We show you the vast amount of graphics options in Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide and how they affect gaming image quality and performance.

Introduction, Testing Setup, & System Requirements

VIEW GALLERY - 76 IMAGES

Swedish developer and publisher Fatshark came onto the scene in 2008. It's worked primarily on action games since its inception, many with mixed results, but found some success and good reception with wild West shooter Lead and Gold and co-op hero defense game Bloodsports.TV. Now it's released Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide, a four-player co-op game that uses the Left 4 Dead formula as a foundation for a quality action game set in the Warhammer universe.

Vermintide is likely the most PC-centric release from Fatshark yet, boasting an extensive list of graphics options, 4K support, regular patches, free DLC, and butter smooth controls. So naturally, I was keen to dive in and test it to help you get the best performance out of the game while sacrificing as little as possible visually.

Test Setup and System Requirements

The Extreme preset was used as the baseline while testing with this guide. Also, Fullscreen mode and 75 Field of View (FOV) were used, and V-Sync was disabled. All testing except that done for Reflections, Depth of Field, SSAO, and Skin Shading was performed before the 1.02 patch cycle. While these settings are not cited directly in those patch notes, it's possible they see higher framerates than they would've beforehand due to general performance optimizations.

Our Test System

OS: Windows 10 64-bit

Processor: Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz (Stock)

Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB DDR3-1600 (Stock)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 3.5" 7200RPM

Video Card: Sapphire Tri-X R9 290X 4GB (Stock)

Driver: Catalyst 15.9.1 beta

Resolution: 1920x1080

Input: Logitech G400 mouse, Leopold Tenkeyless Linear Touch Mechanical Keyboard

System Requirements

Minimum:

OS: Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8/8.1 64-bit, Windows 10 64-bit*

Processor: Intel Core2 Quad Q9500 @ 2.83GHz or AMD Phenom II X4 940

Memory: 6 GB RAM

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 or AMD Radeon HD 5770 /w 1GB VRAM

DirectX: Version 11

Network: Broadband Internet connection

Hard Drive: 30 GB available space

Additional Notes: *WARNING: 32-bit OS is NOT officially supported at this time

Recommended:

OS: Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8/8.1 64-bit, Windows 10 64-bit*

Processor: Intel Core i7-4790K @ 4.00 GHz or AMD FX-9590 @ 4.7 GHz

Memory: 8 GB RAM

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 or AMD GPU Radeon R9 290

DirectX: Version 11

Network: Broadband Internet connection

Hard Drive: 30 GB available space

Additional Notes: *WARNING: 32-bit OS is NOT officially supported at this time

Field of View, Blood and Gore, Resolution, & Screen Mode

Field of View

One of the more popular but sadly often left out settings, Field of View lets you adjust how 'wide' your perspective is. At the high-end, you see more, but it can be harder to aim, and depending on your setup, you may get 'fisheye.'

The benchmark shows minimal to moderate change in framerate between each setting, but a significant shift in each setting on maximum framerate. I recommend playing with this setting to find what you're most comfortable with, and to ensure it's not any higher than it has to be, thereby costing you valuable frames.

Blood and Gore

This setting is about as straightforward as it gets. Enabled, you see massive blood spraying from enemies when killed. Disabled, you don't. Either way, blood disappears quickly afterward, which makes it impossible to test accurately, so there's no benchmark here.

Resolution

The quality at which the scene is rendered, corresponding to the number of pixels; higher resolutions mean more pixels, which means higher quality.

When moving from 1600x900 to 1920x1080, you can see significantly reduced aliasing; when changing from any of the settings to another, you can observe more in-depth shadows on certain objects like the netting in the distance.

This setting normally has a significant impact on performance, but as you can see, there is none here, except for an important hit to max framerate, which only occurs at 1920x1080. This appears to be due to the significant reduction in aliasing.

It's strongly recommended to keep this setting at the maximum supported by your configuration due to the aliasing, the reduction in quality that will be seen when upsampling from a lower resolution, and the minimal impact on performance.

Resolution is marked as highly demanding on the GPU, and not at all on the CPU.

