What is the most impactful setting for performance in Metro Exodus?

For users with NVIDIA RTX cards, DLSS is a crucial setting that can significantly boost frame rates with minimal visual impact. Generally, adjusting the overall 'Quality' preset and disabling demanding features like HairWorks and Ray Tracing (if not using DLSS or a high-end card) will have a major impact.

Should I use DirectX 11 or DirectX 12 for Metro Exodus?

If you have an RTX card or a newer AMD GPU, DirectX 12 is generally recommended and is required for Ray Tracing and DLSS. For older GPUs (NVIDIA 900 series and below), DirectX 11 might offer better performance. It's advisable to test both.

How can I improve FPS without significantly degrading visuals?

Consider lowering Texture Filtering to AF 4x (minimal visual impact), setting Motion Blur to Low or Off, and disabling HairWorks. If you have an RTX card, enable DLSS on a 'Quality' or 'Performance' setting. Also, optimize NVIDIA Control Panel settings for maximum performance.

What are the key differences in settings for Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition?

The Enhanced Edition is specifically designed around hardware-accelerated ray tracing, making it a core visual feature. DLSS remains vital for performance. It also introduces a 'normal' ray tracing setting suitable for lower-end RTX cards.

Can I disable motion blur completely in Metro Exodus?

Yes, while the in-game options only allow 'Low', 'Medium', or 'High', you can completely disable motion blur by editing the `user.cfg` file and setting `r_game_mblur_scale` to '0'.

Main Content

Introduction to Metro Exodus PC Settings

Metro Exodus is known for its demanding graphics, requiring careful optimization to achieve a smooth gameplay experience on PC. This guide compiles information from various sources to help players fine-tune their settings for the best balance of visual fidelity and performance.

Understanding In-Game Graphics Settings

Metro Exodus offers several graphics settings that impact performance and visual quality. Here's a breakdown of key options:

Quality: This is a comprehensive setting that affects multiple advanced options, including texture resolution and shadow quality. It ranges from Low to Extreme, with Extreme being very demanding and suited for future GPUs. Enabling RTX effects requires the Quality setting to be at Medium or above.

Texture Filtering: Options are typically AF 4x and AF 16x. Reducing this to 4x usually has no significant effect on performance or visual quality in most games, including Metro Exodus.

Motion Blur: Controls the quality of motion blur (Low, Medium, High). It has very little impact on performance and can be completely disabled via the config file if preferred.

Tessellation: Enhances surface detail. Turning it off can improve performance, especially on lower-end systems.

Advanced PhysX: Enables more realistic physics effects. Can be demanding; turning it off can boost performance.

HairWorks: Increases the quality of fur and hair on certain creatures. Disabling it can lead to a 10-13% performance increase.

Ray Tracing: Available for Nvidia RTX cards, this enables ray-traced global illumination. It significantly impacts performance, with a 30-35% drop when enabled. The visual difference between 'high' and 'ultra' ray tracing is relatively small.

DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling): Also for Nvidia RTX cards, DLSS uses AI to upscale lower-resolution images, boosting performance with minimal visual loss. It's highly recommended for RTX users to achieve higher frame rates. The 'performance' mode offers a significant boost, while 'ultra performance' mode might muddy visuals at 1080p.

Shading Rate: Determines the number of shaders run per pixel. 100% is the normal 1:1 ratio. Lowering it can increase performance.

Recommended In-Game Settings for Performance and Visuals

Here are some general recommendations based on different performance targets and hardware:

For Smooth Performance (e.g., 60 FPS at 1080p):

* Quality: Medium or High. Some users reported smoother overall performance with a high-quality preset, even if raw FPS numbers were slightly lower than on medium settings in certain scenes. * Texture Filtering: AF 4x. * Motion Blur: Low or Off (via config file). * Tessellation: Full or Off, depending on your GPU's capabilities. * Advanced PhysX: On or Off, depending on your system. * HairWorks: Off. * Ray Tracing: Off, unless you have a high-end RTX card and are willing to sacrifice some frames. * DLSS: On (if you have an RTX card). Use 'Performance' or 'Quality' mode. * Shading Rate: 100%. Lower to 50% for low quality settings.

High Quality (1440p 60fps): Requires at least an NVIDIA GTX 1080 Ti / RTX 2070 or AMD RX Vega 64 with 16GB RAM and an Intel Core i7-8700K.

* Quality: High. * Texture Filtering: AF 16x. * HairWorks: On (if desired and performance allows).

Extreme Quality (4K 60fps): Demands a beastly system like an Intel Core i9-9900K, 16GB RAM, and an NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti.

