My performance guide

[Kennedy]

I did a little research, looked through guides and in the discussions here and found a way to reduce stutter to a minimum for me. Before it was barely playable in the second mission and after these steps I didn't notice any frame-drops at all anymore.
But every computer is different, so it could be possible that these steps help a lot, or not at all.

First, my specs, so you see what my system is able to do, you can compare and change settings (graphics preset for example), so they fit your specs:

Processor: Intel i7-4790K
RAM: Kingston HyperX Beast 32GB 2400MHz DDR3
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Ranger
Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti

And now to the steps (do them in this order):


1. Download "Process Lasso" :

It's like an advanced task-manager, to set the CPU-priority for the game to high automatically.
Link: https://bitsum.com/

After you installed Process Lasso, start it, go to Options - Gaming Mode Settings - Designate game processes... and add dishonored2.exe to the list. Keep it open though, there is more below.


2. (For nvidia-users only) Changes to nvidia control panel settings:

Go into your nvidia control panel - Manage 3D Settings - Global settings tab.
In this list look for "Power management mode" and change it to "Prefer maximum performance"
Now look for "Vertical Sync" and change that to "Adaptive".

Now change the tab to Program Settings at the top and select dishonored2.exe in the list.
In the options below, look for "Maximum pre-rendered frames" and change that to 1.


3. Setting up the game (take different settings here, if you need to):

First make sure your dishonored2Config.cfg, located in C:\Users\username\Saved Games\Arkane Studios\dishonored2\base is NOT set to "Read Only", otherwise this step won't have any effect.

Load up the game and go into the graphics settings (I play in German so the usual english setting could be different, I just try to translate them)

Change the Window-Mode to Fullscreen.
Change adaptive resolution to 100.
(Optional) Turn off VSync.
(Optional) Turn off NVIDIA HBAO+

In the advanced tab, just use a graphics preset above, do NOT change settings manually. Use one, that your system can handle. I used Very High.

If you finished setting up the graphics change ANY other settings, you would like to change too. After we set dishonored2Config.cfg to Read Only in a step below, any other changes in the futute won't be saved and reset each time you restart the game, if it's Read Only.

Now Alt-Tab and open Process Lasso. In there, locate dishonored2.exe - right-click - priority class and change both "current" and "always" to high.

Now close the game.


4. Setting up dishonored2Config.cfg:

Go to C:\Users\username\Saved Games\Arkane Studios\dishonored2\base and open dishonored2Config.cfg in a text-editor.
In there - CTRL+F - Search for "Smooth" - Change g_mouseSmooth "1" to "0".
Save the file.

Now right-click the file - Properties - and tick "Read Only", then Apply. Again: Ingame-Settings won't be saved now, if you change them. If you want to change something ingame, untick "Read Only" first.


5. You can play now, but NEVER alt-tab, that causes huge FPS-issues for me.



These steps are optional, but could help too:

- Disable CPU-Core parking. A guide can be found here:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Windows-7-amp-Core-Parking-a-better-way-to-Turn-It-OFF-m1861804.aspx

- Disable steam-overlay.
- Close any CPU-heavy programs.
- Reinstall the nvidia driver for Dishonored 2. Some people report that a clean re-installation helps with performance too.

- (nvidia users) If nothing helps, you could try to roll back to the 373.06 graphics driver

Originally posted by RemmiDemmi:

I stumbled upon another steam post that referred to a reddit thread. A guy stated that rolling back to 373.06 would provide a much smoother experience for Nvidia owners. So I rolled back by wiping the latest driver with a graphics driver unistaller and installed the older one. the game runs like butter so far and I could crank up the details as well (Gtx 1070 here).

So, that's it.. these steps helped me a lot and I hope some of you have better performance now too.. Thanks for reading.

[RemmiDemmi]

Nice collection of possible fixes OP. Always good to contribute so thumbs up for this one. I stumbled upon another steam post that referred to a reddit thread. A guy stated that rolling back to 373.06 would provide a much smoother experience for Nvidia owners. So I rolled back by wiping the latest driver with a graphics driver unistaller and installed the older one. the game runs like butter so far and I could crank up the details as well. Might be a nice addition to your post! (Gtx 1070 here)

[Kennedy]

Originally posted by RemmiDemmi:

Nice collection of possible fixes OP. Always good to contribute so thumbs up for this one. I stumbled upon another steam post that referred to a reddit thread. A guy stated that rolling back to 373.06 would provide a much smoother experience for Nvidia owners. So I rolled back by wiping the latest driver with a graphics driver unistaller and installed the older one. the game runs like butter so far and I could crank up the details as well. Might be a nice addition to your post! (Gtx 1070 here)

Added. And thanks for the kind words. :)

[lordcooler]

Running everything on Ultra on my 970M with a i7-6700K. Buttery smooth ~90 FPS constant. Was basically unplayable before this.

