Abiotic Factor: Disable Lumen & Increase FPS

In this guide we teach you how to disable Lumen to remove ugly noisy laggy shadows and increase FPS.

Abiotic Factor: Disable Lumen & Increase FPS

Lumen is Unreal Engine’s solution for dynamic global illumination. If you do not understand those words please read them as “evil performance killer that makes light dim slowly and shadows noisy”. It’s ugly as hell and I’ve been looking everywhere on how to disable it and r/engineini got me some answers so I decided to share my findings with you!

Following this guide will result in:

• Removal of noisy shadows
• Removal of dynamic lighting fading
• FPS increase

Disclaimer

Nothing is ever free, and so this tweak comes with a downside. There will be many missing shadows. If you are cool with that, let’s get started.

1. Find the configuration file

Navigate to: C:Users<Your Name>AppDataLocalAbioticFactorSavedConfigWindows

2. Open Engine.ini

Open Engine.ini in a text editor of your choice (you may even use notepad).

It should look something like this:

[Core.System]
Paths=../../../Engine/Content
Paths=%GAMEDIR%Content
Paths=../../../AbioticFactor/Plugins/AutoSettings/Content
Paths=../../../AbioticFactor/Plugins/CommonLoadingScreen/Content
Paths=../../../AbioticFactor/Plugins/DataTableEditorUtilities/Content
Paths=../../../AbioticFactor/Plugins/Dovrac/Content
Paths=../../../AbioticFactor/Plugins/SteamCore/Content
Paths=../../../AbioticFactor/Plugins/UniversalVoiceChatPro/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/2D/Paper2D/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/ACLPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/ControlRigSpline/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/ControlRig/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/DeformerGraph/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/IKRig/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/BlueprintFileUtils/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Developer/AnimationSharing/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Developer/Concert/ConcertSync/ConcertSyncClient/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/BlueprintHeaderView/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/GeometryMode/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/ModelingToolsEditorMode/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/ObjectMixer/LightMixer/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/ObjectMixer/ObjectMixer/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/SpeedTreeImporter/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/UVEditor/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Enterprise/DatasmithContent/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Enterprise/GLTFExporter/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosCaching/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosClothEditor/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosNiagara/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosSolverPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosVehiclesPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/Dataflow/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/FullBodyIK/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/GeometryCollectionPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/PythonScriptPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ToolPresets/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/FX/Niagara/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Fab/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Interchange/Runtime/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Media/MediaCompositing/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Media/MediaPlate/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/MovieScene/SequencerScripting/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AudioSynesthesia/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AudioWidgets/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/GeometryProcessing/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/HDRIBackdrop/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/HairStrands/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Metasound/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/ResonanceAudio/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/RigVM/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/SoundUtilities/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Synthesis/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/WaveTable/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/TraceUtilities/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/VirtualProduction/MultiUserTakes/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/VirtualProduction/Takes/Content

[Audio]
UnfocusedVolumeMultiplier=1

[GameNetDriver StatelessConnectHandlerComponent]
CachedClientID=1

3. Add 2 lines of text

Add the following lines of text to the bottom of the file:

[SystemSettings]
r.DynamicGlobalIlluminationMethod=0

The final result should look something like this:

[Core.System]
Paths=../../../Engine/Content
Paths=%GAMEDIR%Content
Paths=../../../AbioticFactor/Plugins/AutoSettings/Content
Paths=../../../AbioticFactor/Plugins/CommonLoadingScreen/Content
Paths=../../../AbioticFactor/Plugins/DataTableEditorUtilities/Content
Paths=../../../AbioticFactor/Plugins/Dovrac/Content
Paths=../../../AbioticFactor/Plugins/SteamCore/Content
Paths=../../../AbioticFactor/Plugins/UniversalVoiceChatPro/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/2D/Paper2D/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/ACLPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/ControlRigSpline/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/ControlRig/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/DeformerGraph/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Animation/IKRig/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/BlueprintFileUtils/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Developer/AnimationSharing/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Developer/Concert/ConcertSync/ConcertSyncClient/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/BlueprintHeaderView/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/GeometryMode/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/ModelingToolsEditorMode/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/ObjectMixer/LightMixer/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/ObjectMixer/ObjectMixer/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/SpeedTreeImporter/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Editor/UVEditor/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Enterprise/DatasmithContent/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Enterprise/GLTFExporter/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosCaching/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosClothEditor/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosNiagara/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosSolverPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ChaosVehiclesPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/Dataflow/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/FullBodyIK/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/GeometryCollectionPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/PythonScriptPlugin/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/ToolPresets/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/FX/Niagara/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Fab/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Interchange/Runtime/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Media/MediaCompositing/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Media/MediaPlate/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/MovieScene/SequencerScripting/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AudioSynesthesia/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/AudioWidgets/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/GeometryProcessing/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/HDRIBackdrop/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/HairStrands/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Metasound/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/ResonanceAudio/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/RigVM/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/SoundUtilities/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Synthesis/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/WaveTable/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/TraceUtilities/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/VirtualProduction/MultiUserTakes/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/VirtualProduction/Takes/Content

[Audio]
UnfocusedVolumeMultiplier=1

[GameNetDriver StatelessConnectHandlerComponent]
CachedClientID=1

[SystemSettings]
r.DynamicGlobalIlluminationMethod=0

4. Save the file, close it, run the game

Make sure you save the file. Close it, and start the game, now with 200% more crispy pixels and less pathtracing noise.