Screen Mode

This lets you choose between the well-known fullscreen and windowed modes (the former better for performance, and the latter better for multitasking), or the somewhat less well known Fullscreen Borderless mode, which appears identical to Fullscreen, but allows for quick switching between the game and other tasks at the cost of game performance. Since windowed mode requires a different resolution, I tested just Fullscreen and Fullscreen Borderless modes.

The benchmark shows an expected significant increase in performance when moving from Fullscreen Borderless to Fullscreen. If you need the extra performance and don't mind worsening your ability to multitask, stick with Fullscreen. If you can spare the hit and enjoy the ability to switch quickly between the game and other tasks, stick with Fullscreen Borderless.

Graphics Quality, Character Texture Quality, Environment Texture Quality, & Particle Quality

Graphics Quality

The presets allow for easy changes in visual fidelity in performance by affecting all graphics settings. They are imprecise and don't cater to individual preferences, however, so it's very unlikely you'll see the optimal result by playing with these. In any case, it's interesting to observe what happens when you change multiple settings at once.

The Lowest setting offers the bare minimum in visual presentation, removing much of the shadowing altogether and significantly downgrading the quality of what's left, drastically reducing texture quality, and showing jarring aliasing. On Low, shadowing improves majorly and anti-aliasing bumps up a bit; Medium is when Vermintide starts to shine with great texture quality and anti-aliasing; on High, a massive jump in shadow quality can be observed thanks to the introduction of SSAO; Extreme simply sharpens shadows.

Testing reveals a major increase in performance when moving from Extreme to High, another when moving from High to Medium, a small increase from Medium to Low, and another major increase between Low and Lowest.

Given the minimal impact on visuals, all but the most well-off gamers should avoid the Extreme setting. Conversely, the Low and especially Lowest settings should be avoided at all costs, primarily due to the very poor texture quality. That leaves Medium and High, both of which look very solid. The choice is simply a matter of how much you value the major boost in performance and how much you value high-quality shadows.

Character Texture Quality

This setting alters the quality of textures on characters, namely pertaining to their armor and clothing.

At Low, the armor and clothing on our comrade are extremely muddy. It becomes passable at Medium, sharp at High, and a touch sharper again at Extreme.

The benchmark shows virtually no definitive difference in framerate between each setting. Given this and the marked difference in quality, it's recommended to keep this setting at Extreme, regardless of your hardware.

This setting is said to have a small GPU impact, and no CPU impact.

Environment Texture Quality

Sets the quality of texture in the environment. Our screenshots show a significant change in the texture quality of grass, rubble, mountains, cobblestones, and water between each setting.

Performance testing tells us there's a very minor performance impact between each setting that's slightly more noticeable when discussing maximum frame per second. As such, it's recommended to keep this setting at High, unless you really need another frame or two or see your maximum FPS struggling. This setting is said to have a low GPU impact and no CPU impact.

Particle Quality

We had difficulty finding definitive instances of particle quality in action, at least where they impacted performance, so this setting has been left out of our testing.

That said, it's marked as having a high GPU impact and low CPU impact, so if you are struggling, it could be one to turn down. Just know it's likely to be rarely employed in-game.

Sun Shadows, Local Light Shadows, Max Shadow Casting Lights, & Animation LOD Distance

Sun Shadows

Affects the quality of shadows cast directly by the sun as opposed to other objects or light sources. Turned Off, we see none; on Low, they are imprecise though don't look poor; at Medium, much more precision can be observed; High shows a marginal improvement, and Extreme sees top quality precise shadows.

Testing shows a nearly 10 FPS increase when moving from Off to Low, and then no definitive change between the remaining settings. Turning this setting off is wise if you really need the large performance benefit; the visual impact of doing so isn't severe, but isn't negligible either, so choose wisely. If you do leave it enabled, Extreme should is likely the best choice.

This setting is said to have a moderate GPU impact and high CPU impact.

Local Light Shadows

This setting affects shadows cast by local lights like lamps. The screenshots show only disabling Local Light Shadows as bearing any difference on visuals. When doing so, the shadows otherwise cast by the lamp are nowhere to be seen.

Corresponding to the visual behavior, no performance impact is observed here except when turning the setting off entirely. When doing so, an approximately 15 FPS increase is yours to enjoy, at the cost of a significant lack of depth in many scenes. If you really need a large boost, this is a great one to turn down, but if you're on the fence, it's a much tougher call.

