DayZ - How to Increase FPS & Performance

DayZ is a survival open-world video game. In the early years of the game, the optimization was terrible. In DayZ, although there has been no optimization problem lately, some players experience low FPS, stuttering, fps drop, spikes, freezing, lagging, or high ping issues. So I created the guide to boost your performance in DayZ.

There are 18 ways to improve your performance in DayZ.

System Requirements for Running DayZ

	Minimum System Requirements	Recommended System Requirements
CPU	Intel Core i5-4430	Intel Core i5-6600K or AMD R5 1600X
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 or AMD R9 270X	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD RX 580
DirectX	DirectX 11	DirectX 11
RAM	8 GB RAM	12 GB RAM
Storage	16 GB available space	25 GB available space
OS	Windows 7/8.1 64-bit	Windows 10 64-bit

1) Best Graphics Settings for DayZ

You can skip this step if you don’t want to change graphics settings. These High Performance graphics settings are for PCs which close to the minimum system requirements.

If you have a good PC, you can increase the settings slightly.

Go to in-game graphics options and make sure the settings are as follows.

Options > Video

	High Performance	Performance
Quality	Custom	Custom
Display Mode	Fullscreen	Fullscreen
V-Sync	Disabled	Disabled
Object Detail	Poor	High or Medium
Terrain Detail	Poor	Medium
Texture Detail	Poor	High or Medium
Shadow Detail	Poor	Low
Texture Filtering	Low	Low
Terrain Surface Detail	Low	Medium
Postprocess Antialiasing	Low	Low
Hardware Antialiasing	Disabled	Low
Foliage Smoothing	Disabled	Disabled
Ambient Occlusion	Disabled	Medium
Postprocess Quality	Low	Medium

Apply changes and exit the game.

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2) Steam Launch Options

• Go to the list of games in the Steam library.
• Right-click the DayZ and click the Properties.
• Click the Set Launch Options in the General tab.
• Type or paste the following commands into the box in the incoming window.

-USEALLAVAILABLECORES -high -nosplash -noPause

If you want more FPS, you can add two more parameters.

-cpuCount=4 and -exThreads=8

You can add these two codes, but the numbers vary depending on your CPU. Go to the task manager (CTRL+ALT+DELETE) to find out which numbers to enter. In the Performance tab, select CPU.
The cores value is your cpuCount number.
Logical processors value is your exThreads number.

According to the information here, my code was:

-USEALLAVAILABLECORES -high -nosplash -noPause -cpuCount=4 -exThreads=8

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3) Update Your Graphics Drivers

It would be best if you kept your computer’s graphics drivers updated.

People who have an NVIDIA graphics card can download and install their new drivers here.

People who have an AMD graphics card can download and install their new drivers here.

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4) NVIDIA Control Panel Settings

• Open NVIDIA Control Panel
• Go to the Adjust image settings with preview tab.
• Click the “Use my preference emphasizing“ (If you have a mid&high end pc, Let the 3D application decide)
• Put the bar in Performance mode.
• Apply

• Click the Manage 3D settings
• Click the Program Settings
• Click the Add
• Select the DayZ from the list, then click on the “Add Selected Program” button.
• After, make the following settings
  Power management mode: Prefer maximum performance
  Vertical sync: Off
  Virtual Reality pre-rendered frames: 1
• If you have a notebook, make sure you have selected the “High-performance NVIDIA processor” on preferred graphics processor.

• Apply and close the NVIDIA Control Panel.

The effect of the “Power management mode” setting differs between GPUs. If these settings made your FPS worse, just set the “Power management mode” to “Optimal power“. After that, it will increase. You can test it.

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5) AMD Radeon Settings

• Open the AMD Radeon Settings window.
• Click on the Gaming tab.
• Then click on Global Settings.
• Go to the Anti-aliasing mode, choose Override application settings.
• Click on the Anti-aliasing level, so make sure you have selected the 2X
• Go to the Anisotropic Filtering Mode and turn it on.
• Then, click on the Anisotropic Filtering Level, so make sure you have selected the 2X.
• Click on the Texture Filtering Quality and select the Performance.
• Now, click on the Wait for Vertical Refresh and select the Always off.
• Click on the Tessellation Mode and select the Override application settings.
• Finally, click on the Maximum Tessellation Level and select the 32x or lower.

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6) Intelligent Standby List Cleaner

The “Intelligent standby list cleaner” application will monitor and clear the memory standby list when it is > 1000mb (1gb). It will help players to fix stutters in games.

• Download the Intelligent standby list cleaner
• Run the 7-zip file.
• Extract to a folder.
• Go to the that folder.
• Run the “Intelligent standby list cleaner ISLC” application.
• Check the “Start ISLC minimized and auto-Start monitoring”
• Also, check the “Launch ISLC on user logon”
• Now, click on the Start button
• Minimize

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7) Full-screen Optimizations & High DPI in Windows 10

• Go to the folder where the game is installed.
  (Steam Library > Right-click on DayZ > Properties > LOCAL FILES > BROWSE LOCAL FILES)
• Right-click on DayZ_x64.exe
• Hit the Properties
• Tick “Disable full-screen optimizations” on the Compatibility tab.
• After that, click on the “Change high DPI settings” button.
• Under the “High DPI scaling override” section, tick the “Override high DPI scaling behavior“
• Use the “Scaling performed by:” drop-down menu and select the “Application”
• Click on the OK and again OK.

