Red Dead Redemption 2 is the epic open-world Wild West adventure game that thrusts players into the rugged heartland of America during the late 1800s, offering a vast, immersive frontier to explore. Now, you can experience this incredible ride on the Steam Deck with the best settings, tried and tested to give you an immersive gaming experience on the go.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Best Steam Deck Settings
<table style="margin: 1rem auto; color: #ddd; background-color: #23262F; border-radius: 0.5rem; padding: 0; border-collapse: separate;">
<tr bgcolor="#3f434f">
<th colspan="2" style="padding: 0.5rem;">Compatibility Settings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Proton Version</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Experimental</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#3f434f">
<th colspan="2" style="padding: 0.5rem;">BIOS Settings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">UMA Frame Buffer Size</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">1G</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#3f434f">
<th colspan="2" style="padding: 0.5rem;">CryoUtilities Settings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Swappiness</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Recommended</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Swap File Size</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">16GB</td>
</tr>
</table>
Compatibility Settings |
Proton Version |
Experimental |
BIOS Settings |
UMA Frame Buffer Size |
1G |
CryoUtilities Settings |
Swappiness |
Recommended |
Swap File Size |
16GB |
For such an expansive and visually stunning game, Red Dead Redemption 2 runs surprisingly well on the Steam Deck. In fact, with our settings, you can get an experience that’s on par with the PlayStation 4 version of the game in a form factor that you can take on the road.
Red Dead Redemption 2 runs just fine with the default settings, but you can improve overall framerate stability by using CryoUtilities. I suggest letting the tool automatically change your system settings to the recommended ones, but the two things we’re most looking to change are Swap File Size and Swappiness.
How big should your Swap File be? It depends on the size of your internal hard disk. Those playing on a 64GB Steam Deck won’t have much flexibility here, as you’re already strapped for disk space, even without the added capacity of a larger Swap File.
One interesting quirk about Red Dead Redemption 2 is that, as far as experts in the community can tell, increasing the UMA Frame Buffer Size actually hurts overall performance in this game.
The UMA Frame Buffer determines how much of the system’s shared RAM is dedicated to the GPU. Most modern games are GPU-heavy and texture sizes have increased in recent years, so you generally want this setting to be as high as possible. However, a large UMA Frame Buffer can hurt performance in CPU-intensive games, as it limits how much RAM is dedicated to the CPU processes.
In short: use CryoUtilities to set the File Swap size as large as your system will allow. Then go into the BIOS and set your UMA Frame Buffer Size to 1G.
Done? Now that you’ve applied the necessary tweaks above, it’s time to start messing with the in-game settings for a silky smooth experience on the Steam Deck. Let’s jump right in!
Recommended — Quality Settings (Native@30fps | ~1h30m)
Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the better-looking games in recent years, even half a decade after it was originally released, and I think it’s best enjoyed with all the bells and whistles turned as high up as possible. These settings will give you an experience on par with the PlayStation 4 version of the game on the Steam Deck’s 7-inch screen. Of course, that does mean you’ll have to accept playing at 30 frames per second, but it’s worth it for the added immersion the enhanced visuals provide.
