How to improve FPS in Fallout 4 (PC)
Fallout 4 runs on the Creation Engine, the same Gamebryo-derived foundation Bethesda used for Skyrim, so it inherits both its virtues (a dense, persistent open world, unlimited mods) and its technical flaws. The engine is notoriously dependent on a single CPU core for world simulation, cell streaming, and the Havok physics engine, so a fast single-thread CPU matters more than a powerful GPU in most configurations. On top of that, Fallout 4 carries a problem inherited from the entire Gamebryo/Creation lineage: animation speed, object physics, and some quest triggers are mathematically tied to framerate. Going above 60 FPS without fixing this causes everything from NPCs walking in fast-forward to objects flying off or quests that fail to trigger correctly. This guide covers how to squeeze out real FPS without breaking the game, and how all of this coexists with the game's huge modding community, which can be your best ally or your worst performance enemy depending on how you manage it.
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Calculations based on our FPS model combined with the % gain of each setting (measured in public benchmarks).
1. Quick wins (no visual loss)
Start here. Each one adds a little, but together they give +24% free FPS.
Cap the framerate to 60 FPS (or apply the physics fix)
It's not an FPS gain, it's a stability fix: Fallout 4's Havok physics engine and animations are calculated assuming 60 FPS as a ceiling. If your GPU can push 100+ FPS uncapped, you'll see things break: doors flying open, corpses launching into the air, elevators failing, and in extreme cases quests that don't progress because their trigger depends on a physics tick that never fires in time. Capping at 60 with V-Sync or an external limiter is the "safe" solution without touching anything else.
Install the Fallout 4 High FPS Physics Fix
This unofficial community mod (created by reemesa) rewrites, at a low level, the link between framerate and simulation that Bethesda never fixed. With it installed you can play at 90, 120, or 144 FPS on high-refresh-rate monitors without physics going haywire or animations speeding up. It's practically mandatory if you have a 144Hz+ monitor and want to actually use it in this game.
Lower Godrays to Low or disable them
Volumetric light rays are one of the effects that punish the Creation Engine the most, especially outdoors in the Wasteland with the sun low. The drop from Ultra to Low is barely noticeable except during direct sunsets, but it frees up frames consistently on any GPU.
Lower Shadow Distance and Shadow Quality
Dynamic shadow rendering in open exteriors (the Boston Wasteland) is another hot spot for the engine. Reducing shadow distance stops the game from constantly recalculating shadows for distant objects as you move, with minimal visual impact except in direct side-by-side comparisons on a static camera.
Disable extra volumetric fog from ENB/Reshade
Many players install ENB or ReShade to improve the visuals without realizing they enable extra volumetric fog and post-processing layers on top of the base game's existing ones. Reviewing and disabling duplicate fog/volumetric lighting effects frees up FPS without losing the color grading or contrast you wanted from the ENB.
2. Medium impact settings
Here's where most of the FPS is. Minor visual impact, major performance impact.
Reduce grass and object density (Grass/Actor Fade)
The Boston Wasteland is full of vegetation and actors (bugs, creatures, NPCs) the engine has to process across a wide radius. Lowering actor fade distance and grass density noticeably reduces CPU load outdoors, which is precisely where this game suffers the most FPS drops due to its single-thread dependency.
Limit the number of active mods and audit heavy mods
Fallout 4 lives and dies by its modding community, but a single poorly optimized mod (uncompressed 4K textures, a heavy ENB, a badly written Papyrus script mod) can tank the framerate more than any native graphics setting. Use tools like FO4Edit to detect conflicts and check script performance with the Papyrus profiler if you notice microstutter.
Use a lightweight, performance-oriented ENB (not just a visual one)
Not all ENBs are the same: some prioritize full-screen reflections, depth of field, and extreme volumetrics at the cost of 20-30 FPS, while others are designed to give a color/contrast facelift at minimal cost. Choosing a lightweight preset (for example, "Lite" variants of the popular ENBs) keeps the improved look without sacrificing playability.
Disable or limit Depth of Field
The depth-of-field effect in dialogue and VATS menus has a rendering cost that many players disable both for FPS and personal preference. The impact is bigger if you use ReShade or ENB on top, where the native DoF can overlap with added effects.
