DBZ Kakarot lag – Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is an open world action RPG by Bandai Namco Entertainment. This game is quite different from the Xenoverse titles as DBZ Kakarot gives you a true open world experience unlike how things are in Xenoverse 1 and 2.
The game lets you relive the original story of Goku and other Z Fighters. You will experience all of those epic battles that you have seen in the Dragon Ball Z series till date. This title truly offers a brand new experience as you not only fight with Goku, Gohan, Vegeta and others. But you fish, eat, and train with them as well. Explore the new areas and adventures as you advance through the story and form powerful bonds with other heroes from the DBZ universe.
From epic events to light-hearted side quests, this games offers it all. You get to fight across vast battlefields with destructible environments and experience epic boss battles against the most iconic foes (Raditz, Frieza, Cell etc…). And through the RPG system you increase your power level.
Here are the key features of Dragon Ball Z : Kakarot:
- True open world experience
- Original story of Goku and other Z Fighters
- Destructible environments
- RPG mechanics
- Make friends and building relationships with a massive cast of DRAGON BALL characters
Now that the basic description of the game is out of the scenario, lets talk about how the game performs or runs on the PC platform. Most of Bandai Namco titles have been well optimized till date. Which includes the DBZ titles that were released on PC as well. Same is the case with DBZ Kakarot as it runs quite well. As long you have a decent rig, you shouldn’t face any problem.
But it looks like a lot of people are facing some performance issues here and there while playing this game. Players have already started reporting about issues like, lag, fps drops, random crashes, stuttering and few bugs. Therefore, we decided to come up with a performance guide that will tell you about all the simple and basic steps, which might help you overcome all the performance issues.
Dragon Ball Z (DBZ) Kakarot – How to fix lag, fps drops, stuttering and crashing
Check the Minimum System requirements of Dragon Ball Z Kakarot
The first things you should check are the minimum and recommended system requirements of Dragon Ball Z Kakarot. Because after taking a look at the minimum system requirements of the game you should be able to tell whether this game is suitable for your system or not.
Minimum System Requirements
| OS | Windows 7 SP1 64-bit (Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system) |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2400 or AMD Phenom II X6 1100T |
| Memory | 4 GB RAM |
| Graphics | GeForce GTX 750 Ti or Radeon HD 7950 |
| DirectX | Version 11 |
| Storage | 36 GB available space |
Recommended System Requirements
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit (Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system) |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-3470 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM |
| Graphics | GeForce GTX 960 or Radeon R9 280X |
| DirectX | Version 11 |
| Storage | 40 GB available space |
Update Graphics or Video Driver ( Fix Crashes )
This should be pretty obvious. I don’t see a reason for not installing the latest graphics or video drivers that have been already released by AMD and Nvidia. Considering the fact that these drivers are specifically optimized for DBZ Kakarot. So go ahead and update the drivers if you haven’t done it yet. Here are the links:
DBZ Kakarot – Best graphics settings
We are still working to find out the best combination of graphics or video settings that would not only allow the game to run smoother on low end gaming PCs but would also compromise less on the visuals department. Here are the full specifications of our rig:
- CPU : Intel i3 8100
- GPU : MSI GTX 1050 ti 4 GB
- RAM : 16GB DDR4 2666mhz
- HDD : 1 TB 7200 rpm
- Monitor Resolution : 1920×1080
Go to Options > Graphics Settings
Anti-Aliasing : Temporal AA
Shadows : Off
VSync : Off
Make use of the Nvidia and AMD Control Panel
Nvidia Control Panel
The first thing you should do is click on ‘Adjust image settings with preview‘ located on the left side under 3D settings and make sure that ‘Use the advanced 3D image settings‘ is selected. Now:
- Open Nvidia Control Panel
- Click on Manage 3D settings on the left bar
- Click on Global Settings
- Now tweak the following settings:
Image Sharpening : Off
Threaded Optimization : On
Power Management : Prefer Maximum Performance
Low Latency Mode : Off
Texture filtering – Quality : Performance
AMD Adrenalin 2020
Click on Global Graphics.
