How to Disable Motion Blur in Dead by Daylight’s Engine.ini (And What to Check First)

Illustrative example: Jordan plays Dead by Daylight on a Windows PC and finds that camera movement looks smeared during a chase. Jordan has seen advice to edit Engine.ini and wants a reversible way to check whether the Unreal Engine motion-blur setting works. This example is hypothetical; it is not a report of a test or a confirmed fix.

The short version: Unreal Engine documents r.MotionBlurQuality=0 as a zero-quality setting that disables motion blur in its scalability configuration. That does not guarantee Dead by Daylight will honor the line. A current player-submitted report on BHVR’s bug-report portal says that, on the build described there, the game removed the [SystemSettings] block from Engine.ini at launch and ignored tested overrides. BHVR has not confirmed that this specific motion-blur line works in the current game. Treat the edit below as an experiment with a backup, not a supported or guaranteed setting.

Before editing Engine.ini

First, check Dead by Daylight’s in-game video or graphics options for a motion-blur control. Menus can change between updates and platforms, so use the controls actually shown in your current build. If there is no motion-blur toggle, the Engine.ini approach is a community workaround rather than a documented Dead by Daylight feature.

There is also a terms issue to understand. BHVR’s current EULA says players may not modify BHVR software or use it in a way BHVR has not expressly authorized in writing. It does not specifically discuss this single configuration line. Since an Engine.ini change alters how the game reads graphics settings, do not assume it is approved just because old forum posts describe it. If you need certainty about whether this file edit is allowed, ask BHVR Support before using it in online play.

Jordan’s first decision is therefore practical: if avoiding any unsupported configuration change is the priority, stop after checking the in-game options and contact support. If Jordan chooses to inspect the file anyway, the following steps keep the change easy to undo and make clear whether it persisted. They cannot establish that the edit is permitted or effective.

Steps to try the motion-blur setting

1. Close the game. Exit Dead by Daylight and wait for Steam or the launcher to show that it has closed. Editing a configuration file while the game is running can lead to the game saving over your change when it exits.
2. Open the configuration folder. Press Windows + R, enter %LOCALAPPDATA%\DeadByDaylight\Saved\Config\WindowsClient, and press Enter. This WindowsClient location appears in a recent report on BHVR’s bug-report portal. Folder layouts can vary by build or distribution; if Windows says the path does not exist, do not create a substitute folder based on a different game or an old guide. Check the installation and ask support for the current path.
3. Find Engine.ini and make a backup. If Engine.ini is present, copy it to another folder, such as Documents, before editing. Name the copy something recognizable, such as Engine.ini.backup. Do not rename or overwrite the original with the backup unless you are restoring it.
4. Add the Unreal Engine setting. Open the original Engine.ini in a plain-text editor such as Notepad. At the end of the file, add the following lines. If a [SystemSettings] section already exists, add only the setting beneath that existing header instead of creating a duplicate.

[SystemSettings]
r.MotionBlurQuality=0

Epic’s Unreal Engine documentation lists r.MotionBlurQuality=0 as the zero setting for motion-blur quality. That verifies what the variable means in Unreal’s documented scalability setup; it does not verify that Dead by Daylight reads it from this file. Avoid copying unrelated “performance tweaks” into the same edit. One variable at a time makes a result easier to interpret and a rollback safer.

5. Save without changing the file type. In Notepad, use Save and confirm that the filename remains Engine.ini, not Engine.ini.txt. Do not change folder permissions or mark the file read-only to force the setting to stay. A game may need to manage its own configuration, and locking the file can create update or troubleshooting problems.
6. Check what happened after launch. Start the game once, close it normally, then reopen Engine.ini. See whether the section and line remain. If the game removes them, that matches the behavior described in the cited report; do not keep adding the line repeatedly. If they remain, that still does not prove the setting affected rendering. Compare the same kind of camera movement under similar visual conditions, and remember that camera shake, animation, frame pacing, anti-aliasing, and post-processing can look like blur.

How Jordan should interpret the result

If the line disappears after launch, the file is being rewritten or the setting is being filtered on that build. Restoring the backup will return the file to its earlier state, but there is no reliable Engine.ini fix to recommend on that evidence. Do not use read-only mode as a workaround: it can prevent normal configuration writes and still may not make an override apply.

If the line remains but the picture looks unchanged, the game may ignore that variable, read a different configuration layer, or use another effect that looks similar. Epic’s general Unreal documentation cannot distinguish among those Dead by Daylight-specific possibilities. The right next step is to restore the backup and report the issue to BHVR with your platform, game version, and a concise description of the visual effect.

If the image appears different, consider that an observation rather than proof that the setting caused it. Keep the original backup, avoid adding more file tweaks, and check whether the result persists after a normal restart or game update. A patch can change configuration behavior, so an old result should not be treated as a current guarantee.

Restore the original configuration

To undo the change, close Dead by Daylight, copy your saved backup back into the WindowsClient configuration folder, and let it replace the edited Engine.ini. If you did not make a backup, open the file and remove only the lines you added; leave other entries untouched. If the game recreates the file, use its generated version and avoid importing unrelated settings from an older build.

For Jordan, the useful outcome is not simply seeing a line in a text editor. The check is whether the current game keeps the change and whether the image actually changes without causing configuration problems. As of October 8, 2026, the available evidence supports the Unreal variable’s general meaning, while current Dead by Daylight behavior remains unconfirmed and a recent user report describes Engine.ini overrides being stripped or ignored.

Sources

• Behaviour Interactive’s Dead by Daylight EULA — terms on modifying BHVR software without express authorization.
• Epic Games’ Unreal Engine Scalability Reference — includes r.MotionBlurQuality=0 in a low post-processing configuration.
• BHVR Dead by Daylight Bug Report 6027 — a player-submitted report describing Engine.ini overrides being stripped or ignored on the build tested. This is not an official support confirmation that every configuration behaves this way.