The Best Kenshi mods to Improve perfomance and boost fps

Let’s just say this up front if you’ve ever booted up Kenshi and thought, “Is my PC trying to die on me?” you’re not alone. Even with a rig that runs Cyberpunk 2077 on high without coughing, Kenshi will still dropkick your frame rate into the dirt like it’s 2010 and optimization was just a rumor. 😅

What Are The Common Causes of Low fps in Kenshi?

1. Unoptimized texture loading (hello 2GB of grass you’ll never notice)
   
2. Particle spam from weather, combat, or even dust storms that serve no real gameplay purpose
   
3. Broken pathfinding that makes NPCs try parkour over terrain they weren’t meant to touch
   
4. RAM-hungry foliage, terrain LOD issues, and water reflections straight from the ninth circle of lag

So yeah, we’re gonna talk about Kenshi mods. Not just any mods performance mods. Because throwing hardware at the problem doesn’t always help (seriously, I tried) but modding? It actually works!

List of Kenshi Mods For Improving Performance 

Each one of these saved my game from becoming a PowerPoint presentation. If your game’s chugging harder than a Hive Prince on cactus rum, start here.

Compressed Textures Project

🧊 What it does: Swaps out bloated textures for lean, compressed ones  landscapes drop from 2048 to 1024, high-res assets get sliced from 4096 to 2048, all packed into DXT5 format.

🎯 Why it matters: Shaves down VRAM usage, makes loading screens less eternal, and drops stutters like bad loot. Visuals stay solid, but performance? Way smoother. You’ll actually hear your GPU sigh in relief.

KPM: Performance Particles

💨 What it does: Replaces all .PNG particle textures with compressed .DDS versions at 1/16th the size  way easier on the GPU without nerfing the effects.

⚡ Why it matters: Doesn’t cut the particle count  just makes them load smarter and faster. Great boost on low/medium settings, especially on older rigs or VRAM-choked setups. Basically, your particles go from bloated PNG clowns to sleek little ninjas.

Kenshi CTD fix patch 

🛠️ What it does: Squashes crashes and mends broken save files in Kenshi. It automatically generates fixes for animation-related CTDs and warns you if your last save didn’t finish properly. Plus, it now stops characters from falling through player-built walls when loading a save after starting the game.

⚙️ Why it matters: Tired of your game randomly freezing or losing progress to corrupted saves? This patch is your digital medic! It tackles those frustrating crashes, especially ones caused by animation mods or carrying bodies. The save check gives you a heads-up on potential disasters. That new feature about walls? A solid fix for a janky load-in bug. It’s all about a smoother, less rage-inducing Kenshi experience.

Particle System Override (PSO)

🧪 What it does: Completely overhauls how Kenshi handles particles  rewrites scripts, swaps textures for optimized DDS files, and rewires the rendering process to be way more GPU-friendly without dumbing down visuals.

🚀 Why it matters: Massive FPS gain during travel, camera movement, and zone loading. It’s not just texture swaps  it’s a straight-up engine-level glow-up. If your game used to stutter from just spinning the camera? This mod fixes that thus improving performance. And no, it doesn’t show up in your modlist  because it bypasses it.

Optimization for Nvidia GPU in Kenshi

⚙️ What it does: Imports a custom NVIDIA performance profile built specifically for Kenshi, using deep 3D setting tweaks to boost FPS, stabilize frame pacing, smooth terrain loading, and reduce crashes  without touching the game’s visuals or files.

⚠️ Why it matters: Pure GPU wizardry. No overclocking, no risky tricks, just a smarter way for your NVIDIA card to talk to Kenshi. Works on every Nvidia card ever. Load times drop, frame drops vanish, and even giant bases run like butter. But fair warning: installing this takes more brainpower than just clicking “Subscribe.” Worth it.

RE_Kenshi

⚙️ What it does: Deep system mod that patches Kenshi’s code directly  fixes RNG bugs, compresses terrain heightmaps, adds shader caching, and forces a save on crash. Also unlocks custom game speeds, camera height tweaks, and attack slot control.

⚠️ Why it matters: This one’s a beast. Huge load time cuts (especially on HDDs), better stability, performance, and actual crash recovery? Yes, please. Doesn’t just optimize  it fixes broken core systems the devs left untouched. If you’re tired of Molly showing up in every bar, this mod gets it.

Removed Weather Effects

⚙️ What it does: Nukes all visual weather effects  rain, fog, ash storms, dust clouds  all gone. But the gameplay stuff like wind for generators or dust penalties? Still works behind the scenes.

⚠️ Why it matters: Perfect for low-end rigs or anyone tired of watching their frames die every time a storm rolls in. Less fluff on screen = smoother gameplay and better performance where it counts. Weather’s still technically there, it’s just invisible now.

Snowii’s Massive FPS Boost+++

⚙️ What it does: Nukes almost all particle effects except the bare essentials  skybeams, gas clouds, that’s it. Built for low-end PCs that can’t deal with all the sparkles and smoke.

