GUIDE: How To Set Up & Increase DayZ FPS / Performance

[Andy Red 25]

Hello all!

 

Let me tell you my little back story...

 

I had come across DayZ when looking for a new game to play, I love Zombie and MMO games and came across DayZ, it seemed like the perfect game for me! I didn't get it straight away though, I found other Zombie MMO games and checked out reviews and comparisons about them all, I decided that DayZ was the better out them all and I was watching series after series of YouTube videos of footage, I easily watched a good 6 hours straight one night of a player starting out and exploring and everything, it looked amazing. Then when I next got paid I brought the Arma 2 Collection from Steam.

 

I brought Arma 2 Combined Operations (with Operation Arrowhead and the other DLC content) 8 days ago purely to play DayZ, I let it download overnight and was very excited to get online and play it the morning after it had downloaded.

 

Installing DayZ took a little while to figure out, I tried manual install (which I think I found out the files were out of date), DayZ Commander and PlayWithSix, eventually I got the game on somehow, then picked a vanilla server, waited for the game to load up and.....

 

Seconds delay in looking around, Seconds delay in moving, really choppy and laggy game play I couldn't even hit a zombie before it got my Blood down low. I was gutted... But there started my Quest for getting DayZ to run smooth and flawlessly and with half decent graphics!

 

FPS was between 10-15, however around every 5 seconds this would shoot down to 1-2 FPS.

 

Just for reference, I'm playing on a laptop, now, before I get any "omg laptops aren't for gaming, get a desktop bro!!!" statements, my laptop is mid range and can play every other latest game I've ran on it fine. I need a laptop as I need it portable and have no room for a desktop.

 

Here's my laptop stats:

Intel Core i5 2.3Ghz Processor

8GB Ram

NVIDIA GT555M 2GB Dedicated Graphics

 

Not the best at all, but still should be good enough to play DayZ with.

 

I turned every graphical setting in the game down but still had very bad lag!

 

7 Days Later...

I've tried heaps of different setting changes, config files changes, graphic card settings, multiple software, ram disk software, even overclocking my GPU, and...

Now I have a smooth, decent graphical game running at 35-45 FPS - I can actually enjoy the game for what it is and start my adventure killing Zeds and surviving in the wild.

 

I hear that heaps of people are in or have been in the same position as me, so I'm sharing everything I've found that helped me increase my FPS from 15 up to 45, with a smooth lag free gaming experience.

 

 

How to Set Up & What to Use to Play DayZ

 

For me, the best way play DayZ was using DayZ Commander.

Download It Here: http://www.dayzcommander.com/#download

 

Install DayZ, and Open it Up, Then In "Settings" Ensure These Are Checked -

• Force Direct3D 9
  
• Close DayZ Commander after Joining Server
  

 

In Launch Parameters Add - 

 

-winxp -cpuCount=EDITHERE -exThreads=EDITHERE -noLogs -noPause -maxMem=2047 -maxVRAM=2047 -beta=Expansion\beta;Expansion\beta\Expansion

 

Under CPU Count and Threads put in your systems Cores/Threads.

To find out your processors CPU and Threads -

 

1) Go to Start.

2) Right Click My Computer.

3) It will show your Processor here i.e Intel Core i5 2410m.

4) Now you need to find out how many Cores/Threads your processor has.

5) For Intel Go To: http://ark.intel.com/

6) Under the "Search Products" box type in your processor and it will tell you all the details including Core # and Thread #.

7) If you have an AMD Processor then check your processors details on AMD's website.

8) Then change these with the "Edit Here" sections in the parameters.

9) Leave the maxMem and maxVRAM as they are as they are the maximum values allowed anyway.

10) Click "Done" at the bottom to save.

 

 

Install/Update on DayZ Commander

 

Now you need to Install the actuall mod files for DayZ.

 

1) Go to the Install/Update section at the top of DayZ Commander.

2) Under "Arma 2" you want the version to be 103718 as this is the most stable version for DayZ. If you have already patched a higher version then it's very advisable to re-install Version 103718 from this menu. Just use the drop down box to the right, select 103718 and then Install. Stick with version 103718!

3) Next, is the Mods Section below.

4) You want to Install DayZ (the first on the list) with the Version number 1.8.0.3.

5) This is the main mod for DayZ that you need to play.