Reduce texture resolution if you have less than 6-8GB of VRAM
Base Fallout 4 already asks for a fair amount of VRAM on Ultra, but the problem spikes with the very popular 2K/4K texture mods on Nexus. If your GPU has little VRAM, this causes severe stuttering from texture streaming rather than a smooth FPS drop, so dropping one tier of texture quality avoids the abrupt hitches when panning the camera.
3. Upscaling (DLSS / FSR / XeSS)
The biggest gain in the game. Compatible with almost any modern GPU.
Unofficial FSR/DLSS mod (via third-party injection)
+20% FPSBethesda never implemented native upscaling in Fallout 4 (the game is from 2015, predating DLSS/FSR). The community has created unofficial mods that inject FSR 1/2 or even DLSS via third-party hooks, but these are unofficial solutions with variable compatibility depending on your mod build, and they can introduce artifacts or ENB incompatibility. Only use them if you've already exhausted the native settings and understand they aren't officially supported.
4. Tips by GPU
NVIDIA
- •Force the FPS limit from the NVIDIA control panel (or RTSS) instead of relying only on the game's iPresentInterval, for a more stable limit and to avoid micro-spikes above 60 FPS that break physics.
- •Enable Low Latency Mode on "On" (not Ultra) to reduce input lag without generating frametime instability, something noticeable in VATS combat.
- •If you use an ENB, disable NVIDIA's Image Scaling to avoid double post-processing and loss of sharpness on top of the ENB's shaders.
AMD
- •Use Radeon Chill with an upper limit of 60 FPS as an extra safety layer if you don't fully trust the game's internal limiter, especially without the physics fix installed.
- •Disable Radeon Enhanced Sync if you notice hitching or stuttering when entering the Pip-Boy; some AMD card users report conflicts with the partial pause the game applies in that menu.
- •Check that Radeon Anti-Lag is enabled for close-range combat, since the game's CPU-bound nature makes input lag depend more on the main thread than on the GPU.
Sistema
- •Prioritize per-core clock speed (single-core boost) over core count: Fallout 4 barely scales beyond 2-3 active threads, so a CPU with good individual boost performs better than a chip with more cores but lower frequency.
- •Install the game on an SSD: the Creation Engine's cell streaming when fast-traveling or entering interiors generates severe microstutter on HDD, regardless of your GPU.
- •Apply the Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch (UFO4P) before any other mod: it fixes dozens of script and performance bugs Bethesda never officially patched. Also use Buffout 4 (with Address Library) if you have a modded install, to prevent memory-management crashes.
5. Known game issues
Physics and animations tied to framerate above 60 FPS
The Creation Engine (a Gamebryo descendant) calculates animation speed, Havok physics, and some quest triggers based on actual framerate, not decoupled real time. Playing uncapped on a powerful GPU above 60 FPS causes NPCs to move in fast-forward, objects to launch on impact, elevators and doors to fail, and in extreme cases quests that don't progress because the physics trigger never executes correctly. Bethesda never fixed this officially in any patch.
Estado: Unofficial — fixed by the community mod "Fallout 4 High FPS Physics Fix"
Progressive memory leak in long sessions with many mods
The game, especially with accumulated Papyrus scripts from mods, suffers a gradual memory leak that translates into FPS drops and growing stuttering the longer you play without restarting. Buffout 4 and careful management of active scripts mitigate the problem but don't fully eliminate it in multi-hour sessions.
Stuttering when fast-traveling or loading dense exterior zones
Wasteland cell streaming, especially in zones with high object density (Downtown Boston, markets) or with high-resolution texture mods, generates abrupt hitching when loading. Installing on SSD and reducing object/grass distance noticeably mitigates the problem, though it doesn't fully eliminate it in very saturated zones.
6. Frequently asked questions
Why shouldn't I play above 60 FPS in Fallout 4 without any mods?▾
Is it worth installing an ENB if my PC is mid-range?▾
Why does my Fallout 4 run worse the more mods I install, even non-graphical ones?▾
Is it more worth investing in CPU or GPU for Fallout 4?▾
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Calculate FPS for Fallout 4 →Calculations based on consensus of technical sources and our own FPS model. More about our methodology →