Ghostrunner is a fast-paced slasher game set in a futuristic rather cyberpunk setting. Mankind is on the verge of extinction as you make your way to the top of the Dharma Tower (humanity’s last shelter) slashing your way across several enemies. The game is unique and gives you a very satisfying feeling when you slash open an enemy.

The game plays pretty well on most systems since it is not that demanding but there is a bit of a problem. The game lags severely when you turn on RTX and this needs to be fixed. So what can we do about it? Of course, we can turn off RTX and play the game, but that would not be satisfying would it? We would want to enjoy the amazing visuals Ray Tracing has to offer. So how do we fix it?

Ghostrunner – Lagging, and Stuttering with RTX / How to fix

Turning on RTX in the game has a tremendous impact on performance for some reason. The FPS drops to almost half of what you were initially getting and gets combined with a lot of stutters making a fast-paced game like Ghostrunner barely playable. If you do not own the RTX series you are likely to face performance issues with RTX On. However, in this case, both RTX and non-RTX users are facing the issue.

Is there a Fix?

Apparently not. There aren’t any official fixes at the moment. But you can try these steps to see if the issue gets fixed for you.

Turn Off DLSS to Performance Mode :

Turning Off DLSS might do the trick. Even though DLSS is designed for better Frame Rates in the game, in some cases turning off the DLSS showed an improvement in the performance. The DLSS in the game might not be done in the right way and hence it might interfere with the performance.

For some cases, DLSS Mode set to Performance showed better frames with RTX On.  So you need to check which one works for you. Turn it Off and then set it to Performance Mode and compare the performance for both cases. Use whichever one feels better for you.

Make Sure You Have Updated Video Drivers :

Video Drivers have a really big impact on the performance of a game. Outdated video drivers could really give you a hard time performance-wise. Therefore make sure you have the drivers always updated to the latest ones. You can check below to update your driver to the latest one.

• NVIDIA Drivers

Disable the NVIDIA GeForce Experience Overlay :

The GeForce Experience is a very cool tool to use. I love it too. But sadly it comes with a lot of other Nvidia processes which test your CPU. As a result performance issues are very common with the overlay. This could interfere with the RTX setting of the game leading to severe lag and very poor performance. Turning the overlay Off is what we would recommend. This is how you do it :

• Start Nvidia Geforce Experience
• Click on the Settings icon on the top right
• Select the General Tab
• Turn Off In-Game Overlay
• Restart your PC

Try the New Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling :

Windows 10 users could make use of its newest feature, the Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling. Any good video card could get a lot out of this feature. This is how you turn it On :

• Type Settings in the search bar of your screen
• Click on System
• Select the Display on the left panel
• Scroll down a little bit and look for an option called Graphics Settings at the bottom
• Click on that option
• Turn On Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling
• Restart your PC

You can set the Graphics Performance Preference :

You can now set the Graphics Performance Preference fro an app. You can set this for a particular game which improves its performance. Here is how to do it:

• Type Settings in the search bar at the bottom of your screen
• Click on System
• Select the Display on the left side
• Go down and look for an option called Graphics Settings at the bottom
• Underneath “Choose an app to set preference” there will be a drop-down menu. Click on that and select the Desktop app
• Click on Browse
• Go to the installation folder of Ghostrunner
• Select the .exe file (Ghostrunner.exe) which is the executable file you use to start the game. This will add the .exe file.
• Click on Options 
• Select High Performance
• Restart your PC

Hopefully, these steps could bring you luck. If it still lags with RTX On (especially for the RTX users), then you have to wait for a patch fix from the developers. The problem could be from their end. For the time being, you can keep the RTX option Off . Or you can just start the game with the Direct X 11 option.