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[PC] How to Improve Your Performance in Darktide

Julia
  • Updated

Players can experience poor performance in Darktide for a variety of reasons, so below we’ve listed the most common solutions for improving your FPS. It’s worth remembering that optimisation is a continual process, and your performance will improve with every patch that we release. 

Please see our Performance Dev Blog for more information: https://www.playdarktide.com/news/dev-blog-performance 

Check 'Video' Options Are Set Appropriately

Navigate to the 'Video' options and check that items such as resolution, DLSS, FSR, and are set appropriately for your PC.

Having DLSS or FSR enabled should boost your performance. 

 

Disable RayTracing

Disabling Ray Tracing within Darktide's 'Video' options will boost your performance.

 

Disable the Steam Overlay

In recent months, the Steam Overlay has been known to result in a substantial drop in performance for some players. 

The Steam Overlay can be disabled by unticking the 'Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game' option in the Steam 'Settings' menu, as seen below:

 

mceclip0.png

 

Minimum Requirements

If your PC does not meet the minimum requirements for Darktide, this can result in an unstable experience. Please ensure your PC meets the minimum requirements listed below:

  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 10 (64 bit) / Windows 11 (64 bit)
  • Processor: Intel i5-6600 (3.30GHz) OR AMD Ryzen 5 2600 (3.4 GHz)
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 OR AMD Radeon RX 570
  • DirectX: Version 12
  • Network: Broadband Internet connection
  • Storage: 50 GB available space

If you aren't sure whether a component meets the minimum requirements, you can use a comparison website such as https://www.userbenchmark.com/. 

 

Verify Integrity of Game Files

The 'Verify Integrity of Game Files' option is accessible via the Steam client and will ensure the installation is complete. An incomplete installation is likely to produce crashes, a loss of performance or other issues.

  1. Right-click Darktide in your Steam library sidebar
  2. Select 'Properties'
  3. Select the 'Local Files' tab
  4. Select the 'Verify Integrity of Game Files' button
  5. When complete, close and reopen Steam

 

Ensure Darktide Uses the Correct GPU

If your performance issues are severe, it’s important to check that your dedicated GPU, as opposed to your integrated GPU (if you have one), is being used when you play Darktide. You can check which GPU Darktide is using by:

  1. Press the Windows key + R
  2. Enter %appdata% within the search input and select 'OK'
  3. Navigate to: AppData\Roaming\Fatshark\Darktide
  4. Open up the darktide_launcher.log
  5. Press CTRL + F
  6. Conduct a search for: 
AdapterId
  1. You should see a line like this:
[SysInfo] AdapterId: 0 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060) OutputId: 0 CurrentResolution: 1920x1080
  1. If your dedicated GPU is listed within the brackets, you can skip this section. However, if your integrated GPU is listed (e.g. the Microsoft Render Driver), you will need to:
        1. Right-click the desktop and select the 'NVIDIA Control Panel'
        2. Navigate to 'Manage 3D Settings' > ‘Program Settings’
        3. Locate Steam within the list of programs
        4. Within the 'Select the preferred graphics processor for this program:' dropdown, choose the NVIDIA GPU
        5. Then locate Darktide within the list of programs, and repeat the above step
    • For AMD GPUs: Ensure both Steam and Darktide are set to use your dedicated GPU within the Radeon Settings by:
        1. Right-click the desktop and select 'Radeon Settings'
        2. Navigate to ‘Preferences’ > ‘Additional Settings’ > ‘Power’ > ‘Switchable Graphics’ > ‘Application Settings’
        3. Locate Steam within the list of programs
        4. In the ‘Graphics Settings’ column, assign the ‘High Performance’ profile
        5. Then locate Darktide within the list of programs, and repeat the above step
    • For Windows 10 users:
        1. Navigate to 'Settings' > 'System' > 'Display'
        2. Select 'Graphics Settings'
        3. Select the 'Browse' button and locate the Darktide executable (Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Warhammer 40,000 Darktide\binaries)
        4. Select the 'Options' button
        5. Choose 'High performance' and save your changes

 

Reinstall Your GPU Drivers

Broken or outdated GPU drivers may cause poor performance in Darktide. When updating your drivers, please perform a clean installation which will ensure all previous versions have been removed. This is particularly important if the GPU has been changed at any point.

[PC] How to Perform a Clean Re-Installation of Your NVIDIA GPU Drivers

[PC] How to Perform a Clean Re-Installation of Your AMD GPU Drivers

However, if your performance issues have arisen after one particular driver update, you may need to roll back a version until a new driver is released.

 

Disable Background Applications

Background applications - commonly overlays or hooks such as RivaTuner, ShadowPlay, Fraps, ReShade and AMD Chill - can interfere with the workings of Darktide. 

A Selective Startup can help identify whether a background application is the cause of your poor performance:

  1. Press the Windows key
  2. Type 'msconfig' and select 'System Configuration'
  3. On the 'General' tab, select 'Selective Startup'
  4. Deselect 'Load startup Items'
  5. Reboot your PC

If the issues no longer occur after having performed the Selective Startup, try re-introducing your programs one-by-one to determine which is causing your poor performance. 

 

Lower Your Video Quality

Your PC simply may not be able to handle the level of video quality you’ve chosen. Try lowering your video quality and playing around with more demanding options.

 

Cap Your Framerate

Although it may sound counter-productive, capping your FPS can lessen stuttering and ensure a smoother, more consistent FPS. You can cap your FPS at 30, 60, or 120 FPS. Play around with this option to determine which works best for you.

 

Disable Your Overclocks

Unstable overclocks can result in poor performance in Darktide. If any of your components are overclocked, we recommend reverting the component to it's original clock.

 

Check for Overheating

Whilst overheating components will usually crash the entire PC, occasionally it may present as a loss of performance or crashes-to-desktop.

More information on how to do this can be seen here: [PC] How to Check If Your PC Components Are Overheating

 

For NVIDIA GPUs Only: Change Your ‘Power Management Mode’

Changing your 'Power management mode' in the NVIDIA Control Panel to 'Prefer maximum performance’ may help improve your performance in Darktide. You can do this by:

  1. Right-click your desktop
  2. Select the NVIDIA Control Panel
  3. Select 'Manage 3D Settings’ > ‘Global Settings'
  4. Scroll down to 'Power Management Mode'
  5. Change this to 'Prefer Maximum Performance'

 

 

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