FixedTimeStep configuration for variable hardware performance

Recommended TargetElapsedTime

MonoGame’s default TargetElapsedTime is 1/60 s (≈16.67 ms). On machines that struggle to keep up with that cadence, you can safely double the interval to 1/30 s (≈33 ms). This keeps the physics integration stable while reducing the number of Update calls per second and thus the CPU load.

Preventing the Spiral of Death

MonoGame exposes a MaxElapsedTime property (inherited from XNA). It limits the amount of accumulated time that the game loop will process in a single frame. When the accumulated time exceeds this value, the loop discards the excess and waits for the next Draw cycle. A common setting is 250 ms (0.25 s), which allows at least one full physics step per frame while preventing runaway update bursts.

Sample Configuration

public class Game1 : Game
{
    public Game1()
    {
        // Enable a deterministic update cadence
        this.IsFixedTimeStep = true;

        // 30 Hz update rate for low‑end hardware
        this.TargetElapsedTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1.0 / 30.0);

        // Cap the accumulated time to 250 ms
        this.MaxElapsedTime = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(250);
    }

    protected override void Update(GameTime gameTime)
    {
        // Game logic here
        base.Update(gameTime);
    }
}

What If You Need a Hard Update Cap?

MonoGame does not provide a per‑frame update counter. If you require a strict maximum number of Update calls per frame, you will need to implement your own counter inside the Update method and break the loop when the threshold is reached. However, in most cases MaxElapsedTime is sufficient to avoid the spiral of death while preserving deterministic physics.

Next Steps

Try the configuration above on your target hardware and monitor the frame rate and physics responsiveness. If you observe that the physics feels sluggish, consider lowering TargetElapsedTime back toward 1/60 s or tightening MaxElapsedTime slightly. Conversely, if the game still stalls, increase MaxElapsedTime or profile the Update workload for bottlenecks.