EveryRig™ user guide

Quick start (5 minutes)

1. Download and run the setup from the download page. It is signed by Christopher Haupt. If Windows says “Windows protected your PC”, click More info → Run anyway. Say Yes to the admin prompt — changing graphics card and CPU settings needs it.
2. Read the read me & terms, click I accept, then Install.
3. The setup wizard opens. Name your PC, let it scan your hardware, answer three questions (headset, how bold, what you play), then tick your games and click Finish.
4. Click Test all once. It checks every stage really works on your PC (about a minute, don't play meanwhile).
5. Play. Start any game the way you always do. EveryRig™ spots it, switches its tune on, and puts everything back to stock when you quit. You never have to click anything while you play.

For Intel CPU tuning, also install Intel XTU (free from Intel) — EveryRig™ tells you if it's missing. Graphics cards are tuned without it.

The setup wizard

It runs on first start, and any time later from Setup in the sidebar (your games and choices are kept).

• 1 Welcome — give the PC a name (shown in the title bar and reports).
• 2 Your PC — scans graphics card, CPU, RAM, motherboard, BIOS and Windows, shows what can be tuned, and tips such as XMP off or an old driver.
• 3 How you play — your VR headset (none; Quest with Virtual Desktop, Link / Air Link or Steam Link; Pico; Index / Vive / Bigscreen Beyond / PS VR2; Pimax; Varjo; Windows Mixed Reality), how bold the tuning should be (Cautious, Balanced, Performance) and what you mostly play (sims or other games).
• 4 Games — scans for your games. Tick the ones you want; Add a games folder covers games installed somewhere unusual.
• 5 Ready — a summary. Finish saves it. Nothing changes on your PC before that.

The dashboard

Click the tray icon (the speedometer, or the live temperature numbers) to open it.

• Gauges — graphics card and CPU temperature, load and power, plus clocks, fans, VRAM, RAM, frame rate and what is holding the game back (the “bottleneck”).
• Status (top of the sidebar) — DESKTOP, PLAYING, PLAYING · VR, RUNNING (a program), TESTING or SAFE MODE, with the name of what is on.
• Game list — Desktop first, then your Games, then your Programs, each A–Z. Pick one to see or change its tune.
• Log (bottom) — everything EveryRig™ did, in plain words.
• Switches (bottom of the sidebar) — Auto-detect games, Start with Windows, Auto free RAM in games, VR hotkeys + voice.

Hover over any button for a tooltip that explains it (Settings → tooltips can switch them off).

Stages: picking a game's tune

Pick a game in the list, then click a stage. It's saved right away and used every time that game runs. Each stage sets the graphics card and the CPU together, sized for your hardware by the setup wizard. What each stage does.

• auto — puts the game back on its recommended tune with one click. It is lit while EveryRig™ is choosing the stage for that game; picking any other stage turns it off. EveryRig™ never changes a stage you picked yourself.
• Start low. Move up one stage at a time and play a few sessions on each. If a game crashes, go back one stage.
• hands-off is for games with strict anti-cheat: nothing at all changes while they run. Games known to need it start on it by themselves.
• Hotkeys — Ctrl+Shift+F11 / F12 move the running game one stage down / up, even in the headset.

VR and monitor tunes

Every game has two stages: one for playing on the monitor and one for playing in VR. Games that support VR start on a researched VR stage — usually undervolt for GPU-heavy VR (steady clocks, cooler, no power-limit dips) and sim for CPU-heavy sims.

• It switches by itself. While a game runs, EveryRig™ checks every few seconds whether a headset session is on — SteamVR (Index, Vive, Beyond, PS VR2, Pico, Quest via Steam Link or ALVR), Meta Quest Link / Air Link, Virtual Desktop, Varjo or Windows Mixed Reality — and uses the matching tune. It never looks inside the game, so anti-cheat games are safe.
• The Monitor / VR switch above the stages shows which stage you are looking at; the line next to it reads “Monitor stage” or “VR stage (headset on)”. Click VR, then a stage, to set the game's VR tune.
• While a game runs, the switch follows what is on right now, and clicking it changes the live tune for that run.
• Pimax Play (its own OpenXR runtime) can't be seen from outside: click VR once while the game runs and it is remembered for that game.
• The session report says where you played (VR or monitor) and which headset software was used.

