KF2 Performance Config: Lowest Graphics via KFEngine and KFGame INI

This guide tunes Killing Floor 2 to its lowest graphics settings through three config files, aiming at maximum performance on weak PCs rather than at general system tuning. The author updates it regularly and asks readers to share extra tweaks, excluding NVIDIA or AMD control panel defaults and registry hacks. If you run higher settings, be careful when disabling features, because some of them may matter to you. See also FPS tweaks for textures and dynamic lights and graphics settings optimization.

Where the configs are

• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\KillingFloor2\KFGame\Config
• Linux (Proton): .../steamapps/compatdata/232090/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/My Documents/My Games/KillingFloor2/KFGame/Config

Initial setup

If you customized the game before, delete all files in the Config folder to remove stale or wrong settings, launch the game, and set everything through the in-game graphics menu. Then back the config files up and start editing.

KFEngine.ini

[Engine.Engine]

• bSmoothFrameRate=True and MaxSmoothedFrameRate set to monitor Hz + 1 on weak PCs (60 Hz gives 61), or Hz x 2 + 1 on stronger ones (121). If you use RTSS or another limiter, set the same limit there.
• bStaticDecalsEnabled=False, bDynamicDecalsEnabled=False
• bSubtitlesEnabled=False if you do not use subtitles
• bOnScreenKismetWarnings=False, bEnableOnScreenDebugMessages=False

[Engine.StartupPackages]

• bFullyCompressStartupPackages=True allows asynchronous unpacking while loading.
• Delete the line Package=EngineDebugMaterials, which only loads debugging materials.

[IpDrv.TcpNetDriver]

• AllowPeerConnections=True, AllowPeerVoice=True
• MaxClientRate=104857600, MaxInternetClientRate=104857600 for the fastest exchange with the server.

[TextureStreaming]

• UseDynamicStreaming=False if you have more than 8 GB RAM and more than 3 GB VRAM. Dynamic loading can cause temporary artifacts on slow HDDs.
• bEnableAsyncDefrag=True, bEnableAsyncReallocation=True

Other sections

• [FullScreenMovie] bForceNoMovies=True skips intro videos.
• [LogFiles] PurgeLogsDays=0, LogTimes=False reduce logging.

KFGame.ini

Under [KFGame.KFGoreManager] the guide sets nearly all blood and gore values to zero to cut screen clutter and GPU load: GoreFXLifetimeMultiplier, BodyWoundDecalLifetime, BloodSplatterLifetime, BloodPoolLifetime, GibletLifetime, MaxBodyWoundDecals, MaxBloodSplatterDecals, MaxBloodPoolDecals, BloodSplatSize, BloodPoolSize, MaxBloodEffects, MaxGoreEffects, PersistentSplatTraceLength and MaxPersistentSplatsPerFrame are all 0, and AllowBloodSplatterDecals=False. MaxDeadBodies=4 keeps few corpses to save RAM and VRAM.

KFSystemSettings.ini (under [SystemSettings])

Setting	Value	Effect
StaticDecals, DynamicDecals, UnbatchedDecals	False	Match the KFEngine.ini decal values
AllowRadialBlur, MotionBlur, MotionBlurPause, DropParticleDistortion	False	Disable blur effects
MotionBlurSkinning, MotionBlurStaticScale, MotionBlurDynamicScale	0	Disable blur effects
AllowImageReflections, AllowImageReflectionShadowing	False	No reflections
FogVolumes, DistanceFog	False	Removes CPU/GPU-heavy fog effects without much visual loss
bAllowFracturedDamage	False	No breakable glass
bForceCPUAccessToGPUSkinVerts	True	Moves some load from a weak GPU to the CPU
DynamicShadows	False	Big speed-up on weak GPUs, characters may look darker
DecalCullDistanceScale	0.1	Decals vanish sooner (minimum value)
CompositeDynamicLights	False	No visible change, lower CPU/GPU load
SpeedTreeLeaves, SpeedTreeFronds	False	Simpler foliage
FloatingPointRenderTargets	False	Removes some post effects
LightEnvironmentShadows	False	Disconnects shadows from the environment
DynamicLights	False	Removes most lights, shadows, decals and blood; raise brightness if you use it
bAllowSeparateTranslucency	False	No translucent lighting on foliage
bAllowHighQualityMaterials	False	Lower material quality, little visual loss on low settings

Disabling DynamicLights simplifies the picture heavily, so treat it as a last resort.