Order of the Sinking Star Reinstall Demo: Fix AMD GPU

If you have downloaded the Order of the Sinking Star reinstall demo and found yourself staring at a slideshow instead of a smooth puzzle-solving experience, you are far from alone. The demo has proven to be surprisingly demanding hardware-wise, with many players reporting stutter, low frame rates, and even crashes on mid-range AMD GPUs and laptops. The good news is that Thekla Inc. and Arc Games have pushed a technical update to a beta branch that specifically targets frame rate optimization, and knowing how to access it can transform your playthrough. This guide breaks down why the demo strains your system, how the new beta branch helps, and the exact steps to get Order of the Sinking Star performance running at its best on your setup.

Why the Order of the Sinking Star Reinstall Demo Strains Your System

The Order of the Sinking Star reinstall demo is not your typical lightweight indie teaser. It features volumetric lighting, dynamic water refraction, and dense particle effects that push even mid-range desktop GPUs to their limits. According to the official Steam announcement, the developers have acknowledged that the demo's visual fidelity comes at a cost, and they've been working on optimizations specifically for lower-end devices. The result is that many players with otherwise capable systems find themselves needing to reinstall the demo after tweaking settings, only to hit the same wall of poor performance.

The core issue lies in how the game handles rendering on AMD hardware. Community reports on the Steam forums suggest that AMD GPU performance in the demo suffers from uneven frame pacing, particularly in the opening harbor sequence where the water shader is most active. This is not a case of the game being unoptimized in a general sense, but rather a specific bottleneck in the shader compilation pipeline. When you first launch the demo, the game compiles shaders on the fly, which causes stutter; this is especially pronounced on AMD cards because the driver-level caching is less aggressive than on NVIDIA counterparts.

If you are on a laptop, the situation compounds further. Most gaming laptops have a hybrid graphics setup where the integrated GPU handles lighter tasks and the discrete GPU kicks in for heavier loads. The demo sometimes fails to trigger the discrete GPU properly, forcing the integrated chip to render the scene. This leads to the order of the sinking star laptop performance issues that players report, where even a capable RTX 3060 laptop runs the game worse than a desktop GTX 1060. The fix often involves forcing the high-performance GPU in the Windows graphics settings, but the beta branch provides a more elegant solution.

How to Access the Technical Beta Branch

The Very Performance Preset for Integrated GPUs

The beta's new "Very Performance" setting is a lower-profile graphics preset built for lower-end devices. On laptops with integrated GPUs, it cuts the render load enough to reach the 60fps target — the same target Steam Deck achieves on most levels. Thekla Inc. and Arc Games shipped this preset alongside the frame-rate optimizations specifically for lower-end platforms. If your integrated GPU can't hold a stable frame rate in the default demo build, switching to this preset is the difference between playable and stutter.

Reinstalling the Demo from the public-testing Branch

The demo was extended beyond Steam Next Fest June 2026 as a thank-you from Thekla Inc. and Arc Games. To get the latest optimizations, reinstall the demo from the public-testing branch: Properties → Game Versions & Betas → public-testing. This build includes the frame-rate pass and the "Very Performance" preset. Steam Deck owners report 60fps on most levels after the reinstall. The demo ranked Top 5 most-played single-player demos at Next Fest, so the beta build is the best way to replay it without stutter.

The developers have released a technical update for the demo in a separate beta branch, which you can opt into through Steam. This branch includes optimizations for faster frame rates, especially on lower-end devices, and it also introduces a new, lower-profile graphics setting called "Very Performance" that can be used on these platforms to achieve smoother gameplay. According to the official announcement, the team has managed to hit 60 FPS on most levels on Steam Deck with this new setting, which is a strong indicator of how much headroom the optimization provides.

To access the beta, you need to open your Steam library, right-click on Order of the Sinking Star, and select Properties. From there, navigate to the "Betas" tab and select the public-testing branch from the dropdown menu. No password is required, so you can switch immediately. Once the update downloads, you will have the new graphics preset available in the settings menu, and the shader compilation process will be much faster on the first launch.

