The AMD Dual-Core Optimizer is a small program that some older games (like Arkham City) automatically install. It was originally designed to help with timing issues on early dual-core AMD CPUs (on Windows XP) by synchronizing the CPU cores’ clocks. On modern systems, however, it’s not needed and can even run at startup and consume resources for no benefit. In fact, if you’re on Windows 10/11 with a newer AMD Ryzen (or any Intel) CPU, this “optimizer” can actually cause performance drops and stuttering in games. Removing it will not affect Arkham City’s functionality – the game will run better without this outdated background task.

What we’ll do: First, uninstall the AMD Dual-Core Optimizer from Windows. Then, we’ll prevent Steam from re-installing it every time you launch Arkham City. This involves a quick edit of the game’s install script and deleting the optimizer’s installer file. Don’t worry – these changes are easy to do and completely reversible. By the end of this step, you should see reduced stuttering and better CPU utilization, as your processor will no longer be hindered by the old optimizer service.

• Uninstall via Windows: Open the Windows Control Panel and go to “Programs and Features” (or Apps & Features in Windows 10/11). Find “AMD Dual-Core Optimizer” in the list of installed programs, select it, and choose Uninstall. Follow the prompts – if the progress bar seems to hang near 80-90%, be patient and let it finish. Once it’s uninstalled, restart your PC to ensure the optimizer service is fully stopped and removed. (If you don’t see this program in the list, it may not be installed – you can move on to the next step.)
  
  
• Prevent it from coming back: By default, Steam will try to reinstall the optimizer whenever you launch Arkham City. To stop this:
  • Locate the game folder: In Steam, right-click Batman: Arkham City GOTY, select Manage > Browse local files. This opens the install directory (e.g. .../Steam/steamapps/common/Batman Arkham City GOTY/).
  • Edit the install script: Find the file named “installscript.vdf” in the game folder. Right-click it, choose “Open with” and select a text editor (Notepad works fine). Now, scroll within the file and look for a section mentioning “AMD.” You should see a block of code related to the AMD Dual-Core Optimizer setup, between braces { }. Delete that entire block of code – from the line that contains “AMD Dual-Core Optimizer” or “amd_dc_opt,” down to the closing brace of that section. Be careful not to delete anything outside that block; leave the other sections (DirectX, VCRedist, etc.) intact.
  • Save the changes to installscript.vdf. (If Windows prevents saving to that folder, you might need to copy the file to Desktop, edit, then copy it back, or run your editor as administrator.)
  • Delete the installer file: In the same game directory, navigate to the “Setup” subfolder. There, find and delete the file “amd_dc_opt.exe”. This is the actual installer for the optimizer. Removing it ensures Steam can’t run it.

• Launch the game: You can now start Arkham City from Steam. This time, it should skip installing the AMD Dual-Core Optimizer entirely. You’ve effectively tricked the game into thinking the optimizer is already handled. Play for a while and see if you notice smoother performance – many users report that removing this “junkware” eliminates random stutters and even improves frame rates by freeing up CPU threads.

Note: Avoid verifying the game files through Steam after this. Verifying integrity will re-download the original installscript.vdf and the optimizer installer, undoing our changes. If that happens, simply repeat the edit above to remove the AMD optimizer again. (Steam typically doesn’t verify install scripts unless you prompt it, so it shouldn’t be an issue in everyday use.)

Arkham City’s PC version allows further optimization through its configuration files (the .ini files). These files contain many engine settings – some not exposed in the in-game menus – that control how the game uses your CPU and GPU. Tweaking a few of these values can dramatically improve performance on modern hardware. We will focus on the DefaultEngine.ini file, which holds the default engine settings, and ensure the game allocates enough memory and resources for your AMD GPU/CPU. The idea is to override the old, low limits (meant for 2011-era PCs) with settings appropriate for today’s systems. This will reduce asset streaming hiccups, improve frame consistency, and let your GPU work at its full potential.

