Metro Exodus Performance Guide [Updated 2022]

It's been a while since someone wrote a good guide about this topic, but it's still relevant and Nvidia has changed up some settings in the meantime. The following steps worked perfectly for me, so they might not be the best for everyone else. I have an AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Six-Core Processor, 32 Gigs of 3200 Mhz RAM and a GTX 1070 and get between 100 and 130 FPS at average. I also use a 144hz G-Sync monitor so maybe some stuff might not work out for you.

As of now I have played through the entire game with most of the steps in this guide and it was pretty playable. The Caspian level reeeaaally tanked my performance, but I suppose that's the case for nearly everybody without some really beefy GPU.

Keep in mind that there are usually no absolute overkill settings that will give you free FPS with no downsides. Stuff like this is always complicated and the intention of this guide is to give a good overview of all relevant measures you can take to improve your performance in Metro Exodus. You WILL have to take your time and you'll definitely have to commit to a bit of trial and error research. That is the ONLY way to optimize your performance. No two PCs are alike. A defect mouse driver could literally impede your performance. There are thousands of little things that can have a positive or a negative performance impact on your games. This guide does not intend to be the ultimate be-all and end-all solution to every performance issue that may arise on your PC. It will never be. But I can guarantee that all steps listed here do have an impact on Metro Exodus in one way or another. Not everything might work for you. But with this guide I provide you the tools to optimize your personal experience with Metro Exodus.

With that out of the way here we go!

Feel free to give me feedback. I really hope this might help out some people, because it really fixed my stuttering problems.

1: The MOST IMPORTANT Step

Go to "C/User/Username/Saved Games/Metro Exodus and go to the final folder where you find the config file "user". In that file search for the line "r_enum_ssaa 10" and change it to "r_enum_ssaa 1". This step is the MOST IMPORTANT ONE. So if none of the other steps help you or might even do worse for you, definitely try out Step 8 above everything else.
Also be sure to set the config file to "read only", because otherwise it will reset when you launch the game next time.

2: Use DirectX 11

Use DX11. DX12 ruins performance for me and introduces heavy stuttering and low FPS. So use DX11, it doesn't look any worse.

3: Try out different V-Sync options

If you wanna use V-Sync disable the ingame V-Sync option and instead use V-Sync from the Nvidia Control Panel. Also enable G-Sync globally (if you have a compatible monitor) and specifically enable it for Metro Exodus. Sometimes the Nvidia Control Panel can behave weird and exclude particular games from the global settings. So go and check that.
Also tinker around with setting a manual FPS cap. V-Sync will increase input lag but it is NEEDED for G-Sync to work as intended. An FPS cap slightly below your monitor's refresh rate can literally HALVE the measured input lag, but it can come with a cost. Every PC is different and unique. For me setting up a manual FPS cap causes stuttering in some games. The input is nice and low but that is not worth the annoying stuttering.

As usual there is no definitive and perfect solution. Maybe leave V-Sync off entirely if you don't mind a bit of screen tearing and have no stuttering problems. There is just too many factors to count in and so each and everyone will have to find his/her optimal combination of V-Sync, G-Sync and FPS cap settings.

4: Set Power Usage to "Maximum Performance"

Set power usage to maximum performance in the Nvidia Control Panel.

5: Low-Latency Mode settings

Set Low-Latency Mode to "On" or "Ultra" in the Nvidia Control Panel. Generally "On" is the best solution, but for some people "Ultra" works better. And for some folks leaving this setting disabled entirely is the best setting. Just try out different settings.

6: Texture Filtering

Set Texture Filtering to "High Performance". This doesn't impair the visuals of the game as far as I can tell.

7: Trilinear Optimization

Enable "Trilinear Optimization" in the Nvidia Control Panel.

8: Threaded Optimization

Set "Threaded Optimization" to "Auto" in the Nvidia Control Panel.

