Temporary solution to excessive CPU usage in-game

Issue with the game

The Banner Saga franchise seems to have issue with CPU optimization in certain part of the game, if you are playing with an old computer you may not be aware of this or you won't be having this issue at all, but if you are with newer hardware, you may notice your computer fans suddenly spinning fast in 'hero stats' screen and that's because the game is using a huge amount of CPU usage for some reason. If you have Steam Performance Overlay turned on you would see all CPU cores are getting maxed up which shouldn't be for a game like this.

READ FIRST!!!

*One of the AMD employees did warn about the first method below, saying these are ineffective and/or detrimental changes. But that's a really old thread now and I don't know if it's still relevant to newer CPUs. (Source)

Modifying these settings could cause system instability or other issues that you don't see before, so use it at your own risk.

Limit CPU clock speed via Power Plan

As of October 2025 I've found another solution that work even better than limiting the number of CPU cores, here's how:


1 - Go to 'Control Panel' - 'Hardware and Sound' - 'Power Options'.
2 - Click 'Change plan settings' on the one that you use.
3 - Click 'Change advanced power settings'.
4 - Scroll down and expand 'Processor power management'.
5 - Set 'Minimum processor state' and 'Maximum processor state' to 99% or whatever you think it's best for you. (Setting it below 100% would make your CPU to run at base clock only.)
6 - Click 'OK'.

That's it, it should work next time you launch the game, you can monitor CPU usage with Steam's Performance Overlay. Don't forget to change back to the original settings when you're done with the game!

A lot of games nowadays do 'Compiling shaders' thingy when you launch it for the first time or after installing a new video card driver and it would maxed out all CPU cores and cause high temperature. Normally it should be fine, but if you're worrying about it you can also use this method to cut CPU performance.

Old guide - Limit your CPU cores via Task Manager

It's very unlikely this issue is ever gonna fixed by the developer, however I have found a way to lower the CPU usage without any third party programs. It's not perfect fixed but it's kinda acceptable (I think). Follow the instructions below:

1. Launch The Banner Saga 3.
2. Open up Task Manager and click 'Details (1)' and find the game on the right part of the window (2).
3. Right click on the game and select 'Set Affinity (3)'.


4. In the next pop-up window uncheck All Processors first and then check CPU 0.