The purpose of this thread is to compile any settings, tweaks and other solutions to mitigate the performance issues currently plaguing the game with lower-end systems.
Generally, stuttering occurs most severely for players as new assets are being loaded in - when transitioning into scenes (battles, town), loading UI elements, sounds, models and textures. For most players, the stuttering will decrease over time within a given battle or scene, but worsen for each subsequent scene entered.
Most players reporting these issues so far have been on systems with 8gb RAM - myself included. Though the system requirements list 8gb as "recommended", at this time it's clearly not adequate to run the single-player campaign at an acceptable level of performance. That said, if you've more than 8gb RAM and otherwise meet or exceed the recommended system specs, you may benefit from following this guide too.
Note: It's apparent that the single-player campaign game currently has amemory leak. If this is a universal problem, against which I've seen no indication, this is likely the root of many such reports.
Whatever your specs, game performance will most likely diminish the longer you play. Restarting the game every ~1h30 is recommended.
Patch 1.0.4 contains "a" memory-leak fix - whether this means the leaks' been entirely eliminated remains to be seen
Disclaimer:
Nothing presented here is guaranteed to make a noticeable difference to performance - but will generally be worth trying.
Short of waiting and hoping for optimisation passes by Taleworlds, upgrading your RAM beyond 8gb is going to be the most reliable and comprehensive means of addressing the game's performance for the end-user (you).
Most people who are having such issues will already be conscious of this, but are unable and/or unwilling to do so. Comments along the lines of "Just upgrade ur ram lol" only confirm to everyone that you're an asshat.
I take no responsibility for damage caused to your PC, game installation, person, property or sanity through the application of this guide or use of third-party software linked to in this thread.
With all that said, I've been able to get the game running near-flawlessly (bar the memory leak) through some of the following methods.
Anything marked with ✅ is something I've done personally and seen significant benefit from.
Minimise overall RAM usage ✅
Use Windows' task-manager (Ctrl+alt+del > Start Task Manager > Processes) to identify and close down any non-essential background processes that may be consuming RAM. Web browsers in particular are RAM-hungry these days. Ideally the only things that will be running while you play Bannerlord are Steam anything essential to Windows, as well as any software that may help enhance performance.
Launch Steam with -no-browser ✅
Steam contains its own browser. If you've ever looked at Task-manager while running it, you'll have noticed multiple instances of "Steamwebhelper.exe", each eating a non-trivial amount of RAM.
Steam can be launched with its browser disabled - preventing use of the store, library, community etc (Friends list and chat still works) - by launching it with the command line parameter -no-browser - The steam client its self will then be the only process it starts, minimising its RAM usage.
I advise creating a new shortcut to Steam. Right-click this new shortcut, click Properties > Shortcut, and in "Target" append -no-browser, as such:
You can make this shortcut start Bannerlord directly by appending -applaunch 261550, as such:
With this shortcut set up, you will close Steam and launch it via the shortcut when going to play Bannerlord. You could even rename it and/or set its icon to that of the game to avoid confusion.
Note:I can't tell you whether this affects multiplayer - I'd appreciate someone (who knows they can already login without issue) testing it out. Multiplayer functionality is unaffected.
Restart the game frequently ✅
It's pretty clear by now that the campaign suffers from memory leaks. Reloading save-games, playing through multiple battles/scenes seem to increase RAM usage over time. If the game's performance feels significantly worse after an hour or so, restarting once it reaches this point should keep it within the realm of playability.
Install Bannerlord on an SSD ✅
SSDs are read much faster than regular hard-drives. This means it takes less time to access things like textures, models, sounds and other game assets. If you have one and can free the space, installing/moving Bannerlord to an SSD as opposed to a HDD is almost guaranteed to significantly decrease load-times and mitigate or even eliminate stutter. In my case it was the single biggest improvement.
120gb SSDs go for relatively cheap (Around £30-50) these days, and are probably the most bang-for-your-buck if you currently only have an HDD.
Note:
Check your page-file ✅
Windows' Pagefile is essentially an extension of RAM by way of your Hard-Drive/SSD. The pagefile can be dynamic in its size - as it's increased or decreased, RAM and CPU are used to perform this operation.
As such, I'd advise setting the minimum and maximum page-file sizes to the same value. As to what that value should be, most sources indicate 1.5x the size of RAM - That makes it a 12gb (12,288mb) pagefile for a system with 8gb RAM.
For Windows 7:
Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings > Advanced > Performance > Advanced > Virtual Memory.
Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives"
Click "Custom size", put 12288 in both boxes, click "Set" then "Apply".
If you have an SSD, moving the pagefile over to it (and reducing the one(s) on your hard-drive(s) to ~500mb) may also make a significant difference.
