Perfectly Optimized is a Unreal Engine 5 starter template made to deliver performance gains on lower-end hardware.

Unreal Engine 5’s default configuration prioritizes ray-traced global illumination and virtualized geometry. While systems such as Nanite and Lumen work effectively on modern GPUs, they can overwhelm older GPUs and integrated graphics.

This template changes the UE5 rendering pipeline for stability and low GPU cost, delivering performance closer to Unity forward rendered games.

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Overview

• Vulkan-based rendering
• High-end UE5 rendering features disabled by default
• Optimized for high and stable frame rates on low-spec systems
• Clean, lightweight template for performance

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Key Modifications

Rendering Backend

• Switched from DirectX 12 to Vulkan
• Improved compatibility with mobile and VR systems
• Reduced shader runtime cost

Anti-Aliasing

• Anti-aliasing changed to FXAA
• MSAA disabled (0 samples)

Lighting Pipeline

• Lumen fully disabled
• No real-time global illumination or reflections
• Project configured for baked lighting

Geometry and Virtualization

• Nanite disabled by default
• Avoids virtualized geometry processing
• Ensures compatibility with GPUs lacking powerful compute resources

Reduced Package Size

• Disabled Prerequisites installer
• Exclude Editor Content While Cooking
• Exclude Movies while staging

Additional Performance-Focused Changes

• Reduced unecessary post processing
• Virtual Shadow Maps disabled
• Clean project configuration with no unnecessary runtime systems

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Technical Details

Features

• Vulkan-rendered UE5 template optimized for low-end hardware
• Lightweight sample maps with performance-focused settings

Number of Blueprints

• None

Number of Maps

• 1

Input

• None (No gameplay input bindings beyond engine defaults.)

Network Replicated

• No

Supported Development Platforms

• Windows: Yes
• Mac: No

Documentation

• Included in this repository

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Intended Use Cases

• Developers targeting older PCs, budget laptops, VR Systems, Mobile Games and integrated GPUs
• Performance-sensitive prototypes and experiments
• Indie projects requiring a lightweight UE5 Project
• Stylized, low-poly, or small-scale 3D projects
• Developers transitioning from Unity rendering to UE5

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What This Template Is Not

• Not a gameplay framework
• Not a visual showcase
• Not a Nanite or Lumen demonstration
• Not intended for high-end or cinematic rendering

This template exists to provide a clean, fast, and predictable starting point for Unreal Engine 5 projects where performance is a primary concern.

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Getting Started

1. Clone/download this repository or download from fab
2. Open the .uproject file using Unreal Engine 5
3. Build lighting
4. Begin development with a performance-optimized baseline

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