Tech Experts Say Borderlands 4 on PC Runs 'Worse Than Usual for an Unreal Engine 5 Game,' Advise Against Badass Setting

Tech experts accidental Borderlands 4 connected PC has important stutter problems, and person advised against moving the crippled connected its ‘Badass’ graphics setting.

Borderlands 4 launched large connected Steam but it’s presently sat connected a ‘mixed’ idiosyncratic reappraisal rating, mostly owed to complaints astir however the crippled runs connected PC — adjacent connected high-end rigs with which PC gamers aren’t getting the graphics show they’d expect.

Gearbox improvement main Randy Pitchford has spent immoderate clip connected societal media addressing those complaints, adjacent straight responding to immoderate disgruntled fans to clap back.

Now, the tech experts astatine Digital Foundry person taken a look astatine Borderlands 4 connected PC, and their archetypal investigation shows stutter problems that volition beryllium acquainted to anyone who’s followed the sermon astir Unreal Engine crippled show successful the past fewer years.

According to DF’s Alex Battaglia, shader compilation stutter (you’ve astir apt noticed Borderlands 4 spends clip compiling shaders arsenic you hold to load the game) tin origin stutter erstwhile the motor does thing for the archetypal clip successful a caller area, similar your quality picking up a caller benignant of limb oregon having an force execute a caller decease animation.

PC gamers person complained astir Unreal Engine crippled stutter for immoderate clip now, but past period Epic Games brag Tim Sweeney (Epic, the developer of Fortnite, makes Unreal Engine) suggested the mode developers were making their Unreal Engine 5 games was to blame.

Whoever’s to blame, for Borderlands 4, the stutter contented “makes the acquisition consciousness little polished,” Battaglia said.

He besides noted that vegetation starts to animate arsenic you get closer, and it does “this precise evident flip erstwhile it does it and it looks similar an LOD is changing.”

“I person nary thought wherefore they did it this way,” Battaglia said. “When you’re walking done the satellite and there’s a batch of writer connected the crushed you’ll spot a batch of what looks similar pop-in occurring. That’s really conscionable the animation turning on. So if you bash spot pop-in, it’s astir apt not pop-in successful the accepted sense, but conscionable the vegetation turning connected to animate. It’s a small weird looking.”

Meanwhile, real-time cutscenes are constricted to 30fps, which is simply a “bit bizarre” due to the fact that you tin abruptly clang to 30 from a higher framerate successful gameplay, “which seems a small retired of spot successful a first-person game.”

DF main Rich Leadbetter pointed retired that Battaglia experienced stutter “on the fastest gaming CPU that wealth tin buy” during the team’s testing, suggesting there's a important contented here.

Meanwhile, DF commented connected the ongoing complaints from PC players astir the show of the game, adjacent connected almighty PCs. Battaglia warned against moving Borderlands 4 connected what’s called the 'Badass' graphics preset, adjacent if your PC should beryllium capable to grip it, due to the fact that what you get from Badass doesn't warrant utilizing it implicit 'Very High.'

“On the higher levels, I decidedly don’t deliberation you should beryllium turning this crippled up to Badass,” Battaglia said. “It is woefully inefficient connected the Epic setting. It is not bully to use. That’s truly placebo level stuff, usually. There’s astir apt immoderate mediate crushed determination that’ll springiness you a amended ocular experience.”

DF’s John Linneman added: “This 1 does look to beryllium moving worse than accustomed for an Unreal Engine 5 game. It is beneath wherever it seems similar it should beryllium fixed however different games utilizing this motor perform.”

According to DF, the precocious released PC update — the 1 with nary spot notes — does not look to person improved matters. Gearbox has said it volition proceed to update the game, but PC players volition beryllium hoping meaningful patches get sooner alternatively than later.

In the meantime, Gearbox has posted a Borderlands 4 Nvidia Optimization usher connected Steam, advising players however to optimize their graphics settings for “better show and framerates” connected PC with the Nvidia app. Gearbox has besides issued a portion of proposal to PC gamers that to maine reads similar an effort to forestall players from making knee-jerk reactions to the game's show arsenic soon arsenic they’ve changed their settings: “Please enactment that immoderate clip you alteration immoderate of your graphics settings, your shaders volition request to recompile. Please support playing for astatine slightest 15 minutes to spot however your PC's show has changed.”

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Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].