I’ve read several posts on and off the forum about the Vulkan API in WT, but I have many doubts about it. Here on the forum, most posts are complaints about how poorly the Vulkan API works, and in some cases, users are reporting that BattleEye is blocking some .dll files when starting the game. But on the other hand, outside of this forum, many users promote the use of the Vulkan API, mentioning that WT’s performance surpasses that of DirectX 11 or DirectX 12, especially on full AMD systems.
I’m a full AMD user on my system, and I’ve noticed that the game constantly has performance issues: stuttering, terrible frame pacing, and textures and geometries that don’t load completely. I should mention that my system is mid-to-high range, but I’ve been comparing it for a couple of months with a “gaming” laptop I have with an Intel/Nvidia system that has worse performance on paper because it’s an entry-level model, and yet it gives me the same or almost the same performance as my desktop PC.
I know every PC is different, but I’d like to improve my game’s performance using the Vulkan API. However, I’m unsure whether to do so for fear that BattleEye will ban my account or block me in some way, preventing me from launching the game if I modify the config.blk file.
So if anyone has experience with this, or if any Dev here can guide us or refer us to a guide on how to switch between APIs without conflicting with AC, that would be great.
Don’t worry about getting banned for using Vulkan, because changing settings in-game also writes to the same config.blk file. What I can confirm is that Vulkan performs better than both DX12 and DX11. I reached this conclusion through testing on a GTX 970 and an RX 5600M, and a friend of mine observed the same result on an RTX 3060. Not only that, but Vulkan’s low-frame performance is significantly better than DX12’s. It’s already highly usable, so I honestly can’t understand why Gaijin hasn’t released it as an optional graphics API.
But if you leave the config.blk file as read-only, the game won’t overwrite the file. I don’t have much time these days, but I’ll try. I’ve read more about this topic and many conclude like you, that there is a benefit to using Vulkan, especially on AMD systems. I agree with you, Gaijin should give the option to use Vulkan from the launcher itself, but I suppose they are completely tied to Nvidia or there’s a reason why only here is there a decal alluding to that brand called the Nvidia emblem.
Vulkan on Windows is not merely an unofficial config hack. Gaijin’s official Hornet’s Sting dev-server changelog explicitly states that Vulkan API support (beta) was added to the Windows version of the game:
That distinction matters: using the game’s own Vulkan beta is not the same as injecting a third-party renderer DLL. A BattlEye warning naming a DLL should be investigated separately, because overlays, wrappers, monitoring tools or mods may be involved.
However, beta support also means that performance and stability can vary by GPU, driver and game build. I would not make config.blk read-only; that can prevent legitimate settings migrations and make troubleshooting harder. Use only the renderer path provided by the official client, test without overlays or mods, and compare DX11, DX12 and Vulkan in the same replay with identical settings. Record average FPS, 1% lows and frame-time behaviour. If Vulkan produces crashes or blocked-file warnings, attach the exact filename, client log and DxDiag to a proper report rather than assuming either a ban risk or a universal performance gain.