Optimizing Cemu

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In this section, we make sure that Cemu is running as fast as possible. This involves changing some options in Cemu and your GPU settings to make sure we’re getting the best performance.

To continue, we need to know what GPU your system is using. If you don’t know what type of graphics processor you have, open the Settings app on Windows 10. Then navigate to System -> Display -> Advanced display settings.

Under your display name, it should say Display #: Connected to [GPU]. This should start with Intel, AMD or NVIDIA. That will tell you what brand of GPU you have.

Follow our Using Async guide to reduce shader compilation stuttering

Please select your GPU brand below:

Ensure you are running the latest drivers and that your GPU supports Vulkan or OpenGL 4.5+.

OpenGL 4.1 to 4.4 will work, however you may experience graphical issues.

GPU Settings

  1. Open NVIDIA Control Panel
    • You can access this by right clicking on your Desktop
  2. Make sure you are on the Manage 3D Settings section
    • This is the default section when opening the control panel
  3. Go to the Program Settings tab
  4. In “1. Select a program to customise” click Add -> Browse
  5. Navigate to your Cemu folder and select the Cemu executable
  6. If you are on a laptop with dual graphics, under “2. select the preferred graphics processor for this program” select High-performance NVIDIA processor
  7. Under OpenGL rendering GPU select your main graphics processor
  8. Under Power management select Prefer maximum performance
  9. Set Threaded Optimization to On
  10. Set Triple Buffering to On
    • Disable this if you use the Vulkan rendering API
  11. If you have a compatible display, enable G-Sync

Cemu Settings

  1. Open the Cemu main menu

  2. Click Options -> General settings on the top bar

  3. Navigate to the Graphics tab
  4. Change the Graphics API to:
    • Vulkan can increase performance but reduces stability
    • OpenGL is more stable and can reduce crashing
  5. For Vulkan, ensure that Graphics Device is correct and using your most powerful card in the case of devices with dual graphics
  6. Set VSync to:
    • For Vulkan, set to Triple buffering
    • For OpenGL, set to Off

    You may not notice a difference in performance between OpenGL and Vulkan on some NVIDIA cards. Test yourself as to which is better for your configuration.

  7. Navigate to the Audio tab
  8. Under General, change API to XAudio2

Game Profiles

By default, Cemu will only sure the single-core recompiler. For most games and processors, this will give you the best performance and stability.

However, some older processors (such as the AMD FX Series) can benefit from multi-core recompiling.

Some games as well, such as Breath of the Wild, see a massive improvement using multi-core recompiling, even on modern processors.

Doing this can cause other issues to occur:

  • This can cause extra heat which may reduce performance in devices with poor thermals (e.g. laptops)
  • This may cause some games to stop working or crash when enabled
    • If this happens, set “Mode” to a lower setting

Do not use this if you already get good performance in your game. This can actually cause the game to be slower with a lot of CPUs.

To continue, we need to know how many logical processors your CPU has. You can find out in the Windows Task Manager.

Right click on the Windows button and click Task Manager -> More Details.

Go to the Performance tab. Under CPU you should find Logical processors.

  1. Open the Cemu main menu
  2. Right click on your game(s) and click Edit game profile
  3. Set “Mode” to:
    • If you use a CPU with 6 logical processors or higher, set to Triplecore-recompiler
    • For a CPU with 4 logical processors, set to Dualcore-recompiler
    • for a CPU with 2 logical processors, set to Singlecore-recompiler
  4. Set “Thread Quantum” to 100000

If your CPU overheats while using the triple-core recompiler, but you need multi-core for performance, consider using dual-core instead.

Ensure you are running the latest drivers and that your GPU supports Vulkan or OpenGL 4.5+.

OpenGL 4.1 to 4.4 will work, however you may experience graphical issues.

Cemu Settings

  1. Open the Cemu main menu

  2. Click Options -> General settings on the top bar

  3. Navigate to the Graphics tab
  4. Change the Graphics API to Vulkan
    • This is very important and will increase performance by up to 50% on AMD GPUs
    • This can cause stuttering when playing for the first time or after a driver update, but will go away after time
  5. Ensure that Graphics Device is correct and using your most powerful card in the case of devices with dual graphics

  6. Set VSync to triple buffering

  7. Navigate to the Audio tab
  8. Under General, change API to XAudio2

Game Profiles

By default, Cemu will only sure the single-core recompiler. For most games and processors, this will give you the best performance and stability.

