Deadlock FPS boost: why a config is no longer enough

Deadlock FPS boost from a config shrinks with every update. Since City Never Sleeps the engine ignores 77 variables in gameinfo.gi, mostly the on/off switches for outlines, fog and shadows, and every big update overwrites that file anyway. The frames you are looking for now sit mostly outside the game.

I have been optimizing PCs for games for over 15 years, and after this update I went through an audit of one of the most popular public configs, reports on the official Deadlock forum and Valve's notes. The conclusion is simple: a config only changes game settings, while drops in teamfights come from the engine and from the system, which a config never touches.

What a Deadlock config changes and what it never will

Deadlock configs change ConVars, the Source 2 engine variables, through the gameinfo.gi file or an autoexec. They switch off shadows, fog, particles and effects that the game menu will not let you turn that low. On a weak laptop that made a huge difference: on the official forum an i7-1255U owner wrote about 60 FPS with a config and 5-6 without it.

A config will not change how Windows schedules processor time, what mode your RAM runs in, what the driver does or how many programs run in the background. And since September 2026 it changes less and less even inside the game.

Valve keeps switching settings off

The authors of the public ghempy53/deadlock-config check after every update which variables the game still accepts. According to their audit the engine marks some ConVars with the gameinfo_cannot_override flag: the game reads them from gameinfo.gi but does not apply them. On 18 September there were none, on 24 September there were 49, and since City Never Sleeps there are 77. The list includes r_shadows, r_enable_volume_fog and r_citadel_gpu_culling. Shadow quality, SSAO and grass settings still work.

On top of that, 13 variables from that config no longer exist in the game, and the engine raises values that are too low to its own minimum. A shadow resolution set to 16 behaves like 128. A config that gave you a noticeable difference in August partly does nothing in October.

Every big update overwrites the file

Gameinfo.gi belongs to the game files, so Steam replaces it with every big update. After a patch you play on default settings until the config author releases a fixed version and you install it. After City Never Sleeps fixes kept arriving throughout the first week.

Configs and the queue

On 26 March 2026 the game started blocking the queue when the gameinfo.gi file was changed, with the message “Unable to enter matchmaking while any party member has changes to ConVars in Gameinfo.gi”. A day later Valve narrowed the check to seven sections of the file, including Engine2, RenderSystem and SceneSystem, and the ConVars section is not on that list. The config authors have not confirmed whether the block works in practice today, but the code is in the game. If your FPS rests on a config, it rests on something Valve can change with one update.

I covered how to install a config and what to check in it after a patch in my Deadlock FPS Config guide.

Why FPS drops in teamfights

The most common complaint on the official forum has sounded the same for a year: the game runs fine in lane, and in a teamfight FPS falls through the floor. A few examples from the threads, with numbers the players gave:

• i7-12700F with an RTX 4070: about 200 FPS drops to 120-130, while the processor runs at 25-30% and the card at 60-70%.
• i5-10400F with an RTX 3060 Ti: 160 FPS drops to 60, the processor stays under 30-40%, the card around 20%.
• Ryzen 7 7800X3D with an RTX 4070 Ti Super: 350 FPS drops to 80 in big fights.

Low GPU load while FPS drops means the GPU is waiting on the CPU, memory or system. Deadlock spreads its work across the CPU's physical cores while the SMT threads barely work, so the average in Task Manager looks lower than the real load on the cores. Graphics settings change little here.

None of the big hardware outlets has published a Deadlock test yet, because the game is still in closed access and Valve has not even listed system requirements on Steam. So I will not give you a table of how much FPS a given processor delivers. In a session I measure it on your computer, in your matches.

FPS that gets worse every minute of the match

This is a separate problem. If the game starts smoothly, but after 20-30 minutes or a few matches in a row frames drop and only a game restart helps, it looks like a memory or VRAM leak. Such reports have kept coming back on the forum for months, and after City Never Sleeps a thread appeared about drops to 13-15 FPS every 15-20 minutes. A config will not help. In another thread, from early 2026, setting textures to low helped one player whose game used over 9 GB of video memory.

Where the frames really are

When the config no longer works and the game loses frames in fights, the cause sits in one of the layers a config never touches:

• Windows: background processes and services, the power plan, scheduling, memory protection. Microsoft itself admits that memory integrity can lower gaming performance.
• Overlays and monitoring: on the forum players got rid of frametime spikes after fully closing MSI Afterburner and RTSS.
• The driver and shader cache: after a Source 2 version change the old cache can stop matching the new renderer.
• BIOS and memory: the XMP or EXPO profile, dual-channel mode, processor settings. This layer decides how fast the CPU cores get their data.

I listed five quick steps you can check yourself in my article on Deadlock FPS drops after the update, and the in-game menu settings in the best Deadlock settings for 2026. Pełną kolejność od pomiaru po BIOS znajdziesz w poradniku optymalizacja Deadlocka w sześciu krokach.

What we do in a Deadlock optimization session

After City Never Sleeps a lot of players complain about FPS, on very different hardware. We fix these cases in a session and do everything we can so Deadlock runs as well as possible on the computer you already have.

Łączymy się z Twoim komputerem zdalnie i mierzymy FPS w Deadlocku przed sesją i po niej, na tych samych scenach. Optymalizacja Windows 11 kosztuje 200 zł i obejmuje system, sterowniki, procesy w tle i sieć. Pakiet Advanced za 400 zł dokłada BIOS, pamięć i bezpieczne podkręcanie. Jeśli limitem jest Twój sprzęt, mówimy to wprost i wskazujemy, który podzespół.

You will find packages and dates on the remote PC optimization.

A config used to be the simplest way to get more frames in Deadlock. Since September the engine locks 77 variables in gameinfo.gi, every big update wipes the config file, and in teamfights FPS depends on how fast the CPU and memory keep up with the game anyway. You win those frames back in the system, the drivers and the BIOS, not in the gameinfo.gi file.

Frequently asked questions

Does a Deadlock config still work?

Partly. According to the audit of the ghempy53/deadlock-config, since City Never Sleeps the engine ignores 77 ConVars in gameinfo.gi, mostly on/off switches for outlines, fog and shadows, 13 variables from that config no longer exist, and the engine raises values that are too low to its minimum. The rest still works if you have a version released after the update.

Can a config block my queue?

It can. Since March 2026 the game has a queue block for changes in seven gameinfo.gi sections. The config authors have not confirmed whether it works in practice today, and Valve can tighten it with any update.

Why does FPS drop in teamfights?

Players on the official forum report drops of as much as 270 frames with low GPU load. The GPU is then waiting on the CPU, memory or system, so graphics settings change little here.

Is Deadlock harder on the processor or the graphics card?

In teamfights player reports point to the CPU. The game spreads its work across its physical cores while the SMT threads barely work. There is no independent Deadlock test yet, so the most reliable measurement is the one on your own computer.

Will an X3D processor help in Deadlock?

There is no published Deadlock test comparing X3D with other processors. On the forum a Ryzen 7 7800X3D owner also reported a drop from 350 to 80 FPS in big fights, so the processor alone does not solve the problem.

How much does PC optimization for Deadlock cost?

Optymalizacja Windows 11 kosztuje 200 zł, a pakiet Advanced z BIOS-em, pamięcią i bezpiecznym podkręcaniem 400 zł. FPS w Deadlocku mierzymy przed sesją i po niej.