In a competitive game like Deadlock, fine-tuning your settings is essential for optimal performance on both PC and Steam Deck.
After several months in a not-so-secret playtest, Valve has finally unveiled Deadlock, showcasing the hero shooter MOBA crossover in its early stages.
With the approval from its mysterious developers, Deadlock has quickly built up significant hype, attracting thousands of players already engaged online.
If you’re one of the fortunate players who gained access to the playtest, you might encounter some performance issues, which is expected since the game is in early access.
Here are the best settings to maximize your FPS in Deadlock.
Optimal Video Settings
Settings for Low PC Specs
Below are the recommended settings for players with low-end PC specifications:
- Window Mode: Borderless Window
- Aspect Ratio: 16×9
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080 at 60 Hz (if your monitor supports it)
- Upscaling: Stretch
- Render Quality: 70%
- Anti-Aliasing: None
- Screen Space AO: Off or Low
- Distance Field AO: Off or Low
- Motion Blur: Off
- Shadow Quality: Low
- Texture Quality: Low
- VSync: Off
- Distance Field Shadows: Off
- Displacement Mapping: Off
- Post Process Bloom: Off
- Effects Bloom: Off
- Area Lights: Off
- Depth of Field: Off
- Distance Field Reflections: Off
- MBOIT: Off
- Max FPS allowed: 240
Note: In the screenshot, the Window Mode is set to fullscreen because to achieve the 1920 x 1080 resolution at 60 Hz, fullscreen is required. However, if your monitor’s max Hz is 60, it may not be necessary to have it fullscreen.
With these configurations, you can anticipate around 60 FPS, or slightly more, depending on your system specs.
While this setup won’t provide the highest graphical fidelity or refresh rate, the priority is to maximize FPS. Everything that can be minimized without impacting gameplay has been turned down or disabled. The Render Quality is set at 60% to ensure you can still see distant enemies clearly.
The resolution remains at 1920 x 1080 at 60 Hz. Although a low refresh rate is less than ideal, maintaining at least an HD resolution should help offset that.
If you require additional FPS, consider lowering your resolution. A resolution of 1600 x 900 in fullscreen has proven effective, maintaining an adequate experience while boosting FPS.
Settings for Mid PC Specs
Here are the best settings for mid-range PC specifications:
- Window Mode: Borderless Window
- Aspect Ratio: 16×9
- Resolution: Preferably 1920 x 1080 on 144 Hz to 240 Hz
- Upscaling: Stretch
- Render Quality: 70%
- Anti-Aliasing: None
- Screen Space AO: Low
- Distance Field AO: Low
- Motion Blur: Off
- Shadow Quality: Medium
- Texture Quality: Medium
- VSync: Off
- Distance Field Shadows: On
- Displacement Mapping: On
- Post Process Bloom: Off
- Effects Bloom: Off
- Area Lights: Off
- Depth of Field: Off
- Distance Field Reflections: Off
- MBOIT: Off
- Max FPS allowed: 240
Depending on your system’s specifications, you can expect around 80 to 120 FPS, although it could be higher if your hardware is significantly better than the test setup.
Even with high-end components, these settings can be advantageous for maximizing FPS while still maintaining the game’s aesthetic. It’s a balanced starting point.
With these adjustments, you should enjoy adequate visual clarity while extracting maximum FPS from your system.
Distance Field Shadows and Displacement Mapping are enabled to assist in spotting enemies in darker areas or from a distance.
Settings for High PC Specs
Below are the optimal settings for high-end PC specifications:
- Window Mode: Borderless Window
- Aspect Ratio: 16×9
- Resolution: Preferably 1920 x 1080 on 144 Hz to 240 Hz
- Upscaling: Stretch
- Render Quality: 90%
- Anti-Aliasing: None
- Screen Space AO: Medium
- Distance Field AO: High
- Motion Blur: Off
- Shadow Quality: High
- Texture Quality: High
- VSync: Off
- Distance Field Shadows: On
- Displacement Mapping: On
- Post Process Bloom: Off
- Effects Bloom: Off
- Area Lights: On
- Depth of Field: Off
- Distance Field Reflections: Off
- MBOIT: Off
- Max FPS allowed: 240
With these configurations, expect to achieve 120 to 200 FPS, depending on your hardware. The rig used for testing included a Ryzen 7 5700X and a RTX 3070, consistently hitting performance between 160 to 200 FPS.
Fortunately, Deadlock isn’t graphically intensive, allowing for high settings without significant performance loss. However, since this is a competitive environment, concessions must be made.
The Render Quality is set at 90% to balance between FPS and graphical fidelity while ensuring stunning visuals. Screen Space AO is set to Medium for the same reasons.
Several lighting settings, such as Effects Bloom and Depth of Field, have been disabled as they can be distracting and consume too much performance.
However, for those unconcerned about maximizing FPS, feel free to crank the graphics up to enjoy Deadlock’s aesthetics, though be aware that FPS may reduce.
Optimal Audio Settings
Here’s a list of recommended audio settings for Deadlock:
- Master Volume: Your choice
- Game Sound: 100%
- Menu Music Volume: Your choice
- Voice Chat Volume: 50%
- Speaker Configuration: Headphones
- Mic Trigger Threshold: 0%
- Open Mic: Off
- Push To Talk: V
Audio settings can be subjective, so use this as a starting point to customize settings that suit your preferences.
The Master Volume and Menu Music levels can differ based on personal taste. For reference, we set the Master at 85% and disabled Menu Music entirely, but these levels can change for you.
Mic Trigger Threshold is kept at 0%, and Open Mic is disabled to avoid disturbing teammates with unnecessary background noise.
The default Push To Talk button has been adjusted to V instead of T, as it’s a common key for many players.
Optimal Steam Deck Settings
Here are the best settings for Running Deadlock on Steam Deck:
- Resolution: Use Native Resolution
- Rendering: Direct3D 11 (-dx11)
- Upscaling Technology: Stretch
- Render Quality: 70%
- Anti-Aliasing: FXAA
- Screen Space AO: Off
- Distance Field AO: Off
- Texture Quality: Medium
- VSync: Off (Unselected)
Currently, standard matchmaking is unsupported on Steam Deck, but you can work around this. Navigate to Deadlock in your Steam library and select Properties > General > Launch Options.
In the launch options text box, bring up the keyboard and enter: SteamDeck=0 %command% Despite this workaround, Deadlock is not yet optimized for Steam Deck, likely the reason for the matchmaking issues.
Moreover, Deadlock lacks controller support on Steam Deck, complicating gameplay on this platform.
Even when exploring community-created button layouts, the game tutorials often refer to PC controls, making it challenging to learn and play effectively.
At default settings, Deadlock runs at approximately 25-30 FPS on the handheld, which is suboptimal for a first-person shooter. Additionally, it delivers a limited battery life, with around 2 hours of gameplay on a fully charged OLED model Deck.
These recommended settings can enhance Steam Deck’s performance, elevating FPS to an average of 45 to 50 FPS.
However, given that the game is still under development, it may be best to wait for Valve to optimize this FPS for their hardware.
Ultimately, feel free to modify these settings to better suit your personal gaming experience.
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