7 Days to Die Graphic and PC Enhancements

Post of helpful Optimizations and Client side bug fixes for our 7DtD Players:

Compatibility issues.

A20|Compatibility

Alpha 20 is not compatible with A19 saves or A19 maps. For best results remove all saved data from A19.

Clean out A19 data

1) start the game from your library 2) select show game launcher 3) click in the tools tab 4) click on clean game files and check all circles 5) click clean

Video by Jugginator

Graphic Tweaks!

The following is a list of tweaks I have found among various posts in the Community Forums that should increase your fps from the 35-50 range into the 60-80 range. Some of these tweaks may do nothing, others may be substantial.

Optimal Settings for Alpha 20.

Graphic Tweaks!

I'd suggest trying them one a time to see what works for you. These are aside from the obvious: turning down graphics or lowering screen resolution, (lots of recommendation for 720p) and of course nothing comes without cost, you will be sacrificing graphical quality, but who cares how good it looks if it's too laggy to play?

1.) For those with bad FPS especially outdoors, you can try this in the console to disable distant terrain: gfx dt

2.) Disable post processing for fps gain. gfx pp enable 0

3.) Change storm values. In steam right click 7D2D -> Properties > Local files > Browse Local Files -> Data -> Config -> biomes.xml -> Open with text editor. Find lines: "<ParticleEffect prefab="ParticleEffects/p_sandstorm" ChunkMargin="7"/>" "<ParticleEffect prefab="ParticleEffects/p_smokestorm" ChunkMargin="7"/>" "<ParticleEffect prefab="ParticleEffects/p_snowstorm1" ChunkMargin="7"/>" Update them to 80 or higher, instead of 7.

4.) Running game from launcher instead of 7D2D Shortcut. (To get to Game Location, In steam right click 7D2D -> Properties > Local files > Browse Local Files. Run 7Dlauncher.exe) 1. Tick [X] Exclusive FullScreen Mode 2. Tick [X] Unity Screen Selector 3. (Optional) Aditional Paramters(unsure if this works, might be placebo effect): -force-d39d 4. When Unity Launcher opens, select the lowest resolution you're comfortable with, you can always raise it later. If your fps was very low, I would suggest trying the lowest graphical settings, you can always raise them individually later if you want.

Disabling SS Reflections will also give a huge FPS boost.

Too Bright Bug

You can also fix the weird shininess/everything is too bright bug by going into settings while in game and going to options. Next turn reflections to low, hit apply, then turn them off and hit apply again.

Anisotropic Filtering issues.

"Anisotropic filtering is a method of taking many samples of a texture to produce a higher quality image. AF is a setting on each texture." 7DtD has a simple setting matrix for this. 0 disabled 1 enabled (uses texture's value) 2 is force enable, which is making AF maxed on every texture

If you have NVIDIA and GEFORCE, set the anisotropic filtering in the settings to 2x or off. And not let the application control it.

You can turn off anisotropic filtering in the console with gfx af 0, Will help with bottlenecked AMD CPU and GPU.

Common Issues.

Constant Crashes and Virtual Memory (Pagefile)

This is exclusively happens when windows runs out of memory (despite a pagefile). It Often takes the shape of a game crash as you load into a world/join a world.

Constant Crashes and Virtual Memory (Pagefile)

Simply put, every time you open more applications than the RAM on your PC can accommodate, the programs already present in the RAM are automatically transferred to the Pagefile. By default, Windows 10 automatically manages the Pagefile according to your computer’s configuration and the RAM present in it. However, if you ever face lagging while playing a game on Windows 10, managing the size of the Pagefile manually is the first thing you should look for. Managing the Pagefile size manually in Windows 10 is simple. Here is how:

• Use an administrator account to log on to Windows 10.

• From the desktop screen, right-click the Start button to open its context menu.

• Click System.

• From the left pane of the System window, click Advanced system settings.

• On the System Properties box, ensure that you are on the Advanced tab.

• Click the Settings button from under the Performance section.

• On the Performance Options box, go to the Advanced tab.

• Click the Change button from under the Virtual memory section.

• On the Virtual Memory box, uncheck the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives checkbox.

• From the available list, click to select the drive on which Windows 10 is installed. (C: in most cases.)

• From below the list, click to select the Custom size radio button.

• In the now-enabled fields, type the minimum and maximum size of the Pagefile in megabytes (MB) according to the physical memory present in your computer.

• Click Set and then click OK.

• Restart your computer when you're done.

I usually set mine to 3 times the recommended. Usually somewhere around 3 gigs of extra virtual ram. But I use the the memory from one of my slaved storage discs. NOT my SSD.

7DTD Save Locations:

Locating your game save files is important in case you ever need to transfer them over to a new computer, back them up, among many other things. If you have an issue with a corrupt file, these locations will be how you fix your Character Saves. Included here: Game Saves; Config File; and Mods Folder locations!

7DTD Save Locations:

See help for your operating system below.

Windows

Your game saves are located within your %AppData% folder on Windows, at the following path:

%AppData%\7DaysToDie\Saves

To open up that path:

1. Right click your start menu button (bottom left) and click Run to open a Run window

2. Inside the Run text field, paste the path

3. Click OK, and you will be taken to your 7 Days to Die saves folder!

Mac

On Mac computers, your 7 Days to Die saves will be in this folder:

~/Library/Application Support/7DaysToDie

To open up that path, open up a Finder window, press COMMAND + SHIFT + G on your keyboard, paste the path in, and hit Go.

Linux

On Linux based operating systems, 7DTD saves games in the following directory:

~/.local/share/7DaysToDie

7DTD Config File

Your configuration files for 7DTD will vary based on your operating system. See help for your installation below.

Windows

On Windows, you can find your 7 Days to Die config files at this folder:

%AppData%\7DaysToDie

Mac

Mac 7DTD config files are at this path:

~/Library/Application Support/7DaysToDie

Linux

Linux versions of 7DTD save their config files in this folder:

~/.local/share/7DaysToDie

7DTD Mods Folder

Your 7 Days to Die mods folder location varies based on your operating system, see help for yours below.

Windows

The default location for your 7DTD mods folder on Windows will be:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\7 Days To Die\Mods

Mac

If you're playing 7 Days to Die on a Mac, you can find your mods folder at:

~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/7 Days To Die/Mods

Linux

Linux versions of 7 Days to Die have their mods folder at:

~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/7 Days To Die/Mods