How to improve PC performance in Valheim

Valheim Torch Forest Troll Armor Source: Nick Sutrich / Windows Primal

While Valheim has sold millions of copies in record time, the game is however very much an Early Access title. That means in that location are plenty of Valheim bugs that you lot'll come beyond in your travels, even if near of them aren't game-breaking. 1 that's most annoying, nevertheless, is the strangely-low performance of the game. Given the pseudo-PS1 style visuals of the game, it's a bit surprising to see fifty-fifty the all-time gaming PCs run it then poorly. Thankfully, you can do a few like shooting fish in a barrel things to meliorate the game'due south functioning while developer Iron Gate Studio works on optimizing the game during the Early Access flow.

How to improve Valheim performance with Vulkan

As of the Feb 25, 2022 update (version 0.146.viii), Valheim officially supports the Vulkan API. If y'all're not familiar with coding APIs, know this about Vulkan: it'southward a modernistic coding architecture designed to run more efficiently than older APIs. That means, on most PCs, using Vulkan should significantly improve performance without affecting visual quality. Just the opposite, in fact! Running Vulkan normally means you can crank up the graphics fifty-fifty higher while maintaining a playable framerate.

For note, this modify will work better on some hardware than others. On my laptop, which runs an Intel Core-i7 6700HQ processor, 16GB RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, Valheim normally runs between 22 and 24 FPS average on medium-high settings at 1080p resolution. Switching over to Vulkan without changing any settings brought that performance up to 30-32 FPS average.

Conversely, on my desktop computer, which runs an Intel Cadre-i7 8700k, 16GB RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce 1080Ti, Valheim unremarkably runs 28-30FPS on the highest settings at 4k resolution. Switching over to Vulkan doubled my framerate to 60FPS average without adjusting any settings.

Open up Steam and select Valheim from your list of games
Click Play
Valheim will inquire yous if you desire to Play Valheim or Play Valheim using Vulkan

Source: Windows Central
Select Play Valheim Using Vulkan and click Play
Steam volition not remember your selection, so you'll need to select the option to Play Valheim Using Vulkan every time y'all offset the game

Fixing terraforming slow-downs in Valheim

Valheim Source: Windows Central

Terraforming, or changing the height of the land in Valheim, used to create unnecessary slowdown when a lot of state was changed in a minor area. If y'all've been playing a while and accept built a massive base, you no uncertainty have experienced lower framerates. Valheim version 0.150.three introduced a new way to change upwardly the landscape that doesn't affect performance like it used to, merely maps aren't automatically converted over to the new organization. In guild to that you'll demand to effect one simple command that'll get it done. Here'southward how to do that:

Right-click on Valheim in Steam and select Backdrop
In the backdrop window that appears, type -console into the Launch Options section.
Close the window when y'all're washed.

Source: Windows Cardinal
Run Valheim in either regular or Vulkan modes.
Load upward your character and enter your world that is having terraforming-related performance issues.
In one case loaded upwardly, press F5 to open the command panel.
Blazon optterrain and press enter.

Source: Windows Central
Valheim will display information pertaining to what was optimized in your world.
Repeat this for equally many worlds as you are running that are suffering from terraforming-related issues.

Any terrain changes made later the version 0.150.iii patch will utilize this new optimized version of terraforming, so you'll only need to run this command once on any worlds created prior to version 0.150.three.

Other means of improving performance in Valheim

Valheim Sailing Turtle Rock Source: Nick Sutrich / Windows Central

Some players take reported that running Vulkan either doesn't amend performance much or at all. Others, still, accept reported that running Valheim using Vulkan makes the game more unstable. If y'all're having issues with Vulkan and need to stick with the original rendering API, here are a few ways to improve performance in that manner.

Optimizing Windows settings

With the latest releases, Microsoft has added some new generic performance improvements within Windows that could actually help Valheim players see higher framerates in the game. Not all computers will have the ability to apply the hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling selection, just you should enable it if your computer supports it.

Press the First button or Windows Key on your keyboard to open the Get-go Menu
Type in graphics settings

Source: Windows Central
Select the Graphics settings / Organisation settings option
Plough on the Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling option if it is nowadays

Source: Windows Central

Valheim Boat Castle Source: Nick Sutrich / Windows Fundamental

Some boosted hidden graphics settings can exist changed within Valheim's configuration files, found in the Valheim installation directory. If you're non comfortable with adjusting configuration files, feel complimentary to skip this section. Players on Reddit who have adapted these settings have found that framerates drastically increase in the game without affecting visual details at all.

Make sure Valheim is closed
Open Steam
Right-Click on Valheim in your library and select properties
Select local files on the left-hand side of the window, then click browse to notice where Valheim's files are stored

Source: Windows Fundamental
In the File Explorer window that appears, open the valheim_Data binder
Correct-click on the boot.cofig file and select Open With
Click in the bare infinite in the middle of the window to unlock the power to select additional applications

Source: Windows Cardinal
Select Notepad from the list. You tin optionally select "Ever use this app to open .config files" if y'all wish.

Source: Windows Cardinal

Once you lot have the kick.config file open up in Notepad, make the following adjustments:

Add ii new lines to the file by pressing the Enter cardinal twice at the top of the document
Re-create the following command and paste information technology into the first line: gfx-enable-jobs=1
Copy the following command and paste it into the 2nd line: gfx-enable-native-gfx-jobs=1
Save the file by pressing control+due south or going to File and click Save

At present that the settings have been added head back to Steam.

Select Valheim from your Steam library and click Play
Select Play Valheim from the list of options that appears and click Play

Source: Windows Key

Try playing in exclusive windowed way

Valheim Night Sky Stars Source: Nick Sutrich / Windows Key

Some players find that full-screen games don't perform as well as windowed ones. You tin can enable this special exclusive windowed mode choice past adding i uncomplicated control to the Steam launcher by post-obit these steps:

Make certain Valheim is closed
Open Steam
Right-Click on Valheim in your library and select properties
Copy the following command and paste it into the launch options box at the bottom of the General section: -window-mode exclusive

Source: Windows Central
Close the window to apply the changes
Launch Valheim in your preferred fashion

Enjoy playing a far smoother-running Valheim! Merely continue in heed that you might not see a massive increase in performance fifty-fifty if you enact all of the changes made here. Don't worry though, as developer Fe Gate Studio is working hard to optimize Valheim for all sorts of configurations and make it the best survival game on PC.

Play Early, play oftentimes

Valheim Art

Valheim (Early on Admission)

Early Access doesn't mean yous shouldn't try it

Valheim is an early on access survival game that has you living the life of a Viking stuck between Earth and Valhalla. Will you lot make information technology to see paradise?