Home Gaming Arkham Knight is busted on PC…and locked to 30 frames per second

Arkham Knight is busted on PC…and locked to 30 frames per second

3 min read
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nanananana

According to critics, Batman: Arkham Knight, the final game in Rocksteady’s trilogy is the finest of the lot, so there’s a great deal of anticipation and excitement in the air for its launch today. According to those already playing though, the PC version of the game is a bit of a mess. Steam’s player reviews are full of cautionary tales, warning players to wait it out.

Performance issues, graphical glitches and other problems persist. Thought the problem is apparently far worse for those sporting AMD hardware, players using NVidia’s top cards are also struggling Rocksteady seems to be aware of some of the issues, recently updating the game’s Steam page to say:

“We also want to note that there are some known issues with the performance of Batman: Arkham Knight for PC owners using AMD graphics cards. We are working closely with AMD to rectify these issues as quickly as possible and will provide updates here as they become available. We thank you for your patience in this matter.”

The newest “Game Ready” drivers from Nvidia don;t really help, and the latest AMD drivers aren’t increasing performance either.

BatmanPC

Says one angry consumer:

“Yet another AAA title that fails actual playtesting and is shipped out to unsuspecting consumers who hoped it might not actually run like balls. Given this game runs on Unreal Engine 3, an engine pushing over 11 years old at this point, it has performance that makes GTA IV run like any Source game in comparison.

 

Rocksteady have in the past demonstrated great optimisation in previous titles. My old laptop, which ran a GT 555m graphics card could maintain 60 fps in Arkham Asylum on the highest settings. This game, on my GTX 970 (which is one of the top 10 best graphics cards currently on the market) can barely push 40 fps stationary, and between 5-30 whilst moving. Good thing we got that enhanced NVIDIA driver to improve our performance!

 

I think the worst part is that graphics wise, its not really much of an improvement over its predecessors. The post processing effects look really nice, and the rain effects are pretty gorgeous, but the overall texture and model quality just barely look better than Arkham Asylum, and that game came out NEARLY SIX YEARS AGO.

 

I cannot recommend this to anyone until they fix the performance issues. Also, you can tell its probably a shoddy console port because the left the 30 fps cap in the .ini file. Stay classy, Rocksteady.”

Says another:

“OMFG this Pc port is so f***** bad. Unplayably high requirements and after the Intro 30 FPS cap, wtf?!”

Unfortunately, Steam is completely full of this sort of thing, as is NeoGAF with just about everybody confirming that the game is capped at 30fps on PC…if you can even hit those sorts of numbers. Thankfully there is a fix for the locked frame rate – and it’s as simple as editing a config file.

Via Gameranx:

Go to the Batman: Arkham Knight folder and find the “Config” folder

e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Batman Arkham Knight\BMGame\Config

Open the following file with a text editor like Notepad: BmSystemSettings.ini

Press CTRL+F to search, and paste the following line:

MaxFPS=30.000000

Press “Find”

Now edit the 30.000000 value to set desired your desired FPS.

If you want to cap the game at 60FPS, the string should look like:

MaxFPS=60.000000

Save the file.

If you’re playing the game on PC, you may want to wait for a patch, lest you end up wallowing in self-pity and frustration. It’s odd, because previous versions of Rocksteady’s Batman games have performed rather damned well on a variety of hardware. It’s especially unusual given that the game is built on the rather mature Unreal Engine 3 – so what we’re looking at is a poor, poor port with a ton of issues that may or may not be caused by the implementation of Nvidia’s Gameworks tech, though that’s pure speculation on my part.

If you are having issues, here’s a wealth of workarounds to bring the game’s performance up to speed. 

Last Updated: June 23, 2015

91 Comments

  1. Blood Emperor Trevor

    June 23, 2015 at 07:39

    lol. I’m Ba..t..m..an!

    Reply

  2. Ranting Raptor

    June 23, 2015 at 07:44

    Typical of our current industry. It’s as if not a single soul tested this game on a PC and just assumed it would work like they suspected.

    Where is the QA lately?

