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Fix for the game stuttering at launch

admin
2024-06-29 10:11:21

Launch Options

One thing you might know about the Batman Arkham games is that the save files are stored into your documents folder. One thing you might not know is that the launch options for this game are also among them. Don't even try to mod anything in the game's files - not yet, though it could be helpful to some people, but I won't talk about this in this guide - because you can fix the way the game launches with a simple value change.

So, go into "Disk:/Users/You/Documents/WB Games/Batman Arkham Knight" aaand you should find a single file : GFXSettings.BatmanArkhamKnight.xml. Open it with your favourite notepad/text editor (the built-in Windows notepad does the trick as well). Scroll to the right until you find on the first line "<OPTION Name="Display_Mode" Registered="True" Type="Integer" Value="2">". Basically, 0 = windowed mode, 1 = borderless windowed mode (which is necessary to fix the game) and 2 = fullscreen.

The default value is 2, but fullscreen mode can be broken like on my machine. To use borderless windowed mode, set it to 1, without even changing the "ResolutionX" and "ResolutionY" settings (except if you have a smaller output resolution than what's already specified). You might want to use borderless fullscreen even if fullscreen works for you in order to use SpecialK or something and further boost performance.

Save the file, try launching the game, and if it works, hurray (especially if it works well actually)! Mission accomplished.

Now, to the graphics settings.

Graphics Settings

I guess I don't have much to say here, expect two Gameworks options to disable if you have a rig with an Nvidia graphics card that can't handle them well :

First off, dynamic light shafts. It doesn't have the same impact on performances depending on your computer, but be aware you should disable it to prevent massive framerate drops.

Then, the most computationally intensive effect in the entire game : interactive fog and smoke. Lots and lots of particles are generated and animated in real-time... And it doesn't always look realistic. So really, try disabling it if your computer is struggling (mine went from 22fps to 28fps just with that and everything else maxed out, so almost playable).And that's it! I could still tell you to watch out about v-sync, texture filtering, level of details and stuff, but... You know what you usually have to do in the settings to optimize a game, don't you? Just... don't go back to fullscreen : the stutterfest will begin anew.

And just one last thing : if your computer is already struggling, DON'T BE GREEDY ON THE GRAPHICS SETTINGS!!! It should be obvious, but since the game is poorly optimized, it's always good to keep this in mind.

Hope it helped!

Thanks And Rants

Thanks for reading, and most of all thanks for reading even this! I hope this guide was useful to you. If there's a typo or anything in there, please say it in the comments, I'll try to correct this as soon as possible.

Then I'd like to say I was angry while writing this guide, because unlike the former Batman Arkham games, it doesn't have a launcher. So I had to figure out what settings file was causing the game to run in fullscreen, and to tinker with these settings on my own for ONE. FREAKING. HOUR. And this, just to find this value I was looking for (oh really this is set on "2"? Well now let's see if it works any better setting it up to "1"), only to be able to actually launch the game. So shame on you, Warner Bros.

Now I'm not going to be kind, not to the developers, but to some players. No, it's not ALWAYS because your computer is not powerful enough that you can't run a game. That game's a proof of it. Some players had some of the latest Nvidia GPUs, lots of RAM and good CPUs at launch, and still couldn't run it properly. I can only disagree, so, shame on those who are basically saying "To these morons who can't play it, just get an actual computer" too.Thanks again, and if there's any problem with this guide, please report it in the comments!

Just In Case

Where You Put The GameWhere Your User Data Is

Just in case, here's the content of the "GFXSettings.BatmanArkhamKnight.xml" file (already modded, just replace what is written in bold).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16" standalone="no"?> <GSA_SDK Version="2.3.17835760.0"> <APPLICATION> <DISPLAYNAME Value="Batman™: Arkham Knight" /> <VERSIONNAME Value="1.3.3.0" /> <INSTALLPATH Value="\Batman Arkham Knight\Binaries\Win64\" /> <CONFIGPATH Value="\Documents\WB Games\Batman Arkham Knight\" /> <EXECUTABLE Value="BatmanArkhamKnight" /> <EXECCMD Value="BatmanAK" /> </APPLICATION> <GAMESETTINGS> <RESOLUTION Width="0" Height="0" RefreshRate="0" /> <OPTION Name="Display_Mode" Registered="True" Type="Integer" Value="1"> <RANGE MinValue="0" MaxValue="0" NumSteps="-1" /> </OPTION> <OPTION Name="ResolutionX" Registered="True" Type="Integer" Value="1920"> <RANGE MinValue="0" MaxValue="0" NumSteps="-1" /> </OPTION> <OPTION Name="ResolutionY" Registered="True" Type="Integer" Value="1080"> <RANGE MinValue="0" MaxValue="0" NumSteps="-1" /> </OPTION> <OPTION Name="Anti-Aliasing" Registered="True" Type="Integer" Value="1"> <RANGE MinValue="0" MaxValue="0" NumSteps="-1" /> </OPTION> <OPTION Name="Texture_Resolution" Registered="True" Type="Integer" Value="2"> <RANGE MinValue="0" MaxValue="0" NumSteps="-1" /> </OPTION> <OPTION Name="Shadow_Quality" Registered="True" Type="Integer" Value="2"> <RANGE MinValue="0" MaxValue="0" NumSteps="-1" /> </OPTION> <OPTION Name="Level_Of_Detail" Registered="True" Type="Integer" Value="2"> <RANGE MinValue="0" MaxValue="0" NumSteps="-1" /> </OPTION> <OPTION Name="Interactive_Smoke" Registered="True" Type="Bool" Value="false" /> <OPTION Name="Interactive_Paper_Debris" Registered="True" Type="Bool" Value="true" /> <OPTION Name="Rain_FX" Registered="True" Type="Bool" Value="true" /> <OPTION Name="Volumetric_Lighting" Registered="True" Type="Bool" Value="false" /> <OPTION Name="Vsync" Registered="True" Type="Bool" Value="true" /> <OPTION Name="AdaptiveVsync" Registered="True" Type="Bool" Value="false" /> <OPTION Name="MotionBlur" Registered="True" Type="Bool" Value="false" /> <OPTION Name="TextureFiltering" Registered="True" Type="Integer" Value="4"> <RANGE MinValue="0" MaxValue="0" NumSteps="-1" /> </OPTION> </GAMESETTINGS> </GSA_SDK>

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=556403575

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