A Hat in Time – Ultimate Performance Guide

This guide covers performance options and settings unavailable from the game menu. Helps run this game in even the most potato of PCs.

Introduction

Welcome to the ultimate performance guide. This guide will cover available options to further lower visual fidelity than what is allowed from the in-game menu to boost FPS.

First of all, you need to locate your Hat in Time config files. These are located in:

C:Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonHatinTimeHatinTimeGameConfig

You need to edit the Hatintime.ini; the default.ini are just what the game defaults to after a big update. You can copy whatever changes you made to the normal .ini to the default .ini if you wish.

Before any editing though, you should backup these files to a separate folder in case you want to go back to normal settings without having to re download them.

This guide will assume all config files are already set to their in-game minimum.

HatinTimeGame.ini

Open up this .ini to edit settings below.

Field of Vision (FOV)

Look for this line:

DefaultFOV=

This is the amount of degrees you can see around you. This used to be an option in the menus but it was mysteriously removed in a later patch. Lowering this will make the camera close in and be less helpful but anything that is off screen doesn’t need to be rendered so fps will increase. This can be set in game using the console but moving into another area will reset it to the default 90

Minimum playable:

DefaultFOV=60

This is only for the crappiest PCs out there. Anything lower than 60 is just unplayable in my opinion.

Recommended:

DefaultFOV=75

An FOV of 75 will give you enough area to look around while still boosting performance. This will feel more natural if combined with a 4:3 aspect ratio.

FOV 60:

FOV 75:

Decal Life Span

Look for this line:

DecalLifeSpan=

I am not sure if decals can spawn if you have the box unchecked in the menu. Still, this line could be referencing temporary decals that always spawn regardless of the option.

Minimum playable and recommended:

DecalLifeSpan=0.0

Setting this to 0 will make sure a temporary decal can’t spawn (if that’s even a thing).

HatinTimeSystemSettings.ini

Open this .ini to change settings below.

Resolution

Look for these lines:

• ResX=
• ResY=

These will contain your current resolution settings. You can change these to whatever you want, but not everything will work. If the resolution you entered is incompatible, the game will automatically match it to the closes compatible one on startup. Just keep in mind that anything other than a 16:9 ratio will mess with the hud and some interface elements.

Minimum playable:

• ResX=640
• ResY=480

This will give you a 4:3 ratio. Trying to set it to anything lower than this will just set it back to this. Some text will go off screen though.

Recommended:

• ResX=800
• ResY=600

Everything will be a bit sharper and text will be way easier to read. There’s still a big performance gain from 4:3.

640X480 resolution:

Shadows

Look for these lines:

• DynamicShadows=
• LightEnvironmentShadows=
• CompositeDynamicLights=
• SHSecondaryLighting=
• DirectionalLightmaps=

All of these affect the shadows you can’t turn off, most notably hat kid’s shadow. Also removes some extra lighting effects.

Minimum playable:

• DynamicShadows=False
• LightEnvironmentShadows=False
• CompositeDynamicLights=False
• SHSecondaryLighting=False
• DirectionalLightmaps=True

These settings will disable most of the unneded shadows and lighting effects. Note that DirectionalLightmaps must be left at true, otherwise essential lighting effects will not work such as lighting on floors and walls. Try disabling it if you want to play some areas in the dark.

Recommended:

• DynamicShadows=True
• LightEnvironmentShadows=True
• CompositeDynamicLights=False
• SHSecondaryLighting=False
• DirectionalLightmaps=True

This will re-enable hat kid’s shadow, but still remove extra lighting effects.

Shadowless hat kid:

Draw Distance

Look for this line:

MaxDrawDistanceScale=

This can already be changed in game just not to the extreme that can be set through here. Draw distance will affect interactible objects and some scenery.

Minimum playable:

MaxDrawDistanceScale=0.300000

Seems like hat kid is severely nearsighted now. Objects will not spawn unless you’re pretty close to them. Kinda looks like the Pokemon Sword and Shield wild area to be honest.

Recommended:

MaxDrawDistanceScale=0.600000

This is way more manageable while still being lower than the lowest option in game.

MaxDrawDistanceScale=0.3: