Epic Games Launcher: Best Launch Options for Borderlands 3

The following configuration combines CPU core utilization with engine-level skips to ensure the game initializes faster and runs smoother on modern hardware.

How to Apply

1. Open: Epic Games Launcher.
2. Navigate: Click your Profile Icon (top right) > Settings.
3. Find Game: Scroll down to Manage Games and expand Borderlands 3.
4. Inject: Check Additional Command Line Arguments and paste the string below.

Optimized “Vault Hunter” Launch Options String

-high -USEALLAVAILABLECORES -NOTEXTURESTREAMING -skipintro

Configuration Breakdown & Technical Purpose

Argument	Technical Purpose
-high	Sets the Windows process priority to “High,” ensuring the game gets CPU cycles first.
-USEALLAVAILABLECORES	Forces the Unreal Engine to utilize every logical processor ($N_{cores}$) for tasks.
-NOTEXTURESTREAMING	The Stutter Killer. Forces the game to load textures into VRAM upfront.
-skipintro	Bypasses the Gearbox/2K logos, saving approximately 20 seconds of boot time.

HowTo: Engineering the Borderlands 3 Pipeline

Follow these GameEngineer.net technical steps to complement your launch options:

1. The “Texture Streaming” Trade-off: While -NOTEXTURESTREAMING eliminates the stuttering caused by assets loading mid-combat, it significantly increases your initial loading time ($T_{load}$). Use this only if you have the game installed on an NVMe SSD and have at least 16GB of RAM.
2. API Selection (DX11 vs. DX12): In 2026, DirectX 12 is finally the superior choice for most GPUs. It offers better multi-core utilization ($U_{multi}$), but if you experience long initial “Shader Optimization” steps, switch to DirectX 11 for faster menu access.
3. Bypassing the Launcher Entirely: If you want to reclaim the RAM used by the Epic Launcher (~200MB), you can create a shortcut directly to the Borderlands3.exe. However, you must include your -AUTH_LOGIN tokens in the shortcut properties to maintain online play functionality.
4. Fixing “Frame Spikes”: If you still see spikes after applying launch options, go to Windows Exploit Protection settings and add an override for the Borderlands3.exe to disable Control Flow Guard (CFG). This is a common Unreal Engine 4 fix that restores ~5% of performance.
5. Language Forcing: If the game defaults to the wrong region, add -culture=en (or your preferred code) to the launch options to skip the auto-detection phase.

Technical Explanation: Texture Streaming and VRAM Buffers ($V_{buf}$)

Borderlands 3 uses an aggressive Texture Streaming system designed for the limited memory of older consoles. On a PC, this system often incorrectly “swaps” textures in and out of memory even when there is plenty of VRAM available.

$$Stutter = \frac{Asset\_Size}{Streaming\_Speed} + Driver\_Latency$$

By using the -NOTEXTURESTREAMING command, you tell the engine to fill your $V_{buf}$ immediately. This moves the latency from “mid-gameplay” to the “loading screen,” ensuring that once you are on Pandora or Promethea, the GPU doesn’t have to pause to fetch data from your drive during a boss fight.