Performance Optimization Guide (For high end system)

[DarthKitty]

TLDR at bottom...

Many of us with higher end systems have noticed poor performance in this game, let me show you how to get those fps up to what you are accustomed to :) This might also help those with less highend systems, but you might have to do some tweaking to the advice.

You'll be tempted to turn down resolution first, because hey, thats what usually works, but not here, because the problem w this game is different.

Let me start of by saying, I am not a graphics expert, however, I am fairly experienced in software optimization overall. Some people with a more game focused knowledge, may be able to read my rationale, and suggest more improvements.


The first thing you should do is turn off hyperthreading in your bios, the game does not leverage cores well, and turning it off will let you turbo more. Also, in taskmanager, set the cpu priority for Planet Coaster to "Real Time". Since I have six cores, I set the affinity to run on all but core 0, this also may help turbo with the other cores. You want your CPU running as fast as possible here.

WARNING: Do not set priority to realtime unless you set the affinity to leave at least one free core for OS threads. If you do not leave a core free, set it priority to high instead

For adjusting in game settings, basically, YOU WANT TO TURN OFF AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, then once the game is running smothly, turn a few things up to max to recover graphic quality. The rationale behind this is to take load of the games CPU thread, and put more load onto the graphics card. Basically, make the cpu have to do less things.

Turning down texture quality all the way is pretty much the most important thing, because the CPU spends less time moving the texture from RAM to the GPU memory.

Turning down water quality is also very helpful.

Basically, turn down all the graphics settings as low as they go or off.
Now, turn UP resolution as high as it goes, also, turn up antialiasing to max. This will make the game look decent again, and don't hurt performance because they are completly handled by the GPU.

TLDR:
* Turn off hyperhtreading
* Turn ALL the graphics setting to min or off EXCEPT resolution and anti-aliasing
* Set Priority of Planet Coaster to High in Task Manager

:)

[DarthKitty]

Looks pretty decent still, and runs biuttery smooth :)
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198026275953/screenshots/?appid=493340

[horrible statue]

this is awesome. nice note on the resolution because I noticed that too. In fact sometimes I was getting better speed on my native resolution. At that point I knew I knew absolutely nothing about how to solve this. until your post

[DarthKitty]

Originally posted by horrible statue:

this is awesome. nice note on the resolution because I noticed that too. In fact sometimes I was getting better speed on my native resolution. At that point I knew I knew absolutely nothing about how to solve this. until your post

Glad this was helpful for you :)

[Termater]

Old thread, but if I found it that means others will.
UPDATED 09/2022 -- TLDR down below.

I've spent the last week trying every thing possible to speed up the game with a large park or high amount of guests, let me save you some headache:

1) Turning off Hyperthreading generally does work for higher end CPU's, meaning you have lots of cores/threads available. (For reference I have 3900x, 12c 24t)

2) CPU Affinity (Task Manager); Let your computer sit idle before launching the game, see what cores Windows is using for background tasks, it will probably be your first 2 or 3. Set Planet Coasters Affinity to all cores BUT your first 2-3. Generally those are your strongest cores, and you may think that it would be smart to have Coaster use them, in my case it hurts performance.

(2 Continued) On Ryzen (2nd gen) I've found it best to set your core Affinity to every core BUT your first CCX core group, which is 2-4 cores depending on your CPU model.

(2 Continued) FOR EXAMPLE: My R9 3900x is 12 cores, 24 threads. I set my Coaster affinity to cores 4 - 12. This means planet coaster will not use my first 3 cores, which make in total up my CCX1. That means my other three CCX's (CCX2, CCX3, and CCX4) are the only cores putting in work. This lets windows use your first few cores for background tasks and your game won't have to compete to perform tasks on your CPU cores now. And due to how Ryzen chips are made the game performs better even with your weaker CPU cores when data doesn't have to jump to other CCX core groups through the infinity fabric.

3) CPU Priority (Task Manager); Set Planet Coaster to High or Realtime. If you correctly free'd some cores that windows uses for background tasks in the step 2 then Realtime will probably work best. Use High if you have a lower core count CPU and can't spare any cores for windows to solely use.

4) Graphics Options; On my RTX 3070 on 3440x1440 they all pretty much change nothing FPS wise once you're late game. So if you've got a strong graphics card, feel free to crank it. If you have a weaker graphics card then feel free to adjust some settings. Water Quality on Low and Screenspace Reflections on Off can give a good boost with minimal visual sacrifice.

5) Try Windows 11, if you're on Windows 11 already then try Windows 10! Windows 11 generally will perform better.


Things you may end up trying that yielded NO improvement for me:
* Trying to force DX12 in steam launch options.
* Trying to run the game in Vulkan (DXVK for Windows) - though this did work, did not help fps or CPU usage
* Messing with Nvidia Control Panel graphics options, no setting in there helped, even Threaded Optimization which did not yield any results.
* Forcing GPU Re-sizable Bar for the game, no difference in FPS.

