Gearbox Entertainment has published a new post discussing all of the performance optimizations that have been released for Borderlands 4 so far. The updates, according to the studio, are thanks to player feedback and have revolved around “meaningful improvements in frame rate without noticeable sacrifices to the game” in visual fidelity.
“Our primary objective is to strike the balance between making sure players can notice the frame rate improvements we’re making without disrupting their experience,” wrote the studio. Its efforts in this department have resulted in improved average frame rates by about 20 percent across systems running on a variety of hardware, ranging from minimum to recommended specifications.
In a series of bar graphs comparing frame rates across different PC setups between the launch version of Borderlands 4 and its 1.5 version from this month, the company has shown off how many improvements were made. On minimum specs with visuals upscaled to 1080p, it was capable of 53.1 FPS at launch, compared to 67.02 FPS now. Recommended PC specs upscaled to 1440p visuals could run at 64.02 FPS at launch and 75.72 FPS now. High-end hardware, like a PC with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080, could run the game at 86.87 FPS at launch, compared to the current 107.07 FPS.
For native resolutions, the minimum specs could manage 37.32 FPS at launch, while Borderlands 4 version 1.5 is now capable of running at 52.79 FPS. Recommended specs went from delivering 44.89 FPS to 56.54 FPS, and a PC running it on an RTX 4080 jumped from 54.96 FPS to 78.43 FPS.
“The roughly 20% increase in average FPS comes from combined efforts focusing on GPU, CPU, and general efficiency, with the Optimization Team identifying specific refinements to improve performance without being too noticeable in terms of visual fidelity,” wrote the company. These refinements were made to Shader PSOs (Pipeline State Objects), how GPU drivers identified randomized gun parts, and HLOD (Hierarchical Level of Detail), that manages how distant parts of the map are rendered.
There were also many tweaks to smaller aspects of Borderlands 4’s visuals to help boost frame rate, like trimming the polygon count for effects like thruster exhausts, particle effects for Action Skills, and Airship drop world events, among others. CPU strain was reduced thanks to refinements made to damage effects for the Cryo element, collision physics, and cloth simulation. Similarly, the team utilized Unreal Engine 5’s Virtual Shadow Maps technology to improve lighting effects throughout the game while reducing the GPU’s load.
“We’re proud of the work the team’s done to improve Borderlands 4‘s PC performance since launch, and we also recognize we have more to do,” wrote the studio. “We’re in it for the long haul!”
“We are doing all of this without removing the ability that players have had, and will continue to have, to self-tune their experiences to fit their playstyle preferences using the in-game graphics options and graphics card-based drivers and tools.”
Borderlands 4 is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. While a Nintendo Switch 2 release was originally planned, it eventually faced a delay. A report from last month then revealed that Gearbox Entertainment had decided to pause development of the port.
