Best GameLoop settings for CODM Season 7 Terminated — full performance guide
Season 7 arrives on 5 August. These are the GameLoop emulator and in-game settings that give you the most stable frame rate, the sharpest competitive visibility, and the lowest input lag for the new season.
A new CODM season is the right moment to audit your full setup. Season 7 introduces the JOKR launcher, RC-XD car racing mode, changes to weapon balance, and the Gulag mechanic in Battle Royale. None of these raise hardware requirements significantly, but the new BR Gulag creates sudden-load situations that will stutter if your emulator memory is undersized or your renderer is running in a suboptimal mode.
Start with the emulator. The in-game graphics preset can be changed in seconds; a misconfigured emulator costs you performance in every session until you fix it.
GameLoop emulator settings
Open GameLoop and go to the gear icon in the top-right corner.
Rendering engine
DirectX 11 is the correct pick for most players. It is stable, has no per-session shader compilation pause, and the performance ceiling is sufficient for 120 fps on high-end hardware.
Choose DirectX 12 only if you have an RTX 3070 or better and you are targeting more than 120 fps. DX12 delivers slightly higher GPU throughput on capable cards but introduces 5–10 minutes of shader compilation stutter each time you start a new GameLoop session. If you play in short sessions, the stutter will never fully resolve before you quit.
Vulkan is present in some GameLoop builds but is not recommended for CODM — it produces inconsistent frame pacing on most tested hardware configurations.
Resolution
Set it to your monitor's native resolution. Running at a non-native resolution adds GPU scaling overhead without improving image quality and can cause the image to look softer than Low in-game graphics would. If frame rate is the problem, reduce in-game quality — not emulator resolution.
High FPS mode
Enable it. Without this toggle, the in-game 90 fps and 120 fps options will not appear regardless of what you select inside the game. This is a common source of confusion after a fresh GameLoop install.
Virtual machine memory
Set to at least 4 096 MB. If your system has 16 GB of RAM or more, 8 192 MB is better. Undersized VM memory is the most common cause of crash-on-launch and stutters during scene transitions in Season 7 — the Gulag loading into a small arena is a new memory spike that a 2 048 MB allocation can fail to absorb.
CPU cores assigned
Assign 4 cores minimum. If your CPU has 8 or more logical threads, use 6. Assigning more than 6 cores does not improve CODM frame rates and can introduce thread scheduling overhead. After launching, set GameLoop's process priority to High in Windows Task Manager — right-click the process, Set Priority → High. Do not use Realtime; that can destabilise the system.
Overlays
Disable third-party overlay software (Discord in-game overlay, GPU OSD tools) before Season 7 launches. CODM's anti-cheat scanner periodically checks for injected overlays and can issue false positives. GameLoop's own FPS counter in the top-left corner of the game window is safe.
In-game graphics settings
Access these via Settings → Graphics inside CODM. There are three tiers of recommendation depending on your hardware.
Performance tier (GTX 1060 / RX 580 and below, or any system targeting 60 fps stability)
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Graphics quality | Low |
| Frame rate | High (60 fps) or Very High (90 fps) |
| Depth of Field | Off |
| Bloom | Off |
| Advanced graphics | Off |
| Anti-aliasing | Off |
| Shadow quality | Off |
Anti-aliasing and shadow quality are the most expensive settings in CODM. Turning off both on a performance-tier system frees enough GPU headroom to push from 45 fps to a stable 60 fps in most outdoor areas.
Balanced tier (GTX 1660 / RX 5600 XT, 16 GB RAM, targeting 60–90 fps)
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Graphics quality | Medium |
| Frame rate | Very High (90 fps) |
| Depth of Field | Off |
| Bloom | Off |
| Advanced graphics | Off |
| Anti-aliasing | SMAA (not MSAA) |
| Shadow quality | Medium |
SMAA over MSAA: MSAA is a multi-sample technique that multiplies the render cost of edges; SMAA is a post-process technique that costs a fraction of that. At 1080p competitive play, the visual difference is negligible and the frame rate difference is measurable.
High-performance tier (RTX 3060 / RX 6700 and above, 16–32 GB RAM, targeting 90–120 fps)
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Graphics quality | High |
| Frame rate | Ultra (120 fps) |
| Depth of Field | Off |
| Bloom | Off |
| Advanced graphics | On (optional) |
| Anti-aliasing | SMAA |
| Shadow quality | Low or Medium |
Keep shadow quality at Low or Medium even on high-end hardware. In a competitive match, hard shadows at High quality obscure silhouettes against complex backgrounds — players standing in shadow become harder to distinguish from the environment. Medium shadow quality is a better competitive choice than High even when GPU budget allows High.
Controls and keybinding
Season 7 does not change the default keybind layout, but two settings are worth reviewing at season start.
Mouse sensitivity: If you are using the sensitivity guide numbers from Season 6, keep them. There is no new weapon type that would justify a sensitivity change. Only adjust if you are picking up the JOKR launcher as a primary — launcher aim-down-sights is slower than most primaries, and some players set a separate ADS sensitivity for launcher-class weapons.
Key mapper: The RC-XD vehicle mode introduced in Season 7 assigns a vehicle-enter key. The default is E. Check your key mapper in GameLoop to confirm E is not shadowed by another binding — a common conflict is with the interact/capture key if you remapped it.
Audio settings
Enable game audio through Windows audio, not GameLoop's internal audio processor. In GameLoop Settings → Audio, set to pass-through mode if available. The internal processor adds a small processing delay and applies compression that reduces the precision of directional footstep audio — the same compression that is helpful on a phone speaker is harmful when you are using headphones to track enemy positions.
Network and latency
Season 7 brings the Gulag, which loads a second arena instance mid-match. This creates a brief network burst at the moment of transfer. If you play on a connection with variable latency, setting a ping limit in matchmaking (Settings → Gameplay → Ping limit) to 80 ms reduces the chance of being placed in a lobby that makes the Gulag transition visually laggy.
For high-ping situations outside your control, the lag fix guide covers the full diagnostic and solution path.
What to check on 5 August
When Season 7 lands, confirm these before your first ranked match:
- Frame rate cap — major patches reset this to 30 fps; restore your setting inside the game
- Shadow and AA settings — they reset to default values; apply your preset
- Key bindings — the settings-reset guide covers what patches wipe and what survives
- Emulator VM memory — confirm it held at your configured value (check GameLoop settings; patches do not change emulator config, but it is worth a five-second look)
Season 7 is live on 5 August at 17:00 PT. The servers typically go through a 30-minute patch window before the season content is accessible.
Season 7 Terminated — complete guide index
This article is part of the Season 7 Terminated guide series for GameLoop PC. For a full overview of every mode, guide, and fix in Season 7, see the Season 7 Terminated hub.