Just Cause 3 is an expansive open-world sandbox game well known for its crazy action, physics-based gameplay, and huge explosions. Unfortunately, all these resource-intensive features can cause terrible lag, frame rate drops, and stuttering issues – especially on the base PS4 hardware.
If you’re struggling to enjoy a smooth performance in Just Cause 3, this guide will show you tips to optimize the game on PS4 to reduce lag and boost frame rates for a much better experience.
Adjust In-Game Graphics Settings
One of the easiest ways to improve performance in Just Cause 3 is to lower some of the advanced graphics settings and effects:
Lower Overall Texture Quality
The texture quality setting controls the resolution and detail of textures applied to environments, vehicles, characters, and objects in the game. Lowering this from High to Medium or Normal significantly reduces the load on your PS4’s hardware.
Disable Motion Blur
Motion blur adds an artificial blurring effect to fast moving objects to make motion appear smoother. But this effect is taxing on your system resources. Turning off motion blur removes that burden and prevents input lag.
Turn Off Depth of Field
Depth of field artificially blurs distant objects to mimic real life focus – but all this post-processing hurts frame rates. Disabling depth of field can help gain back precious performance.
Lower or Disable Shadow Quality
Detailed shadows with high resolutions use a lot of processing power. Try setting shadows to Medium or Low quality for a nice boost in frame rates.
Lower Field of View (FOV)
Lowering the field of view zooms the camera angle slightly inward, reducing how much of the environment is rendered on screen. This may help improve overall performance in Just Cause 3.
By tweaking these settings, you can significantly reduce the burden on your PS4 hardware and get faster, smoother performance in graphically intensive scenes.
Optimize Your PS4 System
In addition to in-game settings, you can also optimize your PS4’s operating system to remove software bottlenecks:
Close Background Apps and Processes
When playing Just Cause 3, be sure to close any extra apps running in the background on your PS4. Suspending unnecessary software lets you devote more of your system RAM and CPU power solely towards running the game.
Rebuild Your PS4 Database
Over time, data on your PS4 can become corrupted or damaged. Rebuilding your PS4 database scans and fixes these software errors, speeding up operations and freeing up wasted resources.
- To rebuild your database, power off PS4 completely.
- Hold power button until you hear 2 beeps to boot into Safe Mode.
- Select “Rebuild Database” and let process complete.
Clean PS4 and Replace Thermal Paste
Dust buildup inside your PS4’s vents and fans will cause overheating and force the system to throttle performance. Opening up your PS4 to clean out dust helps the console run cooler.
You can also replace the PS4’s thermal paste to improve heat transfer from the processor. This helps prevent severe FPS drops from thermal throttling.
Install Game Patches and Updates
Game developers often release patches with important bug fixes and optimizations that improve overall game performance and stability.
Be sure to install the latest Just Cause 3 patches to benefit from any enhancements that boost fps and reduce lag.
Change How You Play
Certain gameplay behaviors and situations drag down Just Cause 3’s performance. Here are tips to avoid them:
Don’t Use Graphics Mods
Mods that increase texture resolutions or add graphical effects like bloom lighting look beautiful, but cripple performance on PS4. Avoid using graphics mods to prevent unplayable lag.
Stay Away from Resource Heavy Areas
Avoid areas full of resource intensive physics objects, vehicles, explosions and particle effects. These quickly choke the PS4 hardware – stay away if you value smooth fps.
Delete Unused Captures and Videos
The PS4’s recording feature still uses system resources even when not actively capturing footage. Be sure to go into Capture Gallery and regularly delete old unused videos to free up memory.
Provide Proper Ventilation
Prevent PS4 overheating by placing it in an open, cool location so airflow can properly ventilate the console and keep internal temps down during long play sessions.
Disable Network Connectivity
One simple but effective way to reduce hitching and lag spikes is to disable network connectivity:
Play Just Cause 3 Offline
When played online, Just Cause 3 is constantly communicating with the servers to update leaderboards and challenges in real-time.
Disabling your internet connection cuts out this bandwidth usage and prevents the stuttering that online play introduces.
FAQ
Here are answers to some common questions about optimizing Just Cause 3 on PS4:
Does lowering graphical settings negatively impact visuals?
How often should I rebuild the PS4 database?
Is playing offline completely required?
Will these tips fix lag completely?
Conclusion
Just Cause 3’s massive open world and explosive action Game. In this guide, you can tweak settings, optimize your system, avoid performance-draining scenarios, and disable network features to significantly boost your framerates for a much smoother experience.
With these optimizations, you can finally enjoy Just Cause 3’s incredible wingsuit flying, grappling hook slingshots, and ridiculous over-the-top action without pesky technical issues ruining the fun on your PS4.