6) If your used to playing other Mods then by all means download the other mods that you like to play on.

Note: Some Servers will only let you in if you have a certain mod installed. So always check what Mod a server is using and what Game Mode before entering.

 

 

Use an SD Card for DayZ Files - Performance Boost

 

To help speed up the game quite a bit, you will want to use an SD Memory Card in your laptop/desktop.

Memory Cards can load files/objects/images a lot faster than most hard drives so this can improve your FPS heaps.

 

If your going to use an SD card then this will only need to hold the files for the DayZ mod itself so depending on how many addons/mods you plan on 2GB should be enough.

 

DayZ + DayZ+ + Epoch is around 1.5GB.

A Class 4 or above Memory Card is preferred for better performance.

 

To copy/paste the relevant files to your SD Card firstly download DayZ Commander and follow the Instructions on How to Set up DayZ Commander in this thread.

 

1) When your done setting up DayZ Commander with the Mods etc, go to your Arma2/Operation Arrowhead folder directory.

2) If you brought it through steam then it's:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead

3) You will see folders @DayZ and any other mods e.g @DayZ_Epoch

4) Select these folders, Right Click and Press Copy.

5) Then open up your SD Card folder, paste these DayZ folders inside.

6) Now we need to change the directory to load the DayZ files from your SD card rather than the normal directory.

7) Head back to DayZ Commander, then to Settings.

8) At the bottom you will see "DayZ Directory" Click "Override" next to it and change to YOUR-SD-DRIVE:\@DayZ

NOTE THAT YOU WILL NEED TO FIND THE LETTER YOUR SD DRIVE IS ON, FOR ME ITS F DRIVE SO MINE LOOKS LIKE THIS F:\@DayZ

 

The Drive letter/name can be seen by going to "My Computer" where all your hard drives etc are.

 

 

 

In Game Graphics Settings

 

These are the settings I suggest you have to start with while testing your FPS.

 

You can gradually higher these as you go once your FPS is stable.

 

Visibility - 1636

Interface Resolution - Same as your Desktops Resolution

3D Resolution - Same as Interface Resolution

 

Textute Detail - Normal

Video Memory - Default

Anisotropic Filtering - Disabled

Antialiasing - Disabled

ATOC - Disabled

 

Terrain Detail - Normal

Objects Detail - Normal

Shadow Detail - Disabled

HDR Quality - Normal

PPAA - Disabled

 

Postprocess Effects - Disabled

Interface Size - Normal

Aspect Ratio - Normal

Vsync - Off

 

Once I got my game stable, I was able to Increase all the items that were on Normal up to High.

I left all the Disabled stuff Disabled though.

 

 

 

 

NVIDIA and ATI Graphics Control Settings

 

My Graphics Card is NVIDIA, so in my NVIDIA Control Panel -

 

1) Under "Adjust Image Settings with Preview" I changed the slider to "Performance".

2) Then in "Manage 3D Settings" all I edited here was changing "Multi-Display/Mixed-GPU Acceleration" to Multiple Display Performance Mode.

I only actually have one screen, but I found this tip from elsewhere (sorry I can't remember who to credit) and this does help me improve performance even more.

3) And then changing "Maximum pre-rendered frames" to 1.

 

I suggest doing the similar if your on an ATI card, setting the overall settings to Performance instead of Quality and ensuring Vsync is off.

 

If you manually set these, then for me I would Turn Antialising/Anisotropic Filtering Off as well.

 

 

Updating you Graphics Card

 

A very easy thing to do, but sometimes people miss getting updates for their graphics cards.

 

If you know you have a Control Panel for your Graphics Card, especially an NVIDIA or AMD then there should be a Check for Updates option there. Otherwise, you'll have to go to your manufactures website to find the newest Drivers.

Head over to their Support/Software section and search for the latest driver for your graphics card model.

 

Then simply Download and Install!

 

 

Graphics Card Over Clocking

 

I'm playing with a laptop, its very bad to over clock a laptop due to heat issues and voltage to the graphics card which could easily make it burn out. However, I did overclock my graphics to increase my cards memory and speed by an extra 25% during my time trying to get DayZ to work smoothly on my sytem.

However, this didn't actually give me any noticeable increase in FPS.

