Why Settings Matter More in HLL Than Most Games
Hell Let Loose: Vietnam runs on Unreal Engine 5 at a much higher fidelity than the original. Default settings prioritise visual quality over competitive clarity — the opposite of what you want in a 100-player tactical shooter.
Getting your settings right can mean:
- Spotting enemies in foliage that a default-settings player misses entirely
- Hearing footsteps and reloads in time to react
- Stable framerates during large engagements at objectives
- Less motion sickness in helicopters and vehicles
Known Beta Issues (and Workarounds)
The Steam community has surfaced several recurring problems during the open beta. These are distinct from your settings — they’re engine or server-side bugs — but knowing them will stop you chasing phantom settings fixes.
Texture Streaming Stutter
Assets load late or appear blurry before snapping to full resolution, especially during fast movement and large battles. Players on SSDs report a noticeably cleaner experience than those on HDDs.
Workaround: If you’re on an HDD, this won’t be fixable via settings. SSD users can try lowering the texture streaming pool size if the option is exposed. For now, it’s a known beta bug.
Fullscreen Not Working Correctly
Several players report that true exclusive fullscreen isn’t functioning in the beta — the resolution resets on game restart and upscaling resolves to the wrong target.
Workaround: Set your game to Windowed Fullscreen and manually match the resolution to your monitor’s native resolution in Windows display settings before launching. If you’re chasing a specific render resolution (e.g. 2560x1440 on a 4K screen), set it via your GPU control panel globally.
Frame Generation Flicker
Frame generation (DLSS FG, FSR FG) causes world flickering in the current beta build for many users. It may show clean framerates in the training mode but flicker in live servers.
Workaround: Leave frame generation off until a patch addresses it. Use upscaling quality modes (DLSS Quality, FSR Quality) instead — they give most of the framerate benefit without the visual artefacts.
DX12 Micro-Stuttering
Some players find DX12 causes micro-stutters, particularly when aiming down sights. Switching to DX11 via launch options reduces stuttering but costs 10–20% raw performance.
Workaround: Try both. If DX12 is smooth for you, keep it. If you’re getting stutter spikes during ADS, add -dx11 to your Steam launch options and test.
Some Video Settings Are Currently Bugged
The developers confirmed that certain in-game video settings are not applying correctly in the beta build. If a setting change seems to have no visible effect, this may be why.
Graphics Settings (Competitive Focus)
The principle: lower visual settings often mean better visibility. Dense foliage, volumetric fog, and shadow complexity on high settings can hide enemies who’d be obvious on low.
Recommended Settings
| Setting | Recommended | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Render Resolution | Native / DLSS Quality | See upscaling section below |
| View Distance | Medium | High costs significant GPU with marginal tactical benefit |
| Foliage Quality | Low–Medium | Dense foliage at High actively hides enemies |
| Shadow Quality | Low–Medium | Reduces GPU load significantly, minimal clarity loss |
| Texture Quality | High | Low textures make spotting harder, not easier |
| Post Processing | Low | Bloom and lens effects reduce clarity |
| Anti-Aliasing | DLSS / TSR / FSR | See below — native AA options are expensive |
| Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) | Off | High GPU cost, no gameplay benefit |
| Motion Blur | Off | Reduces clarity during movement and ADS |
| Lumen (Global Illumination) | Medium | Affects muzzle flash visibility — keep it on |
| Nanite | On | It’s a rendering optimisation, not a quality toggle |
| Volumetric Fog | Low or Off | Reduces atmospheric obscurement of enemies |
Upscaling: DLSS, FSR, TSR, XeSS
This is the single highest-value setting in the game. Running native resolution without upscaling is expensive and often unnecessary.
- Nvidia GPU (RTX 2000+): Use DLSS Quality or DLSS Balanced. The game without DLSS looks noticeably worse on low settings — DLSS Quality restores most of that at a fraction of the GPU cost. Avoid DLSS Performance unless you’re very framerate-constrained.
- AMD GPU: Use FSR Quality (FSR 3 if available). AMD users are reporting more instability in the beta, but FSR still delivers meaningful gains.