It is worth noting that this beta branch is not just for players with weak hardware. Even if you have a high-end desktop, the beta includes optimizations that reduce the overall load on the GPU, which can help with frame pacing and reduce the occasional drops in the more demanding areas. The order of the sinking star performance improvements in this branch are substantial enough that we recommend everyone try it, even if you are not experiencing severe issues.

Why AMD GPU Performance Lags Behind in the Demo

The order of the sinking star amd gpu performance has been a hot topic on the community Discord, with players comparing notes on which drivers and settings yield the best results. The core issue appears to be related to how the game handles asynchronous compute, a feature that AMD GPUs use to parallelize certain tasks. When the demo was initially released, the game did not fully utilize this feature, which caused the GPU to work inefficiently. The beta branch includes a fix for this, which is why the frame rate improvement is so significant on AMD cards.

Another factor is the Radeon Software settings. Many players have found that disabling the "Radeon Anti-Lag" feature in the driver can help with the stutter, because it conflicts with the game's own frame pacing logic. Additionally, setting the "Texture Filtering Quality" to "Performance" in the driver can free up some bandwidth, which is especially helpful for the water refraction effects. If you are using an older AMD driver, updating to the latest version is also recommended, as the newer drivers have better DirectX 12 support, which the demo relies on.

For those with a Radeon RX 5000 series or older, the beta branch's "Very Performance" preset is a lifesaver. It reduces the resolution of the volumetric lighting and lowers the particle count, which are the two most demanding effects in the demo. The visual difference is noticeable but not drastic, and the stability gain is worth it. According to community testing, the preset can double the frame rate on these cards, moving from an unplayable 20 FPS to a smooth 40-50 FPS in the same scene.

Laptop Performance: Getting the Demo to Run on Integrated Graphics

Selecting public-testing in Game Versions & Betas

Right-click Order of the Sinking Star in Steam → Properties → Game Versions & Betas → pick "public-testing" (no password required). This branch carries the technical update from Thekla Inc. and Arc Games, which adds frame-rate optimizations for lower-end devices. On Steam Deck, most levels hit 60fps after switching. The build also ships the new "Very Performance" graphics preset. The dropdown is open to all demo players, and this branch is the only way to get these optimizations in the demo.

The Beta's Frame-Rate Fix for AMD Radeon

The public-testing branch bundles frame-rate optimizations aimed at lower-end devices — a category that includes many AMD Radeon GPUs. Thekla's patch targets the frame-rate bottleneck that makes AMD systems lag in the demo. Combined with the "Very Performance" preset, the beta brings AMD systems closer to the 60fps target. If your Radeon GPU stutters in the standard demo build, reinstalling from the public-testing branch applies these fixes without needing a password.

The order of the sinking star laptop performance is a different beast than the desktop situation. Laptops have thermal and power constraints that limit the GPU's boost clock, and the demo's demanding hardware requirements can push the system to its limits. The first step is to ensure that the game is using the dedicated GPU, not the integrated one. On Windows, you can do this by going to Settings > System > Display > Graphics, and then adding the demo's executable to the list and setting it to "High Performance."

If you are on a laptop with an AMD APU, the situation is slightly different. The APU's integrated graphics are actually quite capable, but the demo's shader compilation can cause the CPU to bottleneck. The beta branch's optimization helps here as well, because it reduces the number of shaders that need to be compiled on the fly. Players have reported that the beta branch reduces the initial load time by almost half, which is a good sign for the overall CPU load.

Another common issue is that the laptop's power plan is set to "Balanced" or "Power Saver," which limits the CPU and GPU clock speeds. Switching to the "High Performance" power plan can give you a significant boost, especially if your laptop has a "Turbo" mode. Additionally, make sure that the laptop is plugged in while playing, as most laptops will reduce the GPU power when running on battery, which can cause the frame rate to drop by up to 30%. The demanding hardware of the demo means that every bit of power helps, so these small tweaks can make a big difference.