Why these tweaks matter: Rocksteady (the developer) had to accommodate a wide range of PC hardware at release, and in doing so they set conservative defaults – for instance, limiting how much VRAM the game can use for textures, or capping frame rates with an engine “smoothing” filter. On modern AMD cards (which often have plenty of VRAM and advanced drivers), you can safely raise these limits. By editing the INI, we’ll instruct the engine to use a larger texture pool (reducing texture pop-in and stutter), keep more objects in memory (reducing CPU load from constantly re-loading assets), and allow higher frame rates. These changes benefit all modern systems, but especially AMD GPUs which historically had very large memory pools and can handle more data if the game allows. AMD CPUs also benefit, as the tweaks can better utilize multi-core processing and prevent the engine from idling or choking due to legacy frame caps.

• Locate the configuration file: Navigate to the game’s installation folder (...\Batman Arkham City GOTY\BmGame\Config). Find DefaultEngine.ini in this folder. (If you have the game from Epic or GOG, the path will be similar in the game install directory.) Make a backup of this file (copy it somewhere safe) before editing, just in case. Then open the original DefaultEngine.ini with Notepad or your preferred text editor.
  
  
• Modify key settings: Using your editor’s search function, find the following parameters and change their values as indicated:
  
  • Texture Pool Size (VRAM Usage) – Search for PoolSize. This setting defines how much VRAM (video memory) the game can use for textures. By default it’s around 512 MB (an “abysmal” value by today’s standards). Increase it to match your GPU’s VRAM. For example, if you have a 4 GB graphics card, set:
  PoolSize=4096
  If you’re unsure or have more VRAM (8 GB, 12 GB, etc.), a safe value is around 4096 (4GB) as a conservative high setting. This ensures the game can load high-resolution textures without constantly swapping them in and out of memory (a major cause of stuttering). AMD GPUs with 8+ GB can even try higher (e.g. 8192 for 8GB), but 4096 is usually sufficient and stable for most cases.
  
  • Permanent Object Pool (World Memory) – Search for SizeOfPermanentObjectPool. The default value is 11600000 (around 11.6 MB). This pool is used for storing objects in memory. We’ll double it to give the game more headroom. Change the number 116 to 232, keeping the rest the same. For example:
  SizeOfPermanentObjectPool=23200000
  Doubling this pool (from ~11 MB to ~23 MB) allows the engine to keep more game objects loaded, which reduces hitching when new areas or characters appear. This is particularly helpful in an open-world environment like Arkham City where you stream in assets as Batman glides around. It puts slightly more load on RAM, but 23 MB is trivial for any modern system with many gigabytes of memory.
  
  • Streaming Hysteresis (Loading Threshold) – Search for HysteresisLimit. By default this is set to 15. It’s a somewhat obscure setting related to how aggressive the engine is in unloading textures/meshes when they are no longer needed. Setting this to 0 has been found to smooth out performance. Change the line to:
  HysteresisLimit=0
  With this tweak, the game won’t prematurely dump assets from memory, which in turn avoids the “yo-yo” effect of loading/unloading that can cause micro-stutters. In testing, setting HysteresisLimit to 0 helped stabilize frame times, especially on systems with lots of RAM and VRAM, which describes most modern AMD setups. (This setting isn’t very well documented, but community fixes suggest zeroing it out works best for Arkham City.)
  
  • Frame Rate Smoothing/Cap – You can also adjust the engine’s frame rate cap. By default, Arkham City had a 62 FPS cap (smoothing) on PC, which might limit performance on high-refresh monitors. To allow higher frame rates, find MaxSmoothedFrameRate and set it to a value a bit above your monitor’s refresh rate. For example, if you have a 144 Hz monitor, use:
  MaxSmoothedFrameRate=146
  Next, find bSmoothFrameRate and set it to FALSE (this disables the smoothing enforcement). These two changes together remove the 62 FPS limit and let you enjoy uncapped or higher-capped FPS. On a powerful AMD GPU, Arkham City can easily exceed 60 FPS, so you’ll want this change to fully utilize your hardware. (If you prefer to lock the game at a specific frame rate for consistency, you can set bSmoothFrameRate=TRUE and just adjust the MaxSmoothedFrameRate to your desired cap instead. But most users will want it off.)