However, some older processors (such as the AMD FX Series) can benefit from multi-core recompiling.

Some games as well, such as Breath of the Wild, see a massive improvement using multi-core recompiling, even on modern processors.

Doing this can cause other issues to occur:

  • This can cause extra heat which may reduce performance in devices with poor thermals (e.g. laptops)
  • This may cause some games to stop working or crash when enabled
    • If this happens, set “Mode” to a lower setting

Do not use this if you already get good performance in your game. This can actually cause the game to be slower with a lot of CPUs.

To continue, we need to know how many logical processors your CPU has. You can find out in the Windows Task Manager.

Right click on the Windows button and click Task Manager -> More Details.

Go to the Performance tab. Under CPU you should find Logical processors.

  1. Open the Cemu main menu
  2. Right click on your game(s) and click Edit game profile
  3. Set “Mode” to:
    • If you use a CPU with 6 logical processors or higher, set to Triplecore-recompiler
    • For a CPU with 4 logical processors, set to Dualcore-recompiler
    • for a CPU with 2 logical processors, set to Singlecore-recompiler
  4. Set “Thread Quantum” to 100000

If your CPU overheats while using the triple-core recompiler, but you need multi-core for performance, consider using dual-core instead.

Ensure you are running the latest drivers and that your iGPU supports Vulkan or OpenGL 4.5+.

OpenGL 4.1 to 4.4 will work, however you may experience graphical issues.

Cemu Settings

  1. Open the Cemu main menu

  2. Click Options -> General settings on the top bar

  3. Navigate to the Graphics tab
  4. Open the drop down menu Graphics API
  5. If Vulkan appears, select it
    • This can increase performance and decreases graphical issues
    • However it can cause stuttering when playing for the first time or after a driver update, but will go away after time

  6. Set “VSync” to double or triple buffering

  7. Navigate to the Audio tab
  8. Under General, change API to XAudio2

Shortcuts and Drivers

  1. Ensure you are running in maximum performance mode.
  2. If a game isn’t working, consider creating a shortcut to Cemu and add -legacy to the target
    • This may cause other games to stop working
  3. If it still doesn’t work, update your iGPU driver.
  4. If the issue still persists, it’s likely that game won’t work for your iGPU, or it is too old to run

Game Profiles

By default, Cemu will only sure the single-core recompiler. For most games and processors, this will give you the best performance and stability.

However, some older processors (such as the AMD FX Series) can benefit from multi-core recompiling.

Some games as well, such as Breath of the Wild, see a massive improvement using multi-core recompiling, even on modern processors.

Doing this can cause other issues to occur:

  • This can cause extra heat which may reduce performance in devices with poor thermals (e.g. laptops)
  • This may cause some games to stop working or crash when enabled
    • If this happens, set “Mode” to a lower setting

Do not use this if you already get good performance in your game. This can actually cause the game to be slower with a lot of CPUs.

To continue, we need to know how many logical processors your CPU has. You can find out in the Windows Task Manager.

Right click on the Windows button and click Task Manager -> More Details.

Go to the Performance tab. Under CPU you should find Logical processors.

  1. Open the Cemu main menu
  2. Right click on your game(s) and click Edit game profile
  3. Set “Mode” to:
    • If you use a CPU with 6 logical processors or higher, set to Triplecore-recompiler
    • For a CPU with 4 logical processors, set to Dualcore-recompiler
    • for a CPU with 2 logical processors, set to Singlecore-recompiler
  4. Set “Thread Quantum” to 100000

If your CPU overheats while using the triple-core recompiler, but you need multi-core for performance, consider using dual-core instead.

Cemu should now be running the fastest it can, with a huge increase in performance for some users. There are even more ways to improve framerates in Breath of the Wild. Follow our optimization guide for more info.

Continue to Optimizing Breath of the Wild (Optional)