Make Complementary Smooth Again on a Normal PC

Complementary can look great and still leave FPS on the table if every effect runs at once. Use this after Iris already launches Unbound or Reimagined.

Measure in the world

Check FPS in your real home area with a frame counter. Menu screens lie. Note render distance, shadow quality, and whether rain is on. Hardware notes: requirements.

Change the profile first

Switch to Potato or Low before you disable the whole pack. Many players get playable frames without giving up Complementary lighting. Details: profiles and the settings guide.

Cut expensive effects next

Lower shadow resolution, reduce volumetric clouds and fog, trim water reflections, cap FPS near your display refresh, and drop vanilla render distance one or two steps. Which menus to touch: settings worth changing.

Fix the stack around shaders

Keep Sodium with Iris. Close heavy overlays. Update GPU drivers. Avoid Ultra on thin laptops that throttle. Loader reminders: Fabric and Sodium and Iris setup.

Do not blame the style

Unbound and Reimagined cost similar frames at the same profile. Compare them fairly on Unbound vs Reimagined. If lowering presets does not help, redownload a clean ZIP from the download page.

Rain, farms, and resolution

Entity-heavy farms plus rain can tank FPS even on Medium. Running far above 1080p multiplies shader cost. Close browsers, recorders, and chat overlays while you test.

Stutter that is not shadows

Micro-stutter can be chunk loading. Keep Sodium updated and avoid stacking heavy LOD mods until you have a baseline. See Voxy notes.