Low FPS glitch

'**for information about other versions, see below.'**

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*Main articles:* Sunken City (Glitches), Expert Mode, Glitches

 **Low FPS glitch**, sometimes abbreviated as LFPS or LFG (Low Frame Glitch) by experienced players, is a rare glitch on PS4 that results in a dramatic drop of framerate. It can be used to **reach insane height very quickly**.

 Although it happens only on the PS4 version of the game, it is also possible to reproduce it to an extent on PC. See also: Dune settings and PC glitches.

 There are Low FPS places on PS3 in OOB, but when the area is left, the FPS returns to normal. The PS4 glitch stays while traveling.

## General information

This Glitch can be triggered only in Sunken City (SC) on PS4 and characterises by a critically **low frame rate and spiky-looking sands**. Mechanics of controls and game physics can cause unexpected behaviors which may be observed from the Companion's point of view.

Playing with low FPS makes it more difficult, as you have to predict your movements a little in advance (with bonus headache added for some). If low enough the game can start to run really slow, with cutscenes also lasting longer than they should and therefore the music getting offsync.

Lowering your FPS to any value on PC manually can also make the game run slower but only if below 10 FPS (the walking, boosting speed and cutscenes duration are the same at 10 FPS vs 60 FPS). The sand will still look normal however, unlike PS4.

LFG can be used to visit PD OOB, and is one of the two methods known to get there (and the only one that works solo !)

## How and where to get it

### Triggering the LFG on PS4

Similar to Zimcloak you have to sit in Sunken City close to the first hill and wait for indefinite time.

It may happen:

* On Screen
* During a Screensaver
* Other

#### Further hints

* It has been proved impossible to reproduce the frame rate change on PS3 so far
* Rainbow Sands or a possible Zimcloak Spot are a helpful guidance.
* The low FPS will stay until you restart your console or the game on PS4

There are **two glitched framerate states for PS4**:

 **Low Frame Glitch** | much lower than PS3 | Yes, if close to 10 FPS or lower

Depending on your luck you can have either one of the two states, although they don't correspond to fixed FPS values (you can get lots of in-between values and the FPS can still vary a little while playing). The Semi Frame Drop state makes the game feel a little like on PS3 when playing (around 20 FPS).

When getting the Low Frame Glitch however you really have to anticipate your moves a lot, and there should be more glitches with possible warping at very low fps (about 10 FPS).

### The Warp Effect

#### How to do it ?

LFG warps were discovered by Banj on PS4 and are triggered as follow: **zen jump or faceplant Jump** **from any high point**, after getting the LFG. You can also get pushed by your companion otherwise while sitting or being faceplanted, or simply walk and sit/FP when about to drop from the edge of a platform.

This can be a way to confirm which kind of LFG you got as well, by judging if you can warp a little during the fall.

If lucky, when landing on the sand you will **start floating in the air instantly**, while continuously accumulating energy with more and more warps, until you finally **release all the energy in an insanely powerful boost** (this has nothing to do with Fancy Flying though, as no boosting power energy is involved like when charging with a FF technique).

#### More info and tips

* When landing after the zen jump or FPJ, **some spots work better than others**, it may need several tries until you manage to find one and levitate (from your point of view). Always make sure to fall from a **high enough point** (such as the top of the ending factory in PD, the bridge in snow level, or the highest of the 5 flyer platforms in Tower level near the bottom). It is still unclear what makes a good landing point for LFG warps, but many exist in every levels.
* The longer you hover, **the more powerful the boost will be** ! If the big warp happens after several minutes, you usually gain enough speed to warp through the wind walls surrounding the level and can therefore go OOB in PD level solo ! (but with low framerate still on for PS4). It can be a little random when the boost occurs, but it seems overall to occur quicker with higher fps values
	+ The warping direction seems a bit random on PS4 and this might be due to the fact the frame rate you get out of the low frame glitch can vary. It should make the charging time vary as well before the boost is triggered, and not always allow you to warp OOB.
* When you are about to get the huge boost near the end of the charging time, the warps get crazy and it's not rare to hit a wall of some kind and lose all boost, or to get stuck inside of a building.
* Standing up during the Warp / Boost accumulation mostly seems to stop the warping effect, while sometimes it can trigger the boost instantly after a short time in Tower Level with Goo activated.

## PC Low Frame Glitch

### Choosing the Framerate

On PC, it seems you can't trigger LFG the same way as for PS4 on zim hill, but you can take control of your FPS and reproduce the glitch to perform LFG warps. This can be done by capping the game to a given max framerate. The most convenient option would probably be to use an external software like RTSS to change FPS at will in-game with the push of a button, rather than stressing your PC enough to get really low FPS (this does work on "bad" computers, by putting all in-game settings to max !). It seems Nvidia control panel doesn't let you select less than 20 FPS as maximum framerate anyway. Using a shader to lower fps doesn't work.