If you have 2 SSDs, splitting your pagefile between them may further increase performance - Thanks @problemsolver
Disable Audio Enhancements - Use regular headphones/speakers ✅
Don't know why this works, but I'm not gonna complain.
Go to Control Panel > Sound > Playback devices
Right click > Properties > Enhancements on your speakers/headphones
Check "Disable all enhancements". Apply.
In my case, swapping from my USB headset with integrated soundcard to a regular pair of headphones reduced stuttering quite a bit.
Thanks to reddit users ZeppKfw and Gaben_money
Optimise game settings ✅
Ultimately, every system's going to be different in some way - There's no fix-all set of settings that will work better for everyone. However, some settings are more RAM-intensive than others. Here's the key settings I use to minimise stuttering while largely preserving graphical fidelity:
Enabled:
Depth of Field
Screen-space Reflection
Sunshafts
Subsurface scattering
Tesselation
Bloom
Film Grain
Edit: Since moving to an SSD, I was able to put up all the settings listed as Low to Medium with no issue.
Edit2: After the last few patches, it may be better to set texture-streaming to minimum
Reducing your Resolution and capping your FPS to a value ~30% lower than the maximum you get may also help a lot.
It's been reported that using Fullscreen instead of Windowed Fullscreen, and also setting your resolution manually (instead of "Desktop Resolution") also has a significant effect on improving performance. It made no noticeable difference for me.
In any case, I recommend playing around with the settings to find what works best for you. You might be able to get away with increasing some settings, and/or you may need to decrease some for optimal performance. Trial and error is the name of the game.
My specs for reference:
Thanks @nemesis234 and @Askorti
Windows Readyboost
This is probably grasping at a straw, but every little helps right? Windows Readyboost requires the use of a USB/Flash drive, essentially using it as additional RAM. Flash memory is quicker than reading/writing to the HDD, as is the case with the page-file, but is still no replacement for RAM, and likely isn't as efficient as an SSD's page-file.
Plug in your flash drive.
Clear any unnecessary files
On Autoplay, click "Speed up my system using Windows Readyboost"
Defragment your Hard-Drive
Note: Do not defrag SSDs
If, like me, you've had the same HDD for multiple years, chances are it's fragmented to hell and back. As my understanding goes, this means it will take longer for your system to read from the drive, as such compromising performance.
I recommend using Defraggler for this process. Note, it can take up to days to fully defragment a HDD.
www.ccleaner.com
Update your GPU drivers
Overclock your RAM
See the last paragraph of the disclaimer.
Ultimately, this is unlikely to make a significant difference, and may well reduce the lifespan of your RAM for the effort, but might just be the push your system needs to get the game running at a level of performance closer to what you find acceptable.
www.howtogeek.com
Use 3rd-party software to optimise RAM/CPU/Power usage
Memorycleaner ✅
Memorycleaner is an application that can help cut down on unnecessary RAM usage. In my case, it has helped lengthen the time before the memory-leak becomes a significant issue - however it may contribute to an issue I've had with troops being invisible for the first few seconds of a battle.
www.koshyjohn.com
Thanks @Nekolacek
Process Lasso ✅
Process Lasso is essentially an extended task-manager, allowing you to set default rules regarding CPU and I/O priority for each application on your PC. I personally set both to "High" for Bannerlord. Note that some features are unavailable in the free version, but they (probably) have little value in this context.
bitsum.com
Intelligent Stanby List Cleaner ✅
"The application will monitor and clear the memory standby list according to the configured options parameter you set."
www.wagnardsoft.com
Thanks @TOC1775
Razer Cortex
According to TechRadar:
Razer Cortex [...] performs the usual housework (deleting temporary files, emptying the Recycle Bin, checking for broken registry entries and so on), it also suspends non-essential processes to free up RAM while you're gaming.
www.razer.com
Thanks @uncnzrd
If you've any other such tweaks throw them in here and I'll add them to the OP. Corrections are also welcome, I don't have much more than a layman's understanding of computer hardware/software, and might have parroted something incorrect. In any case, I hope this helps some of you - Either way, please respond with your specs, the parts of this guide you followed (and anything else you may have done), and whether it made a difference.
Generally, stuttering occurs most severely for players as new assets are being loaded in - when transitioning into scenes (battles, town), loading UI elements, sounds, models and textures. For most players, the stuttering will decrease over time within a given battle or scene, but worsen for each subsequent scene entered.
Most players reporting these issues so far have been on systems with 8gb RAM - myself included. Though the system requirements list 8gb as "recommended", at this time it's clearly not adequate to run the single-player campaign at an acceptable level of performance. That said, if you've more than 8gb RAM and otherwise meet or exceed the recommended system specs, you may benefit from following this guide too.
