Little Nightmares

Little Nightmares

181 ratings
How to Make Little Nightmares Run on Low-Spec PCs.
By Bavuett
Do you have problems running Little Nightmares on your Low-Spec PC?

Read this guide to know how to get the game up and running on your computer!
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Introduction.
Despite not being particularly demanding in terms of specs, Little Nightmares can still have some difficulties running on some low-end computers.

By following this guide, I'll tell you how to make the game run better on PCs that can't handle the game with the default game settings.

These settings made the game run on an Intel HD 5500 at 20-29 FPS at a 1366x768 Resolution.
What do I have to do?
To tell you what we will need to do in a short way, we'll reduce the game's textures quality below the minimum settings while keeping the game playable and decent-looking.

We will achieve this result by editing the game's files. Please follow this steps wisely and check that you're typing the right things before confirming any changes by saving the files.

If any error occurs and the game can't load save files, delete the "Saved" folder inside C:\Program Files(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Little Nightmares\Atlas.

The game will be reset and you should be fine playing it.
Removing Unnecessary Shadows from the Game.
We are going to begin by removing the Unnecessary Shadows from the Game.

Open Steam and head over to your library, then go to Little Nightmares (without launching it) and click the gear icon, go to "Manage", then "Browse Game Files".

Go to Atlas, Saved, Config, then WindowsNoEditor.
You'll find a bunch of files that we'll need to edit. If they are not present, that means that you'll need to open the game at least once (but probably already did it, lol).

Once you have everything set up, your folder should look like this:



Open the "Scalability.ini" file, then paste the following strings inside of it:

[ShadowQuality@0]
r.ShadowQuality=0
r.Shadow.MaxResolution=0
r.Shadow.RadiusThreshold=0.1
r.Shadow.DistanceScale=0.1


Then save the file, but don't close it yet.
Reducing the Game's Textures Quality.
Paste the following line inside the "Scalability.ini" file we were editing before:

r.ScreenPercentage=XX.XXXXX

Replace the Xs with the numbers you want: the default value is 100.00000, on my PC I've set it to 65.00000. Your file should now look like this:



Now save the file and close the window.



This time, we need to do some of the changes we've done on the previous file to another one, the "Engine.ini" file. Open it and paste this string:

[SystemSettings]
r.ScreenPercentage=XX.XXXXX


Replace the Xs with the same values you used on the previous file, then save and close it.
Disabling the Steam Overlay.
This is an easy step, and helps earning 5-10 extra FPS.

Go to your Steam Library, then right click on Little Nightmares. Select "Properties", then click the "Activate Steam Overlay while playing". This change will only affect Little Nightmares and, even if you won't receive any notification while earning an achievement or a friend messages you, you will still get everything.

Conclusion.
Thanks to this guide you should've earned at least 15 FPS. I used to run the game at 5-10 FPS and now can run it at 20-30 FPS without extra apps opened, except Steam.

I hope this had the same effect and helped you run the game smoothly!




40 Comments
BlueEyedDevil Dec 22, 2024 @ 12:56pm 
Thanks, man. You are a lifesaver. At least now I'm getting decent performance. :shantae_relax:
jeremy_knight Oct 30, 2024 @ 4:26pm 
thanks
syoka Sep 19, 2024 @ 4:08am 
thanks
ℑ𝔰𝔪𝔞𝔢𝔩 Jun 9, 2024 @ 11:55am 
nice.
Jacque in di beaux Jul 23, 2023 @ 7:30am 
tnx for the guide m8 :cupup:
Enmu Aug 30, 2022 @ 6:10pm 
i put my r.ScreenPercentage= at 45 and i get 50 fps
bananasplashbro Jun 16, 2022 @ 8:48am 
or have a 3090
Zaladeus Apr 18, 2022 @ 2:19am 
i'm actually incredibly impressed as i can play this game at about 55-60 fps even though using a non gaming pc
Bavuett  [author] Mar 11, 2022 @ 8:23am 
Didn't happen to me so I'm not removing it right now, but I'll be happy to do so if I see similar reports.
MG Mar 9, 2022 @ 3:21pm 
You can keep the r.ScreenPercentage stuff but have to delete the Things about shadows if you dont want your game Crashing whit the Chef.