**3 to 11 fps** value have been tested and seem to work for LFG warps.

*Note from nathanj regarding FPS 18/05/2022:* "Lately I wasn't able to pull out a single LFG warp after many tries at the same location in PD for some reason. So I tested 8 FPS instead of the 10 FPS I was usually using, and it started working very consistently again. This makes me believe **lower FPS values increase your chances of hovering the moment you land** ! Though I have no idea why it suddenly stopped working for me at 10 FPS ; this glitch is full of mysteries !"

 Considering the game starts to run slow below 10 FPS, maybe using 8 instead of 10 increases the success chance by making you drop for longer before landing and levitating ? It doesn't seem like using extremely low FPS values help in any way compared to using 7 or 8 FPS.

 Keep in mind with lower FPS values you need to hover longer before getting a warp as powerful ?

### Controlling the warp

The reason why doing LFG warps on PC is so convenient is because you can **revert back to normal FPS values whenever you want, and this will trigger the warp instantly** !

Because of it you can control **how powerful the warp will be** based on how long you kept on hovering (to remain in-bounds or not for example). And you will also be able to **control the direction of your warp** to an extent ! Remember this is also affected by the framerate you selected. At 8 FPS you can get warped OOB "naturally" after a charging time of 4:20 min, while at 10 FPS it would only take about 2:45 min to get warped for example, in Pink Desert.

In theory, two warps done by reverting back to normal fps values at the same moment should give consistent results regarding the warping direction and how powerful the warp is, if the same FPS value is selected. But maybe there is more to it...

Hitting a wall or wind wall can make you rise vertically if you haven't charged long enough to go through it. This can offer a beautiful view from in-bounds over the skybox, especially if the camera places itself fully vertically before reverting the FPS to normal.

#### Possible results of warps for 10 FPS in Pink Desert

* Charging time of **0 to 28 sec**: Boost North to North-North-East
* **29 to 56 sec**: Boost South-South-West
* **57 sec to 2 min 4**: Boost North-East (This can trigger huge vertical boosts after hitting a wind wall because of the long charging time, and offer a magnificent view of the level from above.)
* **2 min 5 to 2 min 30**: **Warp** OOB North-East
* **2 min 30 to 2 min 44**: ?? Warps start getting crazy. Boost in which direction if FPS release? North-East again?
* **2min 45**: "Natural" warp OOB East, East-South-East or whatever random direction

#### Unusual warp points

 There are a few places that behave differently on PC, such as when zen jumping over the first rest stop of Sunken City, from above the invisible ledge on the West side, or when landing in front of the entrance in Tower level:

When you zen jump here, after charging for a while (a few minutes?), you will enter an endless phase of "levitation" and slowly gain height over time. The camera will then switch between two views from time to time: either you will see your wayfarer slowly rising more and more, with a camera aimed to the ground, or a view from the sand with you sitting a little on top of it. When changing fps value it will simply switch between the two views. It seems you can't warp when this happens after waiting too long, and all you can do is move your character to gain control again, with no boost. To get a warp you need to revert the FPS early ! However sometimes it can still trigger a warp when switching views (in Tower at least), maybe if the wayfarer touches an object at that moment...

## Gallery

* Zen Sit at the Hill
* Rainbow Sands
* LFG Sand

## See also

 Other general Glitches articles

Black Cloth • Black Sand • Breaking the Shrine/HL • Carpet (Glitched) • Dune settings and PC glitches • Ghost • Glitches • Hidden chirp symbol • Hidden symbol • Infinite Flight (IF) on PC • Infinite Flight (IF) on PS4 • Journey Glitches by Level (VERY EPIC) • Lost Chirp Bug • Naked Wayfarer • Peeling Grounds and Sanded Wayfarer • Sky Painting • Steam Infinite Flight Tricks • The ID rule • Triggers • War Machine (Glitched) • Wayfarers (Glitched) • Whale in Tower (Glitched) • Zimcloak
 About Glitches and more links
Broadly speaking, a **glitch** is where something in the game does something it wasn't meant to. We do not distinguish between a "wanted Glitch" and actual bugs.

Browse Categories (bottom of articles) to find more related articles:

* Category:Glitches, Glitch per Level: Category:Sunken\_City\_(Glitches)
* Category:Tricks - something rather easy; Category:Challenges - thats real tough; Category:Glitched\_NPCs - Carpets, Wayfarers, Whales, WMs.

