Axom Performance Guide: Optimize Your Game

System Requirements and Baseline

Before diving into settings, ensure your PC meets the minimum specs for Axom. The game is a physics-driven strategy title, which can be demanding on your CPU. For a smooth experience, we recommend meeting the recommended requirements. Check our full system requirements guide for a detailed breakdown.

To establish a baseline, run the game's built-in benchmark if available. This will give you an average FPS and help you measure the impact of any changes you make. A stable 60 FPS is ideal for the fast-paced tower defense action.

Best Graphics Settings for Performance

Axom offers a range of graphics options. Here is a recommended configuration for maximizing performance without sacrificing too much visual quality.

• Display Mode: Fullscreen (provides the best performance).
• Resolution: Native monitor resolution. Lowering this can give a significant FPS boost.
• VSync: Off (unless you experience screen tearing).
• Texture Quality: Medium. This has a minimal impact on performance on most modern GPUs.
• Shadow Quality: Low. Shadows are a major performance drain.
• Effects Quality: Low. Reduces particle effects from explosions and enemy attacks.
• Post Processing: Off. Disables bloom, motion blur, and depth of field.
• Anti-Aliasing: TAA or Off. TAA can smooth edges but may cause slight blurriness.
• View Distance: Medium. This controls how far you can see. Lowering it helps when zooming out.

Advanced Performance Tweaks

Beyond in-game settings, you can tweak your system for better performance.

Windows Settings

• Game Mode: Enable Game Mode in Windows Settings.
• Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling: Turn this on for a potential performance lift.
• Power Plan: Set your power plan to "High Performance" to ensure your CPU and GPU are not throttled.

NVIDIA / AMD Control Panel

Create a specific profile for Axom (axom.exe) in your GPU control panel.

• Power Management Mode: Prefer Maximum Performance.
• Texture Filtering - Quality: High Performance.
• Threaded Optimization: On.

Launch Options (Steam)

Right-click Axom in your Steam library, go to Properties, and add these launch options under General:

-high -USEALLAVAILABLECORES -malloc=system -nojoy

These flags tell the game to use all CPU cores and prioritize its process, which can help with stuttering.

CPU and RAM Optimization

Axom's physics simulation can be CPU-intensive. Here is how to manage it.

• Close Background Apps: Close browsers, Discord, and other applications while playing.
• Overclocking: If you have an overclockable CPU (Intel K-series or AMD Ryzen), a stable overclock can yield noticeable gains.
• RAM: Ensure you have at least 16GB of RAM. If you have less, consider closing other applications. XMP/DOCP profiles in your BIOS will ensure your RAM runs at its advertised speed.

Understanding Performance Metrics

When testing settings, focus on these metrics:

• Average FPS: Your overall frame rate.
• 1% and 0.1% Lows: These are your stutter indicators. A low 1% low (e.g., 30 FPS) means you are experiencing noticeable hitches even if your average is 60 FPS. Tweak settings until these lows are as high as possible.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

If you still experience issues after following this guide, try these steps:

1. Update Drivers: Ensure your GPU drivers are up to date.
2. Verify Game Files: In Steam, right-click Axom > Properties > Installed Files > Verify integrity of game files.
3. Disable Overlays: Turn off Steam, Discord, and GeForce Experience overlays.
4. Reinstall: As a last resort, reinstall the game.

For more help, see our troubleshooting guide and settings guide.