Late game Lag/ FPS/ Performance Issues

Oxygen Not Included707 views2 favorites3 min readby leopard_of_lightningUpdated Aug 14, 2024View on Steam ↗

Intro

I want to start with saying I love this game! I mean, why else would I spend 2200 hours and counting? Lol.

Anyway, I wanted to give some tips for those like me, who have serious lag issues, FPS issues, and computer performance issues in the late game.
If you have some additional tips or suggestions of something I missed that has worked for you, please comment below.

BTW image is from Oxygen Not Included Steam page.

Tips

Limit number of Dupes- yes we love those little guys & gals, but their pathing, calories, temp, decor & rad accumulation add up in computer calculations.

Clean up clutter- you make a mass single tile pile for most of the solids on the map, which is perfect for a shipping hub. This prevents multiple temperature calculations for smaller amounts of debris around the map, this way only larger (20kg?) debris are counted.

Limit multiple pathing options- 1 way in & 1 way out of places limited the pathing calculations (Some people say there is a difference with locking doors vs disallowing duplicants through- but I haven't seen any difference)

Clean up map gasses & liquids- numerous gases & liquids interacting with each other on the map take extra calculations. Remember your computer is calculating the pressure, temp, & movement of every tile of gas or liquid tile.

Vacuum- if you vacuum out varous sections of the map you for sure won't have to worry about your computer calculating the gases in those areas.

Limit/ don't have infinite storage- it's nice to have a lot of extra water or gas on hand, but a few buffer tanks are often enough. For thing like a submerged SPOM (Self Powered Oxygen machine) set up, I have a pressure sensor to stop production if I start getting too much.

Limit number of critters & critter movement- fewer critters means less calories & pathing calculations.

Limiting Critter Movement

Since we can't/ won't eliminate all critters, we can at least limit their movement:

Ground critters (Hatches, sweedles) in a 4 tile high ranch, you can have have a door with & tile above to keep them contained, but out of the rest of the ranch, which could then be used for things like farming or storage

Dreckos & shine bugs- some people use the same principle, but with some water water in that gap to discourage them from going through.

Voles- use refined metals, tiles away from any other connecting tiles, or pneumatic doors all the way around the tiles to confine those escape artists.

Unable/ idk how to contain into smaller areas of the ranches: pips, puffs, plug slugs, beetas, Moos, & new DLC critters...

Let eggs hatch in "evolution chamber" (water drowning)- it's one of the fastest ways to make future excess critters into food.

Unverified Tips

Limiting gas & liquid piping- I am unsure if these helps, but I have started using a portal mod for some of my basic liquids & gasses.

Smaller maps- (However I have seen that having dupes on multiple planets/ asteroids & rockets is very hard on my computer, but theoretically smaller maps have fewer resources to be calculated & are easier to vacuum out).

Other Ideas

Some people suggest laptop cooling pads or fans.
Don't use speed mods to speed up the game.
Play at a slower speed.
If the save is taking too long, you can adjust saves to occur less frequently (not recommended if your game is crashing frequently, as you don't want to lose several cycles of progress repeatedly).

Closing

As I do love this game, I am looking forward to more ideas from the community and perhaps some of these tips will help you with your maps.

Information credit to many sources and I have learned much from the following Youtubers:
Echo Ridge Gaming
Luma Plays
GCFungus
2LegitCity
Francis John

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