Phantom Blade Zero

Phantom Blade Zero runs on Unreal Engine 5.7, and its path tracing mode is heavy on older cards. This guide gives you a free Engine.ini, the in-game settings to change first and fixes for stutter on a weak PC.

Can you run Phantom Blade Zero on a low end PC?

• CPU: Intel Core i5-8700K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT
• RAM: 16 GB
• VRAM: 6 GB on Nvidia, 8 GB on AMD
• Storage: 145 GB
• OS: Windows 10, with DirectX 12

A PC below these specs will struggle. The config can ease the load on your GPU, but it can’t replace missing hardware, so expect a rough ride on the oldest cards.

Best Phantom Blade Zero settings for low end PCs

• Start with the lowest graphics quality the game offers, then change the items below.
• Upscaling: Pick XeSS 2 or TSR, since both work on any GPU. DLSS 4.5 needs an Nvidia RTX card, and FSR 4.1 needs a recent AMD card.
• Ray tracing: Turn it off. That covers ray-traced shadows, ray-traced reflections and path tracing.
• Frame rate cap: Set it to 60. If your PC can’t hold 60, set it to 30.
• V-Sync: Turn it off. It can hold your frame rate to your monitor’s refresh rate.
• Window mode: Pick borderless windowed.

Phantom Blade Zero Engine.ini location and install

1. Download the zip with the button above. Unzip it and find the Engine.ini file.
2. Close Phantom Blade Zero completely.
3. Press Windows + R, paste %LOCALAPPDATA%\ProjectPBZ\Saved\Config\Windows and press Enter. If the folder doesn’t exist, start the game once, close it and try again.
4. If the folder already has an Engine.ini, rename it to Engine.ini.bak. This is your backup.
5. Copy the new Engine.ini into the folder.
6. Start the game.

What the config changes

The file changes only the settings listed here.

Post-processing

• Motion blur is off.
• Depth of field is off.
• Color fringing at the edges of the screen is off.
• Lens flares are off.
• Light shafts are off.
• Film grain is off.
• Sharpening is set to 0.6.

Lighting and reflections

• Ambient occlusion, screen space reflections, subsurface scattering, contact shadows and capsule shadows are off.
• Volumetric fog uses a coarser grid.

Shadows

• Shadow quality is set to 2.
• Shadow resolution is capped at 1024.
• Shadows reach a shorter distance, and small objects drop their shadows sooner.

Draw distance and foliage

• View distance is set to 80 percent of the default.
• Detail mode is set to 1.
• Anisotropic filtering is set to 4.
• Grass and foliage density is set to 60 percent.

Lumen, Nanite and virtual shadow maps

• Lumen reflections are off, and Lumen mesh distance field tracing is off.
• Nanite detail is set lower.
• Virtual shadow maps use a lower resolution for directional and local lights.

The streaming settings turn on async loading and turn off forced garbage collection, for smoother loading and fewer hitches when you move between areas.

How to fix Phantom Blade Zero stuttering and FPS drops

Phantom Blade Zero is an Unreal Engine 5 game, so the first launch compiles shaders. Let that finish, and expect hitches for the first few minutes.

If you can, install the game on an SSD. It needs 145 GB of storage.

Then work through the basics on Windows:

• Close background apps, such as browsers and overlays from launchers.
• Update your GPU driver from the official site: Nvidia, AMD or Intel.
• On a laptop, plug in the power cable and set the power mode to best performance.

Undo the changes

Delete Engine.ini from the config folder. If you kept a backup, rename Engine.ini.bak back to Engine.ini instead. The game goes back to its defaults.

Phantom Blade Zero FAQ

Where is the Phantom Blade Zero Engine.ini file?

Phantom Blade Zero keeps its Engine.ini file in %LOCALAPPDATA%\ProjectPBZ\Saved\Config\Windows. Press Windows + R, paste the path and press Enter. If the folder isn't there yet, start the game once, close it and check again.

Can Phantom Blade Zero run on a low end PC?

Phantom Blade Zero's minimum spec is an Nvidia GTX 1660 or AMD RX 5500 XT with 16 GB of RAM. The Engine.ini file lowers the load on your GPU, but it can't replace missing hardware, so a PC below those specs will struggle even with it.

How do I get Phantom Blade Zero to 60 FPS?

Set the frame rate cap to 60 in the game's settings and turn V-Sync off. Use borderless windowed mode, and pick XeSS 2 or TSR as the upscaler. If your PC can't hold 60, cap the frame rate at 30 instead.

Is it safe to undo the Phantom Blade Zero Engine.ini changes?

Yes. Delete the Engine.ini file from the config folder, or rename your Engine.ini.bak backup back to Engine.ini. The game goes back to its default settings.