Quake Champions: Best client.config for Classic Arena FPS Speed

The primary goal for Quake Champions optimization is Frame-Time Consistency and Visual De-noising. High-speed movement like “strafing” and “circle jumping” becomes erratic if your frame times fluctuate. This configuration focuses on disabling Dynamic Lighting and Anti-Aliasing, which often mask enemy silhouettes in the heat of battle.

Hardware & Connection Prerequisites

• CPU IPC Power: Quake Champions is heavily optimized for high thread counts, but single-core speed still dictates your minimum (1% low) FPS.
• NVIDIA Reflex: This game has native Reflex support. Ensure it is set to “On + Boost” to keep the render queue empty.
• Mouse Polling: Use at least 1000Hz. For 4000Hz/8000Hz users, ensure “Raw Input” is enabled in-game to prevent CPU-based stuttering.

File Location

Quake Champions stores its configuration settings in a hidden AppData folder. Unlike other games, many of these values are synchronized with the cloud, but the local file dictates the hardware limits:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Saber Interactive\Quake Champions\client\config\client.config

Technical Configuration (Code Block)

Open the client.config file with a text editor. Note that the structure is primarily JSON-based. Look for the VideoSettings and InputSettings objects:

{
  "VideoSettings": {
    "Adapter": 0,
    "ResolutionScale": 100,      // Keep at 100 or 75 for max FPS
    "TextureQuality": 0,         // 0 = Low (Saves VRAM for faster loading)
    "FilteringQuality": 0,
    "LightingQuality": 0,
    "EffectsQuality": 0,
    "PostProcessQuality": 0,
    "MeshQuality": 0,
    "AntiAliasingQuality": 0,    // Mandatory 0 for Arena FPS clarity
    "DepthOfField": false,
    "Bloom": false
  },
  "InputSettings": {
    "MouseRawInput": true,
    "MouseAcceleration": false,
    "MouseFiltering": false      // Prevents "laggy" mouse feeling
  }
}

Strategy for Classic Arena FPS Speed

To replicate the legendary responsiveness of Quake III Arena:

• The Anti-Aliasing Trade-off: Modern TAA (Temporal Anti-Aliasing) adds a significant amount of “ghosting” and blur when you move the camera quickly. Turning this off (0) makes the edges “jagged,” but it provides the instantaneous visual feedback required for railgun “flicks.”
• Texture Streaming Budget: In the game’s advanced video menu, set the Texture Pool to match your GPU’s VRAM minus 1GB. This prevents the game from using your system’s slower RAM to store textures, which is a common cause of mid-match stutters.
• Lightning Gun (LG) Stability: To improve your LG tracking, ensure your Lighting Quality is on Low. Higher settings add “glow” to the beam, which can obscure your view of the enemy’s dodge pattern.

Key Performance Parameters

Parameter	Recommended Value	Impact
Resolution Scale	75 – 100	Dropping to 75% gives a massive FPS boost with a “retro” look.
PostProcessQuality	0	Removes motion blur and heavy color grading.
MouseFiltering	false	Removes software-side mouse smoothing.
Mesh Quality	0	Simplifies map geometry for better visibility of enemies.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Conclusion and Expected Results

By manually refining your client.config to strip away modern post-processing and locking your input settings to raw data, you are optimizing Quake Champions for high-level competitive play. You can expect razor-sharp visual clarity, instantaneous railgun response, and consistent movement physics that mirror the classic Arena FPS era.