Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is a fantastic game, but its demanding nature can lead to frustrating performance issues. This article provides five concrete solutions to address these problems, going beyond simple setting tweaks and offering insights based on extensive experience and technical understanding. These solutions tackle everything from optimizing in-game settings to leveraging advanced system configurations.
Before diving into more complex fixes, ensure you’ve covered the basics. Many performance problems stem from easily adjustable in-game settings.
Graphics Settings Tweaks
- Lowering graphics settings is the first and most straightforward step. Start with these:
- Texture Quality: High texture quality significantly impacts VRAM. Try “Medium” or even “Low,” especially if you have a graphics card with limited memory.
- Shadow Quality: Shadows are notoriously resource-intensive. Reduce shadow quality to “Low” or disable them entirely for a noticeable performance boost.
- Anti-Aliasing: FXAA and SMAA are less demanding than TAA. Experiment to find the best balance between visual quality and performance. Disabling it is also an option.
- Number of Ragdolls: Ragdoll physics, while visually appealing, can strain your CPU. Reduce the number of ragdolls.
- Grass Density: Lowering grass density, especially during sieges and large battles, can significantly improve framerates.
- Experiment with each setting individually. Don’t just blindly lower everything. Monitor your framerate after each change to identify the settings that have the most significant impact on your system.
Enable “Use Texture Streaming”
- This setting allows the game to load textures more dynamically, reducing VRAM usage. Found in the graphics options, enabling this can often prevent stuttering and improve overall smoothness. This can be found under options in the graphics settings.
For more substantial gains, modifying the game’s configuration files offers advanced control.
Engine Configuration File Adjustments
- Navigate to the Bannerlord configuration files. The location typically is in
. - Open
with a text editor. - Look for the following lines and adjust their values (back up the file before making changes):
-
(or lower): Reduces the number of ragdolls even further than the in-game setting allows. -
: Sets character detail to the lowest setting, reducing CPU load. -
: Sets terrain detail to the lowest setting, reducing GPU load.
-
- Save the file and restart the game. These tweaks can provide a tangible performance improvement, especially on older systems.
RGL Config Tweaks for CPU Core Utilization
- Open
(in the same folder as). - Locate the line
. - Try setting this value to the number of physical cores your CPU has. For example, if you have a quad-core CPU, change it to
. This can improve CPU utilization and reduce bottlenecks. - However, be warned: Setting this value too high can lead to instability. If you experience crashes, revert to “auto.”
Bannerlord’s performance is also heavily influenced by your system’s overall health.
Driver Updates and System Stability
- Ensure your graphics drivers are up to date. Nvidia and AMD release new drivers frequently, often with performance improvements for specific games.
- A clean driver installation is recommended. Use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to completely remove old drivers before installing new ones.
- Display Driver Uninstaller https://www.wagnardsoft.com/
- Check your system for malware. Malware can consume system resources and negatively impact game performance.
Background Process Management
- Close unnecessary background processes. Programs like Chrome, Discord, and other resource-intensive applications can steal CPU and GPU cycles from Bannerlord.
- Use Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) to identify and close programs that are consuming significant resources.
- Consider disabling startup programs that you don’t need running all the time.
Having spent countless hours battling lords and bandits in Bannerlord, I’ve personally faced and overcome many performance hurdles. The “sweet spot” for performance often involves a careful balance of in-game settings and system-level tweaks.
Learning from My Mistakes: A Tale of Too Many Cores
- I once tried setting the
infar too high, thinking it would unlock maximum performance. The result? Constant crashes and instability. Lesson learned: follow recommended guidelines and start with small adjustments.
Finding the Balance: Texture Streaming and Shadow Quality
- I found that enabling “Use Texture Streaming” combined with lowering shadow quality from “High” to “Low” yielded the most significant performance improvements on my system without drastically impacting visual fidelity. This highlights the importance of finding the right combination of settings that works best for your specific hardware.
Monitoring Resource Usage: A Critical Step
- Always monitor your CPU, GPU, and RAM usage while playing. This information can help you identify bottlenecks and adjust settings accordingly. Tools like MSI Afterburner or the built-in Windows Performance Monitor are invaluable for this purpose.
While raw processing power is undoubtedly important, optimizing Bannerlord’s performance involves more than just throwing hardware at the problem.
The “Perception of Smoothness” Trick
- Focus on achieving a consistent framerate rather than chasing the highest possible numbers. A stable 45 FPS can often feel smoother than a fluctuating 60 FPS with dips into the 30s. Enable VSync or use a framerate limiter to cap your framerate and prevent jarring fluctuations.
Thinking Beyond the Graphics Card: The CPU Bottleneck
- Bannerlord is surprisingly CPU-intensive, especially during large battles and sieges. Upgrading your CPU can sometimes yield more significant performance gains than upgrading your graphics card, particularly if you already have a decent GPU. This isn’t a fix for everyone, but I’ve personally seen this work for others.
| Setting | Impact on Performance | Visual Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Texture Quality | High | High |
| Shadow Quality | Very High | High |
| Anti-Aliasing | Medium | Medium |
| Ragdoll Count | Medium | Low |
| Grass Density | Medium | Low |
| Texture Streaming | Low (Improves Stability) | Minimal |
Some might dismiss these tweaks as “placebo effects,” but the reality is that they directly impact how Bannerlord utilizes system resources. By reducing the load on your CPU and GPU, you can alleviate bottlenecks and improve performance.
Real Results: The Proof is in the Performance
- The key is to systematically test each change and monitor your framerate. Don’t just blindly apply every tweak you find online. Experiment and find what works best for your specific hardware and configuration.
Conquering Bannerlord’s performance issues requires a multi-faceted approach. By combining in-game settings adjustments, configuration file tweaks, and system-level optimizations, you can significantly improve your gaming experience. Remember to monitor your system’s performance and experiment to find the right balance for your hardware. With a little effort, you can transform Bannerlord from a stuttering slideshow into the epic medieval adventure it was meant to be.
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