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief's Adventure

      June 23, 2015 at 07:55

      In a ninja turtle’s fire pool

      Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        June 23, 2015 at 09:01

        HAHAHAHAHAHA

        Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      June 23, 2015 at 08:02

      on your keyboard, next to WS. (unless you’re a Dvorak kinda guy)

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        June 23, 2015 at 08:03

        rofl!

        Reply

      • Admiral Chief's Adventure

        June 23, 2015 at 08:07

        WHAT ABOUT THE D?

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Browmehn

          June 23, 2015 at 08:09

          XD
          Geoff doesn’t talk about the D

          Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          June 23, 2015 at 08:09

          See previous article?

          Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        June 23, 2015 at 09:01

        GG WP

        Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      June 23, 2015 at 08:03

      QA costs money.

      Reply

      • Lord Chaos

        June 23, 2015 at 08:04

        They should come and take notes from us, we pay them in peanuts.
        Same results though…

        Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        June 23, 2015 at 09:02

        Yeah? And? People pay good money for the games.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          June 23, 2015 at 09:08

          Like publishers care…

          Reply

          • Ranting Raptor

            June 23, 2015 at 10:44

            Sorry you are right. I forgot that for a moment. *Sigh*

            Our industry is greedy…

    • Trevor Matrix

      June 23, 2015 at 08:34

      The QA is also referred to as “Customers”

      Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        June 23, 2015 at 09:02

        Makes me sick to be honest. This is why I don’t buy at launch. This is how I vote with my wallet.

        Reply

    • Captain JJ Browmehn

      June 23, 2015 at 08:39

      Expect the next Batman to have Early Access so you can pay them to test it.

      Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        June 23, 2015 at 09:02

        Don’t give them any ideas

        Reply

  3. Hammersteyn

    June 23, 2015 at 07:49

    Would love to see how many Steam refunds are requested.

    Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      June 23, 2015 at 07:52

      Me too. If it’s really this bad I hope they get inundated with them.

      Reply

    • Sean O'Connor

      June 23, 2015 at 08:22

      If I can’t get it to start by tomorrow night, I will be requesting one.

      Reply

      • Lord Chaos

        June 23, 2015 at 08:23

        Unless you’ve already spent 2 hours looking at “Click to Start” 😛

        Reply

        • Sean O'Connor

          June 23, 2015 at 08:34

          Lol, I’ll be careful not to.

          Reply

          • Trevor Matrix

            June 23, 2015 at 08:35

            But it’s such an awesome Click to Start!

  4. Admiral Chief's Adventure

    June 23, 2015 at 07:54

    Of course it is

    Reply

  5. Lord Chaos

    June 23, 2015 at 07:54

    Can’t say I’m surprised.

    Reply

  6. Lothy

    June 23, 2015 at 07:55

    There is something I don’t understand and hopefully someone can help explain it. As far as I understand both xbox and ps4 are running AMD gfx (I could be wrong), so why is it so difficult for them to keep that same optimization for pc? Are the gfx architecture so different between console and PC hardware?

    Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      June 23, 2015 at 07:58

      Because it uses Nvidia Gameworks on the PC version, not that it seems to be helping Nvidia users much either.

      Reply

      • Lord Chaos

        June 23, 2015 at 07:59

        *Game(doesn’t)work

        Reply

        • Blood Emperor Trevor

          June 23, 2015 at 08:02

          At this point, Uplay works better than Gameworks.

          Reply

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 08:04

            That’s the worst insult you could’ve given them 😉

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            June 23, 2015 at 08:04

            😀

          • Lord Chaos

            June 23, 2015 at 08:09

            Still true…

      • Lothy

        June 23, 2015 at 08:02

        I know the PC version uses GameWorks. Take Witcher 3 for example, as far as I understand the game runs fine on console, but the moment it hits PC it suddenly becomes W3 powered by Nvidia. Doesn’t make sense to me

        Reply

        • Blood Emperor Trevor

          June 23, 2015 at 08:05

          Money. They pay for their name to show up when the game launches, same with AMD.

          Reply

  7. Captain JJ Browmehn

    June 23, 2015 at 07:57

    This is idiotic. Why cap it?

    Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      June 23, 2015 at 07:57

      CINEMATIC, BRO!