What you gotta do: Download Process Lasso, designate Dishonored2.exe as a gaming process, go to NVIDIA Control Panel, go to Manage 3D Settings, go to Program Settings and for dishonored2.exe, change Man pre-rendered frames to 1 and also change Virtual Reality pre-rendered frames to 2. Turn off VSYNC and God Rays in-game. Turn up all textures/models/environments to Very High or Ultra. ENJOY.

Granted, this is a ridiculous workaround for a $60 PC title that should've been optimized properly in the first place, but if you're itching for whiskey and cigars like me, hope this helps you out.

[Kennedy]

Originally posted by lordcooler:

Running everything on Ultra on my 970M with a i7-6700K. Buttery smooth ~90 FPS constant. Was basically unplayable before this.

You don't own the game, or am I missing something?

[lordcooler]

Originally posted by Niyiu:

Originally posted by lordcooler:

Running everything on Ultra on my 970M with a i7-6700K. Buttery smooth ~90 FPS constant. Was basically unplayable before this.

You don't own the game, or am I missing something?

ya a brain

[Dr.Abscondus]

Thread should be pinned. A pearl buried in the usual Steam forum swill.

[Dr.Abscondus]

Btw, Process Lasso is a great little program. All the other programs of this type I found on the net wouldn't work with Win 10.

[razzgrizz3]

excelent guide. the lasso thing gave me a massive boost on fps and nigh on eliminated the stuttering

[Kennedy]

Originally posted by Dr.Abscondus:

Thread should be pinned. A pearl buried in the usual Steam forum swill.

Originally posted by razzgrizz3:

excelent guide. the lasso thing gave me a massive boost on fps and nigh on eliminated the stuttering

Thanks. Glad I could help.

[NRieh]

What you gotta do: Download Process Lasso, designate Dishonored2.exe as a gaming process

Wouldn't using a command prompt give same results wth no 3rd party software involved?

I mean running the game with a thing like this:

cmd.exe /c start "Dishonored 2" /high "C:\Games\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Dishonored2\Dishonored2.exe"

[Kennedy]

Originally posted by NRieh:

Wouldn't using a command prompt give same results wth no 3rd party software involved?

I mean running the game with a thing like this:

cmd.exe /c start "Dishonored 2" /high "C:\Games\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Dishonored2\Dishonored2.exe"

If you use the usual task-manager or the cmd/bat-file, the priority resets after loading-screens back to low. Process Lasso keeps it on high the whole time.

[trek554]

Originally posted by lordcooler:

Running everything on Ultra on my 970M with a i7-6700K. Buttery smooth ~90 FPS constant. Was basically unplayable before this.

What you gotta do: Download Process Lasso, designate Dishonored2.exe as a gaming process, go to NVIDIA Control Panel, go to Manage 3D Settings, go to Program Settings and for dishonored2.exe, change Man pre-rendered frames to 1 and also change Virtual Reality pre-rendered frames to 2. Turn off VSYNC and God Rays in-game. Turn up all textures/models/environments to Very High or Ultra. ENJOY.

Granted, this is a ridiculous workaround for a $60 PC title that should've been optimized properly in the first place, but if you're itching for whiskey and cigars like me, hope this helps you out.

So you have a mobile GPU with a desktop CPU? Interesting...

[Chaddy]

Originally posted by trek554:

Originally posted by lordcooler:

Running everything on Ultra on my 970M with a i7-6700K. Buttery smooth ~90 FPS constant. Was basically unplayable before this.

What you gotta do: Download Process Lasso, designate Dishonored2.exe as a gaming process, go to NVIDIA Control Panel, go to Manage 3D Settings, go to Program Settings and for dishonored2.exe, change Man pre-rendered frames to 1 and also change Virtual Reality pre-rendered frames to 2. Turn off VSYNC and God Rays in-game. Turn up all textures/models/environments to Very High or Ultra. ENJOY.

Granted, this is a ridiculous workaround for a $60 PC title that should've been optimized properly in the first place, but if you're itching for whiskey and cigars like me, hope this helps you out.

So you have a mobile GPU with a desktop CPU? Interesting...

I'm guessing he meant the i7-6700HQ, if it is a laptop he's playing on.

[Pizzi]

Originally posted by Randalf:

Thanks, do you know why if I disable Vsync in game and set Adaptative in Nvidia Control Panel it doesn't work? I'm getting +60fps

Adaptative isn't supposed to cap your fps at 60, just adapts the sync to your current fps

[trek554]

Originally posted by Pizzarous:

Originally posted by Randalf:

Thanks, do you know why if I disable Vsync in game and set Adaptative in Nvidia Control Panel it doesn't work? I'm getting +60fps

Adaptative isn't supposed to cap your fps at 60, just adapts the sync to your current fps

Um no. If he has a 60 hertz monitor then yes he should be capped at 60 if running adaptive v-sync. Adaptive v-sync is just regular vsync when you're hitting the refresh rate and then it simply disables vsync when you drop below your refresh rate. The whole point of it is to be used in game whrre you are getting frame rates right at your refresh rate nearly the whole time.