<table style="margin: 1rem auto; color: #ddd; background-color: #23262F; border-radius: 0.5rem; padding: 0; border-collapse: separate;">
<tr bgcolor="#3f434f">
<th colspan="2" style="padding: 0.5rem;">In-game Settings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Resolution</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">1280x800</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Refresh Rate</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">60</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Screen Type</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Fullscreen</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">VSync</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Triple Buffering</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Anti-Aliasing</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Low</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#3f434f">
<th colspan="2" style="padding: 0.5rem;">Graphics Settings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Quality Preset Level</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Favor Performance</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Texture Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Ultra</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Anisotropic Filtering</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">X8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Lighting Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">High</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Global Illumination Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">High</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Shadow Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">High</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Far Shadow Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Medium</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Screen Space Ambient Occlusion</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">High</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Reflection Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Medium</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Mirror Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Medium</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Water Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Medium</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Volumetrics Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">High</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Particle Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">High</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Tesselation Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Medium</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">TAA</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">High</td>
</tr>
</table>
In-game Settings |
Resolution |
1280×800 |
Refresh Rate |
60 |
Screen Type |
Fullscreen |
VSync |
Off |
Triple Buffering |
Off |
Anti-Aliasing |
Low |
Graphics Settings |
Quality Preset Level |
Favor Performance |
Texture Quality |
Ultra |
Anisotropic Filtering |
X8 |
Lighting Quality |
High |
Global Illumination Quality |
High |
Shadow Quality |
High |
Far Shadow Quality |
Medium |
Screen Space Ambient Occlusion |
High |
Reflection Quality |
Medium |
Mirror Quality |
Medium |
Water Quality |
Medium |
Volumetrics Quality |
High |
Particle Quality |
High |
Tesselation Quality |
Medium |
TAA |
High |
Balanced Settings (Native@40fps | ~2h)
If 30 frames per second is just too low for you, these settings allow you to push the framerate up to 40 fps. To get there, we turn down the overall quality of the visuals by a notch (from mostly high to mostly medium/low), but the final settings do provide a noticeably smoother experience. Lowering the graphics settings also reduces the load on the Steam Deck’s APU, so you reap better playtime as well.
<table style="margin: 1rem auto; color: #ddd; background-color: #23262F; border-radius: 0.5rem; padding: 0; border-collapse: separate;">
<tr bgcolor="#3f434f">
<th colspan="2" style="padding: 0.5rem;">In-game Settings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Resolution</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">1280x800</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Refresh Rate</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">60</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Screen Type</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Fullscreen</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">VSync</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Triple Buffering</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Anti-Aliasing</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Low</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#3f434f">
<th colspan="2" style="padding: 0.5rem;">Graphics Settings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Quality Preset Level</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Favor Performance</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Texture Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Medium</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Anisotropic Filtering</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">X2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Lighting Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Medium</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Global Illumination Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Low</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Shadow Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Medium</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Far Shadow Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Low</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Screen Space Ambient Occlusion</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Medium</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Reflection Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Low</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Mirror Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Low</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Water Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Low</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Volumetrics Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Medium</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Particle Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Medium</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Tesselation Quality</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Low</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">TAA</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Low</td>
</tr>
</table>
In-game Settings |
Resolution |
1280×800 |
Refresh Rate |
60 |
Screen Type |
Fullscreen |
VSync |
Off |
Triple Buffering |
Off |
Anti-Aliasing |
Low |
Graphics Settings |
Quality Preset Level |
Favor Performance |
Texture Quality |
Medium |
Anisotropic Filtering |
X2 |
Lighting Quality |
Medium |
Global Illumination Quality |
Low |
Shadow Quality |
Medium |
Far Shadow Quality |
Low |
Screen Space Ambient Occlusion |
Medium |
Reflection Quality |
Low |
Mirror Quality |
Low |
Water Quality |
Low |
Volumetrics Quality |
Medium |
Particle Quality |
Medium |
Tesselation Quality |
Low |
TAA |
Low |
<table style="margin: 1rem auto; color: #ddd; background-color: #23262F; border-radius: 0.5rem; padding: 0; border-collapse: separate;">
<tr bgcolor="#3f434f">
<th colspan="2" style="padding: 0.5rem;">Steam Deck Performance Menu Settings</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Refresh Rate</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">40</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Framerate Limit</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">40</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Allow Tearing</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">On</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Half Rate Shading</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Thermal Power (TDP) Limit</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Manual GPU Clock Control</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Scaling Filter</td>
<td style="padding: 0.5rem">Linear</td>
</tr>
</table>
Steam Deck Performance Menu Settings |
Refresh Rate |
40 |
Framerate Limit |
40 |
Allow Tearing |
On |
Half Rate Shading |
Off |
Thermal Power (TDP) Limit |
Off |
Manual GPU Clock Control |
Off |
Scaling Filter |
Linear |