Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth continues the series’ streak of iffy PC ports

Cloud gaming

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Square Enix

A performance and settings guide for a ropey PC port of a Final Fantasy game? Sweet, I haven’t done one of these in four whole months . In fairness to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth , which Nic says can be great as a game per se, it does make some effort at settling into Windows. It has rebindable M+K controls. It has DLSS . It has generally more consistent framerates than FFXVI , which could bait you in with silky visuals before grabbing your head and shoving it into the cold ice bath of sub-30fps.

Yet it also steps back from that game on its supported tech, while raising its hardware requirements so far above Final Fantasy 7 Remake that it won’t even launch on a lot of older graphics cards. Even so, hitching and microstuttering issues from FF7 Remake return once more, along with plenty of other signs that this PC version didn’t get the love that a lot of other erstwhile PlayStation exclusives – like Horizon Forbidden West or God of War Ragnarök – did for their ports.

…Mind you, at least it doesn’t need a PSN account .

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Square Enix

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth system requirements and PC performance

Evidently, FF7 Rebirth is another SSD -hogging gigantogame, though for some the bigger concern will be those minimum GPU specs. While none of the Radeon, RX 6600, Arc A580, or RTX 2060 are high-end cards in themselves, the official listings’ emphasis on meeting at least these specific hardware generations does reveal an unusually high fussiness.

Image credit:Square Enix

The internet tells me – the game sure doesn’t – that this requirement is owed to the usage of mesh shaders, the same computing trick that made Alan Wake 2 unplayable on the GTX 10 series. Sure enough, even my GTX 1080 Ti can’t open FF7 Rebirth, let alone run it (though further searching suggests there’s a mod that might help ).

There is, at least, hope for more modern kit that doesn’t quite match the minimum. The oft-rubbish Radeon RX 6500 XT, for instance, managed a respectable 46fps on Low settings at 1080p, albeit aided by TAAU upscaling. And my MSI Thin GF63 gaming laptop, which only has an RTX 4050 and 8GB of system RAM, could average 55fps at 1080p/Low with DLSS.

Speaking of upscaling, it’s not enforced, but it is on by default and suffers from a relatively awkward implementation. Unlike in most games, you don’t pick an upscaler and select its quality mode. Instead, it relies on how low you set the minimum dynamic resolution scaling; this then acts as the rendering resolution that the upscaler upscales from. Say if you’re playing on a 2560x1440 monitor and set the minimum dynamic rez value to 50% - it will then render at 1920x1080 and upscale to 1440p, producing a slightly lower picture quality than if you’d selected 66%. Or 100%, which basically forces native resolution.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Square Enix

It’s not the most elegantly labelled system, but alas, it’s the one FF7 Rebirth has got. The actual upscaler options are also limited to DLSS and TAAU, so there’s no FSR or XeSS (which has just been updated to the impressive XeSS 2 ) for AMD or Intel GPU owners. It gets worse for the latter, too, as the game seems to have a general disaffection for Arc GPUs. I tried the new Arc B580 at 1080p, and while it averaged 72fps on High quality (with TAAU set to 50%), it also suffered from a raft of problems that never reappeared on other cards: flickering geometry, textures refusing to load, and even a sustained black screen that appeared whenever I opened the pause menu.

The B580’s Nvidia rival, the RTX 4060, avoided all of these while managing a markedly higher average of 81fps (with DLSS on 50%). But I still saw plenty of hitching on this GPU, as well as on its older cousin, the RTX 3070. This older model proved enough to handle 1440p, where it produced 68fps with DLSS on 66%, though for some reason got hit with the worst stuttering of all the GeForce cards I tried.

This jitterishness even appeared, if far less often, on beastly GPUs like the RTX 4070 Ti. Otherwise, this is a reasonable yardstick for both fast 1440p and good 4K, scoring 94fps and 68fps respectively with High settings at DLSS at 66%. 4K also seems to scale well too, with the RTX 4090 pumping out 114fps on the same settings.

Don’t expect much more than that, though, regardless of your hardware. Once again for a Final Fantasy game on PC, Rebirth comes with a 120fps cap, and an unlocked framerate isn’t the only thing joining FSR on the does-not-support pile. Ultrawide resolutions? Nope. Cursors in menus? Nah. Resizeable subtitles? Hope you like TV-sized words filling the entire bottom quarter of your screen anytime someone pipes up, or else you’ll need to turn them off entirely.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Square Enix

Then there’s stuff that’s just… weird. When I first booted up FF7 Rebirth, for instance, it defaulted to 1920x1080, despite running on a 4K monitor, and the resolution setting was greyed out, so I couldn’t change it. The only workaround was to switch to windowed mode, set my actual native resolution, then switch back to borderless fullscreen. Why do this! It’s weird! I’m also baffled by the pause screen itself,which can’t open instantly because it needs to load in a fully 3D mini-realm for your boy Cloud to pose in, and seems to use its own resolution/anti-aliasing settings regardless of what you choose yourself.

Also strange, but in more of a pleasant way, is that for its high hardware requirements, FF7 Rebirth is just about playable on the Steam Deck . You’ll need significantly lower settings than even an affordable desktop rig can get away with, but live with that and you should stay above 30fps outside of the most densely detailed areas.

Image credit:Square Enix

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth best settings guide

For the Steam Deck, the Low preset does seem like the way to go, though mass-dropping quality settings won’t be necessary for most PCs.

To find out which specific settings are worth cutting, and which should stay up, I fiddled with each one individually on the RTX 4060. For reference, at 1080p this averaged 81fps on High, 103fps on Medium, and 119fps on Low, so we can see immediately that there are gains to be had – even if the purely visual differences between High and Medium are pretty subtle.

Here’s what I’d call the best settings for FF7 Rebirth, based on my testing:

• Framerate: 120fps, or 60fps if you have a 60Hz monitor
• Display sync technology: VRR
• Dynamic resolution scaling (Minimum): 66%
• Background model detail: Medium
• Fog quality: Low
• Anti-aliasing method: DLSS, or TAAU on non-RTX GPUs
• Everything else: High preset defaults

As it happened, most of the individual quality settings – from character model details to textures and shadow resolution – don’t help performance much at all when lowered, only adding 1-3fps apiece to the High preset’s 81fps. Only background model detail and fog quality made a big difference, and since neither of these look ugly on their Medium and Low settings respectively, they’re worth sacrificing to get an easy chunk o’ frames.

As for upscaling, DLSS (as it so often does) proved the best-looking, so enable that if you can. For everyone else, TAAU is a workable alternative. Either way, keeping minimum rendering at 66% helps bump overall performance up without utterly knackering sharpness, even at 1080p.

Sadly there’s not much that can be done – at least from this end – about FF7 Rebirth’s stuttering or its ultimately patchwork support for staple PC features. But you can speed things up more generally, and that’s something.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC , Nintendo Switch 2

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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