 

I haven't tried Overclocking my GPU since my DayZ is now actually working nicely, and I don't think I need to or risk the temperature increase. But if you would still like to do it the go ahead but at least try the other improvements first before overclocking.

 

Free & Trusted Over Clocking Software -

• EVGA (Free Account Required to Download)
  
• MSI Afterburner
  

Both of these account for NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards.

NOTE: Just ensure you have enough heat movement and cooling in your system before you try and overclock anything!

 

 

 

Heat / Fan / Cooling Issues

 

Too Much Heat = Performance Loss

 

Now, I left this theory till last in my adventures of getting DayZ to work nicely. I normally vacuum (from the outer casing) and use Compressed Air in a can to blow out my laptop every 3-6 months. But I'm actually ashamed to admit it, I thought that was enough to clean out the insides...but I was wrong!

 

I opened the back panel of my laptop yesterday and look what I found -

 

 

 

I would suggest anyone to do the same (as long as it doesn't void your warranty) to open up your laptop case or desktop tower and clean inside with some Q-Tips/Cotton Wool on a Stick things and a Non Static very lightly damp cloth.

 

Now don't be scared of opening up the panel, it's very easy to do, although if its a laptop then your model may have a few little covered compartments on the back to open, mine has one big cover. You want to open the one where your fan is located.

On a desktop it's normally the side of the case slides off, with maybe one or two screws at the back holding it on.

 

 

Laptop Cooling Pads

 

Well, I did buy a new cooling pad for my laptop this week, it was only £10 from eBay and it's called the T5 Cooling Pad.

Before that I had a little crappy 3 small fan version, but for the price of the T5 Cooling pad it's great for laptop gamers, has 4 Normal Fans and 1 Big one and it's actually very comfortable and keeps your thighs warm so for guys you know the heat off your laptop wont do any damage to your tackle.

 

I don't actually need it now, since clearing out the inside of my laptop fans from the dust but I use it anyway just to extend the lifespan of my system and keep everything running at optimal temperatures inside my system.

 

Buying one could help with keeping your laptop and games running better with out any stutter. It can actually help you increase the graphics a little higher without any performance loss which is an added bonus!

 

 

Desktop Cooling

 

I'll be honest, I have no idea on Desktop Cooling equipment, I know there's many to choose from but I wouldn't have a clue how to install one into a tower. This you will have to research on your own but would be good for you to have if your a keen gamer!

 

 

 

Additional Software Boosters

 

I've tried a good 10-15 different software's in my conquest to getting DayZ to work and Uninstalled them all apart from these two.

 

GBoost -

A Free windows game booster service that allows you to temporarily strip down your slowing PC to its bare essentials for gaming. This improves the overall speed of your game including frame rate drops and lag spikes as well as alt tabbing out of games faster and generally more responsive gaming.

It's Free, Quick, VERY VERY One Button Simple to Use.

 

Download here: http://www.gzero.com/gboost/home.html

 

Setting Up GBoost -

1) Simply Download and Install.

2) If your using Wireless for the Internet on your System, Turn Wireless/Bluetooth in Advanced Settings to No, this will keep your connection active still.

3) I also turned "Gamer Utils" and "Virtual Drives" to Yes (so they get turned off as well) but if your using other Software, RAM Disk Software or Over Clocking Software then change it to No.

 

 

CCleaner -

Is the number-one tool for cleaning your Windows PC. It protects your privacy online and makes your computer faster and more secure. Easy to use and a small, fast download.

CCleaner is a one stop software for Clearing out unneeded files on your system as well as Cookies and Temporary Data.

It also comes with a Registry Cleaner which you should run at least twice, once before and once after tweaking your system with these tips.

 

Download Here: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

 

 

 

Defragment Your Hard Drive

 

One of the reasons your DayZ may be running slow, lagging or has low FPS may be due to the file structure on your hard drive being all over the place, so it takes longer to find and pull objects/images/textures/information for the game to load on your screen.

 

To help reduce the negative effect by this you can Defragment your Hard Drive. Don't worry, there's no extra software to install, as long as you have Microsoft Windows then you can do this very easily.

 

1) Go to Start, Right Click My Computer, Right Click your Main hard 

Drive and go to Properties.

2) Go to the Tools tab at the top, then Defragmentation.

3) A list of all your drives will appear, select your main one (normally C Drive) then press Defragment Disk.

