Recommendations: Performance Improvement Mods (2024)

Introduction

There are other mods out there that likely will also improve performance drastically. However, I have found many of these mods work by doing things such as cutting down on foliage or removing pieces of terrain in order to work. This guide specifically tries to target many of the issues that plague Kenshi's unstable engine without changing the way the game looks. Please check back regularly, I will try to keep this article up-to-date as this is a continuously improving process.

Before modding Kenshi, read the following articles:

Consider the links above as required reading before modding the game. Failing to do so may result in frequent crashes and poor optimization for gameplay. This is especially true if you plan on using many mods and/or overhaul mods.

Modding Guide: Performance Improvement

The following mods listed below are in install order, I have tried to keep it as streamlined as possible to help improve your modding experience. Make sure to read each mods page description, as there are specific install instructions for many of these and/or known bug/compatibility issues that you might encounter. It is also strongly recommended to test one mod at a time for a while to see if you encounter any issues before installing the next mod on the list.

A good testing method I have found to view performance changes is to start the game with the "Wanderer" start, then travel south into The Swamp until you reach Shark. Because of the Swamp Vines all over the place, Kenshi is constantly rendering objects when traveling through this region, making it lag-central. Obviously this method can be frustrating since you will likely die a few times, but it really is one of the best performance testing zones in the whole game.

1) Optimization for Nvidia GPU in Kenshi by SCARaw
Contains NVIDIA Profile Inspector tweaks that can be applied to NVIDIA graphics cards to improve performance. NVIDIA Profile Inspector comes prepackaged in this mod. However, if you are unfamiliar with the program and how to use it, or want the latest version I suggest reviewing the applicationsGithub Page. If you have a NVIDIA Graphics Card that is model 30XX or newer, you should also check out SCARaw'sUnique Optimization for NVIDIA Cards 30XX and New CPUs article for more performance improvement recommendations.

AMD Users should seeSCARaw's Performance Optimization Guidelinked above as an alternative.

2) Particle System Override by SCARaw
Kenshi's particle image files are formatted as .PNG files, which actually is the incorrect file format for the game. This means that every time a particle is loaded in Kenshi the image files are being converted by the game engine from .PNG to .DDS files, leading to drops in FPS and performance issues. This mod addresses the issue by replacing all particle .PNG files with .DDS files in a DXT compressed format, sidestepping having to convert the image files during gameplay.

3) Kenshi Performance Fix by ElgarL and SCARaw
This mod is one giant performance overhaul for Kenshi. Using the same methods asEngine Mesh Updater, this program fixes all of those issues in addition to a few additional tweaks such as repairing broken shader files. If you already use some of SCARaw's other performance mods, this mod targets many of the same issues to where any performance improvements from those other mods are now redundant. I strongly recommend making a backup of your datafolder before doing this.

4) Vulkan Based Rendering for Kenshi by Jujut8 and SCARaw
This mod does requireVulkan Runtime, so make sure to double check if your graphics card is listed on theVulkan Runtime Compatible Graphics Cards List.

Kenshi runs on DirectX, an application programming interface (API) used to render 2D and 3D graphics. DirectX is a well known API, but it is more restrictive in may respects as it is primarily designed to work with Windows. DirectX also is not as optimized for high performance with CPU and GPU usage, and older versions suffer from not being able to utilize newer hardware innovations such as using multiple CPU cores when running games. This mod utilizes a DLL file to force Kenshi to run with Vulcan, another popular API built with high performance in mind for real-time 3D graphics applications. In theory you should have higher framerates along with better CPU usage. Non-Windows users should also greatly benefit from this, as Vulkan is built with cross-platform compatibility in mind.

5) RE_Kenshi by BFrizzleFoShizzle1
Basically this is one big game engine hack for Kenshi. This mod provides options such as compressing Kenshi's heightmap to reduce game load times on Hard Disk Drives (potentially Solid State Drives as well), caching shaders which should reduce load screen times, and creating emergency saves if Kenshi is about to crash. This mod also fixes Kenshi's random number generator bug, and adds a configurable menu in-game to adjust game-speed, squad and faction sizes.

6) Kenshi CTD fix patch by kapaer
Fixes a few animation CTDs and provides alerts for broken save files. Very useful if you plan on using any mods that add lots of animations to Kenshi. Always place the patch this mod generates at the end of your load order.

7) Thicc Foliage by Kindrad
Changes the rendering method for distant foliage in Kenshi so it can be seen further away, this mod also appears to slightly improve performance. Place this under [Ui, Graphics, Performance].