Sons of the Forest system requirements, PC performance and the best settings to use

Refreshed for Sons of the Forest 1.0

Update: Sons Of The Forest 1.0 is out, marking the end of early access. I’ve been doing some re-testing and as hoped, 1.0 runs significantly better than the version I originally benchmarked for this analysis. Sometimes over 20% faster, depending on hardware and settings. Huzzah and, indeed, yippee.

From what I can tell, its individual settings still have a broadly proportional performance impact to the early access build, so I’ve left most of the guide below as is. Still, I’ve still added some results from my 1.0 testing, most notably on the newly-added FSR 3 upscaling.

The mostly-original article continues below…

I’m not enough of a survivalist log-lugger for Sons of the Forest to be my leisure time bag, though it’s always entertaining to performance-test a PC game that’s constantly trying to kill you. This analysis and settings guide, then, is brought to you the ragged nerves of someone that’s spent several hours being screamed at by camouflaged cannibals, having only survived long enough to hear them by consuming several tins of cat food. Honestly, I am more cat food than man at this point.

Unbalanced diets aside, we must acknowledge early that Sons of the Forest is an early access game , and that some technical infidelities are to be expected. The good news is that it doesn’t run like utter dreck, and it’s not hard to boost framerates with some targeted settings changes and/or Nvidia DLSS , though a work in progress this most certainly is.

Looking for ways to survive your first few days in Sons of the Forest? Watch the video above for 15 essential tips.Watch on YouTube

I’ve tested Sons of the Forest on a few different graphics cards , mainly from its minimum and recommended system specs, to see how this hardware really handles the cannibal-clubbing sequel. Scoot on further down this page for settings guide, or read on for a look into the game’s technical state on launch.

Sons of the Forest: system requirements and PC performance

Seriously, when did the GTX 1060 become every other single big-name game’s minimum GPU? Ah well, at least this time it’s just the 3GB version, alongside (a personal old favourite of mine) the Radeon RX 570. The recommended specs are, as you’d expect, a bigger ask, including an 8th-gen Core i7, the GTX 1080 Ti and the Radeon RX 5700 XT.

Sons of the Forest minimum system requirements

• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB / AMD Radeon RX 570
• CPU: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 3 3300X
• RAM: 12GB
• OS: Windows 10 64-bit
• Storage: 20GB (SSD recommended)

Sons of the Forest recommended system requirements

• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti/ AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
• CPU: Intel Core i5-8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
• RAM: 16GB
• OS: Windows 10 64-bit
• Storage: 20GB (SSD recommended)

There are no target framerates or monitor resolutions listed for these, though based on my testing with the RX 570 and the GTX 1080 Ti, I’m guessing they’re both for 1080p, with Ultra Low quality on the minimum spec and High or even Ultra on the recommended spec.

Perched in the RPS rig alongside its Core i5-11600K and 16GB of RAM, with display rez set to 1080p, the RX 570 averaged 50fps on Ultra Low and 49fps on Low. Framerates will be slightly lower on older or slower CPUs than the Core i5-11600K, but the listed processors should keep it more than playable on these presets. As for the GTX 1080 Ti, that could produce 67fps on Ultra, with just a tiny step up to 68fps on High. This particularly GPU might be decent for 1440p, too – I got 59fps out of it at 2560x1440 with the Medium quality preset.

For a combination of higher resolutions and higher quality, though, there’s no getting around it: you’ll need something much beefier. For what it’s worth that doesn’t have to mean top-of—the-line kit like the RTX 4090; the much more affordable RTX 3070 was decent at 4K, averaging 48fps on Ultra and 57fps with the addition of DLSS on Quality mode. It’s a good bet for fast 1440p too, scoring 71fps on Ultra at native resolution and 77fps with Quality DLSS.

Throw in nearly two dozen individual graphics settings for togglin’ and tweakin’, and Sons of the Forest should have the flexibility a PC game needs to run well on a range of hardware. Except, it’s probably not to perform at its peak until it goes further through the early access motions.

It’s no Kerbal Space Program 2 , luckily, but it’s rough in more than a couple of places. Stuttering is commonplace in the current build, as is inconsistency: a GPU that runs around 90fps in a darkened cave might drop to 50-60fps once you emerge into a thick forest. Menus could stand to be more responsive as well, when they’re not bugging out. On several occasions, hitting the pause key brought up the menu but didn’t actually pause the game, with mouse movements continuing the move the camera instead of switching to the menu cursor.

