine.renderersettings]
r.DepthOfField= (0 = off, 1 = on)
r.DefaultFeature.LensFlare= (0 = off, 1 = on)
r.DefaultFeature.MotionBlur= (0 = off, 1 = on)
r.BloomQuality= (0 = off, 1-5 quality levels, 5 is default in the game, please note that this will reduce visibility of the stars in the Astrology puzzles)
r.DisableDistortion= (0 = off, 1 = on, this is the 'heat ripples' above fire, also applies to some spells)
r.VolumetricFog= (0 = off, 1 = on, distant fog over mountains, towns, and the school)
r.Fog= (0 = off, 1 = on, up close fog that can really haze over your image)
r.Reflections.Denoiser=50 (0-100, this provides higher clarity reflections with no impact to performance, 100 is too sharp, 50 is tested and recommended)
r.Streaming.HLODStrategy=0 (leave at 0, this is a setting I have personally found that Repairo'd stuttering issues and created a much smoother experience with no loss in visual fidelity, even at lower frame rates)


* Recommended to keep DepthOfField on if VolumetricFog or Fog are turned off as it softens the sharp textures in the distance.

* The DepthOfField setting listed above is more of a view distance DOF. The setting in the game is for the conversation DOF. Two different settings from what I’ve found. Disabling in-game will not disable the world DOF listed above.

* It's recommended to save a copy of your most recent/updated Engine.ini file to your desktop in case this file is overwritten in future updates. By forcing Read Only on this file, it may restrict new update features and changes.

* If you’d like to see the full list of Engini.ini tweaks available for the game (I brought over the basics), head here: https://pastebin.com/1jT29r47

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Optimization Tips

* Population Quality is the highest taxing setting in the game, put this to Low. You will notice no real difference in NPC quality.

* View Distance is the next most taxing setting. I'd recommend putting this to Medium as Low creates too close of pop-in and High eats another 15+ FPS from Medium, especially when flying around.

* Players report that dropping Texture Quality from Ultra down to Low has no real visual difference and helps resolve stuttering issues. This will lower your anisotropy though, you may want to force x16 in your GPU control panel.

* Due to reports of high RAM usage from players and forced Windowed Fullscreen mode (your computer treats it like any other basic application instead of Exclusive Fullscreen where it knows to allocate resources to a dedicated program), it is recommended to close as many, if not all, background applications you have running. Internet browsers, Spotify/iTunes, things like that. You should notice a smoother experience.

* There are reports that disabling CFG through Windows on DX12 games can resolve stuttering problems. I have personally tried this and I did notice a smoother experience:

1. In the Windows Search Bar, search and open Exploit Protection.
2. Click on the Program Settings tab.
3. Click on the + Add Programs to customize.
4. Click on Choose Exact File Path.
5. Find the file path executable of Hogwarts Legacy.
6. Programs settings for the game will open, scroll down to Control Flow Guard (CFG).
7. Put a check mark in Override System Settings and turn from On to Off and Apply.
8. Restart your rig and run the game.

* If you're a NVIDIA user, go to your Nvidia Control Panel and raise your Shader Cache Limit to 10+ GB. Make room for it in the same drive that your game is installed on if needed. This creates a smoother experience and may give you back some FPS gains.

* Note that with the newest NVIDIA driver update, despite a swarm of different opinions on it, yes, it did offer support for Hogwarts Legacy. You can now use the screen filter options in the Nvidia ShadowPlay bar by pressing Alt + Z. This gives you contrast/color/sharpening options and much more.

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Recommended Mods

Dot Reticle
This mod is fairly simple to download and changes your aiming dot reticle to a, well, an actual reticle. It will reduce the huge size of the spiraling circle that is the current reticle and replace it with a cleaner dot look.

Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/hogwartslegacy/mods/46

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HUD Toggle
A simple mod that allows you to keybind the on/off of full HUD features. Great for immersive play and taking screenshots/videos.

Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/hogwartslegacy/mods/137

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MiniMap Clarity
This mod clears up the visual fidelity of the MiniMap, making the map layout shown and the icons much clearer.

Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/hogwartslegacy/mods/155

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Infinite Broom Boost
Infinite yellow juice for your broom's boost meter (me likey).

Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/hogwartslegacy/mods/224

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Deek Silencio
Apply duct tape over Deek's mouth while you're in the Room of Requirement.

Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/hogwartslegacy/mods/398

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Room of Requirement Music Change
Replace the default Room of Requirement music with the Harry Potter theme song, the one with the cool sounding Christmas bells and theme.

Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/hogwartslegacy/mods/227

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I'll be adding/editing this list as time goes on. Hope you guys enjoy some of those config file edits, it really helped me once that weird layer of foggy film was removed from the game.

If some of these tweaks/tips worked for you, please comment with your results so we can keep this thread active and at the top of the Discussions page to help others.

[mr pottuh]

Originally posted by Keren:

Thanks, this help me a lot. A play on low but the game run better and looks just better. More bright

Glad it helped! More tweaks to come.

[Legolose]

Its sad that we have to do this but thanks for the info hopefully it will help..

[brocx]

What however remains somewhat infuriating is the fact that even with all this, I still cannot paly with RT on...