- Radeon Anti-Lag : Disabled
- Radeon Boost : Disabled
- Image Sharpening : Off
- Anti-Aliasing Mode : Use Application settings
- Anti-aliasing Method : Multi-sampling
- Morphological Filtering : Off
- Anisotropic Filtering : Disabled
- Texture Filtering Quality: Performance
- Surface Format Optimization: Enabled
- Tesselation Mode: AMD Optimized
- Wait for V-sync: Off
- OpenGL Triple Buffering: Off
- Shader Cache: AMD optimized
- Maximum Tesselation Level: Off
- GPU Workload: Graphics
- Radeon Chill: Off
- Frame Rate Target Control: Disabled
Update your OS
If you are using Windows 10 there is a huge chance that you are using an outdated version. Microsoft releases updates for Windows 10 every now and then. So the version or build of Windows 10 you are currently sitting on might not be an optimized one. Or you might be using a buggy update of Windows 10 that is harming the performance of your system.
Microsoft is now known for releasing buggy updates and the problem has only gotten bigger on Windows 10. So check whether you have pending Windows updates or not and update your OS. Here is how to do it:
- Go to you Windows Settings
- Click on Update & Security
- Click on Check for updates
- Wait until all the updates are installed
- Restart your PC
Avoid Overclocking your graphics card
If by any chance you are witnessing random crashes and freezes in Dragon Ball Z Kakarot then chances are it is being caused by an overclocking application or utility running in the background. A lot of games have been suffering from crashes lately due to applications like MSI Afterburner or Zotac firestorm. So just try to run your GPU and CPU at their default clock speeds and you should be good.
Upgrade your DirectX version
If Dragon Ball Z Kakarot is not launching for you, there is a chance that it is because you are running a DirectX version that is lower than DirectX 11.
How to check the DirectX version on your PC
Here is how to check the DirectX version that your OS is running:
- Press Ctrl+R or Windows key+R on your keyboard
- Type “dxdiag” and press Enter
- A dialog box will appear and at the bottom of the list your DirectX version will show up
How to download the latest DirectX version
- Go to the official Microsoft DirectX download page. Here is the link
- Choose language
- Now click on the download button
- Once the download is completed, open the “dxwebsetup.exe” file
- Follow the instructions
- Restart your PC
Here is a Microsoft DirectX compatiblity chart that will help choose the best version for your PC:
| DirectX Version | Details |
| DirectX 9 | Supported in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP. The oldest version of DirectX. |
| DirectX 10 | Supported in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP. |
| DirectX 11.0 | Supported in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions can be downloaded from the Windows website. |
| DirectX 11.1 | Supported in Windows 10, Windows 8 and 7. Can be installed in Windows 7 (SP1) but requires an update |
| DirectX 11.2 | Supported in Windows 10 and Windows 8 (8.1+) only |
| DirectX 11.4 & 11.3 | Only supported in Windows 10. |
| DirectX 12 | DirectX 12 comes preinstalled with every Windows 10 installation. It cannot be used with an older version of Windows. Updates can only be downloaded through windows update as there is no standalone installer available. |
Use Windows 10 Game Mode
Game mode prevents Windows Update from performing driver installations and sending restart notifications and it also helps your system towards achieving more stable frame rates depending on the specific game and system.
How to turn on Game Mode
Here is how to turn on Game Mode:
- Press the Start button
- Click on Settings
- Select Gaming
- Now select Game Mode for the side bar
- Turn Game Mode On
How to enable Performance overlay
There is a really awesome feature of the Game Mode that comes in really handy while playing game. And that is the Performance overlay. Performance overlay shows how much CPU, GPU and RAM is being used. Here is how to turn it on:
- Make sure that Game Mode is on, now press Windows Key+G on your keyboard
- Click on the Overlay Menu on top
- Select Performance(beta)
These are all the steps we have for the time being. All the steps listed are basic steps and does not require you to take any advanced measures. Some of these steps or methods might work for you but nothing is guaranteed. As performance issues can vary from user to user. Here is link to the official Steam discussions page of Dragon Ball Z : Kakarot where you will find players sharing their experiences with the game. We will keep on adding new steps or fixes as we progress further in the game.
If you think this guide had helped you then let us know in the comment section below. Also, if you are facing problems that are not mentioned on this article then also you can comment below. We will try come out with a fix. Good luck!
That’s all folks!
Last Updated on January 17, 2020
Shoaib, 30, is a simple guy who loves to play video games, and enjoys new cuisines sporadically. He has been gaming since he was 7 years old, and with an experience of 22 years, under his belt, there is not a single AAA game in this world, that he hasn’t played. Despite being a MBA Graduate he decided to follow his passion. And because of his love for gaming, Frondtech came into existence.