**Robins Guide for Newcomers** . 26 Minutes, full of tips, tricks, dos and don'ts.

Expert Mode
**Expert Mode** introduction article to everything beyond the most basic gameplay.
Expert Mode topics:

 Challenges  Fancy Flying  Glitches & OOB  OOB-Levels Surfing, Slides and Drops  Tricks

Expert Mode Glossary

Black Cloth • Black Sand • Blackness • Breaking the Shrine/HL • Carpet Chase • Carpet Warp • Crash Zones • Dirty robe trick • Disco War Machine / Disco WM • Disco Wayfarer • Disco Zones and other Disco Stuff • Dragonfly War Machine • Faceplant (FP) • Faceplant Jump (FPJ) • Fancy Flying • Ghost • Glossary • Happy War Machine • History Lesson Banner (HL Banner) • How to find Nick • Infinite Flight (IF) on PC • Infinite Flight (IF) on PS4 • Level Cube / Sky Box • Off-sync • Peeling Grounds and Sanded Wayfarer • Sky Painting • Starfields • The ID rule • The Tumbler • Triggers • Unmotivated War Machine • War Machine Capture (WM capture) • Zen Jump • Zimcloak

 Other general Glitches articles

Black Cloth • Black Sand • Breaking the Shrine/HL • Carpet (Glitched) • Dune settings and PC glitches • Ghost • Glitches • Hidden chirp symbol • Hidden symbol • Infinite Flight (IF) on PC • Infinite Flight (IF) on PS4 • Journey Glitches by Level (VERY EPIC) • Lost Chirp Bug • Naked Wayfarer • Peeling Grounds and Sanded Wayfarer • Sky Painting • Steam Infinite Flight Tricks • The ID rule • Triggers • War Machine (Glitched) • Wayfarers (Glitched) • Whale in Tower (Glitched) • Zimcloak
 About Glitches and more links
Broadly speaking, a **glitch** is where something in the game does something it wasn't meant to. We do not distinguish between a "wanted Glitch" and actual bugs.

Browse Categories (bottom of articles) to find more related articles:

* Category:Glitches, Glitch per Level: Category:Sunken\_City\_(Glitches)
* Category:Tricks - something rather easy; Category:Challenges - thats real tough; Category:Glitched\_NPCs - Carpets, Wayfarers, Whales, WMs.

**Robins Guide for Newcomers** . 26 Minutes, full of tips, tricks, dos and don'ts.

Expert Mode
**Expert Mode** introduction article to everything beyond the most basic gameplay.
Expert Mode topics:

 Challenges  Fancy Flying  Glitches & OOB  OOB-Levels Surfing, Slides and Drops  Tricks

Expert Mode Glossary

Black Cloth • Black Sand • Blackness • Breaking the Shrine/HL • Carpet Chase • Carpet Warp • Crash Zones • Dirty robe trick • Disco War Machine / Disco WM • Disco Wayfarer • Disco Zones and other Disco Stuff • Dragonfly War Machine • Faceplant (FP) • Faceplant Jump (FPJ) • Fancy Flying • Ghost • Glossary • Happy War Machine • History Lesson Banner (HL Banner) • How to find Nick • Infinite Flight (IF) on PC • Infinite Flight (IF) on PS4 • Level Cube / Sky Box • Off-sync • Peeling Grounds and Sanded Wayfarer • Sky Painting • Starfields • The ID rule • The Tumbler • Triggers • Unmotivated War Machine • War Machine Capture (WM capture) • Zen Jump • Zimcloak

## References

. . .

1. ↑ nathanj: I did some tests on PC with a timer at 60 fps, 10 fps and 9 fps or under, and I can confirm the game runs slow only below 10 fps. I had the exact same speed at 10 FPS versus 60 when walking, boosting, or regarding cutscenes length. When playing it really feels like the game slows down at 10 fps or a little above but it doesn't !
2. ↑ nathanj: this got verified by checking the booting power value in real time with Cheat Engine software, which remains at 0 all the way during LFG warps unlike when Fancy Flying. Sitting of faceplanting instantly resets the boosting power value anyway.
3. ↑ nathanj: I did LFG warps on PC with different fps values, and the warp occurs by itself quicker at 10 fps versus 8 fps from my experience. 4:20 min at 8 FPS versus 2:45 min at 10 FPS were my results once when I timed it.
4. ↑ nathanj: I tested LFG warps on my old laptop with all settings to max: I had about 7-8-9 FPS (but a terrible input lag ^^). But it works !
5. ↑ nathanj: I know with lower fps it takes longer before the warp is triggered by itself, but I'm not sure whether the energy is charged any faster or not with higher FPS. Would need some comparison in-game with a timer.
6. ↑ nathanj: even after considering the framerate and how long I charge for, the direction of my warps aren't always the same from one day to another... No idea why ! I usually seem to get some consistency on my results and then out of nowhere the warping direction can decide to change for unknown reasons ! When it does I am sometimes able to warp OOB with very little time spent hovering. Yet another mystery...
7. ↑ nathanj: I recorded many LFG warps on a single session and timed them to get these results. I was getting full consistency at that moment. But sometimes when I launch Journey some other day, results may vary ^^
8. ↑ nathanj 19/02/2022: So far I found 2 spots like this in SC and one in Tower level. They seem more rare than the normal LFG warp points.