PERFORMANCE GUIDE 2026-04 - GET THOSE FRAMES!

Oxygen Not Included★ 3 · 25 ratings1.3k views42 favorites9 min readby drakcoreUpdated Jul 3View on Steam ↗

[STEP 1] [GAMEPLAY] [GUIDE START]

More debris = more CPU
  • Stack/place everything in one central place.
  • Could even put it on top of a floating tile in a vacuum which only select dupes having access to it.
CPU usage reduced due to a few stacks vs 1000s not having temperature exchange calculated.
Pathing (walking around) = lots of CPU
  • Keep dupe/critter numbers low.
  • Limit access to areas they don't need access to.
  • Limit multiple pathways to the same location.
  • Don't use rocket suites (flying atmo jet suites).
  • Limit ladders, they really bad for path finding.
Dupe specialized jobs
Either limit dupes with matching skills to specialized equipment or mods to restrict them.
Work times can be reduced and tuning/application can be x fold better. 300%+.
Minimalize duplicant buildings with scheduling
Create schedules and put dupes in different schedules.
EG. Two toilets can support those 20 dupes under different schedules.
All progress bar interactions can be boosted by 15%
Just add a light source where they work and get the well lit boost buff of 15%.
Automate everything
Use conveyers, loaders, fillers, pumps, heat/cold instead of manual dupe time.
Temperature, radiation and movement of gas/liquids
Prevent mass gases mixing, instead either vacuum or tile areas.
No heat/movement = far less CPU calculations.
Off gassing
Ensure materials are either in a liquid or gas pressure of 1.8L or more, as this stops off it from off gassing.
Less is more
Reduce piping, wires, conveyer lines, be optiminal.
Infinite storages
We love them, CPU does not. Either use the in game gas/liquid storages or limit their sizes.

[STEP 2] [GAME OPTIONS]

IN GAME, OPTIONS, GRAPHICS
LOW RESOLUTION TEXTURES [ ENABLE ]
  • Halves GPU VRAM usage. Great for iGPUs (less RAM used) or low VRAM GPUs (4GB or less).
  • Minimal quality loss.
  • Helps with stuttering/tearing in mid-late game.
  • GPU processing though is minimally impacted/improved.

IN GAME, OPTIONS, AUDIO
PLAY BACKGROUND MUSIC EACH MORNING [ DISABLE ]
ALWAYS PLAY AUTOMATION SOUNDS [ DISABLE ]
  • No audio needed playing every morning, disable this.
  • Disable always play sound affects for everything and not just within your focused window area.

IN GAME, OPTIONS
DATA COMMUNICATION [ ENABLE ]
CPU load wise, practically none, also disabling this disables your weekly bonuses/skins you get from the portal.
Only disable this you don't want them collection any information on you and you don't mind loosing out on the random weekly skins.

IN GAME, OPTIONS, GAME
*THIS IS ONLY AVAILABLE WHILE PLAYING (GAME/SESSION/MAP).
AUTOSAVE FREQUENCY [ EVERY 5 CYCLES ]
TIMELAPSE RESOLUTION [ DISABLE ]
You don't need to save every cycle. Also manually save from time to time.
Map progression image of every save, so unless you like seeing your map progression or a Ytber, disable this.

[STEP 3] [STEAM]

STEAM, LIBRARY, RIGHT CLICK ON OXYGEN NOT INCLUDED, PROPERTIES, GENERAL
LAUNCH OPTIONS: -high -nolog -nologo -novid -nohltv -force-d3d11-no-singlethreaded
  • high - Using the high launch option will set the priority of the game process to High on your computer.
  • nolog - Disables logging.
  • nologo - If games have intro logo, this disables it.
  • novid - When you add the novid launch option to a game, the intro video of the game will not be played. This can help you achieve faster load times.
  • nohltv - Disables SourceTV hosting, less resource usage.
  • force-d3d11-no-singlethreaded - Even with Unity 6+, Directx 12 is still slower than 11. https://discussions.unity.com/t/is-performance-parity-planned-between-dx12-and-dx11/1616930
STEAM OVERLAY [ DISABLE ]
Disabling this will save a few % on the CPU.

STEAM, SETTINGS, CONTROLLER
PLAYSTATION CONTROLLER SUPPORT [ NOT ENABLED ]
Not needed, disable it.
STEAM, SETTINGS, GAME RECORDING [ RECORDING OFF ]
Just disable this. This is not needed.

STEAM, SETTINGS, STORAGE
ENSURE GAME IS SAVED UNDER FASTEST DRIVE.
Make sure your game is saved to the fastest drive on your sysem. NVME>SSD>HHD (solid state > moving)

[STEP 4] [MODS]

Only listing mods that improve performance directly and indirectly here.
A few of them have options you can change on the mod window within the game.

