The Cycle Frontier – Fix Lag, Stuttering & FPS Drops

The Cycle Frontier Lag: The Cycle Frontier is the new title in town, developed and published by Yager. The beta testing for the title was done back in 2021, after that the game just disappeared. The developers have now released the game on steam and you can dive into the Fortuna III with the Prospector.

The free-to-play PvPvE Extraction Shooter is somewhat inspired or you can say similar to Tarkov. You gather resources, shoot animals, take down monsters, fight other prospectors and survive in the wild. You can also team up and play with your friends.

The game is currently sitting on a mixed rating with over 5000 reviews on Steam. We feel like the ratings don’t do justice to the game, you need time to adjust to the world and understand the game. Every player is comparing it to Tarkov, yes it’s the same concept but in a different world.

Coming to the performance of the game, it seems like the devs haven’t optimized it well. Even AAA titles are full of issues for weeks after their release but they are ironed out eventually. We hope the same is the case for this game, until then you can use our guide to fix FPS Drops & Stuttering in The Cycle Frontier.

How To Fix Lag in The Cycle Frontier

Minimum

• OS: Windows 10 64-bit
• Processor: Intel i5-4590 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
• Memory: 6 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 or AMD Radeon R9 270; 2GB VRAM
• Storage: 37 GB

*Targeting 30 FPS

Recommended

• OS: Windows 10 64-bit
• Processor: Intel i5-6600 or AMD Ryzen 5 1400
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 570; 4GB VRAM
• Storage: 37 GB

*Targeting 60 FPS

As any PC gamer knows, system requirements are critical to gaming performance. Games are becoming increasingly demanding, and even a small deviation from the recommended specs can significantly impact framerates and overall smoothness. In some cases, it can even render a game unplayable. For this reason, it’s important to pay close attention to system requirements when choosing a game. However, it’s also important to keep in mind that system requirements are not always an accurate predictor of performance.

In some cases, a game that is well within your system’s capabilities may run poorly, while a game with higher requirements may run perfectly. The best way to gauge how a game will perform on your system is to read reviews and watch gameplay footage. This will give you a better idea of what to expect before you make a purchase.

Change Graphic Control Panel Panel Settings

Here are a few tweaks for both Nvidia and AMD Users that will provide instantly boost your FPS in The Cycle Frontier:

For Nvidia Users:

• Open up Nvidia’s Control Panel. Right-click on desktop > click Nvidia control panel
• Click Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings
• Find “The Cycle Frontier“, you can manually add the game if it’s not in the list
• Now, make the following changes:

Monitor Tech: G-Sync (If available)
Maximum Pre-rendered frames: 2
Threaded optimization: On
Power Management: Prefer Maximum Performance
Texture Filtering – Quality:  Performance
Low Lateny Mode: Low (High or Ultra makes sense only for PvP Games)*

Nvidia Low Latency Mode is a feature found in Nvidia’s Control Panel. It is designed to help reduce input latency on Nvidia graphics card systems. Low Latency Mode can be used in games or any other application where you need to reduce the amount of time it takes for your inputs to be registered.

For AMD Users

• Anti-Aliasing Mode: Use Application settings
• Anti-aliasing Method: Multisampling
• Morphological Filtering: Off
• Anisotropic Filtering Mode: Use application settings
• Texture Filtering Quality: Performance
• Surface Format Optimization: On
• Wait for V-sync: Off
• OpenGL Triple Buffering: Off
• Shader Cache: AMD optimized
• Tesselation Mode: Override application settings
• Maximum Tesselation Level: Off
• GPU Workload: Graphics
• Chill: Off
• Frame Rate Target Control: Disabled

Update Your Device Drivers

• Download Nvidia Drivers
• Download AMD Drivers
• Directx Drivers

Do you wonder why you should update your graphic card drivers? It would be good to check on the new updates for two key reasons. Firstly, it’s the only way to ensure you have the latest drivers for your device. The more recent drivers will allow your computer to run every graphics-intensive application and keep up with any changes in technology without trailing too far behind.

Enable or Disable Game Mode in Windows 10

The new game mode makes gaming on your computer even better. Windows prioritizes its performance when playing a game in game mode and gives it more of the computer’s resources. This means that the game will run faster and smoother, with less lag and fewer interruptions. The game mode also ensures that your computer’s performance won’t be impacted when you’re not playing a game.

To enable game mode, go to Settings > Gaming > Game Mode. Turn this off or no one by one and compare the performance.

Debloat Your Windows Installation

Debloating your Windows installation can speed it up in several ways. For one, removing unnecessary apps reduces the amount of memory and CPU resources they consume. Additionally, many bloatware apps run in the background and consume network bandwidth; removing them frees up that capacity too. Finally, many bloatware apps are just plain slow and clunky; getting rid of them makes Windows faster and more responsive.

There are a few different ways to debloat Windows. One is to use a tool like Sycnex Script on GitHub; this utility scans your system for unnecessary programs and offers to remove them for you. Another option is to go through the Control Panel’s Programs and Features list and uninstall any programs you don’t need or want.

Syncnex can be used to remove:

• Misc Bloatware in Windows
• Disable Edge PDF
• Uninstall OneDrive
• Disable Telemetry

Disable in-game overlays

Discord

If you are using Discord like me, I’d recommend changing a few things. One such thing is discord overlay; it’s not something you need at all times. I use a two-monitor setup, so the overlay is useless for me. It is known for causing FPS-related issues.

Disable Hardware Acceleration in Discord

• Open Discord
• Click on User Settings > Appearance
• Click on the Hardware Acceleration radio, this will turn it off.

Disable in-game Discord Overlay

• Open Discord
• Go to Overlay under App Settings
• Click on the “Enable in-game overlay” to turn it off.

