How to optimize Killing Floor

[forrestmarkx]

Disclaimer: all of these are suggestions that shouldn't cause any harm to your computer. However everything stated in here is at your own risk and I will not take responsibility when anything goes wrong.

First try out things in these 2 threads:
http://forums.tripwireinteractive.co...ad.php?t=38803
http://forums.tripwireinteractive.co...ad.php?t=38573

The tweaks in this thread can help the game run better for systems that either experience jerky split second freezes or extreme long load times. Option 1 can always be good to make use of, Option 2 goes together with a possible tradeoff but can gain the biggest benefits. Option 3 is always safe to do.

Note: Turning off precaching can give you a lot of benefits in loading time and in performance, as it means the game only loads things when it needs them. It also means that you must have a properly defragmented harddisc or otherwise you could get big freezes once the first specimen dies or spawns for example, as that would be the moment when they would be loaded.

Note: For general better performance on pc's make sure that in the KF setting menu "Reduce Mouselag" is turned off as it costs a lot of cpu cycles (its a feature to reduce the mouse lag when vsync is being used i believe).

for different variations on the options be sure to read this post below in this thread: http://forums.tripwireinteractive.co...7&postcount=17

Option1: Change Cache size
1) Find your KillingFloor.ini file located in the steam/steamapps/common/KillingFLoor/system folder (hint it looks like a notpad icon with a cog)
2) Change the cache size to better match your ram size
Listed under [Engine.GameEngine].

256 Megabytes of RAM or less
CacheSizeMegs=32

512 Megabytes of RAM
CacheSizeMegs=64

768 Megabytes of RAM
CacheSizeMegs=128

1 Gigabyte of RAM or more
CacheSizeMegs=256

Note: making CacheSizeMegs bigger than 256 is not recommended as it can create your system to crash on some maps (createxture failed error), even if you have plenty of memory.

Option2: Turn of PreCaching
1) Find your KillingFloor.ini file located in the steam/steamapps/common/KillingFLoor/system folder (hint it looks like a notpad icon with a cog)
2) Change the values listed below:

under [ALAudio.ALAudioSubsystem]
Change UsePrecache=True to UsePrecache=False

and under [Engine.LevelInfo]
Change bNeverPrecache=false to bNeverPrecache=true

and under [Engine.NullRenderDevice]
Change UsePrecaching=True to UsePrecaching=False

and under [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]
Change UsePrecaching=True to UsePrecaching=False

and under [D3D9Drv.D3D9RenderDevice]
Change UsePrecaching=True to UsePrecaching=False

and under [OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice]
Change UsePrecaching=True to UsePrecaching=False

and under [PixoDrv.PixoRenderDevice]
Change UsePrecaching=True to UsePrecaching=False

Option 3: for windows 7/Vista users turn off Superfetch

Superfetch is generally used to load often used programs early into your memory so when you use it, that it can be started up quicker.

Finally if you use windows 7 or windows vista and make use of SuperFetch for your memory and encounter "stuttering" it might be worth turning that off.

To turn it off press the windows start button -> in the search field type "services"
From the result list press on Services or press enter.

Look in that screen for superfetch and and double click on it to open a window
Set startup type to "Disabled" and below that click the "Stop" button.
After that press OK or Apply and close all windows.

Option 4: Turn off "Reduce Mouse lag"

The option reduce mouselag reduces the mouse lag you get when you have vsync enabled, however it eats loads of cpu cycles. So if you get stuttering or bad performance or even mouselag, its worth trying to turn this off.

Option 5: Use the DX 9 renderer (recommended), or perhaps try the OpenGL renderer (not recommended)

On most computers the DX9 rederer performs faster and loads better than the dx8 renderer, and its only advised using the DX8 renderer if the DX9 one gives issues. The OpenGL renderer is officially not supported afaik, but on some computers it can actually give the best speeds and performance so if you have issues with performance and loading just try it out on your own risk.

If you had previously enabled the dx8 renderer you can do the opposite of this thread to put it back to dx9 or to the openGL one.
http://forums.tripwireinteractive.co...ad.php?t=30754

Option 6: Defragment your harddiscBad fragmentation of your harddisc can increase loading times and lower fps so keep your system drive and kf drive in good shape.

I personally recommend perfectdisk (their site got a free trial www.perfectdisk.com/). As they are the only company offering an offline defragmentation option with metadata defragmentation. Doing both a regular defragment as an offline defragment for the KF and Windows drives will definitely improve performance and loading speed.

If you dont wan't to try trial software you can of course use your favourite defragmentation software.

[chriscrowder]

Those links are all jacked up.

Try this link instead - forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=37887