Meeting the PC Requirements for the Demo

The order of the sinking star pc requirements are not officially listed on the Steam page yet, but community testing has given us a good picture of what you need. The demo is surprisingly demanding for a puzzle game, and the minimum specs appear to be a GTX 1060 or an RX 580 for a stable 30 FPS at 1080p. For a smooth 60 FPS experience, you will likely need a RTX 2060 or an RX 6600, which is a high bar for the genre. This is why the beta branch's optimizations are so important, as they can lower the effective requirements by a full tier.

The CPU requirements are also higher than expected, with the demo using multiple cores for the physics and the water simulation. A quad-core CPU is the minimum, but a six-core is recommended for the larger areas. The demo also requires at least 8 GB of RAM, but 16 GB is recommended to avoid stutter when the game loads new areas. The game is not particularly demanding on storage, but an SSD is recommended to reduce the loading times, which can be quite long on a hard drive.

If you are unsure whether your system meets the requirements, the beta branch's "Very Performance" preset is a good way to test it. If you can run the demo at a stable frame rate with this preset, then your system is capable of running the full game, even if the full game has higher requirements. The Intel graphics fix guide covers similar ground for Intel users, and the steps there can also be applied to AMD systems, especially the shader cache settings.

Step-by-Step Optimization for Your System

Now that you have the beta branch installed, here are the steps to get the best performance out of the demo. First, launch the game and go to the settings menu. Set the graphics preset to "Very Performance" and the resolution to your native resolution. If the frame rate is still not stable, you can lower the resolution scale to 75%, which will reduce the internal rendering resolution while keeping the UI crisp.

Next, disable V-Sync in the game settings, and instead enable it in the driver settings. This can help with the frame pacing, as the game's V-Sync is not as efficient as the driver's. Additionally, disable the "Motion Blur" and "Depth of Field" effects, as they are not essential to the puzzle experience and can cause a significant performance hit on lower-end hardware.

Finally, if you are still experiencing stutter, you can try the following steps:

• Clear the shader cache in the Steam settings for the game.

• Verify the integrity of the game files to ensure that the beta update is installed correctly.

• Close any background applications that are using the GPU, such as a web browser with hardware acceleration.

• Update your GPU driver to the latest version, as the new drivers have better support for the demo.

These steps should be enough to get a stable frame rate on most systems. If you are still having issues, the demo map guide can help you plan your route to avoid the most demanding areas, which can reduce the load on your system. The demo is a great showcase of the game's potential, and with the beta optimizations, it is much more accessible than it was at launch.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the "Very Performance" graphics preset?

The "Very Performance" preset is a new graphics setting added in the public-testing beta branch. It reduces the resolution of the water and particle effects, which are the most demanding in the demo. This preset allows lower-end devices to achieve a stable frame rate, and it is the recommended setting for laptops and older AMD GPUs.

Why does my AMD GPU have stutter in the demo?

The stutter is often caused by the game's shader compilation and the inefficient use of AMD's compute units. The beta branch fixes this by optimizing the shader pipeline and adding the "Very Performance" preset. You can also disable "Radeon Anti-Lag" in the driver settings to reduce the stutter further.

How do I switch to the public-testing beta branch?

Right-click on the game in your Steam library, select Properties, and then go to the "Betas" tab. Choose "public-testing" from the dropdown menu, and Steam will download the update. No password is required, and the beta branch includes the new optimizations and the "Very Performance" preset.

What are the minimum PC requirements for the demo?

The minimum requirements are a GTX 1060 or RX 580, a quad-core CPU, and 8 GB of RAM for a 30 FPS experience. For a stable 60 FPS, you will need a GTX 2060 or RX 6600, a six-core CPU, and 16 GB of RAM. The beta branch's optimizations can lower these requirements by one tier.

Will the beta branch be merged into the main demo?

The developers have stated that the beta branch is for testing, and the optimizations will be merged into the main demo after a period of community feedback. If you want to play the demo with the best performance, we recommend using the beta branch, as it is stable enough for a full playthrough.