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Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

How to Boost FPS and Increase Performance in Bannerlord

Boost FPS and Increase Performance in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

The action role-playing video game Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, developed by TaleWorlds Entertainment, was released on Steam early access.

As the game is in early access, we are likely to experience some performance issues. Just be patient about this.

In this guide, in order to improve the performance in Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord, I have put together all the methods. These tweaks will help you fix the performance issues like stuttering, low frame rate, freezing, lagging, fps drops in the Bannerlord.

Here are 18 ways to increase the performance in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord.

Can I run Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord?

Minimum System RequirementsRecommended System Requirements
CPUIntel® Core™ i3-8100 / AMD Ryzen™ 3 1200Intel® Core™ i5-9600K / AMD Ryzen™ 5 3600X
GPUIntel® UHD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660 2GB / AMD Radeon™ HD 7850 2GBNVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 3GB / AMD Radeon™ RX 580
RAM6 GB RAM8 GB RAM
Storage60 GB available space60 GB available space
OSWindows 7 (64-bit only)Windows 10 (64-bit only)

1) Best Graphics Settings for Bannerlord

You can skip this step if you don’t want to change graphics settings. These High Performance graphics settings are for PCs which close to the minimum system requirements.

If you have a good PC, you can increase the settings slightly.

Go to in-game graphics settings and make sure the settings are as follows.

OPTIONS > VIDEO

Display Mode: Fullscreen
V-Sync: None
Frame Limiter: 60

Note: You should disable the V-Sync and limit the frame rate. Or, just enable the V-Sync. You need to test it to solve the stuttering issue .

OPTIONS > PERFORMANCE

High PerformancePerformanceQuality
Battle Size200300500
OverallVery LowCustomCustom
Shader QualityLowHigh
Texture Streaming BudgetMediumVery High
Texture QualityMediumHigh
Shadow QualityLowMedium
Shadow TypeNoneStatic and Dynamic
Shadow FilteringNonePCF
Foliage QualityLowMedium
Character DetailLowHigh
Environment DetailMediumHigh
Terrain QualityMediumHigh
Number Of Ragdolls05
Occlusion MethodNoneNone
Texture FilteringTrilinearAnisotropic 2X
Water QualityLowMedium
Anti-aliasingNoneFXAA
Lighting QualityLowHigh
Decal QualityMediumHigh
Depth of FieldDisable (Untick)DisableDisable
Screen Space ReflectionDisableDisableEnable
Cloth SimulationDisableDisableEnable
Interactive GrassDisableDisableEnable
Sun ShaftsDisableDisableEnable
Subsurface ScatteringDisableDisableEnable
TesselationDisableDisableDisable
BloomDisableDisableDisable
Film GrainDisableDisableDisable
Motion BlurDisableDisableDisable

If you really have difficulty playing the Bannerlord smoothly, you should keep the Screen Resolution as low as possible. (Options > Video > Screen Resolution)

Also, the Resolution Scale allows to increase your FPS but the graphics may be blurry in the game. (Options > Video > Resolution Scale)

In addition, reducing the Number of Corpses can also help increase your frame rates. (Options > Gameplay > Number of Corpses > None)

In fact, the best settings depend on PC specs. The reason I share these settings is because I want you to have an idea of what to reduce and what to increase. Lowering all settings sometimes does not work well. Your settings can cause the bottleneck (100% CPU usage). You can find the best graphics settings by test it out.


2) Audio Settings

If you are encountering stuttering problems in the M&B2: Bannerlord, you should lower the Sound Channels in the game settings.

  • Go to the Options > Audio
  • Set the Sound Channels to 128 (low)
  • Click Done

128 (low) will lower your CPU usage while higher values delivers better atmosphere.

When the settings are completed exit the game.


3) Update Your Graphics Drivers

You should keep your computer’s graphics drivers updated. Updating the drivers is a good idea for the best performance.

People who have an NVIDIA graphics card can download and install their new drivers here.

People who have an AMD graphics card can download and install their new drivers here.



