Having the right settings can help to improve your Path of Exile experience.
The free-to-play ARPG Path of Exile appeals to fans of the genre for a number of different reasons. When comparing it to similar titles, it breaks traditions in certain ways, such as the PoE currency system, leagues, and the alternative use of PoE Trade. However, if you’re running a rig that is struggling to get the very best out of Path of Exile, then there are solutions on how you can improve the performance.
Table of Contents
Game Mode (Windows 10)
Switching from Game Mode is one way to help your performance in Path of Exile. If you’re using Windows 10, then you can use the Start icon to get to the Settings menu. Navigate to Gaming from here, then head to the Game Bar tab. Over here we can turn off the likes of “Record in the background while I’m playing a game” to aid performance. Meanwhile, we can also set the Game Mode to Off on the Game Mode tab. Clicking on the Captures tab will give you the chance to turn off the “Record in the background while I’m playing a game” option.
Players that are using one of Windows 10’s older versions may not be able to find the settings for Game Mode on their PC settings. Instead, you could fix the settings via the Registry, starting with pressing down the R key and Windows key at the same time. When the bar comes up, type in Regedit and hit enter.
This will take you to the Registry Editor, with a panel on the left. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/GameBar. When you’re inside the panel, right-click and choose the New option, then select DWORD (32-bit) Value. Change the New Key to AllowAutoGameMode then right-click on it to modify and put 0 as the value data. Hit OK then close the editor, then restart your PC to complete the process.
Graphics/SSD
Of course, graphics are key to your performance. There is a set way of getting the best possible graphics when it comes to playing Path of Exile. For the display, have yours set to Fullscreen. Disable Vsync and Post Processing, and switch off Antialiasing Quality. Enable Dynamic Resolution and Engine Multithreading, whilst setting your Target Framerate to 60.
There are quite a few settings that you’ll need to set to low. These include the Shadow Quality, Sun Shadow Quality, Number of Lights, and Water Detail Level. Your lighting should be set to Shadows, with Texture Quality at Medium and filtering on Trilinear Filtering.
If you haven’t done so already, you should make sure that the graphic drivers on your computer are up to date. Players that have a Solid-State Drive should install the game on it.
Change Config File
This is a vital step in dramatically improving the performance of Path of Exile on your PC. Doing this will take out some of the sounds from the game, but it will really benefit the way in which it runs. Go into your My Games file and open the Path of Exile file. Search for the production_Config.ini file and select the Sound line. We now need to change this line to false.
Getting Rid of Temporary Files
Before we head out on a quest for an Exalted Orb or two, we should clean up any temporary files that we have. To start this process, hit the R and Windows keys together. After doing so type out %temp% and hit Enter. Everything that opens here is what you should delete from your computer. After you have done this, press R and Windows at the same time again. This time, type temp and press Enter. Delete what you find in this folder, then repeat the pressing R and Windows simultaneously once more. Now we’re going to type prefetch before pressing Enter. Finally, delete everything in this folder and empty your Recycle Bin to free some space.
Path of Exile has plenty of reasons as to why RPG fans would flock to it. Its ability to take on different approaches away from traditions such as its PoE currency and gameplay options are enough to generate interest in the game, but of course, you’ll want to get the best possible settings to go with it. This way you’ll be getting the full experience of what Grinding Gear Games are offering, and further see why it is such a popular entry into the genre. You may be surprised at how much you can get out of simply looking over your graphics settings from time to time.
What are your thoughts on Path of Exile? Let us know in the comments below!
