Performance
Marvel Rivals FPS Boost Mod: What the Max FPS Preset Changes
The Max FPS preset in RIVALSFPS.GG is a free FPS boost and performance mod for Marvel Rivals: it reduces lights and shadows, makes foliage transparent, and hides decals and the far background. Lights: Reduced alone is about 7% more FPS in testing. This guide covers what it sets in each column, the figures behind it, and how to apply and undo it.
Paused on Season 11
Since Season 11 on November 13, 2026, graphic packs and the Graphics tab's settings are paused. The game now removes them when you reach the lobby, so they do nothing. RIVALSFPS.GG 5.5.1 or later turns them off by itself and keeps your choices saved for when a game update allows them again. More in Maps white on Season 11.
Until RIVALSFPS.GG 5.2.0 the same preset was called Competitive, and it set transparent foliage, hidden decals and Shadows: Reduced. 5.2.0 renamed it Max FPS, added Lights: Reduced and Background: Hidden, and extended its Shadows setting to the shadows props cast.
What Max FPS sets in every column
The settings strip has a Preset dropdown followed by eight columns. Picking Max FPS fills all eight at once. Foliage takes two columns, Style and Res, because it is one layer with two choices.
| Column | Max FPS | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Foliage Style | Transparent | Bushes and grass are made see-through, so they mostly disappear. |
| Foliage Res | N/A | Transparent foliage has nothing left to size, so this column has no value under Max FPS. |
| Visual Effects | Default | Left as the game ships. No preset changes it. |
| Characters | Default | Left as the game ships. No preset changes it. |
| Decals | Hidden | Bullet holes, scorch marks and posters stuck on the world are not drawn. |
| Shadows | Reduced | The shadows that lights, props and scenery cast are switched off. |
| Lights | Reduced | Placed lamps and accent lights in match maps are switched off, and ambient light is raised to compensate. |
| Background | Hidden | The far skyline outside the playable area is hidden. |
Two things are deliberately left alone. Visual Effects and Characters stay at Default in every preset, so whatever you set on those two survives a change of preset. And no preset picks a graphic pack for you: the pack underneath is your look, and the layers sit on top of whatever it is.
What each setting is worth in testing
Four choices in the app have a published FPS figure. Three of them are settings Max FPS turns on. The fourth is a graphic pack, which the preset never chooses for you.
| Setting | What it changes | In testing |
|---|---|---|
| Lights: Reduced | Turns off placed lamps and accent lights and raises ambient light to compensate. | About 7% more FPS in testing. |
| Shadows: Reduced | Turns off the shadows lights and props cast. | About 2% more FPS in testing. |
| Background: Hidden | Hides the far skyline outside the playable area. | About 2% more FPS in testing. |
| Competitive Dark Gray | A graphic pack with dark gray map and environment textures. Not part of the preset. | About 2% more FPS in testing, and about 2% more FPS in testing on top of Max FPS. |
The four were tested separately against the same scene, so they are not parts of one total, and RIVALSFPS.GG publishes no figure for the Max FPS preset as a whole. Of the colorways, only Competitive Dark Gray was tested; the other colorways have no published figure. Your own result depends on your PC, your in-game settings and the map. How these were measured.
What the three FPS layers change in the picture
Lights: Reduced
Switches off every placed light in match maps: lamps, signs, accent and fill lights. Each map's ambient light is raised so interiors stay readable. Menus and hero select are unchanged. The trade-off is flatter lighting, with no pools of light or colored glow, and some glossy floors read darker.
Shadows: Reduced
Switches off the shadows cast by lights, and since 5.2.0 the shadows that props and scenery cast as well. Lit surfaces keep their brightness, so anything that sat in shadow reads at full brightness instead. Scenes look flatter, distant scenery can look hazier, and shadows painted into floor art stay because they are not lights. Some players see stutter in the first match or two, and it settles.
Background: Hidden
Hides the distant city and scenery beyond the edges of each map, the buildings and terrain you can see but never reach. Nothing inside the playable area changes. The horizon looks emptier, with sky where the skyline was.
Before 5.2.0 the Shadows row was called Reduce Shadows, with On and Off as its options, which read like a double negative. Every row's untouched option now reads Default, so Shadows and Lights offer Default or Reduced, and Decals and Background offer Default or Hidden.
The other two changes Max FPS makes
Foliage Style: Transparent makes bushes and grass see-through, so they mostly disappear. It is the most visible change in the preset. If you want plants in the picture, Colored keeps them, tinted to your colorway (the app's color graphic pack underneath, such as Competitive Dark Gray), at the size you pick in Foliage Res.
Decals: Hidden stops the game drawing bullet holes, scorch marks and posters on the world. Very little of the look goes with them, and the image comes out cleaner. Neither of these two changes carries an FPS figure.
How the FPS boost mod works
Max FPS is a preset, not a file you download. Picking it fills the
Graphic Pack Settings row at the top of the Graphics tab, and Apply
builds the layers it needs on your PC, from your own game files, with
the builder that comes with the app. The layers are pak files that mount
in the game's ~mods folder next to your graphic pack, which
is why the game loads them only with the Signature Bypass installed. If
the bypass is missing, Apply asks you to install it first, and that
install usually raises a Windows permission (UAC) prompt.