- Intel Arc: Use XeSS.
- No upscaling: Use TSR (Temporal Super Resolution, UE5 native). It looks better than standard TAA and costs less than native.
Do not run native + FXAA unless you have headroom to spare. FXAA looks worse than TSR and saves little.
Audio Settings
Audio in HLL is as important as visuals. Footsteps, reload sounds, and weapon signatures reveal enemies before you see them.
| Setting | Recommended | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Master Volume | 80–100% | Don’t compress your own hearing |
| Effects Volume | 100% | Gunshots, footsteps, reloads — all here |
| Voice Volume | 70–80% | Enough to hear squad comms without masking footsteps |
| Music Volume | 0–20% | Tactical gameplay; music obscures audio cues |
| Headphones EQ | On | Improves stereo imaging for directional audio |
Headphone vs Speaker Mode
If you use headphones (recommended), enable headphone mode or any HRTF / spatial audio option in the audio settings. Positional audio in HLL is critical — footsteps from above, flanks on your left, artillery incoming from the north. Flat stereo costs you information.
Controls (PC)
Mouse Settings
| Setting | Recommended |
|---|---|
| Mouse Sensitivity | 15–25 cm/360° is common for tactical shooters; tune to your hardware |
| ADS Sensitivity Multiplier | 0.85–1.0 |
| Raw Input | On |
| Mouse Smoothing | Off |
| Mouse Acceleration | Off |
Raw input bypasses Windows mouse acceleration entirely. If you’re not on raw input, your aim will feel inconsistent.
Keybinds Worth Changing
The default keybinds are serviceable but not optimal. Consider rebinding:
- Comms wheel / orders to a thumb button or easily accessible key — you’ll use this constantly
- Map to a single key press rather than a toggle if the default is buried
- Lean — if available, bind to Q/E or similar for fast cover usage
PC Launch Options
Add these to your Steam launch options (right-click game → Properties → Launch Options):
-USEALLAVAILABLECORESThis ensures the game uses all physical CPU cores. It has meaningful impact on systems with 6+ cores where Windows scheduler may not assign load correctly.
If you’re experiencing DX12 micro-stutters:
-dx11Note this trades some raw performance for stutter reduction. Test before committing.
Console Settings (PS5 / Xbox Series X|S)
Console players have fewer options to tune, but a few matter:
- Performance Mode vs Quality Mode: Use Performance Mode. HLL is a competitive tactical game — stable framerate matters more than resolution.
- Motion Blur: Turn it off if the option is exposed.
- Audio: Use headphones via the controller jack if possible. Positional audio is significantly cleaner than TV speakers.
- HUD Scaling: Reduce if your TV has overscan cutting off UI elements.
Console players should also note the beta has had reports of frame rate instability on 60Hz displays. This appears to be a beta-specific issue and is expected to improve at launch.
System Requirements (PC)
From Expression Games:
| Tier | CPU | GPU | RAM | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Intel i5-8600K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600 | GTX 1070 / RX 5700 | 16 GB | 60 GB SSD |
| Recommended | Intel i7-9700K / AMD Ryzen 7 3700X | RTX 3080 / RX 6800 XT | 32 GB | 60 GB SSD |
| High | Intel i9-12900K / AMD Ryzen 9 5900X | RTX 4080 / RX 7900 XTX | 32 GB | 60 GB NVMe SSD |
SSD is strongly recommended, not just for faster loading but for texture streaming stability. The beta has demonstrated that HDD installs suffer noticeably worse texture pop-in during play.
What Actually Improves Your Play
Settings only take you so far. A few other things matter more:
- A working microphone is worth more than any graphics tweak. HLL is built around voice coordination and a silent player is a liability to the squad. See the Voice Chat & Push to Talk guide if your mic is stuck open or push to talk isn’t responding.
- Wired internet over WiFi for server stability. HLL’s server-side netcode amplifies packet loss — a dropped packet shows up as a rubber-banding player or a missed hit.
- Discord with your squad. In-game VOIP works but Discord provides better quality and squad organisation.