I personally haven’t had much bad luck with crashes, though guides ed Ollie found that trying to bind a mysterious ‘Reset’ action in the keyboard settings would kill Sons of the Forest where it stood. When I tried it, the game remained stable, though a successful rebind was never completed.

Whether this stuff should put you off playing Sons of the Forest in early access will depend on your personal level of jank tolerance. Neither I nor the guides gang have encountered anything truly game-breaking, though I would recommend saving regularly regardless.

Sons of the Forest: best settings guide

Some oddities also arise when relying purely on Sons of the Forest’s graphics presets. Look at the full results of the GTX 1080 Ti at 1080p; 89fps on Ultra Low, 89fps on Low, 74fps on Medium, 68fps on High, and 67fps on Ultra. At both the top and bottom of the scale, there are two presets with either identical or near-identical performance. Why bother using Ultra Low or High at all?

As tempting as it might therefore be to slap it on Low, Medium or Ultra, you can make some finer adjustments to balance faster FPS with higher visual standards. Ultra-quality settings might be the slowest but, as you can see from the gallery below, Medium represents a sizeable drop in detail. Let’s see if we can’t find a combination of settings that’s the best of both worlds, using that Ultra test result of 67fps as a starting point.

Draw distance: Lowering this from Ultra to Medium only bumped performance up from 67fps to 69fps, though you’re about to see that this is one of the bigger possible gains from a single settings change. Worth keeping in mind.

Ambient occlusion: There was no change whatsoever after dropping AO all the way down to Low, so it’s fine to keep on Ultra.

Fog quality: Oddly, dropping this to Low actually cost a frame, resulting in a 66fps average. That might be a margin-of-error result but at least shows there’s nothing to be gained from cutting fog.

Anisotropic features: Turning this off produced a 68fps average, just 1fps faster than keeping it on. That might still be worth having if your PC is having a hard time, but if you’re just optimising already decent performance, leave this on.

Shadow quality: Another relatively profitable setting to change, with Medium quality boosting the GTX 1080 Ti to 70fps. Going even lower doesn’t seem to speed things up further.

Clouds: A switch to Low meant a small rise up to 69fps, which ain’t bad.

Grass: There’s no shortage of greenery in Sons of the Forest, so I’d say you can afford to drop grass quality to Low. Doing so got the GTX 1080 Ti to 70fps.

Water: Dropping to Low didn’t add even a single frame to average FPS, so leave this one turned up as well.

Parallax distance: Again, no performance change between High and Low settings here.

Terrain ansisotropic features: I got just a single frame’s difference between High and Low, suggesting it’s fine to leave up.

Billboard quality: No actual billboards stand within this nightmare penninsula. Instead, this setting appears to govern the distance at which certain trees and bushes pop into view, and although lowering it got me a single extra frame per second, the effect is ugly; it’s distractingly noticeable when shrubs materialise just a few feet in front of you. Keep this on High if you can.

Texture resolution: Another setting where there’s little to be gained in reducing the quality. Changing from Full to Quarter resolution even hurt performance, dropping the average all the way down to 63fps. Somehow?!

Anti-aliasing: FXAA doesn’t look nearly as bad here as it does in Wild Hearts , though SMAA and the default TAA are superior alternatives. Choose whichever you like – there’s no meaningful performance difference.

Dynamic resolution: Ignore TAAU and FSR 1.0 here – the only upscalers you should concern yourself with are FSR 3 and, if your GPU supports it, DLSS. On their respective Quality modes, both look about as sharp as native resolution, and FSR 3’s Quality modes specifically could push the GTX 1080 Ti’s average performance up by 13%. I had to test DLSS on an RTX 3070, as the GTX 1080 Ti doesn’t support it, but the long and short of it is that Quality DLSS enhanced performance by 13% while FSR 3 managed a 10% improvement.

Both are good, though these RTX 3070 results point to DLSS being better outright. However, Sons of the Forest is an exceedingly rare case where FSR actually looks better than DLSS, as the latter has an artificial, heavily sharpened finish to it. I’d therefore lean more towards FSR 3.

Bloom: I got an extra 1fps by cutting this, so it’s not a priority.

Screen space reflection: No incremental settings here, unfortunately – just on or off. I’d leave them on, as while turning SSR off saw the GTX 1080 Ti creep up to 69fps, it’s a big loss to visual quality.

Motion blur: Now here’s a setting you can turn off. Excessive motion blur was ugly in The Forest , it’s ugly in Sons of the Forest, and I got an extra 2fps out of ditching it.

Micro shadowing: While you can jettison this without a stark quality loss, the 1fps uptick that comes with doing so isn’t worth much.

