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Client-side/Multiplayer(Server) FPS Improvement Guide

By Lady Alcina Dimitrescu

This Guide has some of the Up-to-date FPS boosting mods and configurations.

Award

Created by

Lady Alcina Dimitrescu
In-Game
Team Fortress 2

Category: Modding or Configuration

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

17 Sep, 2023 @ 3:09am

18 Jul @ 4:33pm

2,131	Unique Visitors
131	Current Favorites

Guide Index

Overview

Introduction

Misconceptions and wrong suggestions (Also bad launch commands)

FPS boosting mods (Recommended for both Multiplayer/Singleplayer)

Extra

More unused commands and configs (All of them)

Comments

Introduction

This Guide is specifically made for improving performance in Garry's Mod. A little warning: Improving FPS cannot be achieved without changing how the game looks. There are going to be some bugs and visual changes. In exchange, you'll get more FPS.

Misconceptions and wrong suggestions (Also bad launch commands)

Here are some of the most common mistakes people make when trying to improve their FPS:

Command

Explanation

-nod3d9ex

This disables extensions that improve resource management, speed up alt-tabs, and improve memory usage. Using this directly lowers your fps and alt tab speed.

-threads

Allows Source Engine to use more than 3 CPU cores, which is not recommended. The game caps at 3 cores and allowing more cores can lower your FPS, even VALVe recommends disabling this.

-high

This command makes Garry's Mod the number 1 priority in Task Manager, so your CPU works more on the game and doesn't care about background programs. This can result in FPS drops due to uneven resource distribution. It is not recommended.

-noprocessheap

This was a workaround for a bug that only happened for a short time in CS:GO, and it decreases performance.

List of commands and why they're not working:

Commands such as "-windowed", "fullscreen", "-w, -h": These are already configurable in-game. Putting these commands into the console actually lowers your FPS and makes Alt-tabbing harder.
The reason for that, whenever you alt tab, your computer resizes your screen to the number you wrote to your launch options. And since resizing the screen is a demanding process, it makes alt tabbing slower.

-dxlevel 81/80/90/95/100 Do not use it. It makes the game buggier, causes major visual bugs, and doesn't even do that much. Do not use it, especially if you have a good GPU.

Let your system decides what to use.

Do not use random launch commands or console commands you come across , especially without checking if they're still usable or not. Some of them might significantly decrease your FPS.

FPS boosting mods (Recommended for both Multiplayer/Singleplayer)

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3484514376

Optimenu

One of the experimental mods I have made to increase FPS. It comes with an experimental Entity Culling feature and several memory and ram optimizations and graphic tweaks that user can easily configure.
Unlike most other mods on the Workshop, this mod directly adds performance related code into the game rather than just changing console variables. (It still does change console variables but also adds it's own scripts to increase FPS.

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https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2816159652

Performance Mod

Enables several experimental multi rendering features all at once to increase FPS.
This mod relies heavily on your hardware rather than changing graphics.
All the multi-rendering features are kept off for the sake of compability in Garry's Mod.
Make sure to have at least:

i5 Intel 2000 or AMD equivalent to use this mod, as multiple cores are required for multicore rendering.. (duh)

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https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2717005362

GodSentTools GPU Saver

Not really an FPS booster. It simply disables the rendering when you alt-tab, so you can mind your own business while Garry's Mod is still open in the background. It's more of a (Quality of Life) mod.

Not neccesary if you already own a dedicated graphic card or use 3rd party software such as Rivetuner to limit your FPS.

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https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2925774481

FPS Saving Fog

Basically another Entity Culling mod, works good on big maps, but it adds fogs to the map which might be unappealing to some users.

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https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1762151370

Improved FPS Booster

Allows several graphical features to be tweaked via a menu the Mod provides.
It gives more fps the more visual features you disable.
More of a easy graphic tweaker than an FPS booster.

Extra

Mods are perfect at increasing FPS. However, there is more to it.

This extra part is going to explain a few things about your settings and how to optimize them for your OWN PC. These are specific and tied to your PC specs, rather than providing a global FPS boost with mods or commands. You have to do your own work from now on.

In-game Graphic Settings and How to Configure Them

Graphic Option

What they do

Texture/Model Quality

Texture and Model quality changes how textures and models appear in game. The higher you set these options, more VRAM they need. It is recommended to have at least 2 GB of VRAM to set these options to high. If you don't know what VRAM is, either google it or ask ChatGPT.

Shader Detail

Color/Lighting and every other visual stuff are controlled by this option. You might need to set it to low if you have a bad GPU.

Shadow Detail

Controls how good the shadows casts from the Models look. Low setting recommended if you don't have something like 1050 Ti.

Color Correction

Changes how the lighting and tint looks on maps. Turn it on if you don't have severe FPS issues.

Anti-aliasing (MSAA)

MSAA is an upscaling feature, it only required on high resolutions, and even then you need a good PC to use it. Basically disable it if you don't have a big resolution and a very good GPU. This option just allows you to get better texture and model quality.

Texture Filtering

It is completely safe to use no matter your GPU. It does not decrease your FPS, and it actually makes your game look a bit prettier without a performance cost.

Vertical Sync

Keep it disabled (unless you know what you're doing). Also use third party applications to limit FPS on Source games like Rivatuner. Because Source games doesn't have the best FPS limiters.

Multicore CPU

Allows Garry's Mod to use multiple CPU cores to render. Recommended to turn on if you have multiple cores.

HDR/Bloom

Controls lighting, bloom, and other post-processing effects. Turn it off only if you face severe FPS issues, as turning HDR off causes many models and maps to look incorrectly.

Side Note: Limiting FPS might decrease the load times. And unlimited FPS can lower your input lag. Type "fps_max 0" to console if you want to remove FPS limit.
BE SURE THAT YOUR PC CAN'T GET MORE THAN 300 FPS.

More unused commands and configs (All of them)

Bad launch options remove them from your launch options

-nocrashdialog
+exec autoexec : autoexec.cfg is already run on startup, there is no need to run it again
+exec config : config.cfg is already run on startup, there is no need to run it again
-exec : doesn’t exist, perhaps you meant +exec?
-nod3d9ex
-threads (Even VALVe recommends you should disable it)
-high
-reuse
-NOPROCESSHEAP
-nodns
-nowatchdog
-disable_d3d9_hacks
-limitvsconst
+map_background

-no_texture_stream
This option basically forces the game to load every texture as high quality, preventing the default texture loading system. And to explain that quickly; Source Engine loads the Textures as low quality first, then increases it to high resolution.
Using this command basically increases your loading time, but need sufficient computer and high VRAM in order to use it.

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Unused launch options

Commands

What they do

-noipx

does not exist and never existed in Source

-heapsize

does not exist. It never really worked in Source and was removed in an old update

-+mat_dxlevel

ignored in favor of the -dxlevel launch option, which will properly set configuration files for your DXLevel selection

-USEALLAVAILABLECORES

this is a launch option for Unreal Engine games like Fortnite. It goes without saying that it will not work in Source, and anyone recommending you this launch option likely has no idea what’s going on.

-nomansky

yes, there are legitimately people who think for some reason any launch option with “no” in front of it will boost performance, so much so that they don’t notice that this commonly copied around launch option is named after an unrelated game.

--no_texture_steal

not sure who is stealing your textures, but unfortunately this launch option can’t stop them

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Thanks to Mastercomfig for providing all these commands and how they work.

Here is a link to their website: https://mastercomfig.com

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