Note: It's apparent that the single-player campaign game currently has a
Whatever your specs,
Patch 1.0.4 contains "a" memory-leak fix - whether this means the leaks' been entirely eliminated remains to be seen
Disclaimer:
Nothing presented here is guaranteed to make a noticeable difference to performance - but will generally be worth trying.
Short of waiting and hoping for optimisation passes by Taleworlds, upgrading your RAM beyond 8gb is going to be the most reliable and comprehensive means of addressing the game's performance for the end-user (you).
Most people who are having such issues will already be conscious of this, but are unable and/or unwilling to do so. Comments along the lines of "Just upgrade ur ram lol" only confirm to everyone that you're an asshat.
I take no responsibility for damage caused to your PC, game installation, person, property or sanity through the application of this guide or use of third-party software linked to in this thread.
With all that said, I've been able to get the game running near-flawlessly (bar the memory leak) through some of the following methods.
Anything marked with ✅ is something I've done personally and seen significant benefit from.
Minimise overall RAM usage ✅
Use Windows' task-manager (Ctrl+alt+del > Start Task Manager > Processes) to identify and close down any non-essential background processes that may be consuming RAM. Web browsers in particular are RAM-hungry these days. Ideally the only things that will be running while you play Bannerlord are Steam anything essential to Windows, as well as any software that may help enhance performance.
Launch Steam with -no-browser ✅
Steam contains its own browser. If you've ever looked at Task-manager while running it, you'll have noticed multiple instances of "Steamwebhelper.exe", each eating a non-trivial amount of RAM.
Steam can be launched with its browser disabled - preventing use of the store, library, community etc (Friends list and chat still works) - by launching it with the command line parameter -no-browser - The steam client its self will then be the only process it starts, minimising its RAM usage.
I advise creating a new shortcut to Steam. Right-click this new shortcut, click Properties > Shortcut, and in "Target" append -no-browser, as such:
Code:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe" -no-browserYou can make this shortcut start Bannerlord directly by appending -applaunch 261550, as such:
Code:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe" -no-browser -applaunch 261550With this shortcut set up, you will close Steam and launch it via the shortcut when going to play Bannerlord. You could even rename it and/or set its icon to that of the game to avoid confusion.
Note:
Restart the game frequently ✅
It's pretty clear by now that the campaign suffers from memory leaks. Reloading save-games, playing through multiple battles/scenes seem to increase RAM usage over time. If the game's performance feels significantly worse after an hour or so, restarting once it reaches this point should keep it within the realm of playability.
Install Bannerlord on an SSD ✅
SSDs are read much faster than regular hard-drives. This means it takes less time to access things like textures, models, sounds and other game assets. If you have one and can free the space, installing/moving Bannerlord to an SSD as opposed to a HDD is almost guaranteed to significantly decrease load-times and mitigate or even eliminate stutter. In my case it was the single biggest improvement.
120gb SSDs go for relatively cheap (Around £30-50) these days, and are probably the most bang-for-your-buck if you currently only have an HDD.
Note:
Check your page-file ✅
Windows' Pagefile is essentially an extension of RAM by way of your Hard-Drive/SSD. The pagefile can be dynamic in its size - as it's increased or decreased, RAM and CPU are used to perform this operation.
As such, I'd advise setting the minimum and maximum page-file sizes to the same value. As to what that value should be, most sources indicate 1.5x the size of RAM - That makes it a 12gb (12,288mb) pagefile for a system with 8gb RAM.
For Windows 7:
Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings > Advanced > Performance > Advanced > Virtual Memory.
Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives"
Click "Custom size", put 12288 in both boxes, click "Set" then "Apply".
If you have an SSD, moving the pagefile over to it (and reducing the one(s) on your hard-drive(s) to ~500mb) may also make a significant difference.
If you have 2 SSDs, splitting your pagefile between them may further increase performance - Thanks @problemsolver
Disable Audio Enhancements - Use regular headphones/speakers ✅
Don't know why this works, but I'm not gonna complain.
Go to Control Panel > Sound > Playback devices
Right click > Properties > Enhancements on your speakers/headphones
Check "Disable all enhancements". Apply.
In my case, swapping from my USB headset with integrated soundcard to a regular pair of headphones reduced stuttering quite a bit.
Thanks to reddit users ZeppKfw and Gaben_money
Optimise game settings ✅
Ultimately, every system's going to be different in some way - There's no fix-all set of settings that will work better for everyone. However, some settings are more RAM-intensive than others. Here's the key settings I use to minimise stuttering while largely preserving graphical fidelity:
| Shader Quality, Lighting | High |
| Texture Streaming Budget | Very High |
| Textures, Shadows, Environment, Terrain, Decals, Water | Low |
| Shadow Type | Static Only |
| Particle Detail, Particle Quality, Foliage Quality, Character Detail | Medium |
| Antialiasing | SMAA |
| Texture Filtering | Anisotropic 16x |
| Occlusion | TSAO |
| Shadow Filtering | PCF |
| Sound Channels | 128 |
Enabled:
Depth of Field
Screen-space Reflection
Sunshafts
Subsurface scattering
Tesselation
Bloom
Film Grain
Edit: Since moving to an SSD, I was able to put up all the settings listed as Low to Medium with no issue.
