The rage from PC gamer’s Bethesda would indeed be locking the frame rate for the PC release was somewhat held back upon news they’d provide a console and commands to change the settings of the title. Though these changes were naturally unsupported, they’d allow you to change the Evil Within’s frame rate, Aspect ratio and utilize… well, cheats.
So if you’re in the mood for God Mode (which sort of defeats the purpose of survival horror) or you’re just looking to unlock the frame rate of the game from the rather lackluster 30FPS, then look no further.
On their official forums Bethesda listed a variety of different commands – for information on how to enter them please look below.
- R_swapinterval NUMBER: Sets the FPS lock. Note that the numbers below are negative.
- -2: This is the default, set to 30 FPS. This is the officially supported frame rate.
- -1: This sets the FPS limit to 60. Fully playable, although there may be quirks (we’re going to fix these).
- 0: This fully unlocks the FPS. We do not recommend playing above 60. We will not fix any issues above 60.
- God mode: You are effectively invincible, and certain enemy kill moves will not be used against you (Laura, for example, will not jump on you).
- Noclip: Allows you to walk through walls.
- G_infiniteammo: Unlimited ammo (provided you have at least 1 bullet when you enable this).
- G_stoptime 1: Stops time. Note there is a bug right now where using this command causes a UI element to appear on screen. We’re looking to fix that in the near future. Re enable time with g_stoptime 0
- Toggledebugcamera: Separates the camera from Sebastian so you can freely move around.
- R_forceaspectratio: Sets the aspect ratio. Default is 2.5, which is our official aspect ratio. 0 is full screen, but not ideal. 1.8 or 2 is probably most comfortable for those who don’t want bars.
- Com_showFPS: Turns on id’s native FPS counter.
- Startslowmotion2: Slows down time.
- Stopslowmotion: Disables slow motion.
You’ll need to have access to the developer console to use these commands, and to do this follow these fairly simple instructions.
1. In Steam, right click on The Evil Within and select “properties” then under the General tab, hit “set launch options”.
2. Put this in to unlock the console: +com_allowconsole 1.
3. Once the game has launched, hit the Insert key to bring down the developer console.
A few notes of our own findings. Unlocking the frame rate doesn’t cause major issues from what we’ve currently observed, a few weird quirks but certainly nothing unplayable. The aspect ratio isn’t likely to please everyone. It isn’t going to simply ‘add’ vertical pixels to the screen, but instead zooms the image in closer. So, with the default setting of 2.5 you’re able to see a lot more of the sides of the image than what you are using let’s say 1.8.
This means people such as myself who hate borders are left with a choice – would you rather have a better understanding of your surroundings, or have the image zoomed in closer and reduce the borders.
Personally, I think I’d rather stick with the aspect ratio being at default – as let’s be honest, in horror titles you’re better off being able to see what’s happening. It’s a shame that these are the choices we’re left with, rather than being able to either stretch the screen (which wouldn’t be ideal), or the best option – simply increasing the horizontal and vertical pixels.
While it’s great the Evil Within on PC does support the unlocking of frame rate and other options, it’s a pity more wasn’t done to address this. But still, at least we’ve got some level of choice – particularly with the frame rate.
Finally – a small note about performance. Zooming in the image can actually improve performance, as you’re effectively operating on a narrower FOV. If you’re having issues with frame rate, it might be worth experimenting some with the FOV option,
For those who’re wondering about the best Anti-Aliasing setting with The Evil Within, I’ve personally had the best luck with MLAA. It’s a marked improvement over FXAA. Truthfully, if you’ve got the performance spare, you’re best off forcing MSAAx4 (or similar) on your graphics card’s control panel. You’ll get better results, but your FPS might take a hit in the process.
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