Best Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Settings for FPS (2026)
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The best Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 settings for FPS are Global Illumination and Shadows on High (not Epic), Vegetation on Medium–High, Texture Quality matched to your VRAM, and DLSS or XeSS on Quality — Global Illumination is the single heaviest setting because it drives Unreal Engine 5’s Lumen, so lowering it is the biggest free gain. The game is unusually well-optimized for a UE5 title; these changes clear a stable 60 FPS on mid-range hardware without a meaningful visual hit.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive) runs on Unreal Engine 5 with Lumen software global illumination and Nanite geometry — the two systems that put the heaviest load on your GPU. There is no ray tracing to worry about, and the combat is reactive (dodge and parry on timing), so smooth frame pacing matters even though it is turn-based at heart.
Best settings at a glance
| Setting | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Global Illumination | High | Heaviest setting — drives Lumen; Epic→High is the biggest free FPS gain |
| Shadows | High | 2nd-heaviest; Epic shadows cost a lot for little visible gain |
| Vegetation | Medium–High | Changes noticeably preset-to-preset; a real GPU lever |
| Texture Quality | Match VRAM | Very VRAM-dependent; 8 GB → High at 1080p, lower if pop-in |
| Anti-Aliasing / Upscaling | DLSS or XeSS – Quality | Biggest single FPS boost; XeSS for AMD/Arc (no FSR) |
| Post-Processing / Effects | High | Cheap; leave up for image quality |
| Frame Generation | Not available | No official support (mod only) |
| Ray Tracing | Not available | Uses software Lumen instead |
The settings that actually cost you FPS
Three settings move the needle; the rest are close to free.
- Global Illumination is the top lever. It controls how hard Lumen works, and the jump from High to Epic is expensive for a difference you will rarely notice in motion. Set it to High.
- Shadows is next. Epic shadow resolution is a classic UE5 GPU sink — High looks nearly identical and returns several frames.
- Vegetation changes noticeably between presets and is worth Medium–High on weaker GPUs, especially in the forested areas.
Textures, post-processing, and effects are cheap on capable hardware — the only reason to lower Texture Quality is VRAM.
VRAM and texture quality
Expedition 33 is genuinely VRAM-dependent. You want at least 8 GB of VRAM for High textures at 1080p; 1440p and 4K want more, or you offload the pressure with upscaling. If you are on an 8 GB card and see texture pop-in or periodic hitching, drop Texture Quality one notch before changing anything else — that is almost always the cause. See how much VRAM you need for gaming if you are unsure where your card stands.
Upscaling: use DLSS or XeSS (there is no FSR)
Upscaling is the single biggest FPS boost here, and the game’s support is specific:
- NVIDIA: DLSS at Quality (or Balanced at 4K). Best image quality of the three.
- AMD and Intel: the game does not officially support FSR — select XeSS at Quality instead, which runs on Radeon and Arc GPUs.
- Frame generation is not officially included (only via an unofficial mod), and there is no ray tracing.
If you are weighing which upscaler to trust, see DLSS vs FSR vs XeSS for gaming.
Fixing stutter in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
The game is well-optimized overall, but two kinds of stutter show up. The good news is that most of it is confined to the prologue and settles once you reach the more open sections.
- Update or clean-install your GPU drivers. Post-driver micro-stutter is common; a clean install with DDU clears it.
- On AMD, turn Anti-Lag off in Adrenalin. This specifically resolves a stutter many Radeon players hit in Expedition 33 — see best AMD Radeon settings for gaming.
- Reset the config. If your settings look wrong or performance is erratic, delete
GameUserSettings.ini(in%LOCALAPPDATA%\Expedition33\Saved\Config\Windows\) to reset, then re-run the built-in benchmark and re-apply the table above. - Let shaders settle. Early shader-compilation hitching is UE5’s normal first-hour behaviour — see shader-compilation stutter explained. It fades as the cache builds.
- Enable Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling on modern GPUs to reduce scheduling overhead and smooth frame pacing.
System-side wins
A few Windows-level steps help frame pacing on any demanding UE5 game:
- Enable XMP/EXPO so your RAM runs at rated speed — it lifts 1% lows on CPU-bound RPGs.
- Use the High-performance power plan while gaming.
- Cap your frame rate a few frames under your refresh rate for steadier pacing; lower timer resolution can help input feel — see the ultimate guide to timer resolution for gaming.
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
What are the best Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 settings for FPS?
Set Global Illumination and Shadows to High (not Epic), Vegetation to Medium–High, and match Texture Quality to your VRAM. Turn on DLSS (NVIDIA) or XeSS (AMD/Intel) at Quality. Global Illumination is the single heaviest setting because it drives Unreal Engine 5's Lumen; dropping it from Epic to High is the biggest free FPS gain with almost no visual loss.
Why is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 stuttering on PC?
Most stutter is UE5 shader-compilation and traversal hitching, and it is most pronounced in the prologue before settling once you reach the open areas. Update or clean-install your GPU drivers, and on AMD cards turn Anti-Lag off in Adrenalin — that specifically resolves a stutter many Radeon users hit. If settings look broken, delete GameUserSettings.ini to reset and re-run the built-in benchmark.
Does Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 have DLSS, FSR, and frame generation?
It ships with NVIDIA DLSS and Intel XeSS upscaling but does not officially support AMD FSR — Radeon and Arc users should select XeSS. It has no official frame generation and no ray tracing (it uses software Lumen). DLSS 4 frame generation is only possible through an unofficial mod.
How much VRAM does Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 need?
It is very VRAM-dependent. You want at least 8 GB of VRAM for High textures at 1080p; 1440p and 4K need more, or lean on upscaling to reduce the load. If you see texture pop-in or stutter on an 8 GB card, drop Texture Quality one notch before touching anything else.
What FPS can I expect in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?
On the maxed Epic preset, benchmarks average roughly 83 FPS at 1080p, 64 FPS at 1440p, and 53 FPS at 4K on high-end hardware. Because it is generally well-optimized, dropping Global Illumination and Shadows to High plus enabling DLSS/XeSS Quality comfortably clears 60 FPS on mid-range GPUs.