Edit2: After the last few patches, it may be better to set texture-streaming to minimum
Reducing your Resolution and capping your FPS to a value ~30% lower than the maximum you get may also help a lot.
It's been reported that using Fullscreen instead of Windowed Fullscreen, and also setting your resolution manually (instead of "Desktop Resolution") also has a significant effect on improving performance. It made no noticeable difference for me.
In any case, I recommend playing around with the settings to find what works best for you. You might be able to get away with increasing some settings, and/or you may need to decrease some for optimal performance. Trial and error is the name of the game.
My specs for reference:
Thanks @nemesis234 and @Askorti
Windows Readyboost
This is probably grasping at a straw, but every little helps right? Windows Readyboost requires the use of a USB/Flash drive, essentially using it as additional RAM. Flash memory is quicker than reading/writing to the HDD, as is the case with the page-file, but is still no replacement for RAM, and likely isn't as efficient as an SSD's page-file.
Plug in your flash drive.
Clear any unnecessary files
On Autoplay, click "Speed up my system using Windows Readyboost"
Defragment your Hard-Drive
Note: Do not defrag SSDs
If, like me, you've had the same HDD for multiple years, chances are it's fragmented to hell and back. As my understanding goes, this means it will take longer for your system to read from the drive, as such compromising performance.
I recommend using Defraggler for this process. Note, it can take up to days to fully defragment a HDD.
Download Defraggler for free | Defrag SSD and HDD drives
Defraggler, the award-winning hard drive defrag tool from the makers of CCleaner. Optimize your hard drive and free up space. Download the latest version for free.
www.ccleaner.com
Update your GPU drivers
Download the latest official NVIDIA drivers
Download the latest official NVIDIA drivers
www.nvidia.co.uk
Overclock your RAM
See the last paragraph of the disclaimer.
Ultimately, this is unlikely to make a significant difference, and may well reduce the lifespan of your RAM for the effort, but might just be the push your system needs to get the game running at a level of performance closer to what you find acceptable.
How to Overclock Your Computer’s RAM
RAM often comes from the factory with a lower speed than the silicon is capable of. With a few minutes in your BIOS and a bit of testing, you can get your memory to run faster than the manufacturer’s specifications.
www.howtogeek.com
Use 3rd-party software to optimise RAM/CPU/Power usage
Memorycleaner ✅
Memorycleaner is an application that can help cut down on unnecessary RAM usage. In my case, it has helped lengthen the time before the memory-leak becomes a significant issue - however it may contribute to an issue I've had with troops being invisible for the first few seconds of a battle.
Memory Cleaner - Software - Koshy John
The number one memory usage optimization application in the world just got better.
Thanks @Nekolacek
Process Lasso ✅
Process Lasso is essentially an extended task-manager, allowing you to set default rules regarding CPU and I/O priority for each application on your PC. I personally set both to "High" for Bannerlord. Note that some features are unavailable in the free version, but they (probably) have little value in this context.
Bitsum. Real-time CPU Optimization and Automation
Real-Time CPU Optimization and Automation. Keep your PC responsive during high CPU loads and automate process settings with rules. Apps run YOUR WAY!
bitsum.com
Intelligent Stanby List Cleaner ✅
"The application will monitor and clear the memory standby list according to the configured options parameter you set."
Intelligent standby list cleaner (ISLC) v1.0.2.8 Released
Intelligent standby list cleaner (ISLC) will monitor and clear the memory standby list according to the configured options parameter you set. It should help users who have stutters in games when using windows 10 Creator update and higher version of windows. Known issues: -None SHA1...
Thanks @TOC1775
Razer Cortex
According to TechRadar:
Razer Cortex [...] performs the usual housework (deleting temporary files, emptying the Recycle Bin, checking for broken registry entries and so on), it also suspends non-essential processes to free up RAM while you're gaming.
Game Booster For PC, Laptops | Razer Cortex 🎮
Streamlined✅ Game booster✅ Power performance✅ Game with faster load times and higher framerates. Shop Razer Cortex and elevate your gaming equipment today.
Thanks @uncnzrd
If you've any other such tweaks throw them in here and I'll add them to the OP. Corrections are also welcome, I don't have much more than a layman's understanding of computer hardware/software, and might have parroted something incorrect. In any case, I hope this helps some of you - Either way, please respond with your specs, the parts of this guide you followed (and anything else you may have done), and whether it made a difference.
Last edited:
Excellent post sir...