Other things you can do that would actually improve FPS;
* Overclock CPU
* Replace CPU, as of writing the i9-12900KS is the absolute best, you need strong Single Threaded performance, no the Ryzen 5800X3D does not benefit this game as much as other games.
* Install game on NVME SSD, same as OS, this helped some stuttering I had previously.
* Limit Guests, sorry I had to say it, 3.5k guests seems to be a good balance for my taste.


****TLDR****
Play around with CPU Affinity, try disabling a few of your first cores. Disabling Hyperthreading in BIOS generally helps. Overclock or replace your cpu with a (as of 2022) i9-12900KS which is the strongest single core performing CPU.


Reason for poor performance at late game is due to a simple bottleneck in DirectX11 that limits Draw Calls to a single CPU core, no you can't force it to use more cores. DirectX12 fixes this, yes they could update the game to DX12 with a small amount of work, no they probably won't actually do it and no you can't do it yourself.

[AmERICan]

just upgrade to 5800x3d problem solved

[Termater]

Originally posted by AmERICan:

just upgrade to 5800x3d problem solved

Do you have one? Genuinely curious how it performs for Planet Coaster specifically as I will be upgrading to that or the 5900x

[Steuber]

Originally posted by AmERICan:

just upgrade to 5800x3d problem solved

Just had my 5800X3D (came from Ryzen5 2600) and that was a performance boost! Happy with it.

[DarthKitty]

Originally posted by Termater:

Old thread, but if I found it that means others will.
UPDATED 09/2022 -- TLDR down below.

I've spent the last week trying every thing possible to speed up the game with a large park or high amount of guests, let me save you some headache:

1) Turning off Hyperthreading generally does work for higher end CPU's, meaning you have lots of cores/threads available. (For reference I have 3900x, 12c 24t)

2) CPU Affinity (Task Manager); Let your computer sit idle before launching the game, see what cores Windows is using for background tasks, it will probably be your first 2 or 3. Set Planet Coasters Affinity to all cores BUT your first 2-3. Generally those are your strongest cores, and you may think that it would be smart to have Coaster use them, in my case it hurts performance.

(2 Continued) On Ryzen (2nd gen) I've found it best to set your core Affinity to every core BUT your first CCX core group, which is 2-4 cores depending on your CPU model.

(2 Continued) FOR EXAMPLE: My R9 3900x is 12 cores, 24 threads. I set my Coaster affinity to cores 4 - 12. This means planet coaster will not use my first 3 cores, which make in total up my CCX1. That means my other three CCX's (CCX2, CCX3, and CCX4) are the only cores putting in work. This lets windows use your first few cores for background tasks and your game won't have to compete to perform tasks on your CPU cores now. And due to how Ryzen chips are made the game performs better even with your weaker CPU cores when data doesn't have to jump to other CCX core groups through the infinity fabric.

3) CPU Priority (Task Manager); Set Planet Coaster to High or Realtime. If you correctly free'd some cores that windows uses for background tasks in the step 2 then Realtime will probably work best. Use High if you have a lower core count CPU and can't spare any cores for windows to solely use.

4) Graphics Options; On my RTX 3070 on 3440x1440 they all pretty much change nothing FPS wise once you're late game. So if you've got a strong graphics card, feel free to crank it. If you have a weaker graphics card then feel free to adjust some settings. Water Quality on Low and Screenspace Reflections on Off can give a good boost with minimal visual sacrifice.

5) Try Windows 11, if you're on Windows 11 already then try Windows 10! Windows 11 generally will perform better.


Things you may end up trying that yielded NO improvement for me:
* Trying to force DX12 in steam launch options.
* Trying to run the game in Vulkan (DXVK for Windows) - though this did work, did not help fps or CPU usage
* Messing with Nvidia Control Panel graphics options, no setting in there helped, even Threaded Optimization which did not yield any results.
* Forcing GPU Re-sizable Bar for the game, no difference in FPS.

Other things you can do that would actually improve FPS;
* Overclock CPU
* Replace CPU, as of writing the i9-12900KS is the absolute best, you need strong Single Threaded performance, no the Ryzen 5800X3D does not benefit this game as much as other games.
* Install game on NVME SSD, same as OS, this helped some stuttering I had previously.
* Limit Guests, sorry I had to say it, 3.5k guests seems to be a good balance for my taste.


****TLDR****
Play around with CPU Affinity, try disabling a few of your first cores. Disabling Hyperthreading in BIOS generally helps. Overclock or replace your cpu with a (as of 2022) i9-12900KS which is the strongest single core performing CPU.


Reason for poor performance at late game is due to a simple bottleneck in DirectX11 that limits Draw Calls to a single CPU core, no you can't force it to use more cores. DirectX12 fixes this, yes they could update the game to DX12 with a small amount of work, no they probably won't actually do it and no you can't do it yourself.

Glad to see you adding your wisdom here, even after 5 years :)

Nice reply, been very busy with work the past year, so I have not had the chance to even log into steam until now haha

[DarthKitty]

Originally posted by AmERICan:

just upgrade to 5800x3d problem solved

This is the real answer right here :D