ICARUS Performance Optimizations & Bug Fix Tips

ICARUS released yesterday, and many users are reporting graphical errors and performance issues. We’ve compiled some fixes that will hopefully help you get ICARUS running smooth.

How to Fix Fuzzy or Flickering Graphics

This is caused by NVIDIA’s DLSS feature. You can turn it off in the Display section of the Settings menu; this may negatively impact performance, but it should remove the fuzzing and flickering.

If for some reason you aren’t able to modify the DLSS Mode in the menu, you can also modify the game’s .ini file:

Note that this fix involves modifying a settings file for the game and could potentially cause other issues — do so at your own risk. It is also a good idea to make a copy of the file before you modify it.

1. Go to Windows Explorer and type the following into the the field at the top of the window: %localappdata%IcarusSavedConfigWindowsNoEditor
2. Open the file named GameUserSettings.ini
3. Press Ctrl+S, and search for DLSSMode. Rewrite this line so that it reads DLSSMode=Off

How to Improve FPS

Strangely, increasing the FOV gives many players increased FPS. This setting is found in the Gameplay section of the Settings menu.

If increasing the FOV doesn’t help enough, you can also of course turn down various graphical settings. Ones that are particularly resource-intensive include View Distance and Shadows, so turning those down is a good place to start.

How to Increase Performance

Use DX11 instead of DX12

According to ICARUS’ creator Dean Hall, ICARUS is much more optimized in DX11, so if you’re having issues with performance, consider running the game with DX11. You are given this option when you first launch ICARUS in Steam. If you launch ICARUS from a desktop shortcut, you won’t get this option, so make sure you actually start the game from Steam to change this setting.

How to Fix Pop Ins

Increase Virtual Memory

Note that this suggestion involves modifying how much VRAM ICARUS uses, and can cause other issues. Modify these settings at your own risk.

There is a setting in ICARUS which can increase your available Virtual Memory; this can sometimes increase performance. First, you’ll need to find out what your GPU’s available VRAM is. Note that these directions are for Windows 10:

1. In the Windows search bar, type “view advanced display”, and then click “View advanced display info”.
2. In the Advanced display settings window, you should see a clickable phrase below your monitor info: “Display adapter properties for Display 1”. Click this.
3. In the window that opens up (it may open up behind other windows, so look for it with alt+tab if it doesn’t appear), note what value is listed for your “Dedicated Video Memory”.

4. Now go into the ICARUS settings, and in the Display tab, find the “Texture Streaming Poolsize” under the Quality section. If this value is lower than your Dedicated Video Memory, you can experiment with increasing it, but make sure you do not set the Texture Streaming Poolsize higher than your available Dedicated Video Memory.

(Thanks to EIP user Liam O for this information!)

We hope these fixes helped with your performance in ICARUS! If you’ve found other settings or tricks that helped, please feel free to share them with your fellow players by using the comments section below.