4) This could take anywhere from 15 minutes to over 3 hours depending how full or old your hard drive is.

5) So go do something productive or clean the house or bake a cake while you wait - your Mom/Girlfriend/Boyfriend/Friend/Pet will be so impressed! ;-)

 

 

 

Arma 2 Profile Config Settings (Only If The Other Tweaks Don't Help!)

 

Again, I would leave these Configuration edits to a last resort for extremely bad cases of stuttering and lag. But here they in case anyone needs them.

 

Find these files in the Folder My Documents, ArmA 2.

 

NOTE: IMPORTANT! Before you edit any files here, copy the file your going to edit and paste it to create a back up copy. Then you can always revert back to normal settings.

 

These files can also change themselves back when you change the graphic settings in game. To prevent them from updating themselves, Right Click the file name, Go to Properties, then Tick "Read Only"  the bottom, then click "Apply".

 

In YOURNAME.arma2profile file

Change the Following to -

 

sceneComplexity=10;

shadingQuality=0;

shadowQuality=0;

viewDistance=10;

terrainGrid=50;

volumeCD=6.5;

volumeFX=6.5;

volumeSpeech=6.5;

volumeVoN=6.5;

anisoFilter=0;

TexQuality=0;

TexMemory=0;

 

 

In Arma2 file

Change the Following to -

 

shadingQuality=0;

mouseSmoothing=1;

AToC=0;

PPAA=0;

PPAA_Level=0;

3D_Performance=1;

Resolution_Bpp=5;

Resolution_W=YOUR SCREEN RESOLUTION;

Resolution_H=YOUR SCREEN RESOLUTION;

winX=16;

winY=32;

winW=800;

winH=600;

winDefW=800;

winDefH=600;

Render_W=YOUR SCREEN RESOLUTION;

Render_H=YOUR SCREEN RESOLUTION;

FSAA=0;

FXAA=0;

FXAASharp=0;

postFX=0;

GPU_MaxFramesAhead=1;

GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=1;

 

 

In YOURPROFILENAME file

Change the following -

 

sceneComplexity=NUMBER;

 

By default it's set at 500000, The lower the number, the more performance but a lot less graphics!

For really extreme cases take it down to 1000 if you need to.

 

 

 

 

Maximum Performance Check List

 

So, if you've been following this guide then you should now of done the following:

 

• Download and Install DayZCommander
  
• Set Up DayZCommander Settings and Launch Parameters
  
• Move the DayZ files to an SD Card
  
• Change the In Game Graphic Settings
  
• Update Your Graphics Card
  
• Edit your Graphics Card Settings
  
• Clean Your Fans in your Desktop/Laptop
  
• Add additional Cooling methods if needed (Cooling Pad/System)
  
• Install and Run CCleaner's Clean Up and Registry Cleaner
  
• Install and Run GBoost (every time before you launch the game)
  
• Defragment Your Hard Drive
  
• Last Resort: Edit your Arma 2 Config Files
  

 

 

Conclusion

 

Now, hopefully by doing the tweaks above and using the 2 pieces of software to help boost your system, you'll be able to play DayZ lag free, smoothly and with a much better FPS.

Please do let me know if this helps you in anyway! I'll try to keep it updated with anything new and as the game versions progress.

 

All the best!

Andy.

[elf cakes 559]

a very thorough and well thought out guide! if i hadn't done 90% of this already then this would have been really helpful. well done!

[Michaelvoodoo25 3120]

Well done.

[Andy Red 25]

Thanks guys!

Hope it helps someone out rather than them having to spend a week tweaking stuff like I did lol.

[Conkykillz 791]

Sticky this please

[tommes 331]

If you have a SSD-Harddrive already you won't need a SD-Card. Most of those aren't that fast anyway. You have to check to have a decent one. In general I can only recommend to get a fast 128 to 256 GB SSD for the operating system and your most important applications. It will boost overall system performance, especially booting the OS and starting applications, significantly.

If you can't afford one right now, put the @DayZ folder in a RAM-Disk. There's HowTos around. It's really easy.

[Andy Red 25]

If you have a SSD-Harddrive already you won't need a SD-Card. Most of those aren't that fast anyway. You have to check to have a decent one. In general I can only recommend to get a fast 128 to 256 GB SSD for the operating system and your most important applications. It will boost overall system performance, especially booting the OS and starting applications, significantly.If you can't afford one right now, put the @DayZ folder in a RAM-Disk. There's HowTos around. It's really easy.

