Despite its checkered appearance, Minecraft is a game that can be quite difficult to run on some computers. Fortunately, there are many ways to make Minecraft run faster and reduce crashes for those with less sophisticated computers. If you play Minecraft PE on a mobile device, you can also do a number of things to improve its performance.
Step
Part 1 of 3: Tweaking Minecraft Video Settings
Step 1. Open the Video Settings menu in Minecraft
You can adjust various settings in Minecraft to help improve performance at the expense of visuals. Some settings make the game display very bad, so it's all up to you to turn them on or off.
- Press Esc when you are running a game.
- Select "Options" then "Video Settings".
Step 2. Switch the "Graphics" option to "Fast"
Some graphic details will decrease but performance will improve. Maybe you will notice a big difference in how the game looks when you switch it to " Fast ".
Step 3. Lower the " Render Distance"
Rendering in fewer chunks makes the game look a bit blurry, but the performance will be faster. Try rendering in 8 chunks or less to see if you can still enjoy the look.
Step 4. Switch "Clouds" to "Fast" or "Off"
Both of these options will give better performance than the "Fancy" option.
Step 5. Switch " Particles " to " Decreased " or " Minimal"
This will remove some of the particle effects in the game, such as the loss of the smoke effect when a fire burns, but will improve performance.
Step 6. Disable "Entity Shadows"
This action will remove shadows from mobs and other creatures in the world. The game display will lose the 3-dimensional effect, but the performance will improve greatly.
Step 7. Enable "VBOs" if you have a graphics card
This can help improve performance, but only works if you have a graphics card installed.
Step 8. Switch " Smooth Lighting " to " OFF " or " Minimum"
Exposure detail will decrease, but performance will improve, especially if you are using an older computer.
Step 9. Change the resolution of your Minecraft game
Reducing the resolution makes the game look small, but the performance will increase.
- Close Minecraft while it is running and open Minecraft Launcher.
- Click the "Edit Profile" button in the lower left corner.
- Enter the new, smaller resolution. Some of the resolutions commonly used for widescreen monitors include: 1920x1080, 1600x900, and 1280x720.
Part 2 of 3: Optimizing Computer
Step 1. Close all unnecessary programs
Minecraft performance will decrease drastically if there are programs running in the background. Some background programs that can consume resources include: torrent programs, iTunes, some antivirus programs such as McAfee and Norton, Chrome, and so on.
- Open Task Manager in Windows by pressing Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Esc. You can safely close running programs in the Apps or Applications section by selecting the desired program and then clicking "End task". Make sure you have saved any open files or documents before closing a program.
- For Mac users, open the Force Quit window by pressing Cmd+⌥ Opt+Esc. Select the program in the list and then click the "Force Quit" button to close it. Make sure you have saved any open files or documents first.
Step 2. Plug the laptop into a power source (if you are using a laptop)
Many CPUs and GPUs (graphics displays) on laptops will degrade in performance when the battery is running low. Plug the laptop into a power source for better performance.
Step 3. Update your Minecraft launcher to the latest version
Newer versions of Minecraft contain the necessary Java files so you don't need to use the standalone version. This also has the added benefit that it will install the correct Java version for your computer's system architecture.
When you run it, Minecraft launcher will automatically check for updates
Step 4. Install the latest drivers for your computer's graphics card (Windows)
Drivers are software that controls hardware, and installing the latest graphics card drivers can help improve your computer's performance when you play Minecraft. Below are the basic steps for updating drivers. You can also get detailed instructions by looking at How to Find and Update Drivers.
- Open the Start menu or screen, then type devmgmt.msc and press Enter. This will open the Device Manager.
- Expand the Display Adapter section to view your computer's graphics card. If there are two cards listed there, pay attention to the non-Intel card.
- Pay attention to the model of your video card. The three major video card manufacturers are AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel. The model will be listed after the manufacturer's name.
- Go to your graphics card manufacturer's website and look for the model of the card. Download the driver for the latest version.
- Run the installer to update your computer's drivers. The computer screen will flash or turn black during the installation process.
Step 5. Install the OptiFine mod (program to modify the game)
OptiFine can be used to modify Minecraft game files and optimize code to improve performance. Many users experience an immediate performance boost after installing this mod without having to make any additional tweaks. This mod is available for both Mac and Windows.
- Launch your browser and visit optifine.net/downloads.
- Click the " Download " link to get the latest OptiFine HD Ultra. Once the ad is gone, click the link to download the OptiFine JAR file. Your browser may ask you to approve the download.
- Double-click the JAR file you downloaded and then click "Install" in the window that appears. OptiFine will be installed in your Minecraft folder.
- Launch Minecraft Launcher then select " OptiFine " from the " Profile " menu before you run the game. Then the OptiFine mod will load.
- Try playing the game with the mod on the default settings. Many users experience an immediate increase in performance. You can make further tweaks from the Options → Video Settings menu. In this menu there are many other options which will not be available if you don't have mod installed.
Step 6. Consider upgrading your computer
In addition to the performance enhancement methods described above, you will basically need to upgrade your computer to increase its performance. Minecraft relies on both CPU and GPU performance, so both may need an upgrade for you to get a significant performance change. Installing more RAM probably won't make much difference unless Minecraft uses 100% of your computer's RAM.
- It seems that you will not be able to upgrade the laptop beyond the maximum RAM limit allowed by the laptop. See How to Install RAM for detailed instructions on how to replace and upgrade laptop memory.
- If you buy a new CPU, you may need to buy a new motherboard as well. See How to Install a New Processor for detailed instructions.
- One of the easiest ways to upgrade is to install a graphics card, as long as there is still a free space to install the graphics card in your computer case. See How to Install a Graphics Card for detailed instructions.
Part 3 of 3: Improve Minecraft PE Performance
Step 1. Change some basic graphics settings in Minecraft PE
Minecraft PE has several graphic options that can be changed from within the game to improve its performance:
- Run Minecraft PE then tap on "Options".
- Tap the "Graphics" button at the bottom of the menu on the left.
- Lower the " Render Distance " to change how close the game is you can see. This can improve performance significantly.
- Turn off "Fancy Graphics" and "Beautiful Skies" to see how much of a performance boost you can get.
Step 2. Free up storage space on your device
The application will start running slowly when the storage space on your smartphone or tablet is running low. You can improve performance a bit by freeing up storage space on your phone, for example by deleting old photos, apps, and other files.
- Look for instructions on wikiHow on how to find and delete files that are taking up storage space on your device.
- See How to Free Up Storage Space on iPhone for detailed instructions on how to clear storage space on iPhone.
Step 3. Restore your device to factory settings (factory reset)
If your device hasn't been reset to date, or since you got it, its performance may suffer. Resetting your phone can make it run even faster, just like when you just bought it, but everything stored on your phone will be erased. Make sure you have backed up all important files before resetting your phone.
- See How to Reset an Android Phone for instructions on how to reset an Android device.
- See How to Restore iPhone for instructions on how to reset iPhone.
