How to fix The First Descendant lag? Best settings explored

Modified Jul 02, 2024 14:46 GMT

The First Descendant is riddled with some FPS lag issues on PC (Image via Nexon Games)

The First Descendant is now out on PC, but unfortunately, gamers are riddled with issues causing lag. I tested the title and found weird performance bugs here and there. Although the scenario has improved a lot since I tested a Closed Alpha back in 2022, players still need to spend some time in the settings menus to get optimized FPS rates.

There's no denying the game is quite demanding. If you are playing on some modest hardware, you have no option but to crank down the settings. Here are some fixes that I found working for most players.

How to fix lag in The First Descendant?

Step 1: Ensure your video drivers are up to date

Nvidia has released a Game Ready Driver for The First Descendant (Image via Nvidia)

To get started, ensure you have updated your video card drivers. Although this shouldn't cause a major problem, Nvidia released a Game Ready Driver targeted at The First Descendant. This could iron out some framerate issues.

Step 2: Ensure your PC meets the minimum requirements

The First Descendant isn't optimized well on PC. Although Nexon, the maker of the game, suggests a GTX 1050 Ti or an RX 570 at the bare minimum, you'll need at least an RTX 3060 to get a decent framerate with respectable visual quality.

Here's the minimum and recommended hardware according to Nexon. Make sure your system is more capable than this.

Minimum system requirements

OS: Windows 10 x64 20H2
Processor: Intel Core i5-3570 or AMD FX-8350
RAM: 8 GB
Graphics card: Nvidia Geforce GTX 1050 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 570 8 GB
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 50 GB HDD

Recommended system requirements

OS: Windows 10 x64 20H2
Processor: Intel Core i7-7700K or AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
RAM: 16 GB
Graphics card: Nvidia Geforce RTX 2060 or AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 50 GB SSD

Step 3: Unlock the game's framerate

Unlock the framerate in The First Descendant to get rid of screen tears and stutters (Image via Nexon Games)

The First Descendant, by default, is locked to just 60 FPS. This can make the game look sluggish, especially if you are playing on a high refresh-rate monitor. I was testing the title on a 4K 144 Hz panel, and this is when I noticed unlocking the framerates fixes the FPS issues for the most part.

Also, turn on AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync if your monitor supports that to get rid of any screen-tearing issues. Otherwise, turn V-Sync on to lock the game to your monitor's maximum framerate.

Step 4: Crank down the settings in the game

If the game is riddled with FPS lag issues on your PC, it's time to crank down some of those settings. Check our graphics settings guides to get your game up and running smoothly:

These are the only working fixes for now. The game still has some problems with performance that can only be fixed by a formal patch from Nexon. For that, we'll have to wait.

Edited by Abu Amjad Khan