Aquareal Shaders Wiki › Guides › Reduce Performance Impact While Maintaining Visual Quality
Reduce Performance Impact While Maintaining Visual Quality
Identify Performance-Heavy Features
Open the shader options menu and look for toggles or sliders related to reflections, shadow quality, water effects, and bloom/glow. These typically consume the most GPU resources in Aquareal Shaders.
Disable or Lower Intensive Settings
- Water Reflections: Disable or reduce reflection resolution if frame rate drops near water.
- Shadow Distance: Shorter shadow render distances improve performance with minimal visual loss at distance.
- Wave Complexity: Simplify water wave calculations by lowering wave intensity or frequency.
- Bloom Effects: Reduce or disable bloom if bright areas cause stuttering.
Monitor and Adjust
Make one change at a time and check your frame rate. Use an in-game FPS counter to measure impact. Start by disabling the most demanding features, then gradually re-enable them until you find the balance between visuals and performance. Your specific GPU, CPU, and render distance all affect which settings matter most. Test in demanding areas—large water bodies, bright skies, and complex terrain—to find realistic performance limits.