How to improve FPS in Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (PC)
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is Owlcat Games' isometric CRPG set in the Warhammer 40k universe, a direct heir to the Pathfinder formula but taken to a much larger scale. Built on Unreal Engine 4, the game combines exploration of ships and space stations packed with NPCs with turn-based combat extremely dense in visual effects. It's more CPU-dependent than most isometric RPGs, due to the individual simulation of every character on screen.
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Calculations based on our FPS model combined with the % gain of each setting (measured in public benchmarks).
1. Quick wins (no visual loss)
Start here. Each one adds a little, but together they give +67% free FPS.
Character/NPC Density
This setting controls how many background NPCs are actively simulated in areas like the ship's deck or Footfall's districts. Every NPC runs its own AI and animation on the CPU.
Shadow Quality
UE4's dynamic shadows are expensive in scenes with multiple light sources, common in the ship's interiors and in combat with psyker effects.
Effects Quality
Controls the particle density of psychic abilities, heavy weapon fire, and explosions, which are the graphical load peak in each chapter's final battles.
View Distance
Affects how much geometric and NPC detail loads in open areas like Footfall's streets or space combat exteriors.
Anti-Aliasing (TAA)
Unreal Engine 4's TAA has a notable rendering cost, especially combined with the game's high density of character and armor detail.
2. Medium impact settings
Here's where most of the FPS is. Minor visual impact, major performance impact.
Texture Quality
The game's textures are highly detailed on armor, gothic architecture, and ship interiors, and their cost falls mainly on VRAM rather than raw FPS.
Post-Processing
Includes effects like bloom, depth of field, and cinematic vignettes that reinforce the game's gothic atmosphere but cost performance in scenes with lots of dynamic lighting.
Global Illumination Quality
UE4's dynamic global illumination is one of the biggest GPU consumers in the Rogue Trader's detailed ship interiors, with multiple light sources bouncing off metallic surfaces.
Foliage/Detail Density
Although the game is mostly indoor and urban, outdoor areas with detailed vegetation or rubble add unnecessary geometry load for a fixed isometric-camera game.
3. Upscaling (DLSS / FSR / XeSS)
The biggest gain in the game. Compatible with almost any modern GPU.
NVIDIA DLSS 2
+30% FPSDLSS 2 is natively implemented and is the recommended option on NVIDIA RTX GPUs, since it reconstructs the image with good sharpness even in Balanced mode.
AMD FSR 2
+24% FPSFSR 2 works on any compatible GPU regardless of manufacturer and offers a solid performance gain, though with somewhat more noise in motion than DLSS 2.
4. Tips by GPU
NVIDIA
- •Enable DLSS in Quality or Balanced mode from the graphics options to gain extra margin in combat with many psychic effects.
- •Use the NVIDIA control panel to force an FPS cap matching your display and avoid unnecessary power spikes on menu and inventory screens.
- •Keep drivers updated, since Owlcat has released several performance patches that rely on recent NVIDIA optimizations for UE4.
AMD
- •Enable FSR 2 in Quality mode as a reliable alternative if your card doesn't support DLSS, prioritizing stability in massive battles.
- •Check that Radeon Anti-Lag is enabled to reduce the feeling of input lag during turn-based combat with lots of effects on screen.
- •On mid-range GPUs, combine dynamic resolution with FSR to maintain 60 FPS in space combat scenes.
Sistema
- •Prioritize a CPU with good single-thread performance, since the game depends more on individual NPC AI and animation than on core count.
- •Install the game on an SSD to reduce texture streaming times in heavily populated hub zones like Footfall.
- •Close background applications and overlays, since the game is sensitive to CPU overload in encounters with many simultaneous units.
5. Known game issues
FPS drops in combat with many units
In encounters with a large number of deployed enemies and allies, especially with several psykers using abilities at once, framerate can drop noticeably.
Estado: Patch 1.2 (partial AI optimization improvements)
Stuttering in crowded hub zones
Areas like the ship's main deck or Footfall's districts, with dozens of idle NPCs running their own animations, cause recurring micro-hitches.
Shader compilation spikes when entering combat
When entering turn-based combat mode, the game can suffer a brief but noticeable FPS drop while it compiles shaders for ability effects that hadn't been used before.
6. Frequently asked questions
Why does my FPS drop so much in Rogue Trader's battles?▾
Is it worth enabling DLSS or FSR in an isometric CRPG?▾
Should I prioritize the CPU or the GPU for this game?▾
Which setting has the best ratio of FPS gained to visual loss?▾
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Calculate FPS for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader →Calculations based on consensus of technical sources and our own FPS model. More about our methodology →