[Fast Track a local mod, gives 10-50% improvement]
USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK, SOMETIMES IT HAS MOD COMPATABILITY ISSUES.
*Forum post[forums.kleientertainment.com]
*Github[github.com]
[Allows in game mod manage and fixes a lot of update issues]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1843965353
[Annoying Bionic icon removed = micro CPU/GPU reduc]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3438530909
[Limit dupes who have at least x stat to use it]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2829258387
[Allow only certain dupes to work on machines]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2433887112
[Reduce save file size by x times and slashes save time]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1867707267
[Disable specific or all popup texts = great CPU/GPU reduc]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2032187035
[Set after how much rad exposure before they take a rad pill]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3175775975
[Can stop manual deliveries = less pathing = less CPU]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2047308624
[Enhances Dupe processing]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3657612749

[STEP 5] [WINDOWS(OS)]

Windows is bloatware
Here are a few apps to de-bloat and to stop Windows from spying, tracking and abusing you.
SHUTUP10++
SITE: https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
If you are worried, just "Apply only recommnded settings"
Personally I would do "Recommended and somewhat recommended settings"

WINHANCE
SITE: https://winhance.net/
UNDER SOFTWARE & APPS
DELETE / DISABLE UN-WANTED APPS/SERVICES
This can be done for both Windows Apps & Features and External Software.
DON'T REMOVE ANYTHING YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS!
UNDER OPTIMIZATION, POWER
SETTING
OPTION
POWER PLAN
ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE
POWER SAVING MODE
MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE WHEN PLUGGED IN
HIBERNATION
TURN THIS OFF
MAXIMUM PROCESSOR STATE
100
GPU PREFERENCE
MAXIMIZE PERFORMANCE
UNDER OPTIMIZATION, GAMING & PERFORMANCE
SETTING
OPTION
GAME MODE
ENABLE
ENHANCE POINTER PRECISION
DISABLE
SEARCH ENTIRE FILE SYSTEM
DISABLE
ADJUST PROCESSOR FOR BEST PERFORMANCE OF
PROGRAMS
SYSTEM RESPONSIVENESS FOR GAMES
ENABLE
CPU PRIORITY FOR GAMING
ENABLE
HIGH SCHEDULING CATEGORY FOR GAMING
ENABLE
GPU PRIORITY FOR GAMING
ENABLE
HARDWARE-ACCELERATED GPU SCHEDULING
ENABLE
OPTIMIZATIONS FOR WINDOWED GAMES
ENABLE
VARIABLE REFRESH RATE
ENABLE
NETWORK THROTTLING
ENABLE
NAGLE'S ALGORITHM
ENABLE
XBOX GAME DVR
DISABLE
GAME BAR CONTROLLER ACCESS
DISABLE
GAME BAR TIP AND HINTS
DISABLE
SYSMAIN SERVICE SUPERFETCH
DISABLE

WARNING DON’T MESS WITH THESE WINDOWS APPS, IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW USE THEM
CCLEANER
*links within the excel document.
Clean temp files, un-install, reg cleaner, startup/process handler, plugin, duplicator. Just makes life easier to cleanup your system. MALWAREBYTES + TRON
*links within the excel document.
INFECTION CLEANUP OF SYSTEM
END OF WARNING

ADD ONI TO ANTI-VIRUS EXCEPTION
For Windows Defender.
Naviagate to - Windows Security - Virus & threat protection - Virus & threat protection settings - manage settings - Exclusions - Add or remote exclusions - Add an exclusion - Process - OxygenNotIncluded.exe

Or you can use powershell to add it to the exclusions.
powershell.exe -Command "Add-MpPreference -ExclusionProcess 'OxygenNotIncluded.exe'"

If you have anything beside the built in Windows Defender, just add "OxygenNotIncluded.exe" to the exceptions/allow list.

[STEP 6] [CPU-GPU] [GUIDE END]

CPUs LOVE UNDERVOLTING, GPUs LOVE OVERVOLTING, NEITHER LOVE THE HEAT AND THE RAM GOES BRRRRR

I have omitted a huge part on the CPU section since the new Unity Engine handling cores/threads seems to be fighting affinity handeling causing loss of performance instead of improving it when selecting best cores.
*Only minimal Process Lasso optimal settings are left here.
*Once I figure out what is causing the affinity issues I will re-add them here.

WARNING DON’T MESS WITH THESE WINDOWS APPS, IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW USE THEM
UNIVERSAL X86 TUNING UTILITY
*links within the excel document.
You can customize your CPU/GPU power, VRM, GPU/VRAM clock, CPU boost/curve/CCD/profile. *Ghelper is another similar tool but has far less options.
I use this app due to my ASUS laptop BIOS being locked down like Fort Knox and the Amory crate software it came with is garbage.
END OF WARNING

ONI is heavy on CPU
IMPORTANCE: CPU>RAM>GPU>STORAGE
ONI ONLY USES 2 CORES / 4 THREADS.
And not all cores are created equally.
Process handler software.
PROCESS LASSO
SITE: https://bitsum.com/

Now open Process Lasso and start ONI (Oxygen Not Included)
Look for the "OXYGENNOTINCLUDED.EXE", right click on it, then set the following.
CPU PRIORITY -always -high
I/O PRIORITY -always -high
GPU PRIORITY -always -high
BOOST -always -one
POWER PROFILE -ultimate performance
EXCLUDE FROM PROBALANCE

Go Play ONI!