4) NVIDIA Control Panel Settings

  • Open NVIDIA Control Panel
  • Go to the Adjust image settings with preview tab.
  • Click the “Use my preference emphasizing“ (If you have a mid&high end pc, Let the 3D application decide)
  • Put the bar in Performance mode.
  • Apply
  • Click the Manage 3D settings
  • Click the Program Settings
  • Click the Add
  • Select the BannerlordLauncher (Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord) from the list, then click on the “Add Selected Program” button.
  • After, make the following settings
    Power management mode: Prefer maximum performance
  • If you have a notebook, make sure you have selected the “High-performance NVIDIA processor” on preferred graphics processor.
nvidia
  • Apply and close the NVIDIA Control Panel.

5) AMD Radeon Settings

  • Open the AMD Radeon Settings window.
  • Click on the Gaming tab.
  • Then click on Global Settings.
  • Click on the Texture Filtering Quality and select the Performance.

6) Intelligent Standby List Cleaner

The “Intelligent standby list cleaner” application will monitor and clear the memory standby list when it is > 1000mb (1gb). It will help players to fix stutters in games.

  • Download the Intelligent standby list cleaner
  • Run the 7-zip file.
  • Extract to a folder.
  • Go to the that folder.
  • Run the “Intelligent standby list cleaner ISLC” application.
  • Check the “Start ISLC minimized and auto-Start monitoring”
  • Also, check the “Launch ISLC on user logon”
  • Now, click on the Start button
  • Minimize
Intelligent Standby List Cleaner

7) Full-screen Optimizations & High DPI in Windows 10

full-screen optimisations
  • Go to the folder where the game is installed.
    (Steam Library > Right-click on Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord > Properties > LOCAL FILES > BROWSE LOCAL FILES)
  • Navigate to Mount & Blade II Bannerlord\bin\Win64_Shipping_Client
  • Right-click on the TaleWorlds.MountAndBlade.Launcher.exe in the Win64_Shipping_Client folder.
  • Hit the Properties
  • Tick “Disable full-screen optimizations” on the Compatibility tab.
  • After that, click on the “Change high DPI settings” button.
  • Under the “High DPI scaling override” section, tick the “Override high DPI scaling behavior
  • Use the “Scaling performed by:” drop-down menu and select the “Application”
  • Click on the OK and again OK.
High DPI

8) Power Options

If the CPU cooler is not enough, you can skip this setting. Processor temperature may increase by 5-6 degrees.

power plan
  • Right-click the Windows icon on the bottom left.
  • Click the Power Options
  • Click the Additional power settings
  • Select the High performance on the Preferred plans tab.
  • After, click the Change plan settings link next to High performance.
  • Tap on the Change advanced power settings
  • Find Processor power management in the incoming list, click the + icon on the left side.
  • Set Minimum processor state and Maximum processor state to 100%
  • Click on the OK

9) Game Mode

  • To turn off Windows 10 game mode, click the Start icon to bring up the Start menu. Then open the Settings.
  • Click the Gaming
  • On the Game Bar tab, set the “Record game clips, screenshots and broadcast using Game bar” to Off.
  • On the Captures tab, set the “Record in the background while I’m playing a game” to Off.
  • On the Game Mode tab, set the “Game Mode” to Off.

If you are using an older version of Windows 10, you may not see the Game Mode settings. In this case, you can configure the settings directly in the Registry.

  • Press the Windows logo key and R key simultaneously on your keyboard.
  • Type regedit
  • Press the Enter key.
  • The Registry Editor will open. In the left panel, Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\GameBar
  • Right-click inside the panel and select New
  • Click on the DWORD (32-bit) Value
registry new
  • Rename the New Key to AllowAutoGameMode
  • Right-click on the AllowAutoGameMode
  • Select the Modify…
  • Set the “Value data” to 0
auto game mode
  • Click on the OK button.
  • Close the Registry Editor.
  • Restart your PC.

10) Windows Performance Options

  • Type performance in the search section of Windows, click to Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows from the results.
  • Select the Adjust for best performance from the options in the Performance Options window that opens.
  • Click OK
performance

11) Cleaning Temporary Files

  • Simultaneously press the Windows logo and R keys.
  • Type %temp%
  • Press Enter key.
  • Delete everything in the Temp folder that opens. You can skip undeleted.
  • Again, Simultaneously press the Windows logo and R keys.
  • Type temp
  • Press Enter key.
  • Delete everything in the folder that opens.
  • Again, Simultaneously press the Windows logo and R keys.
  • Type prefetch
  • Press Enter key.
  • Delete everything in the Prefetch folder that opens.