      Reply

      • Captain JJ Browmehn

        June 23, 2015 at 07:59

        Right. So you make something that’s supposed to be PLAYED less fun to play and nicer to watch. Wow. That makes sense. I wonder if they got their tips from Bethesda.

        Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        June 23, 2015 at 08:02

        Batman & Robin cinematic….

        Reply

    • Lord Chaos

      June 23, 2015 at 07:58

      Probably just forgot to take it out in porting it.
      I can just hear the testers saying: “Oops, we missed it.”

      Reply

      • Captain JJ Browmehn

        June 23, 2015 at 07:59

        One of the biggest and most often complained about issues for pc is forgotten. Screw that. Lazy bastards.

        Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        June 23, 2015 at 08:01

        The testers are console gamers?

        Reply

        • Lord Chaos

          June 23, 2015 at 08:02

          You know, that would make a lot of sense.
          *Goes off to harass testers.

          Reply

    • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

      June 23, 2015 at 08:27

      I believe the capping system was implemented simply as a bad excuse for optimisation….

      Reply

    • Trevor Matrix

      June 23, 2015 at 08:30

      • Captain JJ Browmehn

        June 23, 2015 at 08:38

        XD

        Reply

  8. Captain JJ Browmehn

    June 23, 2015 at 08:07

    Just when you think there’s still a dev who actually cares about their customers.
    I hope they get flooded with Steam refunds.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      June 23, 2015 at 08:07

      Just edit the .ini file you peasant!
      *Runs

      Reply

      • Captain JJ Browmehn

        June 23, 2015 at 08:08

        Yea. I know. 😀
        My issue is just that you’re not supposed to have to do that. It’s the dev’s job to test it and make sure it works.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          June 23, 2015 at 08:10

          Then buy a console
          *Must run faster

          Reply

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 08:11

            😀
            *trips over keyboard chord in pursuit*
            “You better run!”

          • Hammersteyn

            June 23, 2015 at 08:11

            Bwahaha

          • Skoobaz

            June 23, 2015 at 09:06

            Go wireless bro

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 11:16

            For gaming? Nah. 😀

          • Lord Chaos

            June 23, 2015 at 08:14

            *Buys xbone, balances on Hammer’s front door an lintel.
            *Sits back with popcorn and opens beer.

          • Hammersteyn

            June 23, 2015 at 08:19

            *Sees whole building collapse under weight of console

      • Lord Chaos

        June 23, 2015 at 08:10

        Still doesn’t fix Nvidia’s Game(doesn’t)work breaking everything else.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          June 23, 2015 at 08:11

          Either way, add to wishlist, stick to Witcher

          Reply

          • Lord Chaos

            June 23, 2015 at 08:12

            Which is also in the wishlist. 😛

          • Hammersteyn

            June 23, 2015 at 08:19

            oh man, it’s good, so goooooooooood

          • Trevor Matrix

            June 23, 2015 at 08:20

            Practicing for your porno audition later this afternoon?

          • Hammersteyn

            June 23, 2015 at 08:31

            No, they could not get the microscopes there in time

          • Dutch Matrix

            June 24, 2015 at 08:49

            But they were shooting “Gingers with Microscopic Dicks 26!” Your life is one of wasted opportunities innit? (Yes. This comeback to me more than a day to come up with.)

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 08:12

            What you said.

      • Uberutang

        June 23, 2015 at 10:09

        I edited mine for the more cinematic 24 fps.

        Reply

  9. Jonah Cash

    June 23, 2015 at 08:13

    I am waiting a year for this game. It just doesn’t grab me like the first 3 did(yes I count the prequel, I actually enjoyed it). But something about this game bothers me.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Browmehn

      June 23, 2015 at 08:16

      I liked Origins more than City. But I know that might just be me. City was just a mixed bag of cool stuff versus really tedious stuff.
      Asylum is still the best though.

      Reply

      • Trevor Matrix

        June 23, 2015 at 08:20

        Asylum was great. But the amounts of time Batman just WALKED around got me. He’s Batman! I never saw Batman go for a casual stroll like he did in the corridors of Arkham Asylum.
        Arkham City was closer to a Bat-Simulator, in my not so humble opinion.