9: Quality presets in the graphics settings

The next thing that I found out is really strange and really curious. I discovered that my overall performance was much smoother when I played with a high quality preset in the ingame graphics settings. The frames would drop to a lower number compared to mid settings when there was much to see on the screen. A good test for that is the Volga level. Climb onto some high vantage point and look into the direction of the train depot. On mid settings my frames would dip down to 90, sometimes even to around 85-89. On high settings the same scene would cause a frame drop down to 80 or sometimes even 75. But overall it was a lot smoother. Mid settings resulted in a higher frame rate overall, but it was more stuttery.
High quality preset = lower frames but more smooth
Mid qualiy preset = higher frames but stuttery

In the end this is probably very specific and might yield completely different results with other PCs, but it's just something I noticed with my setup. Maybe someone else has a similar experience. Also note that the graphics settings revert back to default after resetting the game because we set "user.cfg" to read-only in Step 1.

10: Disabling or enabling Hyperthreading

In my initial research I recommended to disable Hyperthreading (Simultaneous Multi-Threading for AMD). This is no longer a truthful statement. After doing more research I came to the conclusion that Hyperthreading can be just unpredictable and will yield different results for different games. As a rule of thumb you should have it enabled as it speeds your PC up in most scenarios. If you are not sure about a particular game in regards to Hyperthreading there is only one thing you can really do: trial and error. Go look for a performance heavy spot or scenario in a game of your choice, one time with Hyperthreading enabled, the next time with Hyperthreading disabled. Tinkering around with that setting is harmless and it might be a good way to squeeze out some more FPS for certain games or reduce stuttering.
Same goes for Metro Exodus. By now I've read about people who benefitted from disabling Hyperthreading, other people however faced issues when disabling that feature.

So in the end just do some testing to get optimal results. It might take a bit of time but the end result is what really counts.

11: Enabling XMP / DOCP in your BIOS / UEFI

Go to your BIOS/UEFI and make sure that XMP (Intel brand name) / DOCP (AMD brand name) is enabled. This is SUPER important and leaving it disabled could ruin your performance in pretty much every videogame and possibly many other applications.
XMP is a setting hidden in the BIOS which overclocks your RAM in a safe and controlled way. Leaving this disabled basically underclocks your RAM and it will ruin your day. I had to find that out the hard way.

But be DAMN SURE that you have a beefy and capable power supply unit. Overclocking anything requires more voltage for said component. If you overclock your RAM and your PSU is incapable of maintaining the higher power draw it will give you a blackscreen crash every single time you try to boot up your PC. The only fix for that is a manual reset of the CMOS battery on your mainboard. There is plenty of guides for that in the internet. In any case I will take NO RESPONSIBILITY if you mess something up. Inform yourself about your EXACT mainboard and memory, check if your PSU is powerful enough. Then proceed to the BIOS and enable XMP / DOCP, if it isn't enabled in the first place.

12: Enable Resizeable Bar in your BIOS / UEFI

This is an option that is only available for newer highend Nvidia cards. I have a GTX 1070 and while I can enable resizeable bar in my BIOS it is not actually supported for my card.
If you have a GPU of the RTX 30 series however you might wanna take a trip to the BIOS and enable it there. This is literally more FPS for free and many benchmarks can confirm that.
If you are not sure if your GPU supports resizeable bar just try to find your exact GPU model on Google. If you wanna make extra sure go and download GPU-Z. This little and extremely useful tool will tell you everything about your GPU, including it's support of the resizeable bar feature.

[BENNI.RoR]

@PERTYGOPLICHTHY Just don't bother with the Enhanced Edition. Stick to the normal version and run the game in DX11, not DX12.

[PERTYGOPLICHTHY]

Tried every step of this guide and even reinstalled the game along with multiple drivers. I still have persistent stuttering with Metro Remastered. Although the standard game runs beautifully.

Specs:
13700K
4080 Super
32GB DDR4 4000MT/s

[BENNI.RoR]

@Judge Castle I'm glad my guide could help you! Have fun!

[Judge Castle]

Thank you for this guide. I just started playing Exodus and something seemed wrong considering my system should be able to run this easily.

Step one and Step eight are the ones that helped me go from 42 fps to 120 fps, 4k HDR Maxed everything on a 12900k/3090ti setup. Appreciate the assist.

Keep on keeping on.

[Wehzy]

Guys you can select DX11 in options....

[No Punchline]

In the launch options do -dx11

[Yek]

Uhm, how do I change it to DX11?

[Nch]

So how the hell do i select direct 11?

[Antibo]

I have an 7950x3D and nothing helped beside the comment of Thrillhouse!
Thank you!!! With Process Lasso it works!

[Mot'ya]

If you haven't user.cfg in saved games, then find it in main folder