So. A few things to keep in mind.


A few tweaks are always required to optimize these games, in the form of a community fix called Atelier Sync Fix, regardless of your platform. I will show you how to use it

I dont know to what degree it influences these results but my Deck has Cryoutilties 2.0 running at recommended settings and 4GB of Vram manually assigned.

This assumes you do have CU2.0 on recommended and the 4gb of vram tweak.
Here's how to install it, its just good for Deck in general
Don't be scared by the videos length, it contains a bunch of explainations but the TLDR, its a quick install and a single 2 second tweak in the bios.

We no longer recommend a GE Version since the game's cutscenes have been reencoded by the dev specificly for a Deck Friendly Format. Use Latest or Experimental

As of September of 2024 we recommend PROTON EXPERIMENTAL

• There ARE framedrops in some areas. They can be mitigated with lower settings that you might judge are worth the tradeoff. This aims for what we think is a good balance.
  
• The game drops frames heavily for a few second during Time of Day or weather changes as the lighting shifts. Its short, fortunately, and not constant, but you cant do much about it
  
• Traversal stutters are sometimes present, and some fully voiced cutscenes with DOF effects may also experience drops.
  
• The OLED Deck experiences slightly less framedrops, and drops less during voice cutscenes, though Voiced Cutscenes that take place outside and have heavy DOF or long vistas will still drop but into the high 20s
  
  
• Remember to always Exit from the diary at the Atelier. If you dont do this, your settings will not save

Thanks to Eltia for running a lot of tests to help me verify these settings

Im using TellowKrinkle's version

• Open desktop mode and browse to
  https://github.com/TellowKrinkle/atelier-sync-fix/releases/download/tkr-20230415/atfix.zip
  
  
• Extract the dll in the game's main instalation folder. Where the game executable is. If asked to overwrite, do so.
  
  
• Return to Gaming mode
  
  
• In Preferences for the game, set launch options
  Put in the following in the text box

In the SteamOS Overlay
Set the Refresh Rate and Framerate cap to 40hz/40 fps
Enable tearing

In-Game
Start from the Standard Preset, then:
1280x720****
Window: Fullscreen (Default for res adjust)
FPS Rate unlimited
Vsync OFF
Overall Custom
Texture Quality: High
Shadow Quality: Standard
Local Reflections: High
Effect Quality: High
Antialiasing: TAA
DOF: Low
Ambient Oclusion: On
Bloom: On
Light Shafts: On
Draw Distance: Normal
Point Light Distance: Normal
Grass Draw Distance: Normal
Grass Density: High **
Motion Blur: Off
Star Filter: On
Texture Filtering: Anisotropic
NPC Density: Standard
Shadow Draw Distance: Standard
Water: Standard
Animation Distance: Standard
Enemy Move Limit: High
Volumetric Fog: Off
LOD Distance: Standard
Terrain Quality: High
Rain Quality: High


*Ambient Oclussion: This is the most expensive thing here which you might want to keep in mind when tweaking however its too important to the presentation to remove, in my opinion
I think its worth turning on
I recommend you try if you care for what it adds [/b]If you dont particularly care for the shading depth it gives the world, particularly on such a small screen, leave it off.

**Grass Density: In my testing Standard and High are fine, but in places like Kurruken's wheat fields, you will see absolutely nothing unless you are at high.

***Animation Distance: Again, another one that has not made such a big difference in say, Sardonica, but a friend who ran some tests to help me check these settings swears that lowering it helps in Windle and some other very crowded cities. I leave it on low as I really dont notice the little motions it removes from distant npcs on the small screen but dont be afraid to turn it to standard if you find them lifeless or it annoys you . In my testing, mostly limited by my premature savefile to Kuruken and Cleria, standard is fine with these settings, should it bother you.

**** Check the section on Resolution Adjustment Below to make the black bars slimmer and the game more legible. Keep in mind it comes with a teensy minor performance cost that I think is worth it

In the Overlay:
60HZ
30FPS
Allow Tearing

In Game
1280*720**
Fullscreen
FPS Rate unlimited
Vsync OFF
Overall Custom
Texture Quality: High
Shadow Quality: Standard
Local Reflections: High
Effect Quality: High
Antialiasing: TAA
DOF: Low
Ambient Oclusion: On
Bloom: On
Light Shafts: On
Draw Distance: Long
Point Light Distance: Long
Grass Draw Distance: Normal
Grass Density: High
Star Filter: On
Texture Filtering: Anisotropic
NPC density: High
Shadow Draw distance: High
Animation distance: High
Volumetric Fog: ON
LOD Distance: High
Terrain Quality: High
Rain Quality: High

If you find the 30fps too sluggish on LCD where you cant cap at say 32, try this:

• Enable Developer Mode on your Deck
  
• Navigate to Developer Options
  
• Uncheck the Option to Join the Refresh Rate and Framerate
  
  
• In Game Preferences, under Launch Options, put
  
  WINEDLLOVERRIDES="d3d11=n,b" MANGOHUD_CONFIG="fps_limit=31,no_display" mangohud %command%
  
  
• In the in-game overlay leave the refresh rate at 60, fps cap at 60 (they will be overridden by a 31 cap) and allow tearing. This should make it a bit more fluid and prevent some drops to 29

**Check the section below to increase resolution a slight bit and improve legibility

In Game, Select your settings. Make sure Window is set to Default
Go to the Atelier.
Save the game.
Exit from the diary at the atelier. If you dont do this, your settings will not save

Switch to Desktop Mode
Find the settings ini at
Edit the 720 in resolution numbers to 760
Save Ini
Return to Gaming Mode
This will persist as long as you dont change the graphics in game

Note that the settings file will not generate until you run the game and EXIT FROM THE DIARY IN THE ATELIER

760 is the sweetspot to make the game more legible without expanding the resolution into stretchy mode or making the game more expensive to run. This is why I dont recommend increasing it further