Potato PC Guide

This guide provides settings to greatly improve your FPS at the cost of giving up the graphical experience.

Honorable Mention

First of all this guide was inspired by the original guide for umgak PCs:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1479929680
The Potato PC Guide tries to update the old guide to increase your performance and also adds a few newer options that can greatly boost your FPS in exchange for worse graphics.

The main addition is the insane texture lowering by making the game think objects are very far away, thus rendering most game objects in a very low quality.

!!! Important Note !!!

This guide edits the user configuration file. Therefore it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to create a COPY of the file you are editing in case of wanting to revert the changes.

There are 3 ways of reverting changes:

• 1.) Backup File:
  - Create a copy of the file before editing the file
  - Note that any changes done in the ingame options menu after the file edit are also only present in the edited file. This includes for example setting up ingame volume, ui scale, bot hero priority and also mod settings.
  
• 2.) Partial Revert (No Backup File Required):
  - Set your ingame graphics settings preset to anything else but custom.
  - This will revert most edits in the config file and most importantly reset the texture settings to "default"
  - After using a new backup file might have to adjust a few settings that were done in the edited file.
  
• 3.) Full Reset (No Backup File Required):
  - As the title states. Keeping the file is strongly suggested to revert some of the old settings (especially for the entry mod_settings (listed order of mods in mod loader during the game launcher) and mods_settings (settings of the mod you might have changed ingame)).
  - For the full reset remove the edited file from its directory and start the game (not launcher, but actually go into the keep). After that the game will create a new user configuration file. Use the old/edited file to transfer unedited parts, especially the entries mod_settings and mods_settings

Preparation

Basic Setup

• Go to "Options" -> "Gameplay"
  
• Under "Visual Effects" set everything except "PLAYER OUTLINES" to "OFF"
  
• Go to "Options" -> "Video"
  
• Under "Display" cap your framerate for a more stable experience
  
• Set "Max Stacking Frames" to 1, which leads to less smooth image, but less input latency

Preparing the user_settings.config file

• Go to "Options" -> "Video"
  
• Under "Overall Quality" set your "Graphics Quality" to "Lowest"
  
• Click "Apply" on the bottom right
  
• Click on the left arrow at "Graphics Quality" once to change to "Costum"
  
• Click "Apply" on the bottom right again

At this point we have set the base graphics profile to "Lowest". Setting it afterwards to costum is necessary to make sure that the game doesn't use the "Lowest" setting at start instead of our coming costum settings.

Finding user_settings.config

• Press "Win + R" and a window will open or just click on your windows searching bar
  
• Enter %appdata%
  
• Follow the folder path "Fatshark" -> "Vermintide 2"
  
• Open user_settings.config
  (Texteditors like Notepad++, VIsual Studio Code, etc. are recommended but the Windows default editor will suffice)

Notes about editing user_settings.config

1. For some people after saving your edit and starting the game may cause the game to reset the file upon starting. Therefore I highly recommend creating a copy of the edit and backup of the original file.

2. How to prevent the game from changing user_settings.config

• Right-click on user_settings.config
  
• Click properties
  
• Check the "Read-Only" box
  
• Click "Apply"
  
• Click "OK"

Note: By doing this you also prevent game from remembering any in-game changes you did to both settings and mod-settings. Therefore I recommend creating a backup file of your modified user_settings.config and launch the game to see if the game decides to revert the changes. If it does you will have to make user_settings.config "Read-Only".

Modifying "user_settings.config"

Recommended Option	Notes
process_priority = "high"	(optional)
render_settings = { }	(See below)
screen_resolution = [ 1280 720 ]	(optional) In general I recommend to rather set this lower, so to instead achieve 60FPS. This only works on fullscreen (or windowed mode) 1280x720 to 800x600 are decent resolutions. 640x400 is reasonably playable and UI elements are still readable. (320x200 is still playable, but setting "chat_font_size = 48" or higher is recommended here. Also this seems to only work on devices with below 1080p resolution.)
texture_settings= { }	(See below)
use_baked_enemy_meshes = true

