Articles on: Troubleshooting

Improve PlayAbility Performance and Resolve Power Warnings

PlayAbility performs best when the computer is plugged in and the operating system is not limiting performance. Its GPU preference and the operating-system power mode are separate controls: changing one does not change the other.


Resolve a battery or power-mode warning


PlayAbility displays a yellow alert at the bottom of the window when the computer is running on battery or a detected power mode can reduce performance.


  1. Read the alert to determine whether it reports battery power, an energy-saving mode, a reduced-performance mode, or a combination.
  2. Connect the computer to AC power when possible.
  3. If the alert includes Open power settings, select it.
  4. Choose an appropriate operating-system power mode:
    • Windows: Energy Saver, Better Battery, and Balanced can trigger a warning. Best, High, or Maximum Performance modes are accepted.
    • macOS: Turn off Low Power Mode. Automatic is accepted; High Power Mode is not required and is available only on selected Macs.
    • Linux: Power Saver triggers a warning. Balanced triggers one only when a Performance profile is also available.
  6. Return to PlayAbility and allow the status to update.
  7. Test tracking and the affected mappings again.


PlayAbility opens the relevant settings page when supported, but it never changes the operating-system power mode automatically.


Choose the PlayAbility GPU


  1. Open Settings → Advanced.
  2. Find Performance Settings.
  3. Keep Internal GPU (Recommended) for normal use.
  4. Select Discrete GPU (Advanced) only when you are investigating a specific graphics or tracking problem and the computer has a suitable discrete GPU.
  5. When PlayAbility reports that a restart is required, select Restart Now or exit and reopen the app.
  6. Test the same profile and trigger after the restart.


The GPU selection takes effect only after PlayAbility restarts. A discrete GPU can use more power and is not automatically faster for every computer.


Reduce rendering while PlayAbility is in the background


  1. Open Settings → Advanced → Performance Settings.
  2. Turn on Suspend UI when window is inactive.
  3. Focus the game or target application.
  4. Confirm that PlayAbility continues processing the required mappings while performance-intensive PlayAbility pages stop rendering in the background.


This setting affects inactive-window rendering. It does not turn off Main Output.


Verify the result


  1. Restart PlayAbility if you changed its GPU preference.
  2. Confirm that the yellow warning clears after AC power and an accepted power mode are detected.
  3. Start the face, head, voice, or other detection required by the profile.
  4. Turn on Main Output and the required output type.
  5. Check live feedback for smooth, consistent trigger response.
  6. Test the same action in the target game or application.


Change one setting at a time so you can identify which adjustment helped.


Troubleshooting and limitations


The warning remains while using a performance mode


If the computer is still on battery, the battery warning is expected even when the selected mode is accepted. Connect AC power to clear that condition.


On Windows, Balanced can still be classified as reduced performance. On Linux, Balanced warns only when the system reports that a higher Performance profile exists.


Open power settings is not shown


The button is offered for detected saver or reduced-performance warnings, not for a battery-only warning. It is supported on Windows and macOS. On Linux, it appears only when PlayAbility can open a supported GNOME or KDE power panel. Open the operating-system power settings manually when the button is unavailable.


The warning was dismissed and did not return


Dismissing the alert hides the current incident. It becomes eligible to appear again only after all battery and reduced-performance warning conditions clear, then a new warning condition occurs.


The GPU choice did not change


Select Restart Now or completely exit and reopen PlayAbility. The GPU command-line preference is applied during startup.


Discrete GPU performs worse or uses too much power


Return to Internal GPU (Recommended) and restart PlayAbility. The discrete option is an advanced troubleshooting choice, not a general requirement.


Performance drops without a warning


The warning can report only power states that the operating system exposes. Unsupported, custom, or unreadable modes stay quiet, and the warning does not detect thermal throttling. Check system temperature, cooling, other camera or GPU-intensive applications, and operating-system diagnostics separately.


Tracking is smooth in PlayAbility but slow in the game


Check foreground-app output rules, the active profile, the required output toggle, and the game's own performance. A PlayAbility power warning describes system conditions; it does not diagnose every source of game latency.


Platform limitations


  • Power-mode names and availability depend on the operating system and hardware.
  • On Linux, PlayAbility uses the desktop power-profile service when available and otherwise checks the kernel platform profile.
  • Some systems do not expose a readable performance state, so no power-mode warning is shown.
  • High Power Mode on macOS is not required for PlayAbility.

Updated on: 29/07/2026