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Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

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Warhammer 40,000: Darktide > Guides > dag's Guides
202 ratings
FPS Increase
By dag and 1 collaborators
How to make the game actually playable
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Created by
Felixinius
In-Game
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark
dag
Online
Category: Gameplay Basics, Modding or Configuration
Languages: English
Posted
Updated
18 Nov, 2022 @ 6:21am
3 Dec, 2022 @ 10:16am
25,176 Unique Visitors
303 Current Favorites
Guide Index
Overview
Introduction 
Locating the config file 
Editing the config file 
My config file 
Notable settings 
Bugs 
End 
Special thanks 
Comments
Introduction
Darktide is a pretty fun game, but the fun is lessened when at most I can play in like 20 FPS, and the in-game options are pretty limited. How to lower the graphics even more? Edit the config file!
Locating the config file
You can find the detailed game config in the AppData/Roaming/Fatshark/Darktide/ directory, in the user_settings.config file. The easiest way to access it is by typing "%appdata%" in the address bar of the file explorer and pressing enter.
Editing the config file
Now that you've found the file, open it with any text editor, even the Notepad is more than enough.
Inside, you'll find a ton of settings that are not shown in-game, and you can edit them to your liking. Be careful, though, setting something to invalid values might make the game unplayable, so it's best if you make a copy of the file.

Note: you might need to make the file read-only after you're done, it gets reset for some.
After you're done editing, save the file, and:
Right-click on the file, press Properties, and on the bottom of the General tab mark the Read-only checkbox. Simple as that, you're done!
My config file
After release the settings get reset for people every launch, you have to make the file read only.

Here are the settings that I use, didn't find any major problems with them and they made the game actually playable:
adapter_index = 0 aspect_ratio = -1 borderless_fullscreen = false detected_user_settings = { adapter_index = 0 borderless_fullscreen = false fullscreen = true fullscreen_output = 0 language_id = "en" master_render_settings = { anti_aliasing_solution = 0 dlss = 0 dlss_g = 0 dlss_master = "off" fsr = 0 fsr2 = 0 graphics_quality = "low" nv_reflex_low_latency = 2 ray_tracing_quality = "off" } max_worker_threads = 1 screen_mode = "fullscreen" screen_resolution = [ 1280 720 ] vsync = false } fullscreen = true fullscreen_output = 0 gamma = 1 gore_settings = { attack_ragdolls_enabled = false blood_decals_enabled = false gibbing_enabled = false minion_wounds_enabled = false } language_id = "en" master_render_settings = { ambient_occlusion_quality = "off" anti_aliasing_solution = 0 dlss = 0 dlss_g = 0 dlss_master = "off" dof_quality = "off" fsr = 0 fsr2 = 0 graphics_quality = "custom" lens_flare_quality = "off" light_quality = "off" nv_reflex_framerate_cap = 1 nv_reflex_low_latency = 2 ray_tracing_quality = "off" ssr_quality = "off" volumetric_fog_quality = "off" } max_worker_threads = 1 performance_settings = { decal_lifetime = 1 max_blood_decals = 1 max_impact_decals = 1 max_ragdolls = 1 } render_settings = { ao_enabled = false baked_ddgi = false bloom_enabled = false cacao_downsampled = false cacao_quality = 0 decals_enabled = true display_noise_enabled = false dlss_enabled = false dlss_g_enabled = false dof_enabled = false dof_high_quality = false dxr = false fsr2_enabled = false fsr_enabled = false fsr_quality = 0 fxaa_enabled = false gamma = 2.2 hdr_rgb_format = "R11G11B10F" jitter_enabled = false lens_flares_enabled = false lens_quality_color_fringe_enabled = false lens_quality_distortion_enabled = false lens_quality_enabled = false light_shafts_enabled = false local_lights_max_dynamic_shadow_distance = 0 local_lights_max_non_shadow_casting_distance = 0 local_lights_max_static_shadow_distance = 0 local_lights_shadow_atlas_size = [ 8 8 ] local_lights_shadow_map_filter_quality = "off" local_lights_shadows_enabled = false lod_object_multiplier = 0.5 lod_scatter_density = 0 motion_blur_enabled = false nv_framerate_cap = 60 nv_low_latency_boost = true nv_low_latency_markers = true nv_low_latency_mode = true nv_reflex_framerate_cap = 1 nv_reflex_low_latency = 2 outline_enabled = true particles_capacity_multiplier = 1 particles_simulation_lod = 0 rough_transparency_enabled = false rt_checkerboard_reflections = false rt_light_quality = "off" rt_mixed_reflections = false rt_particle_reflections_enabled = false rt_reflections_enabled = false rt_shadow_ray_multiplier = 0 rt_transparent_reflections_enabled = false rtxgi_enabled = false rtxgi_scale = 0 sharpen_enabled = false skin_material_enabled = false ssr_enabled = false ssr_high_quality = false static_sun_shadow_map_size = [ 8 8 ] static_sun_shadows = false sun_flare_enabled = false sun_shadow_map_filter_quality = "low" sun_shadow_map_size = [ 2 2 ] sun_shadows = false taa_enabled = false ui_bloom_enabled = false upscaling_enabled = false upscaling_mode = "none" upscaling_quality = "off" vertical_fov = 67 volumetric_data_size = [ 10 8 12 ] volumetric_extrapolation_high_quality = false volumetric_extrapolation_volumetric_shadows = false volumetric_lighting_local_lights = false volumetric_reprojection_amount = 0 volumetric_volumes_enabled = false world_interaction_size = [ 128 128 ] world_space_motion_vectors = false } screen_mode = "fullscreen" screen_resolution = [ 1280 720 ] sound = { } sound_settings = { } threads = { } version = 1 vsync = false process_priority = "high"

