Call of Duty

Why this game, specifically

Two things about this series matter for Windows tuning specifically. It occupies a lot of disk and rebuilds shader caches after updates, so storage headroom and cache configuration are not cosmetic. And its launcher and overlay stack keeps running while you play. ORION checks the capture and overlay features Windows itself adds on top of that, and the caches that grow between updates.

What ORION checks

• Background activity: startup entries, scheduled tasks and always-running apps that take CPU time while a game has it.
• Capture and overlay: Game Bar background recording, broadcasting and clip capture, which run whether or not you use them.
• Storage housekeeping: temporary data, launcher caches and driver shader caches that grow without bound.
• Memory pressure: page-file configuration, memory compression state and the caching services that compete for RAM.
• Latency-sensitive settings: frame-queue depth, presentation path, notification interruptions and input-related Windows options.
• Network configuration: DNS, adapter power settings, congestion provider, and the supported TCP options Windows exposes.

Recommended changes

Broadly appropriate, low expected side effects, and reversible where the badge says so. These are catalog entries, not a script: ORION reads the current value on your PC first and skips anything already set.

• Enable Game Modegame-mode SafeFreeReversibleNo restart

  Turns on Windows Game Mode so the OS prioritizes the active game.

• Enable Auto Game Modegamebar-auto-mode SafeFreeReversibleNo restart

  Lets Windows automatically apply Game Mode when a game is detected.

• Disable Game Bar background recordinggamebar-bg-off SafeFreeReversibleNo restart

  Keeps Game Bar background recording off until you turn it back on.

• Disable Xbox Game DVRgame-dvr-off SafeFreeReversibleNo restart

  Stops Xbox Game DVR from recording in the background while you play.

• Reduce gaming notificationsfocus-assist-gaming SafeFreeReversibleNo restart

  Turns off a common notification surface while leaving Windows security notifications alone.

• Maximize DirectX shader cachedx-shader-cache-max SafeFreeReversibleNo restart

  Maximizes the DirectX shader cache to reduce compilation stutters.

• Enable DirectX PSO disk cachedx-pso-cache-enable SafeFreeReversibleNo restart

  Enables D3D12 PSO disk cache for faster shader pipeline loading.

• Disable game broadcastinggame-broadcast-off SafeEliteReversibleNo restart

  Disables built-in game broadcasting.

• Block Delivery Optimization uploadsnet-do-upload-limit SafeFreeReversibleNo restart

  Stops Windows from uploading cached updates to other PCs.

Advanced options

Legitimate changes with real trade-offs: hardware dependence, power draw, or behaviour that varies between systems. ORION shows these separately, records the previous value before writing, and never folds them into a one-click run.

• D3D max frame latency 1d3d-max-frame-latency-1 ModerateEliteReversibleNo restart

  Limits D3D frame queue to 1 frame globally for lower input lag.

• Games scheduling category Highgames-scheduling-high ModerateEliteReversibleNo restart

  Sets the MMCSS Games task scheduling category to High.

• Remove DWM refresh capcompositor-max-refresh-rate ModerateEliteReversibleNo restart

  Uncaps DWM refresh rate to use monitor's maximum supported rate.

• Use CTCP congestion providernet-congestion-ctcp ModerateFreeNot reversibleNo restart

  Uses Compound TCP for better throughput on fast connections.

• Raise max ephemeral portsnet-max-user-port ModerateEliteReversibleRestart required

  Increases the range of outbound ports Windows can use.

Trade-offs and limits

• Frame-queue and scheduler options are the ones most likely to behave differently on your hardware than on someone else's. ORION labels them Advanced and records the previous value before it writes a new one.
• None of these settings change what happens inside the game. They change how much of the machine is left for it.
• Shader-cache cleanup frees space but forces the next run to rebuild the cache, so the first session after a clean can stutter more, not less.

ORION does not publish a frame-rate figure for Call of Duty, because we do not have reproducible before-and-after data for your hardware. What the app can do is capture frames on your PC, in your game, before and after a change, and show you that.