Icarus is a brand new PvE survival game that puts you in a world of alien wilderness where you explore it for new technology and collect information to further your goal. Being a survival game, having a stable frame rate is key, especially since the game matches you with seven more players in a given session.
In this guide, we’ll be going over the best graphics settings for Icarus on PC in 2023 so you can maximize your survival experience while also making sure your game looks good as it maintains a steady frame rate. Without further ado let’s get into it.
Icarus Best Graphics Settings for Performance
You can only admire the beautiful world of Icarus if your game is running smoothly and has the visual quality set to the highest.
To get the best performance from Icarus, below are the graphic settings that you need to change should you not meet the system requirements.
PC System Requirements
Before you apply these graphics settings, make sure your system has the minimum or recommended system requirements.
Minimum System Requirements
- CPU: i5 8400
- RAM: 16 GB
- OS: Windows 10 RS3 x64
- VIDEO CARD: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
- PIXEL SHADER: 5.1
- VERTEX SHADER: 5.1
- FREE DISK SPACE: 70 GB
- DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 6 GB
Recommended System Requirements
- CPU: Intel i7-9700
- RAM: 32 GB
- OS: Windows 10 19H2 x64
- VIDEO CARD: Nvidia RTX 3060ti
- PIXEL SHADER: 5.1
- VERTEX SHADER: 5.1
- FREE DISK SPACE: 70 GB
- DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 8 GB
Icarus Best Settings for PC
- Motion Blur: OFF
- Vsync: Off
- Frame Limit: 120
- View Distance: Epic
- Post Processing: Low
- Shadows: Medium
- Max Shadow Cascades: 2
- Textures: Epic
- Texture Streaming Poolsize: Set it according to your GPU VRAM
- Effects: Medium
- Foliage: High
- Shading: Medium
- Use Simple Building Shadows: ON
- Disable Lighting Effects: OFF
- Tessellation: OFF
- Volumetric Clouds: OFF
- Disable Player Light Shadows: ON
- FSR Mode: Ultra Quality
- FSR Sharpness: 0.95
Vertical Sync
It is better to turn Vsync OFF as turning it on will cause input lag, which can mean the difference between life and death in a PvE game.
Field of View (FOV)
The Field of View or FOV option should be set somewhere between 95 and 120 to get a better view of your surroundings and increase the performance of the game. We recommend a FOV setting of 110.
Motion Blur
Many players have complained about Motion Blur that it causes headaches and motion sickness, additionally, Motion Blur also distorts your visibility which can be a nuisance in a survival game.
View Distance
Since Icarus is a survival game, you need to be aware of your surroundings and be able to spot danger or something important from afar. For this, you need to put View Distance to Epic to make sure you’re not at a disadvantage.
Gamma
The game does not have an official way to change Gamma, which makes seeing at night quite difficult. While you may be able to circumvent this through your monitor settings in some cases, in others this may not offer a complete fix. To change your Gamma settings manually, head over to:
\AppData\Local\Icarus\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\Engine.ini
Insert the Gamma value at the end. It may take a few trials and errors before you can find your sweet spot.
Frame Limit
If your monitor supports a higher frame rate, do not cap it and change the setting to 120 or Unlimited. This way, you will be able to get the maximum frames that your gaming rig can offer. However, if you have a 60 or 90Hz monitor it is better to set a frame limit around those targets to guarantee smoothness.
How to fix Icarus frame rate drops and freezing/stuttering
If you find that your game exhibits abnormal performance behavior, i.e. it drops frames, freezes, or stutters, you can try the following fixes to remedy these problems:
- Lower graphics settings: lowering graphics settings is the easiest way to fix frame drops. Simply head into the graphics setting menu and lower any setting that’s too high
- Update your drivers: out-of-date drivers are often the culprit behind performance woes. Head into your control panel and update your graphics drivers to ensure better performance
- Close background applications: this is an often-overlooked facet of maintaining consistent performance but make sure all background applications or at least ones that use up too much CPU or RAM resources are closed
- Make sure your game is up to date: This is a fairly simple fix, but make sure you’re gaming is updated to the latest version. Oftentimes newer versions of software contain better optimization.
- Make sure you’re using DX11: While Direct X12 may seem like the obvious choice to run the game, considering it’s a newer version of the software, many users have reported that using DX11 yields better performance as compared to using DX12.
