Dune: Awakening does a fantastic job recreating the brutal beauty of Arrakis, thanks to Unreal Engine 5.
From blinding sandstorms to vast shifting dunes and towering Sandworms, this survival MMO looks stunning—but all that detail comes with a performance cost.
If you’re playing on PC and noticing frame rate drops in bases, settlements, or while exploring large open areas, don’t worry.
With the right settings, you can smooth out the experience without sacrificing too much eye candy. Here’s the best PC settings guide for Dune: Awakening to strike that perfect balance between performance and visuals.
⚙️ Display Settings
| Setting | Best Option | Why It Works |
| Field of View | 80–90 | Wider FOVs hurt performance; this is the sweet spot. |
| Motion Blur | Off | Cleaner visuals and less visual clutter. |
| VSync | Off | Prevents input lag in dense areas. |
| Frame Rate Cap | Unlimited | No need to throttle your FPS. |
| Window Mode | Windowed Fullscreen | Alt-tabs better; avoids resolution bugs. |
🛠️ Pro Tip: If you’re having resolution problems, switch to fullscreen briefly, then return to Windowed Fullscreen.
🎮 Graphics Settings
| Setting | Best Option | Notes |
| Quality Presets | Custom | Gives you full control. |
| Upscaling Method | DLSS (Nvidia) / FSR (AMD) | Great FPS boost for minimal visual loss. |
| Frame Generation | DLSS FG / FSR FG | Helps FPS, but use only if you’re struggling. |
| DLSS/FSR Quality | Balanced | Keeps things looking sharp while boosting frames. |
| Nvidia Reflex | Enabled | Reduces any input lag from upscaling methods. |
💡 Lighting & Shadows
| Setting | Best Option | Why |
| Shadows | Medium | Still looks great; saves lots of FPS. |
| Virtual Shadow Maps | Off | Visual upgrade, but tanks performance. |
| GI Quality | High | Maintains good ambient lighting. |
| Enable Lumen | On | If your GPU can handle it—it’s worth it. |
| Reflections Quality | High | Improves visuals without too much of a performance hit. |
📦 Detail & Texture Settings
| Setting | Best Option | Why |
| Low-End Laptop Mode | Off | Only use if you’re running on very low-end hardware. |
| Limit CPU Usage | Off | Only helpful for multi-tasking or keeping temps low. |
| View Distance | Medium | Reduces pop-in while balancing load. |
| Post Processing | Ultra | Looks great; little impact on frames. |
| Effects Quality | High | Nice visuals for combat and explosions. |
| Texture Quality | Based on VRAM | 6GB VRAM: Low–Medium / 8GB+: High–Ultra |
| Foliage Quality | Ultra | Very little foliage in most areas—won’t affect performance much. |
🧪 Performance Results (Test System)
- CPU: Intel i9-14900HX
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 4080
- RAM: 32GB
- Performance:
- Average FPS: ~70–75 in outdoor areas
- Drop to ~60 FPS in indoor bases or cluttered spaces
- Average FPS: ~70–75 in outdoor areas
Dune: Awakening runs pretty well overall, but there’s room for optimization in future patches. Until then, using the settings above should help you enjoy smooth gameplay while still soaking in Arrakis’ stunning visuals.
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