Scan games, Add game / app and requests

• Scan games finds Steam, Epic, Microsoft Store / Xbox, GOG, Meta and DCS games. The results are sorted into Games and Programs, each by category, with the starting tune each one gets. Tick what you want and click Add ticked.
• Add a folder to scan (in the same window) — for a game installed somewhere unusual. Pick the game's own folder, or a folder that holds several games. Only the folders you pick are scanned, never a whole drive. Your folders lists them, with Remove.
• Add game / app (sidebar) adds one game or program by hand: pick its .exe. Known titles go under Games or Programs by themselves; for anything else EveryRig™ asks whether it's a game.
• Request a game — missing from the supported list? Type its name in the one-line box in the Scan games window (or on everyrig.org/request) and click Send. Only the name and app version are sent.
• Programs (video editing, 3D / render, streaming, AI tools) are tuned like games while they run, without the game-only extras. When a known program runs for the first time, EveryRig™ offers to add a tune for it.
• Delete profile removes the selected game or program from the list.

Launch, No tune and Add-ons

• Launch starts the selected game together with its add-ons. You can also start games any other way — the tune turns on by itself.
• Add-ons — programs that start with the game: TeamSpeak, map tools, mods, anything. Each gets a timer (seconds before or after the game) and can close again with the game.
• No tune starts the game once with the graphics card and CPU at stock — for a game that crashes at start-up with its tune. Once it has loaded, the button becomes Apply tune: click it (best in the game's menu) and the tune switches on without restarting.
• A game that closes within seconds of starting with its tune twice in a row starts untuned from then on — click Apply tune once you're in, or pick its stage again to stop this.

The sidebar buttons

Windows tweaks, services and Windows background apps

• Windows tweaks (in PC check): Game Mode, Game DVR, GPU scheduling, optimizations for windowed games, driver lock. Nothing changes until you switch it on.
• Windows services (same window): optional background services you can switch off one by one — SysMain, search indexing, telemetry, Print Spooler, Fax, Maps, Retail Demo, Program Compatibility Assistant and the Xbox Live services (keep those if you play Microsoft Store / Game Pass games). Switch on = that service is turned off and stopped. Security, network, audio, driver and Windows Update services are never listed.
• Undo all puts back everything EveryRig™ changed in Windows. The file Documents\EveryRig backup\Restore-Windows-settings.bat does the same, even after uninstalling.
• Close background apps while you play (Settings → Background apps, off by default): the Windows programs you tick, like Discord, Spotify or a launcher, are closed when a game starts and reopened when it closes — the game itself is never touched. Game launchers, VR, graphics, audio, RGB, camera, wheel / stick / pedal and anti-virus software are never closed.

Settings

• Switches: auto-detect, start with Windows, auto free RAM, VR hotkeys + voice, session reports, network warning, 1-second logs, tooltips, measure frame rate, frame caps (NVIDIA), CPU fan curve, games on the fast GPU, quiet tune on battery (laptops only — not shown on desktops), offer tunes for known programs.
• Also: temperatures in °F or °C, the GPU temperature limit, the free-RAM level, a frame cap per game, the VR hotkeys, the CPU control list, the read me.
• Export / Import profiles — all your games, stages, add-ons and settings in one file, for a new PC. A daily backup of the last 14 days is kept automatically.

Safety: what EveryRig™ does on its own

• When the graphics card gets hot, the fans speed up first; clocks only come down if that isn't enough, then the power limit.
• A CPU that stays at 90 °C (194 °F) in a game gets its power capped step by step; the cap comes off when it cools.
• A graphics driver crash lowers that game's overclock and saves it. A CPU hardware error puts that game's CPU back to stock. A PCIe (graphics card slot) error is logged with what to check.
• An unexpected reboot while overclocked switches to safe mode (overclocks off) until you allow them again.
• Hard voltage limits; everything goes back to stock when a game closes or the app exits, and a crash always reboots to stock.

Help from Claude (free): refine your tune and game settings

1. Play a few sessions on the stage EveryRig™ picked. Each session of 2 minutes or more writes a report: frame rate, 1% lows, temperatures and what held the game back.
2. Click Help from Claude. It saves one zip on your desktop: hardware scan, PC check, profiles, session reports and each game's own settings files. The app sends nothing anywhere.
3. Go to claude.ai (the free plan works), attach the zip and say what you want: “MSFS stutters in VR”, “can I push the GPU further?”, “best settings for my rig”.
4. Apply one change at a time — Claude names the exact in-game settings and any profile edits (Edit profiles → paste → save → Reload). Play a few sessions before the next step.

Updates, the game database and your license

• App updates — EveryRig™ checks 30 seconds after it starts and then every 12 hours. When one is ready you'll see it in the tray and in Settings; it installs over the top and keeps your profiles.
• Game database — new and corrected titles arrive with the same check, no new download. Games on auto pick up the new starting tunes; stages you picked yourself stay as they are.
• Trial and Pro — everything is on for 14 days. After that EveryRig™ pauses (your PC stays at stock) until you buy EveryRig™ Pro: one key, up to 2 of your PCs. Buying inside the app activates it by itself.
• Uninstall — Windows Settings → Apps → Installed apps → EveryRig™. It asks whether to put your Windows settings back.