• Apply the changes: Save the edited DefaultEngine.ini. Important: Arkham City might also use a user-specific config file in your Documents folder (e.g. under Documents\WB Games\Batman Arkham City GOTY\BmGame\Config\BmEngine.ini). The game tends to copy the defaults from the install directory into the Documents config on first launch. To ensure your new settings take effect, you have a couple of options:
  • The simple way: After editing the DefaultEngine.ini in the game folder, delete the BmEngine.ini (and any other .ini files) in your Documents BmGame\Config folder. The next time you launch the game, it will recreate those files using the updated defaults you set. This means your changes (PoolSize, etc.) get copied into the new config. You can then adjust in-game settings normally and they’ll save to Documents without overriding the performance tweaks.
  • Alternatively, you can edit the BmEngine.ini in Documents directly with the same changes (PoolSize, etc.), which achieves the same outcome. If you do this, set that file to “Read-Only” in Windows file properties before launching the game, to prevent the game or PhysX from reverting the values. (Arkham City is known to reset certain values when launching, especially if PhysX effects are on, unless the file is read-only.)
  
  
• Verify the improvement: Play the game in a variety of scenarios (busy combat scenes, gliding over the city, etc.). With these INI tweaks, you should notice substantially smoother streaming – fewer sudden frame drops when moving into new areas quickly. Textures and world details will load more seamlessly (since the engine isn’t constrained by a tiny memory pool). Many players report that these changes eliminate most of the stutter and FPS drops that were present even on high-end GPUs. Your AMD GPU should now be utilized more fully (check usage with Radeon Overlay or similar; it may jump closer to 99% usage in areas where it was previously lower due to engine limits). Similarly, your CPU should handle the game with less erratic workload spikes.

Note: The above values are recommended starting points. Feel free to experiment within safe ranges. For example, if you have a 16GB Radeon card, you might try PoolSize=8192 or higher. If your system has slightly lower specs, you might only bump the pool to 2048 (2GB) if 4096 seems to cause issues.

At this point, the most common culprits for poor performance (the dual-core optimizer and default engine limits) have been addressed. If you’re still looking for extra improvements or have specific issues, consider the following additional tweaks. These are optional and a bit more advanced, but can further enhance your experience on AMD. Tackle only the ones relevant to you:

• In-Game Settings – Turn Off NVIDIA-exclusive Features: Arkham City offers some graphics options that don’t play well with AMD hardware. Notably, PhysX effects and certain DirectX 11 (“DX11”) enhancements can severely impact performance on AMD GPUs/CPUs. PhysX is an NVIDIA physics engine; on AMD systems, it runs on the CPU, leading to huge slowdowns during heavy effects (e.g. paper debris, fog, etc.). If you had PhysX set to High or Normal, consider switching it Off or Low in the game’s settings. This can easily give you a jump from sub-30 FPS to smooth performance during physics-heavy scenes. Likewise, disable DX11 features like tessellation, ambient occlusion, and enhanced shadows in the launcher or graphics menu. Arkham City’s DX11 mode was notoriously buggy and stuttery even on high-end PCs, and the developers themselves suggested using DX9 mode as a workaround. Many players (and even reviewers) found that running the game with DX11 features off doubled their frame rates and eliminated stutter, with only minor differences in visuals. In summary: for best stability on AMD, stick to DX9-level settings (you’ll still get great graphics) and avoid PhysX beyond baseline effects.
  
  
• Update or Adjust AMD Graphics Drivers: Ensure you are using a modern AMD Adrenalin driver for your Radeon GPU. New drivers include performance optimizations and fixes for older games. Check AMD’s release notes; sometimes specific issues (like DX11 performance in certain titles) are improved in newer revisions. If you experience any issues like crashes, you might also experiment with slightly older drivers known for stability with Arkham City (community forums can be a good resource for this). Additionally, in AMD Radeon Software, you can create a game profile for Arkham City and try toggling features like Anti-Lag (which can reduce input lag) or Radeon Chill (which you’d likely keep off to maintain higher FPS). Generally, leave anisotropic filtering and tessellation in the driver at “Use application settings,” and let the game or your .ini tweaks handle it. One driver setting to consider is Surface Format Optimization – it’s usually on by default and can improve performance with negligible image quality loss; keep it enabled. Finally, if you’re comfortable, you could try using RadeonPro or MSI Afterburner RTSS to cap your FPS (instead of the in-engine smoothing) if you want an external limiter – this can sometimes produce even steadier frame pacing.
  
