follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap
No matter how much Epic bangs the drum about the shiny dev tools and beautiful looks, the unfortunate reality is that Unreal Engine 5 has become synonymous with ‘performance issues’ for most games.
Whether that fame is warranted and how much of it is the engine’s fault versus studios going too ambitious or skimping on optimization is another story, but one of the poster children for looking great and running terribly on UE5 is Gray Zone Warfare.
Following a popular but premature release in early 2024, the game has gone through a redemption thanks to serious updates that have fixed bugs, added content, and improved performance. However, the latter is still a sore point—the game went from struggling to run early on to being playable, but release builds are still punishing on weaker rigs.
It might have taken Madfinger Games a while, but it looks like the game might finally lose its performance hog fame with the upcoming 0.3.5.0 patch, helping the UE5 reputation in the process.
Gray Zone Warfare 3.5.0 Shows UE5.5 Performance Potential
The next patch for Gray Zone Warfare has gone through an extended round of public testing in the beta branch, and developers and players have shared encouraging impressions from it.
According to Madfinger Games, the update to Unreal Engine 5.5 introduces parallel rendering, which should significantly decrease the CPU load. This also comes with big memory savings, with the game now requiring approximately 400MB less VRAM and 2GB less RAM on all systems.
This table shows rough FPS improvements around the Tiger Bay mall area, which previously brought many a system, including my RTX 4060 and Ryzen 5 5600X, to its knees:
|
PC |
0.3.4.0 |
0.3.5.0 |
|---|---|---|
|
Low-End |
30 FPS |
40 FPS |
|
Mid-Range |
40 FPS |
60 FPS |
|
High-End |
60 FPS |
90 FPS |
However, the more interesting data is a heatmap comparing performance data of 1765 players on the live version with 1553 on the 0.3.5.0 test build.
The map shows players with various PC setups, and the recorded FPS while out on the field. Although you can spot a reduction in red spots that trend toward 20 FPS, the most noticeable change is that almost all areas are now hovering around 60 FPS instead of 40 FPS as before.
With its 42sqkm map with thousands of AI and more trees than stars in the sky, Gray Zone Warfare is always going to be a bit of a performance hog, but the jump achieved largely due to the shift to Unreal Engine 5.5 is good news for other games currently struggling to deliver consistently high frame rates.
This is especially positive news for STALKER 2 fans, who are due for the jump to Unreal Engine 5.5.6 early next year following a troubled launch.
Gray Zone Warfare is currently out on Steam, where it now sits with Mostly Positive ratings following mixed first impressions.
Gray Zone Warfare
Like Follow Followed FPS Survival Open-World Systems
Where to play
WHERE TO PLAY
DIGITAL
