Launch options

Launch options are command line arguments (parameters) for Client.exe. Most of these are not intended for use by players.

Access

To change these options follow one of these instuctions.

For standalone client

1. Create a shortcut for Client.exe
2. Right click the shortcut
3. Select Properties
4. Navigate to Shortcut tab
5. Add options to the Target: "...\Path of Exile\Client.exe", after the quotes

For Steam version

1. Open Steam
2. Navigate to Library tab
3. Right click Path of Exile
4. Select Properties
5. Navigate to General tab
6. Click Set Launch Options...

Note, that some of the following options may not work for Steam version.

Available options

Command	Valid Values	Notes
--waitforpreload	N/A	This causes the game to not finish the initial loading screen until it has fully loaded all of the stuff that would otherwise be background-loaded during the first moments of play.
--noasync --nopreload	N/A	Completely disable the asynchronous loading changes introduced in Version 2.3.0.
--require-launch	N/A	Require that the user press the launch button in the patcher before entering game.
--nopatch	N/A	Do not attempt to patch.
--fail	N/A	Fail horribly.
--garbage-generation <generations> -gc <generations>	Numeric (1 or 2)	The number of generations to keep around when running garbage collection. While this feature fixes out of memory (EOUTOFMEMORY or Unable to Map File) crashes it significantly increases loading time between zones.
--nosound -ns	N/A	Disables the creation of the audio device. Helps with sound related crashes.
--softwareaudio -swa	N/A	Forces use of generic software audio device. Fixes a bug with Creative sound cards causing game crashes.
--login-port <port number> -lp <port number>	Valid port (e.g. 3724)	The login server port.
--patching-server <server> -p <server>	Valid address:port (e.g. pathofexile.com:3724)	The patching server that should be patched from.
--patching-auth -pa	N/A	Override basic auth used for for patching content.
--prev-proc-id <process id>	Numeric	Before running wait for this process id to exit.
--use-defaults -ud	N/A	Will always use default settings set in the settings.cpp
--adapter:<adapter number>	Numeric (e.g. "--adapter:0" selects the first adapter)	Selects a video adapter. Do not use this command, but instead use your graphics driver menu, or set this by right-clicking on the Path of Exile shortcut and choosing to run the game with the dedicated graphics card.

Version history

Version	Changes
2.4.0	"--experimental-frame-optimizations" option has been removed. Its functions has been added to the core game.
2.3.3	This patch introduces an opt-in beta test for the new multithreaded engine features that should significantly improve game performance for most users. Frame rate increases are most significant when there are a lot of entities in the scene. This means situations with large amounts of combat should have much more stable frame rates. Do not expect significant increases in frame rate in non-combat situations. To enable this, you need to add "--experimental-frame-optimizations" to the Path of Exile command line.
2.3.0f	Added --noasync command-line parameter to completely disable the asynchronous loading changes introduced in Version 2.3.0. The --nopreload mode now works the same way as --noasync. The asynchronous loading is turned off but data is preloaded correctly (resulting in long loading screens, but no stuttering). You should remove --nopreload and add --noasync to your shortcut for future compatibility.
2.3.0e	Added --waitforpreload.