Windows Game Bar

• Click Start > Settings > Gaming
• Set “Record game clips, screenshots, and broadcast using Game bar” to off on the Game Bar.
• Now head to the Captures tab and set the “Record the background while I’m playing a game” to Off.
• You can also test turning Game Mode on or off, one by one.

Disable Steam Overlay

Steam overlay is a feature that allows you to view information about the game while in-game. It also allows you to access the Steam community and chat with other players. If you do not want to use the Steam overlay, you can disable it. To disable the Steam overlay:

• Open the Steam client and click on the “Steam” menu at the top left of the window.
• Select “Settings.”
• In the “Settings” window, select “In-Game.”
• Under “In-Game,” uncheck the box next to “Enable Steam Overlay while In-Game.”
• Click on “OK” to save your changes.

Increase Game Priority

This is an old-school method of boosting FPS in certain games; this only affects CPU relying Games.

• Press CTLR + Shift + ESC to open the task manager
• Locate The Cycle Frontier, and right-click > go to details
• Now right-click on the process’s .exe file and set priority to “high”.

This will prioritize your game over other windows applications and provide you with a bit of boost.

Update Windows

The recent couple of updates were weird and broke a lot of games. Windows has already pushed out hotfixes to fix those issues, and you can download them immediately. If you are running an older version of Windows, I recommend downloading the updated version.

There was also an update that caused windows to use up a lot of RAM for its search bar’s function called Cortana. This also has been fixed; you just have to update.

Why Should You Update Windows?

One of the main reasons to update Windows is for performance enhancements. With every new update, Microsoft improves the speed and efficiency of the operating system. For example, with Windows 10, Microsoft made several changes to improve performance, including faster startup times and improved graphics processing.

Another reason to update Windows is for security enhancements. Each new update includes security patches and fixes that help protect your computer from malicious software and hackers. For example, the Windows 10 Anniversary Update included several security enhancements, including a new Windows Hello feature that allows you to sign in to your computer using facial recognition.

Fix The Cycle Frontier Lagging on Windows 11

These steps are specific to Windows 11 users.

Disable Core-Isolation on Windows 11

Core Isolation is a new feature built-in Windows 11 that protects your PC from untrusted applications and drivers. The tradeoff is the performance. But this will not be an issue for anyone who doesn’t download anything from untrusted sites.

Here’s how you can disable it:

• Click on the Start Menu button and select settings
• Click Privacy and Security > Windows Security > Device Security
• Here you will find Core Isolation; click on Core isolation details

• You will find a “Memory Integrity” radio button on the next screen; just turn it off.

You’ve successfully disabled VBS on Windows 11. Many users on Reddit have reported this to significantly improve performance for many games. We’re talking about improvements of about 20-30 fps straightaway.

Enable Game Mode

We’ve noticed considerable improvements in the Game Mode in Windows 11. For Windows 10, we suggest disabling both Game mode and game bar, whereas this option should be enabled on Windows 11.

To Enable: Just type game mode in search and enable it.

Use Compatibility Settings

Of course, not all the titles are optimized for the new operating system yet. This should change soon. Until then, you can use Windows’s inbuilt compatibility setting. To do so:

• Right-click on the app’s exe file
• Go to properties > Compatibility
• Under Settings, Locate “Disable fullscreen optimizations”, click on the checkbox
• Also, select “Run this program as an administrator.”
• Click Apply and close the box.

One more thing suggested by Reddit users is doing a clean Windows 11 install rather than upgrading it from Win 10. Also, DX12 optimized games benefit while older ones are taking a hit.

How to fix stuttering in The Cycle Frontier

Disable Microsoft Device Association Root Enumerator

This is a Microsoft service that used to cause micro stutters in Elden Ring, turns out disabling it works for The Cycle Frontier too.

To do so:

• Launch Device Manager, and search for it using Windows Search
• Click on Software Devices to expand the list
• Locate “Microsoft Device Association Root Enumerator”> Right-click and disable it as shown in the screenshot below:

Move the game to SSD or faster HDD

A Reddit user reported constant stuttering in The Cycle Frontier; someone asked him for his specs, and it turned out the guy had an SSD for C Drive, but the game was installed on the 5400 RPM drive. The user moved his game to the SSD, and the stuttering issue was fixed.

As technology continues to evolve, so does the need for better storage. Although hard drives have been around for a while, they are quickly replaced by solid-state drives due to their increased speed and decreased energy consumption. SSDs are more expensive than hard disks but offer many more benefits. On top of the increased speed, they also consume less power. This is a critical reason SSDs are used in many new devices, from smartphones to computers.

Close any memory-hogging applications

Open up the task manager and check your memory and disk usage. Close all applications (non-windows) that are eating your memory and using a disk drive. If you are still stuttering with everything looking fine, you should probably wait for the hotfix update, which should be pushed out shortly.

Several memory-hungry apps can cause high RAM usage in Windows. One of the most notorious offenders is Chrome. Even when minimized, Chrome can take up a lot of system resources. Firefox and Opera also tend to use more RAM than Edge. If you’re experiencing regular crashes or slowdowns, it might be time to check your app’s resource usage and see if any of your favorites are guilty parties.

Use Process Lasso to limit CPU usage.

Process Lasso is software that helps you limit the CPU usage of a particular app. Download the software and use it accordingly. I was able to drop my CPU usage by almost 20% after using the software. Also, try switching between hyperthreading on/off; this also has a considerable improvement.

These settings and optimizations were tested on PCs with the following configuration:

• i5 8500 with GTX 1060 @1080p
• i3 10300 with RTX 2060 @1080p
• i7 8700 with GTX 1650 @1080p
• AMD Ryzen 5600x with RTX 3080 @2k

I am just hoping this game doesn’t disappoint us.