Low FPS in Grounded 2 can be a real pain, especially when the game runs fine in some areas but tanking outdoors or during heavy lighting. It’s kind of weird, because even on newer, high-end PCs, folks are reporting stutters, frame drops, or just overall sluggishness. Sometimes, it feels like the game is hitting a wall with Unreal Engine’s quirks, especially with lighting and shadows. So, this guide tries to cover some of those hidden pitfalls and shares practical fixes, many of which are data-backed by players who’ve tinkered around and found what actually helps. It’s not about fancy settings only, but also hardware and config tweaks that can restore playable FPS.
How to Fix Low FPS in Grounded 2 – Real World Tried Fixes
Lower resolution and render scale to reduce GPU load
First up, many players notice that Grounded 2 can be chugging even at “low” settings because the game defaults to rendering at your monitor’s native resolution and full quality. Basically, the game tries to push everything through the GPU without easing up, which, in some setups, causes it to choke. Dropping the resolution to 1080p or turning down the render scale to around 70–75% can smooth things out quite a bit. This is useful when you still want decent visuals but need more fps. Turn down the graphics preset to Low or Medium, disable dynamic resolution, and restart the game—it often makes a noticeable difference. Honestly, on some machines, it’s a little hack but worth trying to keep gameplay smooth.
Disable Lumen in Engine.ini to bypass heavy lighting effects
Now, this one happened to be a game changer for some. The Unreal Engine’s Lumen lighting system, while pretty for visuals, can absolutely hammer fps outdoors or in open areas because it’s super demanding. If you’re comfortable messing with config files, you can disable it through the Engine.ini file. The location tends to be at %LocalAppData%\Augusta\Saved\Config\Windows. Just open or create Engine.ini there and add the following under [/Script/Engine. RendererSettings]:
r. Lumen. DiffuseIndirect. Allow=0 r. FilmGrain=0 Make sure to save and lock the file as read-only, or the game might overwrite your changes when it patches. After that, restart the game—it’s a bit of a sneaky fix but reportedly boosts FPS significantly in outdoor zones. Found that on some setups, disabling Lumen cuts down the lighting calculations that kill fps, especially when large shadows and foliage are involved.
Reduce shadow quality and turn off reflective effects
Next, shadow quality and reflections can be FPS killers, especially if set to Epic. Even in small bases or indoor sections, overly detailed shadows and reflections demand a lot from the GPU. Toggling shadow quality from Epic to High or Medium helps, as does disabling reflections and ambient occlusion via your GameUserSettings.ini (found typically in %LocalAppData%\Augusta\Saved\Config\Windows).If possible, remove or hide dynamic light sources in your base—you’d be surprised how much FPS jumps when the GPU isn’t busy calculating reflections and shadows constantly. It’s a balancing act, but sometimes compromises here can save the game from chugging.
Ensure GPU drivers are fully up to date
This one’s no-brainer but often overlooked. Old or mismatched GPU drivers cause rendering bugs, stutters, and frame drops. Head over to NVIDIA’s or AMD’s official website, download their latest Game Ready or WHQL drivers, and do a clean install (for NVIDIA, check the custom install checkbox and select “Perform a clean install”).After reboot, test the game. Sometimes, just updating drivers fixes all sorts of weird fps dips that no in-game setting can solve. Yeah, of course, Windows updates help too—don’t ignore those.
Close background apps and turn on Windows Game Mode
Background programs can eat CPU and GPU cycles without you noticing, which inevitably drags down FPS. Close Chrome, Discord, or any heavy apps with Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc).Then, go into Settings → Gaming → Xbox Game Bar and make sure Game Mode is enabled. That way, Windows tries to prioritize game resources. Then relaunch Grounded 2 and see if the FPS holds steadier. Sometimes, those background processes conflict or hog resources unexpectedly, so it’s worth a shot to give the game the whole system’s attention.
Set power profile to High Performance and check for thermal throttling
If your CPU or GPU is overheating, it will throttle down to avoid damage, which kills FPS. Open the Control Panel → Power Options and switch your plan to High Performance. Use tools like MSI Afterburner to watch temps—ideally, stay under 85 °C. Overclocked systems or laptops with clogged cooling might struggle here. Also, consider cleaning your fans, reapplying thermal paste if you’re comfortable, or reducing overclock settings. Sometimes, just making sure cooling is adequate can be enough to stop that frustrating FPS drop caused by thermal throttling.
Verify game files and keep everything updated
Corrupted or outdated game files often cause weird performance issues, including low FPS. On Steam, right-click Grounded 2, go to Properties → Local Files → Verify Integrity. On Xbox/Game Pass, there’s a Manage option to repair or update. Also, update Windows—not just for compatibility, but for critical gaming improvements. On some setups, a fresh reinstall or repair gets rid of lingering issues, especially if the game wasn’t installed properly or conflicts arose after updates. Restart afterward and test again—sometimes that’s all it takes.
Root causes of FPS dips in Grounded 2
- Heavy lighting effects like Lumen, which are still optimizing out early on
- Overly demanding shadows and reflections that tax the GPU
- Outdated, missing, or mismatched GPU drivers and Windows updates
- Background apps competing for resources or power plan settings that throttle performance
- Corrupt game files or OS mismatches that cause rendering issues
Wrap-up
Getting good FPS in Grounded 2 isn’t just about maxing out every setting. It’s about understanding Unreal’s quirks and tweaking wisely—lowering resolution, disabling lighting features like Lumen, trimming down shadows, updating drivers, and cleaning background software. Not all fixes work the same for everyone, but combining these should help smooth out the experience. There’s always a chance of performance bumps after patches, but in the meantime, these manual tweaks are your best shot for playable frame rates.
FAQs
Unreal Engine’s Lumen lighting kicks in more heavily outdoors, especially with dynamic shadows and foliage, which can totally tank fps, even on beefy GPUs. Turning off Lumen, if possible, or reducing shadows helps here.
Supposedly, yes. Users have reported jumping from 30 to 60+ fps after disabling Lumen and film grain via config edits—pretty wild if it actually works that well, but it does in some cases.
Epic-quality shadows are mostly dynamic with detailed reflections, which means your GPU spends a lot of cycles on shadows alone. When the sunlight is intense or shadows are high quality, fps dips happen. No magic fix for that, just reduce shadow quality.
Grounded 2 is offline-heavy, so the internet doesn’t directly impact fps. But high ping or network activity can cause CPU or GPU contention, which might feel like fps issues sometimes.
The game’s early access means performance will improve over time, but the quick fixes—like driver updates, resolution tweaks, Engine.ini edits—can give immediate relief. Worth doing now if fps is unplayable.
Yes, PC versions often lack DLSS or FSR support, so even top PCs can see dips. Consoles like Xbox also struggle with resolution scaling. All platforms benefit from some form of optimization, but the fixes are similar across setups.
Hopefully this shaves off a few hours troubleshooting — just something that worked on multiple setups, and maybe it’ll help yours, too. Fingers crossed it helps for someone out there.