⚠️ Why it matters: It’s aggressive  kills ambiance, lore fog, and anything shiny  but if your potato PC is struggling to breathe, this’ll give it CPR. Just watch out for mod conflicts (Genesis and UWE don’t play nice with it).

Less Foliage and Rocks

⚙️ What it does: Strips out a substantial portion of the game’s static world clutter  specifically excess rocks, shrubs, debris piles, and similar non-interactive assets. Covers the full map. Grass remains untouched.

⚠️ Why it matters: High-density areas with complex geometry (e.g. Deadlands, Iron Valleys) choke older GPUs. This mod clears the noise, freeing up processing power for core rendering and gameplay logic. It’s not flashy  but it works. Expect smoother movement, faster transitions, and fewer frame drops.

Kenshi Performance Fix

⚙️ What it does: Runs a full diagnostic and rebuild pass on Kenshi’s game files  optimizing meshes, fixing legacy shader errors, and converting bloated texture formats into faster-loading equivalents. No graphical downgrades.

⚠️ Why it matters: Targets deep engine inefficiencies rather than surface-level clutter. Especially effective around water, fog-heavy zones, and settlements with complex geometry. Results: quicker loading, steadier FPS, and overall smoother gameplay without sacrificing visuals.

Water Optimizer

🧹 What it does: Optimizes the game’s water rendering by replacing default shaders and textures with GPU-friendly versions. Covers rain, ripples, water impact effects, and environmental reflections. Visuals stay the same  under the hood gets streamlined.

⚠️ Why it matters: Water zones like the Swamps, Venge, and Wetlands are infamous FPS killers on mid-range and older hardware. This mod reduces rendering strain by prepping assets in advance, cutting GPU load during gameplay. Less stutter, more stability.

How Mods Make Kenshi Run Better?

Most Kenshi mods fall into one of three buckets when it comes to performance. Only a few really make a difference under the hood.

1. Asset Reduction Mods
These are the heavy hitters. They cut file size, trim render demand, and murder unnecessary visuals like they owe you frames.

• Replace 4K ground textures with 1K (your eyes won’t even notice, but your GPU will cry tears of joy)
  
• Kill decorative objects that clutter RAM for no real gameplay reason
  
• Reduce mesh complexity on rocks, terrain, buildings because nobody’s zooming in on a fence plank anyway
  

2. AI & Pathfinding Tweaks
The number of times Kenshi NPCs have walked headfirst into mountains… it’s tragic. These mods help make AI less suicidal and more efficient.

• Limit active AI distance (NPCs offscreen? They don’t need to think)
  
• Simplify travel paths and stop weird detours
  
• Disable idle routines that chew CPU for no reason
  

3. Particle and Shader Simplifiers
Particles look cool until they tank your FPS. These mods come in with scissors.

• Kill extra blood splatter, storm dust, and ambient fog
  
• Replace fancy water effects with something your PC can handle
  
• Reduce or eliminate shadows (yeah, they look good, but are they worth it?)
   

Final Recommendations and Optimization Strategy

Kenshi will never run like a modern AAA game. But with the right stack of mods, you can go from rage-quitting in Stack to pulling off smooth base sieges in Shem.

Here’s the go-to strategy:

1. Start with Core Fixes

• Install Compressed Textures, KPM: Performance Particles, and Snowii’s FPS Boost+++
  
• These give the most FPS bang for almost no downside
  

2. Layer in Environmental Cuts

• Add Less Foliage, Removed Weather Effects, Water Optimizer
  
• Especially if your game drops frames in open-world travel
  

3. Patch AI and GPU Logic

• Use RE_Kenshi and Optimization for Nvidia GPU in Kenshi
  
• Helps reduce CPU heat death and stutters in towns
  

4. Don’t Forget Manual Tweaks

• Lower shadows in game settings
  
• Reduce terrain draw distance
  

Limit squad size if things still feel like molasses!

Play long enough (if you are just starting you should learn some basic tips and tricks) and eventually Kenshi will still surprise you with a random crash or a slideshow battle. But hey at least it won’t start that way anymore. And that’s progress, right?

Now go mod, reboot, and watch your frames go from “barely playable” to “hey, this is actually smooth wtf.” and don’t forget to install some of the essential mods for Kenshi that polish gameplay and make the game even more enjoyable.

How to increase FPS in Kenshi?

nstall performance-enhancing mods like “Compressed Textures Project,” “KPM: Performance Particles,” “Particle System Override (PSO),” and “RE_Kenshi.” Lower in-game settings such as shadows and terrain draw distance. For Nvidia users, the “Optimization for Nvidia GPU in Kenshi” mod can also help. Consider removing weather effects or foliage with specific mods for lower-end systems.

Where are my Kenshi saves?

The default save location for Kenshi on Windows is: C:\Users\<YourUsername>\AppData\Local\kenshi\save. This location was moved to the user profile with update 1.0.50.

Why can people walk through my walls in Kenshi?

A known bug can cause characters to walk through player-built walls, especially after loading a saved game. The “Kenshi CTD fix patch” specifically addresses the issue of characters falling through walls upon loading.