Contact shadows: A 70fps result after disabling this setting makes it one of the most impactful, so consider sacrificing it.

Chromatic aberration: This doesn’t seem to make any difference to performance, one way or the other. Season to taste; it’s not the most intrusive chromatic aberration effect I’ve seen in a game, by any means.

Film grain: There’s only the tiniest of framerate gains to be had from disabling film grain, just 1fps in my case, though I’m inclined to cut it just for aesthetics.

Colour grading: These are just filters you can switch on for a bit of fun, or artful screenshotting. Black and white, sepia, that sort of thing – nothing that affects performance either way.

Out of this long list, there are eight settings that make prime targets for a good, firm lowering. The result should be a configuration that performs on par with, if not slightly faster than the Medium preset, while having more in common visually with Ultra…

• Draw distance: Medium
• Shadow quality: Medium
• Clouds: Low
• Grass: Low
• Motion blur: Off
• Micro shadowing: Off
• Contact shadows: Off
• Film grain: Off
• Everything else: Ultra preset equivalent

In the GTX 1080 Ti’s case, these settings turn that 67fps average into 83fps, or a 23% improvement. And there are more potential frames up for grabs if you add FSR 3 or DLSS upscaling, which likely isn’t necessary at 1080p but could prove very helpful at 1440p or above. Again, DLSS is sharper and faster, but FSR 3 looks more natural overall. Try both, if you can, and see which you prefer.

Sons of the Forest

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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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How to find the 3D printer in Sons Of The Forest

Learn where to find the 3D printer in Sons Of The Forest

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Endnight Games

Looking for the 3D printer in Sons Of The Forest? Sons Of The Forest is a tough survival game, but you can make it a little easier with the 3D printer. No, you won’t use it to make your own custom Warhammer miniatures! Instead, you can use it to print crucial items, such as the flask to store water , or the mask to pacify enemies. If you’re itching to find the 3D printer and don’t know where to look, that’s where we come in.

We’ll break down how to find the 3D printer in Sons Of The Forest, which is no longer in early access after the release of the version 1.0 update. We’ll explain exactly where you need to go to get the 3D printer, and list all of the items you can print.

In this guide:

• How to get the 3D printer in Sons Of The Forest
• How to use the 3D printer in Sons Of The Forest

Looking for ways to survive your first few days in Sons of the Forest? Watch the video above for 15 essential tips.Watch on YouTube

How to get the 3D printer in Sons Of the Forest

The 3D printer is found in a cave that’s marked by a green pulse on the map. You can find the exact location in the image below.

Follow the green pulse above the player in this image. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Endnight Games

Once you arrive at the marker, simply head down the slope and into the cave. Shuffle through the gap to get in, and then continue into the darkness until you see a light up ahead. You’ll find yourself in a corridor that seems kind of like a mysterious underground lab, and the light up ahead leads into a safe room.

When you enter the safe room, you’ll find the 3D printer on a desk by the wall. It’s already loaded with some resin, but you can find more on the shelves nearby.

The exact 3D printer location in Sons Of The Forest. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Endnight Games

How to use the 3D printer in Sons Of The Forest

To use the 3D printer in Sons Of The Forest, you must press “R” on the nearby computer to cycle through the various items that you can print. When you’ve settled on an item (and checked that the 3D printer has enough resin), you can hit the “E” key to start printing.

Below, you’ll find a list of items that you can make using the 3D printer:

• Arrows (50 resin)
• Flask (100 resin)
• Mask (150 resin)
• Grappling Hooks (100 resin)
• Tech Mesh (250 resin)
• Sled (1000 resin)

With the resin available in this room alone, you should be able to make most of the cheap items, or a single sled. We’d recommend getting the flask and mask first, along with some arrows if you prefer ranged weapons.

Before heading out, make sure to also search the rest of the room. You’ll find some Carbon Fiber arrows in the corner, and there is also a bed here that you can use to save and sleep. It’s the perfect shelter!

If you’re not comfortable with lighting a fire and making a tent in Sons Of The Forest to survive in the outdoors, then this is the ideal base.

That wraps up our guide on how to find the 3D printer in Sons Of The Forest. Of course, the items that you can 3D print aren’t the only important tools that you’ll need to survive. If you want to explore underwater, for example, you’ll need to get the Rebreather in Sons Of The Forest . This also allows you to get the Shovel in Sons Of The Forest , which you can use to dig up hidden items. If you’re scared of exploring, consider learning how to get Virginia in Sons Of The Forest first, as she makes an excellent combat companion.

Sons of the Forest

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