render_settings = { }

Recommended Option	Notes
cached_local_lights_shadow_atlas_size = [ 128 128 ]
eye_adaptation_speed = 2	Makes the in-game screen adapt quicklier to light changes.
local_lights = false	(optional) This option greatly improves performance, but it removes light effects. This makes the sewer part in Blightreaper pitch black and the tunnel in Hunger in the Dark harder to see. Also the Darkness of Heresy weekly mutator will engulf you in darkness.
local_lights_shadow_atlas_size = [ 128 128 ]
lod_decoration_density = 0	Details of small objects, which we can ignore.
lod_object_multiplier = 0.75	Distance at which certain game objects will be rendered. Setting it too low or to 0 results in a game where a lot of game_objects are displayed only at a very close distance or not at all.
mixed_resolution_rendering_size = [ 320 200 ]
particles_cast_shadows = false
particles_distance_culling = false
static_sun_shadows = false
ui_bloom_enabled = false
volumetric_data_size = [ 8 4 12 ]	For DirectX12: [2 1 3] works as well, but setting it to [8 4 12] fixes the flickering of further distanced enviroment. For DirectX11: [0 0 0] ONLY works on DirectX11, but this can disable the fog giving you more sight.
world_interaction_size = [ 320 200 ]

texture_settings= { }

The specified number tells the game which textures should be used for game objects. Higher number indicates that the player camera is further away from the game object. For reference 1 in game Unit is roughly 2 medpacks.

Character

"texture_categories/character_df" = 100
"texture_categories/character_df_1p" = 100
"texture_categories/character_dfa" = 100
"texture_categories/character_ma" = 100
"texture_categories/character_ma_1p" = 100
"texture_categories/character_nm" = 100
"texture_categories/character_nm_1p" = 100

Enviroment

"texture_categories/environment_df" = 100
"texture_categories/environment_dfa" = 100
"texture_categories/environment_dfa1" = 100
"texture_categories/environment_gsm" = 100
"texture_categories/environment_hm" = 100
"texture_categories/environment_hma" = 100
"texture_categories/environment_nm" = 100
"texture_categories/environment_streamable_df" = 100
"texture_categories/environment_streamable_dfa" = 100
"texture_categories/environment_streamable_ma" = 100
"texture_categories/environment_streamable_nm" = 100

Weapon

"texture_categories/weapon_df" = 100
"texture_categories/weapon_df_3p" = 100
"texture_categories/weapon_dfa" = 100
"texture_categories/weapon_ma" = 100
"texture_categories/weapon_ma_3p" = 100
"texture_categories/weapon_mae" = 100
"texture_categories/weapon_nm" = 100
"texture_categories/weapon_nm_3p" = 100

Other

• "DX11" or "DX12": DX12 should be overall better, but DX11 allows you to disable fog.
  
• "Fullscreen" or "Borderless Fullscreen": I personally prefer "Borderless Fullscreen", but "Fullscreen" can perform better for some people.

Results

Screenshots

[blue]

runescape has never looked this good

[chen]

@DARKSAM, set the texture settings for enviroment to lower values
Example:
"texture_categories/environment_df" = 2
"texture_categories/environment_dfa" = 2
"texture_categories/environment_dfa1" = 2
"texture_categories/environment_gsm" = 2
"texture_categories/environment_hm" = 2
"texture_categories/environment_hma" = 2
"texture_categories/environment_nm" = 2
"texture_categories/environment_streamable_df" = 2
"texture_categories/environment_streamable_dfa" = 2
"texture_categories/environment_streamable_ma" = 2
"texture_categories/environment_streamable_nm" = 2

[DARKSAM]

@mr_chen in "convocation of decay" how to fix white symbols to see like normal?

https://ibb.co/QHQkdvx

[Hammer96]

'Death Spectrum' Lol. only use if your a potato too. I couldn't stand that. I'm sry. but it does (looks awfull). Cartoonide 2/Posterize 2. I so agree. Genius one side, but terrible other. But, if that's what you like doing, your wish. I guess. Ill look the other way. guess with few renderings look more solid, but still.. couldn't bare to play like that when I have 3080 sitting inside my PC. such a waste. Looks quite Noobish/Pandery too not gonna lie. cringeworthy. Like looking at Plastic. you do you, Easier if i just look away. already making me sick/ill just by looking at it. looks ghastly.

[Drifter]

When I set to custom after "Lowest", and leaving the game, upon re-entry nothing changes and the graphics are set to "Lowest". So the game for me doesnt register I changed settings to Custom

[ᴹᴿƝƠƁƠƊƳ☠]

How many fps will i get with these on a 3090ti?

[DeathSpectrum]

wow that looks like shit, rather just not play the game then experience that xD

[Goodbye, Simon]

I know this will sound sarcastic, but congrats on making Vermintide 2 look like a Lego Star Wars game on the original Nintendo DS.

[PLiPH]

@Mr.Chen Thank you!

[chen]

@PLiPH Set Particle Effects to "Low" instead of "Lowest".