Game Performance

Hardware & System
#1

Hey everyone!

Firstly, I’ve only recently discovered KCD (bought December 8th) but already put in about 160 hours. Probably rookie numbers compared to other people here. THIS GAME IS AMAZING! Seriously, I have totally gone off Skyrim and Bethesda, I probably won’t even bother with TES 6.

Reason for the post is that I too was struggling with performance / optimisation of the game, especially in places like Rattay and other “busy” locations.

Very recently, mostly for work, I upgraded my CPU from a Core i5-6600K to a Core i9-9900K. I also moved my boot drive to a NVMe SSD (WD Black) - it was a normal SATA SSD before. My GPU has been the rock-solid GTX 1080Ti for nearly two years now.

On the Core i5 I was getting decent framerates, running on Nvidia’s optimal settings with PhysX turned to Low, as well as Shadows and Shaders. Probably around 40-50 FPS in Rattay, but suffered constant “micro” jitters where I’d be riding on my horse and as I entered a new area it would stutter and ruin a bit of the immersion (but not enough to put me off).

Last night I decided to give it a go on the new CPU, but left it at Nvidia’s optimal settings (without cranking anything down as before). I got on my horse, and bolted through Rattay, and to my amazement it stuck at a consistent 80 FPS without the micro-jitters. To say I am pleased is an understatement; I was giggling like a schoolkid at how excited and happy I was.

I think that this game is incredibly beautiful, and incredibly demanding, and KCD LOVES as many CPU threads as you can give it. My GTX 1080Ti has never worked so hard in its life as it did last night… so if you’re wondering whether a CPU upgrade is worth it for this game, it definitely is.

7 Likes
Lagging in rattay
#2

That makes my i7-8700 more durable. Good choice on my side, hehe. No need Gtx1080 here. You made me sure it is the CPU that matters more cause I was surprised all those players with gtx1080 have such little difference in FPS and also not stable with drops. The problem on their side is, they use too weak CPU for that and especially this game.

#3

I got a 7700k 5.1 ghz and a 1080 8gb. I bought myself a 28" 4k monitor but my gpu didn’t like it much. I need a 1080ti now.

#4

Any chance u could record ur gameplay little bit in Rattay? I really would like to see that performance. My 8600k 4.6Ghz is useless in this game, but I thought higher clock speeds matter more than cores/threads when I heard game only uses 6 cores.

#5

See? that is another 1080 that needs stronger CPU instead. I have got 1060 and 8700 is stronger than I need, in your case, you use more demanding GPU on higher resolution… do not expect miracles.

#6

I need a better gpu. Not cpu :slight_smile: rendering is gpu bound

#7

Yes. But than again, your GPU will be underperforming with such CPU and especially since you chose to play on higher resolution.

#8

I think a i7 7700k @5.1 ghz isn’t a bottleneck for a 1080ti

#9

True, 1080ti will be good for 4k, as recommended on game-debate, though I think it is wiser to get stronger CPU for this game particularly. I can not say for sure which CPU is good enough, as yours is the best match for 1080ti, but I consider those statements as the maximum you will get of it, just slapping the top limit of your PC all the time.

#10

I agree, cpu is never powerful enough! I wish I could take a i9 9900k but it’s just to expensive.

#11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgjUN2nSDmI i9 580€ i7 460€ i5 300€ :confused: similar fps i5 will struggle newer titles but price difference is huge

#12

Since last night I have bumped textures up to Ultra, so it’s running a bit slower but looks better IMO. Sorry for the bad recording, used Windows 10’s game recording feature. I use a 144Hz monitor.

EDIT: and I play at 1440p!

1 Like
#13

I have an 980ti and an i7 6700k and I also play at 1440p.
i have everything on ultra except the shadows and shaders that I have on low but the LOD sliders are also on the max possible and I can play at minimum 60 fps all the time including in towns and forest, you have a better system and I see lots of downgraded options for no reason, you already have shaders on low try shadows on low and all the rest on max settings including the 3 sliders.

#14

Impressive! Now try max shaders and shadows and sliders XD
Why not use shadowplay its really simple?

#15

I’ll give it a go now!

#16

I watched your vid. My rig: MSI MS-7821 mobo, Intel i5-4690K 3.5GHz, 8GB RAM, Win7 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 3.9GB

I’ll have to try to replicate your video when I get a bit farther in my current play, and probably will be able to notice some differences. stuttering/delays in frame updates being the one thing I could predict with great confidence if I were to try to do what with those settings.

there were at the beginning of the video, some buffering smudges in my play of your video, and that of course raises the issue of the video being a copy of a copy being streamed across a global network, etc. So it might well look EVEN BETTER on your end!

With all that said: I think right now I’m playing on “High” settings? (I’ve switched around a lot, and definitely noticed some performance issues in Rataje when on Ultra, the aforementioned frame update lag as well as generally low frames per second performance) I’ve done more or less what you did quite a few times (gallop through Rataje) mostly on High or lower settings, and just about the only difference I could say I discern in the “quality” of my experience versus what you show is: I will often times get one or two “stutters” as the app suffers a pause in frame updates.

Anyway! Glad you are enjoying the game and it looks great for you!

1 Like
#17

Video is still uploading but it’s here: https://youtu.be/piGvvdl3CJM (Shadowplay is easy but damn! Over 1GB). I couldn’t bear shadows and shaders on low, they looked terrible. I think I’ll stick to shaders on low and shadows on high with everything else maxed out. I get a few more FPS when in fullscreen mode too.

I think the game is still enjoyable on lower settings, if consoles are set to medium (with some tweaks) that’s good enough for me. My first play through was on my Core i5-6600K and despite the constant stutters and lags, I still loved it. The 1080Ti was bottlenecked by the CPU. I’m the type of gamer that can’t deal with stutters usually - just goes to show that I will suffer for a game this good!

#18

Any chances u could use msi afterburner´s rivatuner statistics to check ur cpu usage? I wonder how many cores/threads it really uses properly or is that 4.9Ghz doing all the trick on ur end and btw I shadows I recommend to keep at high or higher. U will notice big difference between high and medium when u look grass especially when sun is shining certain angle.

1 Like
#19

The CPU actually stays at around 30-50% and the GPU at 99% all the time. The Core i5 was at 99% the whole time! I’ll post a screenshot later! :slight_smile:

#20

Yes but how many cores it uses? I mean ur 6600k was 4 core and i have 8600k 6 core if game uses 6 cores im gonna oc the shit out of it. I saw some video where 4.2 and 4.7 made huge difference in this game.

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