Now, if it was beyond reach of my hardware, I'd just accept it, thing is, it's blatantly obvious the game is capable of running, it just... refuses to. With RT on I always play for a minute perfectly fine and then it goes into an absolute stutter fest. Gotta go to menu, hang there for ten seconds, it fixes itself, then goes back to hell after a minute or so of playing.

Which is of course basically unplayable. But the reflections ARE SO PRETTY, jesus christ. Got any tweaks for that yet =P?

[mr pottuh]

Originally posted by Legolose:

Its sad that we have to do this but thanks for the info hopefully it will help..

On a family friendly game like this, developers usually group together multiple graphic settings into one as they don’t expect the age group this is targeted for to be too picky on what they want on and off. For example, the Post Processing setting probably has a good 6-8 individual settings you’re changing.

For the rest of us oldheads and picky PC gamers, we like to fine tune our experience and are forced to bypass the defaults. I’m just thankful config file edits are a thing.

[mr pottuh]

Originally posted by brocx:

What however remains somewhat infuriating is the fact that even with all this, I still cannot paly with RT on...

Now, if it was beyond reach of my hardware, I'd just accept it, thing is, it's blatantly obvious the game is capable of running, it just... refuses to. With RT on I always play for a minute perfectly fine and then it goes into an absolute stutter fest. Gotta go to menu, hang there for ten seconds, it fixes itself, then goes back to hell after a minute or so of playing.

Which is of course basically unplayable. But the reflections ARE SO PRETTY, jesus christ. Got any tweaks for that yet =P?

I can’t think of a game that has a well optimized RT feature. You’re signing a deal with the devil - want insane visuals? No problem, give Satan 60 FPS. In my personal opinion, RT is way before it’s time.

I may add some DLSS downloadable file links to this. Players have reported the game uses a 2.0 version when you can override this with newer 2.5 or 2.6 versions.

[Aris]

* Players report that dropping Texture Quality from Ultra down to Low has no real visual difference and helps resolve stuttering issues.

One thing I've noticed is that lowering texture quality also lowers anisotropic filtering. At low, I'd say it sets it at something like 4x (it doesn't look like it's dissabled). You can fix this by forcing AF 16x in the GPU control panel.

[󠀡󠀡]

Thanks, feels like it made a big difference to FPS.

[SK-HYJINX]

Originally posted by TimmyP:

Originally posted by a4luthers:

You can also clean up the image quality alot by enable DLDSR in Nvidia Control panel.

How can you use DLDSR if you cant set the resolution? Are you changing it at desktop?

Yes, via Desktop, 2880x1620p / 2560x1440p for 1080p panel users, DLDSR also keeps your refresh rate if you uselect 2560x1440p you can use your native refresh rate eG 120hz.
Game will pickup whatever desktop res you set, and use that, combine with DLAA or DLSS in game.

[TimmyP]

Thanks. Im 1440p and dont think Ill be using DLDSR with this, was just curious.

[Skylers Meth]

Game 'benchmark' can set the gfx options to ULTRA, yet the game stutters constantly on some systems..i've seen the difference first hand.

[brocx]

Originally posted by mr pottuh:

Originally posted by brocx:

What however remains somewhat infuriating is the fact that even with all this, I still cannot paly with RT on...

Now, if it was beyond reach of my hardware, I'd just accept it, thing is, it's blatantly obvious the game is capable of running, it just... refuses to. With RT on I always play for a minute perfectly fine and then it goes into an absolute stutter fest. Gotta go to menu, hang there for ten seconds, it fixes itself, then goes back to hell after a minute or so of playing.

Which is of course basically unplayable. But the reflections ARE SO PRETTY, jesus christ. Got any tweaks for that yet =P?

I can’t think of a game that has a well optimized RT feature. You’re signing a deal with the devil - want insane visuals? No problem, give Satan 60 FPS. In my personal opinion, RT is way before it’s time.

I may add some DLSS downloadable file links to this. Players have reported the game uses a 2.0 version when you can override this with newer 2.5 or 2.6 versions.

Ah yeah, that's true, I updated mine manually earlier. Could be placebo but I would say I noticed a certain degree of improvement upon doing so.

Everything runs fine now, except... cutscenes still appear to break the fps, and sadly not only during the cutscene itself, but also after =/. Which can be particularly annoying in situations like the duelling club, where there is always a cutscene before a fight... which then proceeds to take place at 10 fps.

Maybe I should just put this one down until they bother to fix it, really. Sadge.

[Omagouille]

Disabeling the volumetric fog made the aquarium part of slytherin generate black pulsating lights on the top part of them. i don't know what to think of this

[mr pottuh]

Originally posted by Omagouille:

Disabeling the volumetric fog made the aquarium part of slytherin generate black pulsating lights on the top part of them. i don't know what to think of this

Interesting. Any photos/videos to share on this?

[Blackdragon]

Zero value post, you can adjust all of that in the game settings.

[mr pottuh]

Originally posted by Blackdragon:

Zero value post, you can adjust all of that in the game settings.

You can not fully turn off Bloom, Volumetric Fog, Distortion, LensFlare, or world DOF in the in-game settings.

Appreciate the feedback, though.