Guide
Magic Loader FPS Guide: Reading Your Frame Rate Like a Tester
FPS counters appear in every Magic Loader video. Here is how to read yours properly: where to measure, what numbers mean on a phone, and what to change first.
CONTENTS On this page
Start with the file and the facts from the Magic Loader app, because a frame rate number without a method is just weather. This page gives you the tester method: the three benchmark scenes, the minute ten rule, and the order of changes when the number disappoints.
Where to measure: forest, water, sunset
Stand in a forest at sunset for the worst honest case: long shadows, dense foliage and a low sun in one frame. Open water at midday is your lightest scene. Your real performance lives between those two numbers, and the forest figure is the one to tune for.
Measure after ten minutes of play, not one. Phones boost hard when cool and settle lower when warm, and your sessions are long, so the settled number is your number. For the neighbouring topic, Magic Loader on Snapdragon, Dimensity and Other Chipsets covers the next step in the same plain style.
What to change first when frames fall
Shadow map size first, always; it is the biggest lever in the panel. Then Image tab extras, one at a time. Then, if the pack still asks too much, step down a pack family: Complementary to MagicVanilla is a bigger frame gain than any five settings combined.
Keep a note of frames per scene per setup. Two sessions of notes will teach you your phone better than a month of guessing, and they make every future pack audition a five minute job. Players who finish this page usually continue with Magic Loader on a Low End Phone for the follow on detail.
Quick Answers
What FPS is playable with shaders on a phone?
Smoothness is personal, but most players find a steady rate in the high twenties and above comfortable for exploration, and want more for combat.
Why is my FPS high in the menu scenes and low in my world?
Big worlds, many entities and dense builds cost frames. Benchmark in your real world, not an empty flat world, for honest numbers.
Does screen resolution change FPS?
Yes, strongly. A phone rendering at a higher resolution does more work per frame. It is one reason identical chips perform differently across models.
Is a cooling fan worth it for shader sessions?
For long beauty pack sessions, yes. Sustained clocks are the whole game, and anything that keeps the phone cool protects your frame rate.