The newest co-op action game from FatShark, Warhammer 40K: Darktide, is currently playable on PC for those who pre-ordered it. The game’s release condition isn’t exactly ideal, and players are experiencing a tonne of performance and stability concerns, just like in prior FatShark games. Additionally, this game is extremely demanding and requires very good hardware to function effectively. Here are a few solutions to the crashing, stuttering, and lag problems in Warhammer 40K Darktide.
Fixing the Warhammer 40K Darktide: Stuttering, Lagging, and Crashing
As was already noted, Darktide is a fairly demanding game, so if you’re not using high-end hardware, you’ll experience performance troubles. However, you may improve it significantly with a few adjustments and advice until the developers fix the problems and, ideally, increase stability. The full release may be better because the game is still in the “beta” stage.
Turn off Ray Tracing
Yes, I am aware that this is unfortunate because the game looks fantastic when ray tracing is enabled, but it is a very resource-intensive feature, especially in Darktide. If you don’t want to turn it off, set it to the lowest value. Turning it off will greatly improve performance. There are some extremely cool effects even at lesser levels. Turn off Ray Tracing
Turn DLSS Off and On
As stupid as this sounds this has worked for many users and improved performance and stability. You want to turn DLSS off, save the settings, turn it back on, and set it to whatever you want. If you’re struggling with framerate, maybe turn it down to Performance or even Ultra Performance.
Try lowering Worker Threads
Okay, this doesn’t make a whole lot of sense either, but in the launcher, click on Settings, and at the bottom, there’s a setting called “Worker Threads“. You might want to lower it to a different value and see if that improves your experience. Try setting it to 8 if you have a 12-thread CPU, for starters, and mess around with anything lower than the default.
This setting can only be accessed from the launcher settings.
Don’t Change Display Mode During Gameplay
This is something that the developers are aware of and are currently working on, but if you switch the display mode type during gameplay, it can cause a frozen screen.
Alt-tabbing in and out of the game can fix that, though, but some users have reported that this can also lead to a crash. It’s best if you do this either from the launcher settings or in the menu.
PSA: FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) Resets on Boot
Just like DLSS, there is a bug with FSR as well. If you previously set it to anything like Quality or Performance, the game turns this OFF every time you launch it again.
So, when you’re in, simply open the Settings menu, click on any setting, and then resume the game. For some reason, just opening the Settings menu loads your original selection.
Lower Settings
If you’re on a mid-budget PC, you want to lower your in-game settings. As we previously mentioned, Warhammer 40K: Darktide is an incredibly demanding title, so we recommend aiming for the Low or Medium preset.
Update your GPU Drivers
Make sure that you have the latest drivers for your GPU installed. You can get the latest ones from the links below.
Update DirectX and Visual C++ Redistributables
Ensure that both DirectX and Visual C++ Redistributables are on the latest version.
Reinstall DotNet Framework
If you’re having any issues with the launcher, it’s a good idea to reinstall the .NET Framework. You can download the latest one from the link below. Make sure to select “repair” in the installation and restart your PC after it’s done.
Verify Game Files
If you’re getting crashes at the start, you might also want to verify your game files. This can quickly be done in Steam by following the steps below.
- Open Steam, and navigate to your library
- Right-click on Warhammer 40: Darktide in your library
- Click Properties
- Select the LOCAL FILES tab
- Click on Verify Integrity of local files…
This will initiate a scan of your game files, and if something is missing, Steam will start a download as an update.
Switch to Dedicated GPU (Laptop Users)
Ensure that your dedicated GPU is being utilized instead of the integrated one.
Switching to the dedicated Nvidia GPU
- First, open the Nvidia Control Panel
- Then navigate to 3D Settings and then Manage 3D Settings
- Open the tab Program Settings and choose Warhammer 40K: Darktide from the dropdown menu
- Next, select the preferred graphics processor for this program from the second dropdown.
- Your Nvidia GPU should show as a High-performance Nvidia processor
- Save the changes
Switching to the dedicated AMD GPU
- First, open Radeon Settings
- Then navigate to Preferences, followed by Additional Settings
- Here, select Power and then Switchable Graphics Application Settings
- Select Warhammer 40K: Darktide from the list of applications
- If Warhammer 40K: Darktide isn’t on the list, click the Add Application button and select the executable from the installation directory. This adds the game to the list, and you’ll be able to select it afterward.
- In Graphics Settings, assign the High-Performance profile to the game.
For more on crashes, I recommend checking out my detailed guide that also addresses various errors.
We really hope that the developers can improve the state of the game soon because the actual gameplay is solid and really fun. It expands on Vermintide 2 quite well and offers a co-op experience like no other.
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