Elden Ring: Best GraphicsConfig.xml for Ray Tracing Performance

The primary goal is to maintain the visual “depth” provided by RTAO while lowering the secondary “Ray Traced Shadows.” Standard shadows on “Maximum” are often visually indistinguishable from RT shadows but far less taxing on the GPU’s $BVH$ traversal units.

File Path & Setup

1. Navigate to: %AppData%\Roaming\EldenRing\GraphicsConfig.xml
2. Open with: Notepad++ or any standard text editor.
3. Pro Tip: If you notice sudden stutters during boss transitions, check that Auto-Detect Best Rendering Settings is disabled in-game, as it can conflict with manual XML overrides.

Optimized “Shadow-Focus” Configuration Table

Parameter	Recommended Value	Technical Purpose
RaytracingQuality	LOW or MEDIUM	Enables RTAO for depth without the massive RT Shadow hit.
ShadowQuality	MAXIMUM	Standard shadows on Max fix flickering better than RT on Low.
SSAO	DISABLE	RTAO replaces this; having both on creates “grainy” artifacts.
LightingQuality	HIGH	Lowering this doesn’t improve RT performance but ruins the mood.
GlobalIllumination	HIGH	Works in tandem with RT to ground objects in the environment.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16" ?>
<GraphicsConfig>
    <ScreenMode>FULLSCREEN</ScreenMode>
    <Resolution-WindowscreenWidth>2560</Resolution-WindowscreenWidth>
    <Resolution-WindowscreenHeight>1440</Resolution-WindowscreenHeight>
    <RaytracingQuality>MEDIUM</RaytracingQuality>
    <ShadowQuality>MAXIMUM</ShadowQuality>
    <TextureQuality>MAXIMUM</TextureQuality>
    <AntialiasingQuality>HIGH</AntialiasingQuality>
    <SSAO>DISABLE</SSAO>
    <DepthOfField>DISABLE</DepthOfField>
    <MotionBlur>DISABLE</MotionBlur>
    <LightingQuality>HIGH</LightingQuality>
    <EffectsQuality>HIGH</EffectsQuality>
    <VolumetricEffectQuality>HIGH</VolumetricEffectQuality>
    <ReflectionQuality>HIGH</ReflectionQuality>
    <WaterSurfaceQuality>HIGH</WaterSurfaceQuality>
    <ShadeQuality>MEDIUM</ShadeQuality>
    <GlobalIlluminationQuality>HIGH</GlobalIlluminationQuality>
    <GrassQuality>HIGH</GrassQuality>
</GraphicsConfig>

HowTo: Engineering the Ray Tracing “Sweet Spot”

Follow these GameEngineer.net technical steps to ensure your frame times stay flat:

1. The RTAO vs. SSAO Trade-off: Standard SSAO in Elden Ring can create a “halo” effect around your character. Setting RaytracingQuality to MEDIUM in the XML provides a superior Ambient Occlusion effect ($AO$) that removes these artifacts. To save performance, we manually DISABLE standard SSAO.
2. The “Max Shadow” Rule: Surprisingly, setting ShadowQuality to MAXIMUM is mandatory. Lower shadow settings in Elden Ring cause a “flickering” bug on terrain. By using standard Max Shadows instead of High RT Shadows, you get stability without the 15ms GPU cost.
3. CPU Core 0 Affinity: Elden Ring’s engine (MT Framework/Phyre) often overloads the first CPU core. Use a tool like Process Lasso to disable CPU 0 for eldenring.exe. This significantly reduces the micro-stuttering that Ray Tracing typically exacerbates.
4. Shader Quality Balance: Setting ShadeQuality to MEDIUM reduces the complexity of certain material shaders. This frees up enough GPU overhead to allow the Ray Tracing cores to calculate lighting bounces more consistently.
5. External Upscaling: Since the game has no DLSS, if your FPS is still below 60, use Lossless Scaling (available on Steam) to enable “Frame Generation.” This allows you to play at 30 FPS with RT on and visually output 60 FPS.

Technical Explanation: BVH and Ray-Box Intersections ($I_{box}$)

In Elden Ring, Ray Tracing calculates Ambient Occlusion and Shadows by casting rays into a Bounding Volume Hierarchy (BVH).

$$T_{total} = T_{build} + T_{traverse} + T_{shade}$$

When you enter a forest in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, the $T_{traverse}$ time increases exponentially because of the intricate geometry of the trees. By setting RaytracingQuality to MEDIUM, you reduce the Ray Count per pixel. This ensures the GPU can complete its lighting pass within the 16.6ms window required for a 60 FPS output, preventing the “Frame Drop” common in the Gravesite Plain.