END OF THE GUIDE

[benchmark]

My system SPEC (ASUS TUF GAMING A15 FA507XI_FA507XI)
OS: WINDOWS 11 (24H2 - 26100.8037)
CPU: 7940HS (8C / 16T)
RAM: 32GB DDR5 4800 MT/s
GPU: 4070 8GB
STORAGE: 1TB+2TB NVME
BENCHMARK TEST MODEL
Using "JohnFrancis" benchworld, but in debug, Ultra Test Mode (CTRL+U), as this pushes the game to the max.
*JohnFrancis benchmark forum post[forums.kleientertainment.com]
*enabling debug mode[oxygennotincluded.wiki.gg]
Go into debug mode (by pressing backspace key), once the first alarm goes off, you unpause + set a stop watch, then press (CTRL+U) to get into Ultra Test Mode.
(this has to be done after the un-pause)
When the next alarm goes off (300 in game ticks), you stop the timer = your benchmark time.
*It is not perfect, but the best we have.
CONCLUSION
[-high -nolog -nologo -novid -nohltv -force-d3d11-no-singlethreaded] is within margin of error vs with the gc buffer and nod3d9ex added to the string.
You gain 5%+- over having nothing in the launch options for ONI through STEAM.
RESULTS [in secods]
[no launch options] | 106, 104, 103
[-high -nolog -nologo -novid -nohltv -dx11 -nojoy -nod3d9ex] | 104, 99, 102
[-high -nolog -nologo -novid -nohltv -force-d3d11-no-singlethreaded -nojoy -nod3d9ex -gc.buffer 2048] | 99, 99, 102, 99
[-high -nolog -nologo -novid -nohltv -force-d3d11-no-singlethreaded -nojoy] | 100, 101
[-high -nolog -nod3d9ex -force-d3d11-no-singlethreaded -gc.buffer 256 -nologo -novid -nohltv -nojoy] | 107, 102
[-high -nolog -nod3d9ex -force-d3d12-no-singlethreaded -gc.buffer 2048 -nologo -novid -nohltv -nojoy] | 105, 98, 101, 101
[-high -nolog -nologo -novid -nohltv -force-d3d11-no-singlethreaded -nojoy -nod3d9ex -gc.buffer 4096] | 103, 101
[-high -nolog -nologo -novid -nohltv -force-d3d11-no-singlethreaded -nojoy -nod3d9ex] | 104, 101, 101
[-high -nolog -nologo -novid -nohltv -force-d3d11-no-singlethreaded -nojoy -nod3d9ex -gc.buffer 1024] | 103, 99

[todo]

Test additional Steam/Unity launch options. Test ONI boot.config unity launch file vs Steam launch options. -notexturestreaming | Changes texture loading behavior to reduce stuttering. -screen-quality Fastest | Sets the graphics quality to the lowest setting for better performance. -no-stereo-rendering: Disables stereo rendering, which can help with performance in certain games. + dev source https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Command_line_options_(Steam) https://appuals.com/steam-set-launch-options-and-full-list/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Add blanket guide on how tuning a system (GPU/CPU/RAM) *GPU-IGPU - overvolting, core/memory overclock, fan profile. *RAM - profiles(XMPvsJEDEC), tuning timings, voltage. *CPU - CCD/PCCO, curve optimizer, PBO. **WARNINGS TBA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Get oni / unity 6 file updates for engine to run x% better. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Futher test Unity engine + core DLL files included vs diverge 11. *current ONI D3D12Core.dll is 1.618.1.0 vs 1.619.10 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Demo - profiling system + Unity 6 for bottlenecking and locating causes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- System cleanup - reg/temp/startup, schedules, processes. Entire system driver scan/update to latest revisions.

[changelog]

[CHANGE:2026-07-04]
Fast Track added again - updated to new patch and tests OK.
[CHANGE:2026-06-11]
Updated mod section (Fast Track made officially apart of the must haves + omitted nearly all CPU section due to Unity engine screwing over affinity handling. *Will re-add once I get around to fix this.
[CHANGE:2026-04-13]
Winhance options updated. | Process Lasso updated | Add ONI to anti-v exclusions.
[CHANGE:2026-04-09]
Removed excel link | Information formatted + s hand | Images giffed
[CHANGE:2026-04-06]
Benchmark update | Fast track links added | -nojoy removed | Added TODO section.
[CHANGE:2026-04-04]
*STEAM LAUNCH OPTIONS [OLD]-high -nolog -nologo -novid -nohltv -DX11 -nojoy -nod3d9ex [NEW]-high -nolog -nologo -novid -nohltv -force-d3d11-no-singlethreaded -nojoy
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