This setting is said to have a moderate GPU impact and high CPU impact.

Max Shadow Casting Lights

Sets the amount of light sources that cast shadows. When moving from 1 to 6 sources, shadows from the lamp that were disabled entirely are suddenly very present and of high quality, similar to Local Light Shadows behavior. Moving then to 10, you can see additional shadows on smaller details like the tunnel in the distance.

Altering this setting has a major impact on framerate at each instance. Note that while I only tested 1, 6 and 10, you can choose any number between 1 and 10. Given the steady changes in performance here, you can expect other numbers to have a corresponding amount of impact. The visual difference between 6 and 10 is minor, so no lower than 2 and no higher than 6 is recommended for most. Going with that, you'll see a major performance benefit of up to about 15 FPS.

This setting is said to have a moderate GPU impact and high CPU impact.

Animation LOD Distance

This setting controls how much detail is present in face and finger animations, and how far out they are seen, up to a maximum of eight meters. Animation is difficult if not impossible to capture accurately in screenshots, so I've left them out for this section.

Testing shows a small increase of 1-2 FPS across maximum and average values when moving from 1.0 to 0, but a 1 FPS drop. As such, no definitive performance loss is present here, and this setting should be fine at the maximum 1.

This setting is marked as having no GPU impact and low CPU impact.

Physics Debris, Scatter Density, Blood Decal Amount, Anti-aliasing, Motion Blur, & SSAO

Physics Debris

As with the Particles setting, it was difficult finding definitive instances of Physics Debris in action, at least where it impacted performance, so I've left testing and screenshots out of this section.

It's said to have no GPU impact and a moderate CPU impact, so lowering it could have a worthwhile effect on FPS while rarely hurting visuals, especially if your CPU leaves something to be desired.

Scatter Density

Said to determine the density of decorative elements in the environment, such as grass and rubble. In practice, it seems to affect water surfaces and grass, though not in any strictly better sense, as you can see from the screenshots.

Benchmarking tells us there's a definitive small hit to minimum framerates if you max out this setting. As such, it's recommended to use 75 or below (as with Local Light Shadows, it's plausible there's no visual impact outside of a certain figure, so don't worry too much which you choose).

Scatter Density is marked as having a low GPU impact and low CPU impact.

Blood Decal Amount

Affects the amount of blood sources present in a given scene. Our experiments show slightly higher quality blood at 50 than 0, and the introduction of airborne blood droplets at 100.

Again, blood disappears quickly, so this setting cannot be benchmarked reliably and as such has been left out of our testing. That said, it's marked as having a low GPU impact and no CPU impact, so between that and the minimal visual differences, it's likely lowering this setting will give a 1-2 FPS boost, if that.

Anti-aliasing

This ever important option controls the appearance of jagged edges seen on various surfaces throughout the game. With no AA, the image is extremely crisp, but distracting aliasing can be seen on the door, crates, our companion's hat, and other surfaces. With TAA (temporal anti-aliasing), the image appears to eliminate aliasing entirely, though introduces quite a lot of blur (note the primary goal of TAA is to reduce crawling and flickering seen in motion, so it's difficult to judge it fairly from static screenshots). Meanwhile, FXAA strikes a great balance with almost no aliasing and extremely subtle blur.

Our tests reveal TAA puts a moderate hit on minimum framerate and a major hit on maximum framerate. They also tell us FXAA has no performance impact whatsoever. Given that and the visual impressions, we strongly recommend FXAA to all. If you are experiencing distracting crawling and flickering seen in motion, however, TAA is worth considering.

TAA is marked as having a heavy GPU impact and no CPU impact; FXAA is marked as having a moderate GPU impact and no CPU impact.

Motion Blur

This setting is always arduous to capture properly, and it's no different here, so screenshots are absent from this section. In game, blur is most readily noticed when swinging a sword. The effect is subtle but present.

Testing says disabling Motion Blur offers a 1-2 FPS performance increase all around. Especially if you prefer it off anyway for a smoother gameplay experience, this is a welcome improvement.

Motion Blur is said to have a moderate GPU impact and no CPU impact.

