For diagnosis after the Week 1 Update, leave Increased Geometry Budgets, ray tracing and Frame Generation off; begin on High, reduce shadows and reflections first, and use a frame cap the system can hold. This is a conservative synthesis, not a site-run benchmark. Published tests range from a Ryzen 7 5700X / Radeon 9060 XT guide that favors Low-to-Medium settings to an eight-GPU benchmark that reports strong averages but remaining traversal stutter.
What the published tests actually cover
The sources disagree because their hardware and goals differ. Use the comparison to choose a baseline, not to invent a universal preset.
Ryzen 9 7950X3D, current NVIDIA/AMD drivers, demanding-area benchmark; strong averages with traversal stutter still observed.
RTX 5080 desktop at 4K and mobile RTX 4060 laptop at 1080p; High/Ultra generally performed well in review play.
Ryzen 7 5700X, Radeon 9060 XT 16 GB and 32 GB RAM; favors a 60 FPS cap and lower costly settings.
Starts with reversible changes shared across sources and labels settings that are preference rather than crash fixes.
How this was checked
Evidence and limits
Method: Compared the official minimum specification and Week 1 graphics changes with DSO Gaming's eight-GPU benchmark, a two-system Windows Central review, and Destructoid's documented test PC and settings.
Evidence boundary: Hardware, resolution, driver and target frame rate change the result. Values below are a controlled starting point; this site has not measured their FPS cost on its own test bench.
Read the full editorial standard →Do this first
- Confirm the game is installed on an SSD and fully updated.
- Disable hardware ray tracing and Frame Generation for the first test.
- Use DLSS/FSR Quality at 1080p or 1440p; lower the mode only if needed.
- Set shadows and reflections to Medium, keep textures within VRAM, and cap FPS to a stable target.
- Run the same route after each single change.
What Week 1 changes
The patch adds Increased Geometry Budgets, which is off by default and uses more video memory when enabled. It also fixes ray-tracing options, reworks Frame Generation so changes apply after a reload, and moves a post-shader-compilation hitch into the menu.
Why reputable tests disagree
DSO Gaming used a Ryzen 9 7950X3D and eight GPUs; Windows Central reviewed on an RTX 5080 desktop at 4K and a mobile RTX 4060 at 1080p; Destructoid documented a Ryzen 7 5700X and Radeon 9060 XT 16 GB. Their results cannot be collapsed into one FPS promise. The useful overlap is to establish a stable cap, control expensive options and change one variable on the same route.
Settings to change first
Ray tracing, reflections and shadows are reasonable first reductions. Texture quality should follow available VRAM rather than a generic Low setting. Upscaling mode should match resolution and image tolerance.
- Increased Geometry Budgets: Off unless VRAM headroom is confirmed
- Hardware ray tracing: Off while diagnosing
- Frame Generation: Off while diagnosing
- Shadows: Medium
- Reflections: Medium
- Textures: High only when VRAM headroom is adequate
- Motion blur and film effects: preference, not a crash fix
If lowering settings does nothing
If Low and High hitch in the same places, stop changing everything. Update, verify files, check the known-issues post and follow the NVIDIA shader-cache procedure only when your symptoms match. Record frame-time behavior rather than relying only on average FPS.
Evidence log
Sources checked
External sources are linked for verification. Community reports describe symptoms and are not treated as universal fixes.
PlatformMortal Shell II on SteamOfficial minimum PC and SSD requirements.
↗PlatformThe Week 1 UpdateCurrent graphics-option, performance and Frame Generation changes.
↗ReportingBest graphics settingsIndependent launch-build performance baseline.
↗SpecialistMortal Shell 2 PC performance analysisEight-GPU benchmark with disclosed CPU, drivers, resolution results and traversal-stutter observation.
↗ReportingWindows Central review and test systemsNamed reviewer and disclosed RTX 5080 desktop and mobile RTX 4060 laptop context.
↗OfficialNVIDIA Shader Cache Size referenceOfficial explanation of shader-cache behavior and first-run stutter after driver installation.
↗Found a build mismatch?
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