hardware: 9070xt, 5950x, 32gb ddr4 @ 3200mz
settings: vsync on for 280hz cap, frame cap unlimited, fsr 4.1 on quality, fsr 4 frame gen on, ray tracing reflections and illumination off, and everything else minus motion blur and depth of field on high, worker threads on the default 29.
Okay so there’s two issues: stutter and the gpu not properly engaging.
For stutter:
I find the ini fixes here Steam Community :: Guide :: AMD GPU stutter fix (works for NVIDIA), improved performance, and improved clarity (Streaming settings config fix) work really well, if I had to guess the two tiles_per_frame settings are the culprit because my framerate no longer temporarily drops when loading into the mourningstar or running around, both of which would stream in new assets.
For gpu engaging/boosting/utilisation:
What didn’t work: Turning off hardware accelerated gpu scheduling (HAGS), turning off rebar/smart access memory (SAM), turning off windows mpo, turning off ultra low power state (ULPS), turning off Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT), and updating direct storage, none of it made a difference, so i’ve turned all of it back on.
I’ve also found the “fullscreen = true/false” option in “win32_settings.ini” that sits in “Warhammer 40,000 DARKTIDE\bundle\application_settings” doesn’t actually do anything for stutter or gpu utilisation. The game engages hardware: independent flip regardless, which is the important bit.
What did work: Pressing windows + g to open the xbox game bar after loading into the mourningstar, alternatively opening the xbox app from the search menu. Simply just opening and closing the overlay seems to hook the gpu into functioning. It now sits at 2500-3000mz at all times and it continues to work if I close and reopen the game. It stops working when I restart my computer but opening the game bar again fixes that.
Alternatively I found turning windows hdr on or off also hooks the gpu. HOWEVER it doesn’t last and it will eventually drop to 1500mz mid combat and ruin the experience with low fps and input lag, and waiting around for your monitors to turn back on mid combat is hardly a solution or fair on your teammates.
I’ll copy the relevant lines from the stutter ini fixes here (courtesy of Vizra) in case anything happens to the steam post or if links aren’t allowed here, the values should be changed in “settings_common.ini” in “Warhammer 40,000 DARKTIDE\bundle\application_settings”:
under feedback_streamer_settings:
max_age_out_tiles_per_frame = 64 (change default 64 to 6)
max_streaming_tiles_per_frame = 64 (change default 64 to 6)
tile_staging_buffer_size = 4 (change default 4 to 64)
under mesh_streamer_settings:
limit = 700 (change default 700 to 3500)
then scroll down:
streaming_max_open_streams = 50 (change default 50 to 32)
streaming_texture_pool_size = 400 (change default 400 to 1536)
streaming_texture_pool_size = 512 (change default 512 to 1536)
TLDR: for gpu boosting: open and close xbox game bar’s overlay with windows + g,
for stutter: apply the ini fixes.