SSAO

Screen Space Ambient Occlusion is always one of the most dramatic options, offering a major boost to visuals thanks to more in-depth shadowing techniques. That's the case here, too, as you can see from this shadow heavy scene, most of which is affected by SSAO when enabled and proves much richer for it.

To paraphrase a wise old man, with great visual impact comes great performance cost. As is always the case with SSAO, it's a huge boon to graphics, but it'll cost you big. In this case, the damage is 4-6 FPS - no insignificant amount. Leave it on if you can afford such luxuries; if you absolutely need those extra frames after doing all other tweaking, disable it (and be saddened by the lack of depth in your scenes).

SSAO is marked as having a high GPU impact and no CPU impact.

Screen Space Reflections, Depth of Field, Bloom, Light Shafts, Skin Shading, & Final Thoughts

Screen Space Reflections

Alters the presence of advanced reflections and their effect on the environment, mainly pertaining to water surfaces. Disabled, water is very flat, dark, and dull and very little is reflected in and off it; the objects around it suffer as a result. Enabled, we see much more realistic water surfaces: shiny, capturing much more of the light sources and objects around them and reflecting on those objects as nature intended for a much more pleasant look.

Performance is impacted here perhaps more than anywhere else, chopping framerate by about 15 across the board. However, water is pretty rare, and there doesn't seem to be much if any visual difference elsewhere, so should you choose to leave this enabled, it is likely only to hurt you on the odd map. Nice as it can look, it's not essential, and those who value consistent performance may want to disable it, given the drastic effect on framerate.

This setting is said to have a high GPU impact and no CPU impact.

Depth of Field

Changes whether objects at a distance are blurred for cinematic effect or not. In Vermintide, the implementation is conservative, unlike with many games, touching only really on far off surfaces like mountains. As such, if you normally dislike Depth of Field, you may want to try it here.

With great Depth of Field... Okay, but seriously, there's a straight 5 FPS impact all around when enabling this setting. While some will prefer it (especially with the classy implementation), it's far from critical, and an almost free five frames are very welcome, so anyone hurting for performance should disable it.

This setting is marked as having a high GPU impact and no CPU impact.

Bloom

Another contentious option, Bloom is that ethereal shader effect you either love or despise. Again, though, Fatshark avoids going over the top with it as so many games do and instead utilizes it to add a mild warmth to scenes.

Curiously, our repeated testing revealed no performance changes when disabling or enabling Bloom except to minimum framerate, where a 4 FPS change is observed.

Enabling this is recommended, as the performance impact is overall negligible and the warmth is subtle enough that it should be welcome to most. If you hate it even when employed conservatively, though, by all means disable it for a moderate boost to your minimum framerate.

Bloom is said to have a low GPU impact, and no CPU impact.

Light Shafts

This setting specifically targets light shafts sourced from the sun. As you can see, this has a major impact on visuals, adding a realistic brightness to specific areas. As with Bloom, this is down to preference, but most should find it welcome.

Light Shafts drops performance by 2-4 FPS. It's something you won't always see, and it's not imperative, so between that and the moderate change in frames, it's a good choice for consideration when tweaking.

This option is marked as having a low GPU impact and no CPU impact.

Skin Shading

Judging from the name, you'd think this would affect the look of skin on NPCs and such, but it actually only seems to enable or disable SSAO. Likely, this is a bug or unintentional coding mistake.

Our benchmark, which we ran several times, tells us there's a definitive increase in average, minimum, and maximum framerate when disabling this setting. Unlike with SSAO, the increase is a few frames smaller. Peculiar behavior, indeed.

This setting is said to have a moderate GPU impact and no CPU impact.

Final Thoughts

Vermintide scales more visually and performance-wise across more different settings than possibly any game I've ever encountered. Normally I summarize these guides by noting two or three highly impactful settings, but this game has about six, and then a handful that are moderately impactful.

I strongly recommend going through the entire guide if you haven't yet because there are also a ton of settings that offer small performance boosts individually and a large increase collectively, and many of the more notable options are heavily down to visual preference and tolerance. All that said, the big ticket items are Character Texture Quality, the shadow options (Sun Shadows, Local Light Shadows, Max Shadow Casting Lights, SSAO), Anti-Aliasing, and Screen Space Reflections.

Happy tweaking!