The layers apply when you start the game with Launch Marvel Rivals on Home, or with the opt-in Quick-launch desktop shortcut from 5.2.0, which counts as pressing Launch. A Steam or Epic launch runs without the app's packs and layers, and they are switched off again after the game closes. To undo the whole preset, set Preset to Default and press Apply, which removes every layer. To undo one part, set just that column back to Default and press Apply.
How to apply Max FPS
- Open Graphics in the app's left rail. The titlebar reads Graphic Packs and the page heading reads Graphic Pack Settings.
- In the strip at the top, open the Preset dropdown and pick Max FPS. The columns beside it fill in, but nothing is built yet.
- Change any column you disagree with. Picks stage as a draft, so a preset plus one change is still a single build.
- Press Apply. If the Signature Bypass is missing, the app asks you to install it first.
- The layers build on your PC from your own game files, with a progress toast. When it reads Settings applied, start the game with Launch Marvel Rivals.
On top of your graphic pack, or none
The layers are the Graphics tab's own feature, not options of the active pack. They stack on any of the app's graphic packs, on a custom pack you built yourself, or on no pack at all, and for the textures a layer covers, the layer wins. The one exception is a pack you imported from somewhere else: the layers are built against the app's own packs, so with an imported pack active the settings are switched off until you activate one of the app's packs again.
Marvel Rivals texture packs covers the packs themselves, and All eight Graphic Pack Settings goes through the texture columns and the Default, Balanced and Pretty presets this article skips.
The first build, and the build lock
The first Apply takes a while, because the builder works from your own game files. Until it is done, Home's Launch button shows Building Graphic Packs and fills up as the build goes, and on the Graphics tab the strip, Apply, Custom Pack, Reset Packs and the library's pack buttons stay locked. Builds run one at a time, so a change made mid-build could only wait in line behind it.
Updates can start a build on their own. Anyone who already had Shadows: Reduced applied before 5.2.0 gets one rebuild after updating, because that layer now covers prop shadows. After a Marvel Rivals patch, layers built for the old game version rebuild when you press Launch.
What it is, and what it is not
The layers are paks the app builds into your game's mods folder. That is why they need the Signature Bypass, and why the Mod Manager lists them under Installed Mods by RIVALSFPS.GG without a switch of their own. The guide to the Marvel Rivals mod manager covers that list. Each layer is a mod pak that the game loads in place of part of its own data, and NetEase's published rules prohibit modifying the game client. For the account side of that, read Are Marvel Rivals mods bannable?.
Max FPS also does not touch your resolution, your monitor or Windows. For a resolution change, see Lower Render Resolution on any graphics card on the Quality tab. For the operating system side, the Windows optimizations are separate and reversible. For the game's own menu, see how to increase FPS in Marvel Rivals, and a full table for weaker hardware is in best settings for a low-end PC.
Max FPS is one pick in the Preset dropdown of RIVALSFPS.GG, a free Windows app. Choose it, press Apply, then start the game with Launch Marvel Rivals.
Free for Windows 10 and 11.
Download for WindowsCommon questions
What does the Max FPS preset change in Marvel Rivals?
It sets Lights and Shadows to Reduced, Foliage Style to Transparent, and Decals and Background to Hidden. Visual Effects and Characters stay at Default. It fills the Graphic Pack Settings strip in the app's Graphics tab, and nothing changes until you press Apply.
Is there a performance or optimization mod for Marvel Rivals?
The Max FPS preset in Graphic Pack Settings, part of the free RIVALSFPS.GG app, is one. It builds a set of layers into the game's mods folder that switch off placed lights and the shadows lights and props cast, make foliage see-through, and leave out decals and the distant skyline. Lights: Reduced alone is about 7% more FPS in testing. For a lower render resolution instead, Lower Render Resolution on the Quality tab works on any graphics card; it has no published figure.
How much FPS does the Max FPS preset give?
RIVALSFPS.GG publishes no figure for the preset as a whole. Its layers were tested one at a time: Lights: Reduced is about 7% more FPS in testing, and Shadows: Reduced and Background: Hidden are about 2% more FPS in testing each. Those are separate results, not parts of a total, and results on your PC will differ.
Was Max FPS called Competitive before?
Yes. The preset was named Competitive until RIVALSFPS.GG 5.2.0, which renamed it Max FPS and added Lights: Reduced and Background: Hidden to it. Shadows: Reduced was already part of it, and in 5.2.0 it also removes the shadows props cast.
Do I need the Signature Bypass for Max FPS?
Yes. Every Max FPS layer is a pak in the game's mods folder, and Marvel Rivals only loads mod paks once the Signature Bypass is in place. Apply checks for it and offers the install when it is missing. That install usually raises a Windows UAC prompt, since the bypass files go into the game's Binaries\Win64 folder.
Why are the Graphics dropdowns grayed out?
Something is being built. The app builds one pack or layer at a time, and until the current one is done it locks the strip and the library's pack buttons, with the hover note "Disabled until the current build completes". The controls come back on their own when the build ends.