        Reply

      • Jonah Cash

        June 23, 2015 at 09:35

        I agree with you 100%!

        Reply

  10. Sean O'Connor

    June 23, 2015 at 08:21

    It doesn’t register any input for me for some reason, so I can’t even get past the first screen that says “Click to Start”. I’ve rebooted a few times, really frustrating.

    Reply

  11. Trevor Matrix

    June 23, 2015 at 08:23

    I think Rocksteady left the PC port to Bebop…

    Reply

  12. Greylingad[CNFRMD]

    June 23, 2015 at 08:26

    This is all just a big misunderstanding, their QA department was recruited to test Steams’ return policy, rather than the game….

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Browmehn

      June 23, 2015 at 08:28

      LOL!

      Reply

  13. fleshtwister

    June 23, 2015 at 08:36

    Why am I not surprised..

    Reply

  14. Martin du preez (D4RKL1NGza)

    June 23, 2015 at 08:41

    • Captain JJ Browmehn

      June 23, 2015 at 08:56

      Because running everything at 30fps is the FUTURE

      Reply

      • Martin du preez (D4RKL1NGza)

        June 23, 2015 at 08:58

        Better than not running it AT ALL

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Browmehn

          June 23, 2015 at 11:16

          Meh. Was never too interested in this Batman anyway.

          Reply

  15. Viking Of Science

    June 23, 2015 at 09:02

    Who was responsible for the port? are we sure it wasn’t High Voltage?

    Reply

    • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

      June 23, 2015 at 09:20

      HA! Maybe a division of?

      Reply

  16. Uberutang

    June 23, 2015 at 09:28

    Did the ini thing. SORTED. Avg 59fps.

    Reply

  17. Nikola

    June 23, 2015 at 09:49

    To actually think I was gona play this on PC nah I am going to stick to my PS4!

    Reply

  18. konfab

    June 23, 2015 at 09:56

    This is why I buy console games. I have too little patience.

    Reply

  19. Trevor Matrix

    June 23, 2015 at 10:38

    Now how the fuck did I end up here???

    Reply

  20. oomjan

    June 23, 2015 at 12:19

    Remember that We have nvidia gameworks. It’s supposed to make everything better. i wanted to go Nvidia again for a few months now but every Gameworks title doesn’t perform as it should so I decide agains upgrading. Nvidia ruining the gaming market and starting to understand why people rave so much about Nvidia cards.

    Reply

  21. Charade

    June 23, 2015 at 16:43

    “This is how it happened. This is how the Batman died.”

    Reply

  22. Alexander DeLarge

    June 23, 2015 at 17:00

    This is the modern dev’s policy.. We announce a game, we set a release date, we are goddamn on time for that date.
    … From that date onwards, we start our beta testing with our customers, releasing patches over patches from time to time, until the game runs just fine, MONTHS after our pre-estabilished release date. But ehy, we kept our promise, we released our game when we have told you.

    Reply

  23. MakeItLegal

    June 24, 2015 at 07:41

    again , as a pc gamer , i feel nothing , cause i have learnt , wait 3 months

    Reply

  24. Abineily

    July 19, 2015 at 19:15

    Download Batman Tweak 0.45

    http://goo.gl/0wVrzX

    v 0.45 7/19/2015

    —–

    + Disables a few options that could cause the game to go into a sort of sanity check mode

    + Adds a BMT.User TweakedBy=Version to BmEngine.ini and BmSystemSettings.ini for planned future features

    v 0.44 7/18/2015

    —–

    + Added NVIDIA driver version validation / warning at startup

    + Reports NVIDIA driver version now instead of release/branch

    + Increased debug information level on file I/O error

    v 0.43 7/16/2015

    ——

    + No longer requires MSVC 2015 Redistributables

    v 0.42 7/15/2015

    ——

    + Set PoolSize for the slow profile back to 1024

    This profile uses a file cache with a fixed-size and the GART optimization will exceed that size causing the game to crash

    Reply

  25. Abineily

    July 19, 2015 at 19:16

    Download Batman Tweak 0.45

    http://goo.gl/0wVrzX

    Reply

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