NVIDIA Control Panel Optimizations

For NVIDIA GPU users, additional performance gains can be found by adjusting settings in the NVIDIA Control Panel:

1. Open the NVIDIA Control Panel and go to 'Manage 3D Settings'. 2. Select the 'Program Settings' tab and find 'Metro: Exodus'. If not listed, add it manually. 3. Set Maximum pre-rendered frames to 1. 4. Set Monitor Technology to G-SYNC (if applicable). 5. Set Multi-Display/Mixed GPU Acceleration to 'Single display performance mode'. 6. Set Power Management Mode to 'Prefer maximum performance'. 7. Set Texture filtering – Quality to 'Performance' or 'High Performance'. This reportedly does not significantly impair visuals. 8. Disable Vertical Sync (unless using G-Sync, where V-Sync is needed for G-Sync to work as intended, potentially with an FPS cap slightly below refresh rate). 9. Enable Threaded Optimization (set to 'Auto' in newer guides). 10. Set Preferred Refresh Rate to 'Highest available'. 11. Enable Trilinear Optimization. 12. Set Low-Latency Mode to 'On' or 'Ultra' and test what works best for your system. 13. In 'Adjust desktop size and position', check 'Override the scaling mode set by games and programs'.

Advanced Configuration File (user.cfg) Tweaks

The user.cfg file allows for adjustments beyond the in-game options. It's located in C:\users\"your name"\metro exodus\1236173686(bunch of random numbers) or C:\Users\"your name"\Saved Games\metro exodus\"some number". Important: Make a backup of user.cfg before making changes. Do not access the in-game settings menu after editing and saving user.cfg, as it may overwrite your changes.

FOV (Field of View): Look for r_base_fov. Default is 60. Increasing it provides a wider view but can impact frame rate and cause visual glitches if set too high.

Motion Blur: Look for r_game_mblur_scale. The in-game options are 1 (low), 2 (medium), and 3 (high). You can set it to 0 to completely remove motion blur.

Plant Shadows: These are demanding. Change r_foliage_shadows_enabled to '0' from its default '1' for more FPS with minimal visual loss.

Fullscreen/Borderless Windowed: To play in windowed mode, set r_fullscreen to 'off'. For borderless fullscreen, set r_fullscreen to 'off' and potentially use a third-party tool like "Borderless Gaming". Alternatively, some guides suggest setting r_fullscreen to 'off' and adjusting r_res_hor and r_res_vert to your desired window size.

Skip Intro: To bypass the legal info and game credits, you can find a setting in the user.cfg (though the exact parameter isn't explicitly named in the search results, it's mentioned as a possible tweak).

DirectX Version Selection

Metro Exodus supports both DirectX 11 and DirectX 12. The optimal choice depends on your GPU:

DirectX 12: Generally recommended for RTX cards and newer AMD cards, as it can run smoother. It is also required for Ray Tracing and DLSS features.

DirectX 11: May be better for older GPUs (e.g., NVIDIA 900 series and lower). It's advised to test both to see which performs better on your specific system.

Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition Specifics

The Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition, released in 2021, is built around hardware-accelerated ray tracing and requires a compatible graphics card.

Ray Tracing: The Enhanced Edition's ray tracing implementation is performant even on lower-end ray tracing GPUs. The 'normal' ray tracing setting is a good option for RTX 20 series cards, rendering lighting effects at a lower resolution for better performance.

DLSS: Remains a critical setting for NVIDIA RTX users in the Enhanced Edition to gain significant frame rate improvements. Even the 'quality' DLSS setting provides higher frame rates than the original game's DLSS 1.0, and 'performance' mode offers a huge boost without heavily impacting fidelity.

Overall Quality Settings: The Enhanced Edition has five quality options: Low, Medium, High, Ultra, and Extreme. Recommended specs for Low and Medium settings suggest an RTX 2060 at minimum, and RTX 2070/3060 or RX 6700XT for recommended.

General Performance Enhancement Tips

Antivirus and Firewall: Ensure your antivirus and Windows Defender are not conflicting with the game. Add Metro Exodus to your exceptions.

GeForce Experience Overlay/Highlights: Disable these features if you have an NVIDIA card, as they can cause issues.

V-Sync and G-Sync: If using G-Sync, V-Sync is needed, but an FPS cap slightly below your monitor's refresh rate can reduce input lag. Experiment with V-Sync off if screen tearing isn't an issue.

Hyperthreading: Experiment with disabling or enabling hyperthreading in your BIOS/UEFI.

XMP / DOCP: Enable XMP / DOCP in your BIOS / UEFI for optimal RAM performance.

Resizable Bar: Enable Resizeable Bar in your BIOS / UEFI if your system supports it.

Third-Party Optimization Tools

Tools like "Low Specs Experience" can help optimize Metro Exodus (both the 2019 Standard Edition and the 2021 Enhanced Edition) for maximum FPS, fix lag, reduce stutters, and improve overall performance, especially on lower-end PCs. These tools offer various optimization presets that users can experiment with.

Metro Exodus: Comprehensive PC Performance and Graphics Settings Guide

Quick Summary