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8) Power Options

If the CPU cooler is not enough, you can skip this setting. Processor temperature may increase by 5-6 degrees.

• Right-click the Windows icon on the bottom left.
• Click the Power Options
• Click the Additional power settings
• Select the High performance on the Preferred plans tab.
• After, click the Change plan settings link next to High performance.
• Tap on the Change advanced power settings
• Find Processor power management in the incoming list, click the + icon on the left side.
• Set Minimum processor state and Maximum processor state to 100%
• Click on the OK

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9) Game Mode

• To turn off Windows 10 game mode, click the Start icon to bring up the Start menu. Then open the Settings.
• Click the Gaming
• On the Game Bar tab, set the “Record game clips, screenshots and broadcast using Game bar” to Off.
• On the Captures tab, set the “Record in the background while I’m playing a game” to Off.
• On the Game Mode tab, set the “Game Mode” to Off.

If you are using an older version of Windows 10, you may not see the Game Mode settings. In this case, you can configure the settings directly in the Registry.

• Press the Windows logo key and R key simultaneously on your keyboard.
• Type regedit
• Press the Enter key.
• The Registry Editor will open. In the left panel, Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\GameBar
• Right-click inside the panel and select New
• Click on the DWORD (32-bit) Value

• Rename the New Key to AllowAutoGameMode
• Right-click on the AllowAutoGameMode
• Select the Modify…
• Set the “Value data” to 0

• Click on the OK button.
• Close the Registry Editor.
• Restart your PC.

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10) Windows Performance Options

• Type performance in the search section of Windows, click to Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows from the results.
• Select the Adjust for best performance from the options in the Performance Options window that opens.
• Click OK

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11) Cleaning Temporary Files

• Simultaneously press the Windows logo and R keys.
• Type %temp%
• Press Enter key.
• Delete everything in the Temp folder that opens. You can skip undeleted.

• Again, Simultaneously press the Windows logo and R keys.
• Type temp
• Press Enter key.
• Delete everything in the folder that opens.

• Again, Simultaneously press the Windows logo and R keys.
• Type prefetch
• Press Enter key.
• Delete everything in the Prefetch folder that opens.

Finally, empty the Recycle Bin.

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12) SSD

If you have a Solid-State Drive, I recommend that you install the game on the SSD or move the game files to the SSD.

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13) Optimize Your Discord

If you are using Discord, disable the Hardware Acceleration and in-game overlay.

• Open Discord
• Go to the User Settings
• Then, go to the Appearance tab.
• Uncheck the Hardware Acceleration.

• Go to the Overlay on App Settings tab.
• Make sure unchecked the “Enable in-game overlay”

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14) Optimize Your Google Chrome

If you’re using Google Chrome, you’ll need to make this setting.

• Go to settings page in Chrome
• Click the Advanced
• Go to the System tab
• Finally, uncheck the “Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed”

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15) Background Processes

You should close all unnecessary applications, such as Chrome, Spotify, OneDrive. Also, if the Discord is idle, you should quit Discord.

Also, you can use the CCleaner to go through your startup and scheduled tasks and disable everything that you consider unnecessary.

And also, you should disable your Firewall/Antivirus while playing DayZ, such as Eset, Avast, BitDefender, AVG, Acronis Active Protection, etc. Or add your DayZ directory in the exceptions list in your antivirus software.

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16) Increase The Priority

You need to adjust this setting every time you enter the game.

• Launch the game.
• Simultaneously press the ALT and TAB keys to minimize the game.
• Open the Task Manager
• Click on Details Tab
• In the list, find the DayZ_x64.exe
• Right-click on DayZ_x64.exe application and Set priority to High.

If you are facing a stuttering issue in the game after doing this, don’t do the High priority setting. Set it to Normal.

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17) CPU Limiter – Fix Freezing & Stuttering

If the CPU usage is around 100% while playing DayZ and you experience freezing/stuttering issues, you can limit your CPU. Also, if you apply this setting, you can skip the previous method.

• Download and install the Process Lasso
• Run the Process Lasso application.
• Launch the DayZ.
• Go to the Process Lasso app and find the DayZ_x64.exe in “All processes” list.
• Right-click on the DayZ_x64.exe and select the CPU Limiter

• Set the “When CPU use is” to 98
• Set the “Reduce by this many CPU cores” to 1
• Below the “Reduce by this many CPU cores”, set the “For a period of” to 1
• Click on the Add Rule button.
• Finally click OK button and play the game.

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18) Reduce Ping and Fix Lag

• Go to the ExitLag page
• Click on the “FREE 3 DAYS TRIAL” button.
• Create an account.
• Verify the Email
• Download and install the ExitLag.
• Launch the ExitLag.
• Search the DayZ in the ExitLag app.
• Select the DayZ
• Select a game region
• Click on the APPLY ROUTES button.
• Play the game.

For example, if you live in the Americas and want to play with a friend in Europe, you will experience a lot of lag in the game because the ping will be too high. In this case, you can use the ExitLag. In the ExitLag, you can select a game region closest to joining the server.