Finally, empty the Recycle Bin


12) SSD

If you have a Solid-State Drive, I recommend that you install the game on the SSD or move the game files to the SSD.


13) Optimize Your Discord

If you are using Discord, disable the Hardware Acceleration and in-game overlay.

  • Open Discord
  • Go to the User Settings
  • Then, go to the Appearance tab.
  • Uncheck the Hardware Acceleration.
Optimize Discord
  • Go to the Overlay on App Settings tab.
  • Make sure unchecked the “Enable in-game overlay”
discord overlay

14) Optimize Your Google Chrome

If you’re using Google Chrome, you’ll need to make this setting.

chrome setting
  • Go to settings page in Chrome
  • Click the Advanced
  • Go to the System tab
  • Finally, uncheck the “Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed”

15) Background Processes

You should close all unnecessary applications, such as Chrome, Spotify, OneDrive. Also, if the Discord is idle, you should quit Discord.


16) CPU Core Unparking – Reducing Stutter

Quick CPU (CPU core parking manager) is a program that stops windows from limiting your CPU power. Unparking cores of CPU allows games to have full access to your processor.

I’ve never heard of this program causing any problems. Nevertheless, you have all the responsibility!

  • Download the Quick CPU
  • Unzip and install it (x64 folder)
  • Run the Quick CPU
  • Set “System power plan” to High performance (or Ultimate)
  • Set “Core parking index” to 100%
  • Set “Turbo boost index” to 100%
  • Set “Frequency scaling index” to 100%
  • Apply.
quick cpu

17) Increase The Priority

You need to adjust this setting every time you enter the game.

  • Launch the game.
  • Simultaneously press the ALT and TAB keys to minimize the game.
  • Open the Task Manager
  • Click on Details Tab
  • In the list, find the TaleWorlds.MountAndBlade.Launcher.exe
  • Right-click on TaleWorlds.MountAndBlade.Launcher.exe application and Set priority to High.

If you facing stuttering issue in the game after doing this, don’t do the High priority setting. Set it to Normal.


18) CPU Limiter – Fix Freezing & Stuttering

If the CPU usage is around 100% while playing the Bannerlord and you experience freezing/stuttering issues, you can limit your CPU. Also, if you apply this setting, you don’t need to follow the previous method again.

  • Download and install the Process Lasso
  • Run the Process Lasso application.
  • Launch the game.
  • Go to the Process Lasso app and find the TaleWorlds.MountAndBlade.Launcher.exe in “All processes” list.
  • Right-click on the TaleWorlds.MountAndBlade.Launcher.exe and select the CPU Limiter
CPU Limiter
  • Set the “When CPU use is” to 98
  • Set the “Reduce by this many CPU cores” to 1
  • Below the “Reduce by this many CPU cores”, set the “For a period of” to 1
  • Click on the Add Rule button.
  • Finally click OK button and play the game.
CPU limit

If you're still having trouble, please leave a comment by specifying your PC specs and OS.

3 Comments

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  • Many thanks. Noticeably improved the performance of my pc. Now I can enjoy my game.

    Muchisimas gracias. Mejorò notablemente el rendimiento de mi pc. Ahora puedo difrutar mi juego.

    My pc:
    ○ CPU: Intel Core I5-3330 @3.00Ghz.
    ○ RAM: 8,00 GB. 1333 Mhz. (Dual Channel).
    ○ MOTHERBOARD: H61MLV2.
    ○ GPU: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1050 Ti Asus ROG 4GB OC.
    ○ DISPLAY: LG 24^ 1920*1080 75Hz + LG E1942 19^ 1366*768.
    ○ STORAGE: Ssd Kingston A400 120GB. + HardDisk Hitachi 500GB.

  • Looks like you've got it all covered here. I've already made some changes and have seen better games. My game still crashes when I siege, so I'll have to try out some other options you mentioned above. Thanks!

  • I’ll shall methodically try everything until I am able to run battles smoothly (by battles I mean any minor encounter, which stutters and gets me killed - not really useful in a tournament I bet all my money in xD). Thanks for the tips so well organised n laid out with links!