How To Increase Your FPS in TF2

Do you have a weak lil' boy laptop that can't run many games? Do you currently have Team Fortress 2 installed? Can you not run TF2 at more that 24 frames? Well, then THIS is the guide for YOU!!

DirectX 8 or 8.1

The first thing you can try, is changing what DirectX, or DX, level that you're currently using to run TF2. Your DX level is the kind of graphics that you'll get, depending on the number. In this case, DX 8.1 is the lowest you can go on TF2. The only problem: you can't see skins or war paints, along with a few texture errors around the maps.


To set up DX 8.1
Start by right clicking Team Fortress 2 in your Steam library, and open up "properties". Then, you're going to open up "Set Launch Options".





























Once you have that open, you're then going to type in "-dxlevel 81", with the hyphen (-) and all.











Now, go ahead and open Team Fortress 2, and enjoy a bit of a boost to your frames.

If you want to reset the DXlevel, and go back to your default level, open up the Launch Options again, but this time, type "delete-dxlevel 81", followed by "-autoconfig". TYPE THESE ONE AT A TIME.

Console Commands

Now, let's swap over to a few in-game console commands that you can use. To open the console, press the tilda key (` or ~), the key right under the ESC key.

mat_phong 0
We'll start with one that so many people know, and it can improve performance by a good amount, maybe 10 FPS or so. It's "mat_phong 0", which basically optimizes your graphics for performance, whereas "mat_phong 1" goes more for the visuals.


mat_viewportscale #
Another console command is "mat_viewportscale #", which, if you've played some other games with this in the settings, is just the resolution scale. Resolution scale is what the game would look like in other resolutions, going by percentages. So if you were to have your game in 1920x1080p, typing "mat_viewportscale 0.5" would make your game's resolution scale 50% of 1080p. The reason why this increases FPS is because class models and weapon models become more jagged instead of smoothed out, this just makes your game LOOK like a lower resolution, but it's the same one that you put in the settings. I keep mine at 0.25 just so my game will run even better, I can sacrifice not being able to see models from a distance.


Here's a comparison between 1 and 0.25.

Custom Configs

So there are a lot of different configs that you can get, all with varying results. A config is just a set-up file that you can execute while in-game. I'm not gonna show you how to get a config, but once you get one, move it into the "cfg" folder. After you get a config, while in-game, open up the console, and type "exec (name of your config file)"


Configs don't really help me, so I don't use them, but who knows, everyone could have varying results from me.

Custom TF2 Huds

Now, we'll discuss some huds for TF2. Certain huds have the capability to minimize what you get to see on your screen, thus making your game run smoother, but not always by much.

ToonHud
ToonHud is a GREAT source for getting the right hud for you. ToonHud is fully customizable to whatever you choose to include or leave out, whether you want a new font, or transparent viewmodels. MrPaladin's Custom Hud[toonhud.com] is clean, and has tendencies to boost frames. Same thing with rayshud[huds.tf]. Both have magical properties to boost frames, but it's not a big deal, huds are more just for visual appeal, and cleanliness.

Mods

I've never used a "performance-improving" mod, so I can't state an opinion, but I'll say it in case someone wants to try it. I'm also going by what others have said about these mods, NONE OF THESE ARE MY OPINIONS OR OWN EXPERIENCES. Mods go in the same folder as huds do, which if you don't know where huds go, they go in the "custom" folder. There are a few mods that will help dramatically, such as a Light particle remover[gamebanana.com], which removes small particles, like debris from rockets or flame throwers. Another mod that will help is the Hatless[gamebanana.com] mod, which, as the name implies, removes the hats from everyone on the server, which is less on your screen at one time, so your FPS is boosted.

Minor Tweaks

If you're STILL looking for more things to increase your frames, you can always try these few tweaks.

Setting "high priority" for TF2
Go into your launch options, and add in "-high". This will make your computer focus twice as harder on TF2, and TF2 alone, instead of spreading it to multiple programs.

Straight-up lower that res. boyo
Might as well put your game on the lowest resolution that you can. Always help as much as it can.

Try a clean-up program
Some clean-up programs actually do help with cleaning up small amounts of space on your computer, this doesn't overheat your system as much, overheating will cause your computer to slow down, and you won't get those tasty frames. I'd recommend using CCleaner[www.ccleaner.com], I've been using it since early 2017, been helping with my laptop not overheating.

L A S T  R E S O R T

DON'T TRY THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DESPERATE. This is where we're gonna make your game look like half a burnt potato's pornstar cousin who hasn't found a Tinder date in years. In other words, TF2 will become Unturned in a sense. This is a program called Clean TF2[www.teamfortress.tv], and it changes SO MANY things about TF2, sacrificing it's looks for more frames. Every liitle detail changed adds up in the long run, and THIS, THIS MONSTROSITY will get you plenty of frames.

Seriously though. Don't try this unless you're REALLY desperate for frames. All of the other things should have worked, but go ahead if nothing else works.

Ending

Well, that's my guide. I really hope this helps you guys as much as all of this information helped me. If you wanna know my sources, they include LowSpecGamer (Subscribe to him, he's GREAT), and this guide. Not everything I mentioned was from these, but everything else was used from them. Once again, I hope this helps you as much as this helped me.

Subscribe to briankillthemall too.

[Lord Incestimus Pedophilio]

I tried everything and i still have 5 fps

[aeroangel]

i am literally questioning if i need to resort to clean tf2. nothing is getting me an good fps boost,

[LR TEQ Super Vegito]

doesnt work in my lime and pink custom pc

[Ginja Ninja]

K thanks

[venom on my spider, man]

You should be able to go to Launch Options and type "-dxlevel 90" or "-dxlevel 98". If neither works, right click and go to properties, then to "verify integrity of game files". If not even that works, you might have to reinstall.

[Ginja Ninja]

I did the first 1 and now my game has some different colors and when I press the window key then go back in the screen is black for 30 seconds. Is that supposed to happen and how to I fix.

[Tunai]

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paste this on 1 other guide and you'll have a good day
paste on 2 you won't catch a cold for 3 days
paste on 5 you will have 1 logical wish come true
paste on 7 and you will have a good life
BONUS credit me for any and you'll find or get a speical surprise!!!
don't credit ⚡robotsnivy⚡ and you wil have 15 years of bad luck btw credits to ⚡robotsnivy⚡ for this
<by jame

[Hogehag]

where do i put the less particles mod in?

[fizzy]

lowspecarmy d00d

[venom on my spider, man]

Maybe type in 80 instead of 81.