It defaults to 720p fullscreen, with pretty much all of the important stuff lowered all the way down. Should give way better frames than the lowest setting in-game.
Notable settings
Everyone's machine is different, so what you want will also differ from what I did. These are some of the settings you might want to change:

Change display type and resolution:
borderless_fullscreen = true/false fullscreen = true/false (enable one, disable the other) ... screen_resolution = [ x (screen width) y (screen height) ] (fullscreen only)

Worker threads, depending on your CPU:
max_worker_threads = x

Changing visibility of scars on your character:
decals_enabled = true/false

Changing the LOD:
lod_object_multiplier = x (x can be any number, even something like 0.1 will work. 1 is the default value, going below will cause objects to pop in but it gives good performance. DO NOT SET TO 0, LEST YOU UNLEASH THE ALL CONSUMING VOID UPON THYSELF)

Changing the framerate cap:
nv_framerate_cap = x (x can be anything, set to 0 if you want no frame limit)

If you feel like I should add some other setting to this list, leave it in the comments.
Bugs
Bugs found with these settings:
- Machine hacking interface may bug out, investigating the cause. If encountered, let a teammate finish the hack. Might be a bug with the game itself, unrelated to settings.
End
That's all! Once you've edited the file, just save it and you should quickly see the effects. Hopefully I was able to help someone with this guide.
Thanks for reading!
Special thanks
Felixinius - https://steamproxy.net/id/tiofelix
A lot of very useful suggestions, and additional settings I didn't think of. A savior of the Imperium.
137 Comments
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dag  [author] 25 Feb @ 6:04am 
stuff in the guide should still work, but again, it's been a bit an i don't play the game as much right now. try fucking with the settings and find what works for you, but generally lowering the resolution is the first thing you wanna do
Infected Animal 24 Feb @ 9:09am 
@Felixinius @dag are you guys considering doing a updated guide for the current patch 17? Would really appreciate it
Lmao 20 Dec, 2023 @ 10:23am 
map shadow flicker white and dark repeat fast, anyway to fix that ??
Felixinius  [author] 12 Jan, 2023 @ 3:15pm 
@Alex It probably still is, there might be some small differences because they add new options all the time, but the current one should work, yes.
Alexo 10 Dec, 2022 @ 10:54pm 
and how do you have the nvidia settings?
Alexo 10 Dec, 2022 @ 10:50pm 
Is this still useable or ?
Felixinius  [author] 6 Dec, 2022 @ 11:34am 
Imgur album of the XIII memory leak fix, as I promised, to help ya on the guide.
https://imgur.com/a/k5iOzfp
Felixinius  [author] 6 Dec, 2022 @ 11:19am 
Oh and credit Janfon1 because some of the new CFG stuff were discovered by him.
https://steamproxy.net/id/godsplitterpl
Felixinius  [author] 6 Dec, 2022 @ 11:18am 
Also, NEW thinkering that FIXED THE MEMORY LEAK for me and some friends! Tested in both Win 10 and 11:

1) Open start menu and put "exploit" on the search bar;

2) Click on "Exploit Protection" or the equivalent in your local language;

3) On the screen that pops up, click on "Program settings";

4) Click "Add Program to Customize" -> "Choose exact file path";

5) Go to Darktide game folder and enter the "binaries" folder and point Darktide.exe;
(DO NOT POINT "start_protected_game". THAT'S NOT IT)

6) A window with some settings will pop up. Scroll down to find "Control Flow Guard (CFG)"

7) Check "Override system settings" and then tick the option to OFF.

8) That's it. Press Apply and you're good to go. No need to restart windows or steam but if you have the game or the launcher open you need to restart the game.

This fix was found by my friend XIII, be sure to credit him:
https://steamproxy.net/profiles/76561197960291079/
Felixinius  [author] 6 Dec, 2022 @ 11:10am 
I've compiled NEW stuff I've found out myself, stuff that Janfon (the man, the legend) found.
https://pastebin.com/fLtKttGd

=== What's new? ===

1) Line 39, right under "language_id" I added a section that is suggested by fatshark devs. I have no idea what it does.
Ref:
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2019331733655619281/0505DF3DDD0932ABDBB12BBC68EB4E52789C9418/

2) Inside master_render_settings, I added a line right under fsr2, which is gi_quality = "off".
Some people have it better as "low" or "high". For me, obviously it was off.

3) Line 63. Learned with some people that decal_lifetime can go as low as 0.01. The rest should be kept as 1. This will only affect bullet holes, blood spatters, etc.

4) Line 68, process_priority = "high" was moved to right before render_settings (NOT master_render_settings) just to align with what other people's cfgs

5) Line 174 version was updated to 2. This is fatshark's doing. Just to be fully updated and avoid confusions.