I did this first, using Ram Disk software to put the DayZ folder in.

However I kept forgetting to unmount the temporary drive when turning off my laptop so then when I turned it back on I kept getting the blue screen off death due to ram memory issues.

Found the SD Card much easier just set it up and that's it and just as fast.

I'm thinking of getting a bigger SD card as you suggested to put all my game files on, so it'll help boost everything I play but I may wait a few weeks for that or put it on my Christmas list off the wife lol.

[tommes 331]

You keep saying "SD-Card". Do you mean a SSD (solid state drive)?

[Andy Red 25]

You keep saying "SD-Card". Do you mean a SSD (solid state drive)?

You know what, after your post i just looked it up and only just realized that an SD card is different to an SSD - sorry for the confusion! I thought they were the same thing lol.

After reading up on SSDs and SDs, people are saying that a hard drive should still beat an SD card and that only an SSD would beat the speeds.

But for some reason using the SD card for me seems to help with performance.

I suppose now that my game runs nice and smooth I should try it out and see if there's a noticeable FPS difference between using my HD or SD.

[haywardgb 129]

Edited: Managed to get it working.  Great tutorial, thanks for the advice.  I've seen a good 3-5fps increase with the sd card suggestion, which is weird because I never thought that would actually work :) 

Edited November 6, 2013 by urbanskaters

[Andy Red 25]

Edited: Managed to get it working. Great tutorial, thanks for the advice. I've seen a good 3-5fps increase with the sd card suggestion, which is weird because I never thought that would actually work :)

Great news!

Was this FPS increase just from using an SD card or did you try any of the other tweaks with it?

[haywardgb 129]

Actually, think it was possibly placebo on my part.. What did work though was following the in-game graphics settings guide, especially turning off the Anti**** settings and increasing the 3D resolution to match my display resolution.  I still lag out in towns and cities, but everywhere else gives me a good 18-22 frames , whereas before I'd get 10-15 at best.. I'm using a laptop and can't afford anything better lol :)

[Andy Red 25]

Actually, think it was possibly placebo on my part.. What did work though was following the in-game graphics settings guide, especially turning off the Anti**** settings and increasing the 3D resolution to match my display resolution. I still lag out in towns and cities, but everywhere else gives me a good 18-22 frames , whereas before I'd get 10-15 at best.. I'm using a laptop and can't afford anything better lol :)

I'm using a laptop too :P

What's your specs?

[haywardgb 129]

I'm using a laptop too :P

What's your specs?

 

 

 

 

AMD Phenom II P820 Triple-Core Processor (3 CPUs), ~1.8GHz

 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 

Memory : 4096MB RAM

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500/5100 Series

[GingerAlbino 0]

Hi Andy,

 

Thanks for taking the time to post all this, it has helped me loads mate.  I'm presently using integrated gfx on a new pc (I've never gamed without a gfx card before) and was getting about 13-17fps.

 

After following your instructions to the letter (apart from the sd card bit) I am getting a playable 21-27, which will do until my hd7850 arrives.  Thanks again !

 

Specs:

 

AMD A8-6600K Quad Core 3.90ghz with Radeon HD8570D

8GB RAM

And it's black with red flashing lights

[onty 109]

Actually. Uninstalling my Antivirus helped me completely..None of listed above helped me.

 

I'm using ESET Smart Security and after uninstalling that game runs just great.

[haywardgb 129]

I use Avast and it doesn't hog my resources in the slightest. I do know that Norton and a few others are memory hogs though.  

 

Good tip OntyCZE.

[LangeName 1]

Actually. Uninstalling my Antivirus helped me completely..None of listed above helped me.

 

I'm using ESET Smart Security and after uninstalling that game runs just great.

 

 

I was also using Eset Smart Security (v7).

Here's how I fixed it.

 

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/153010-eset-smart-security-7-or-eset-nod32-antivirus-7-is-causing-low-fpsstutter-this-might-fix-it/

[XxRancidxX 1]

Glad I stumbled into this, you have the same card as I do in my laptop. Im installing Arma again to play DayZ Epoch so I'm hoping all this will help with my FPS.