  
• Windows and BIOS Settings: Make sure your system isn’t inadvertently throttling your performance. On Windows, use the High Performance power plan (or Ultimate Performance on Windows 10/11 if available) to prevent the CPU from downclocking when you play. Also, close unnecessary background applications (web browsers, recording software etc.) that might steal CPU cycles or cause interruptions. For AMD CPUs specifically, there’s an interesting tip: disable SMT (Simultaneous Multithreading) in BIOS when playing some older games. SMT (AMD’s version of hyper-threading) doubles your thread count – e.g. a 6-core Ryzen 5 has 12 threads with SMT on. Some older game engines don’t handle high thread counts well or can schedule tasks suboptimally across too many threads. Disabling SMT (so the CPU runs with only physical cores) has been reported to make certain older titles run smoother. This is a very invasive tweak (it requires a reboot into BIOS and turning off a CPU feature), and not generally necessary for Arkham City in most cases. But if you have, say, a Ryzen 9 with 16 cores (32 threads) and you still see stutters, you could test with SMT off to see if it helps. (Always revert once you’re done playing, since SMT is beneficial for almost all modern applications.)
  
  
• Community Mods and Tools: The Batman Arkham community has created some excellent utilities to improve the game’s performance and add features. One highly recommended tool is the “Batman Arkham City – Advanced Launcher” by Neato. This is a replacement launcher application that gives you more configuration options and automatically applies many of the tweaks we did manually. For instance, it can manage the .ini file adjustments (so you don’t have to edit files by hand or set them read-only), and it supports high-resolution texture packs and other enhancements without losing stability. Using such a launcher can simplify tweaking and ensure the settings “stick” every time you play. You can find this on Nexus Mods (it’s a small download). Another community creation is the Arkham City Community Patch, which, among various fixes, might include some performance improvements and general bugfixes for the game – this is optional, but worth looking into if you want the most polished experience beyond just performance (it can restore cut content and fix bugs, as noted on its page). Always read the documentation for these mods to install them correctly. And as with any mod, use them at your own discretion – they are well-regarded in the community, but official support won’t cover issues caused by unofficial modifications.
  
  
• Use Vulkan Wrappers for DirectX (Advanced): For the truly tech-savvy, there’s an advanced trick: using a DirectX-to-Vulkan translation layer like DXVK. DXVK is a technology mostly used in Linux/Proton, but Windows users can employ it too by dropping in special DLL files. Essentially, it would make Arkham City render via Vulkan instead of native DirectX 9/11. Why do this? Vulkan can handle multi-threaded rendering and memory management more efficiently on modern GPUs, and some users have found that it eliminates residual stutters and improves GPU utilization on both AMD and NVIDIA cards. In one case, a player with an AMD RX 580 noted that DX11 mode ran poorly (~30–40 FPS) but using a Vulkan wrapper (forcing the game into DX9 + D9VK) gave a consistent 60 FPS at 4K with max settings. This approach is a bit experimental, and results can vary. If you’re happy with the performance after Steps 1 and 2, you likely don’t need to go this far. But if you love to tinker: look up a guide on using DXVK with Arkham City – it usually involves copying d3d9.dll (for DX9 mode) or d3d11.dll and dxgi.dll (for DX11 mode) from the DXVK release into the game folder. Always back up the original files if they exist. The benefit, especially on AMD GPUs, is that Vulkan drivers are very well optimized and may circumvent some of the old bottlenecks of DirectX. Again, this is an optional tweak for enthusiasts; the majority of players won’t need to go this far, but it’s good to know the option is there.
  
  
• Hardware considerations: Finally, ensure your hardware is running optimally. Arkham City isn’t very demanding by today’s standards, but to get flawless performance in all cases (e.g. 4K resolution, or with HD texture mods), you’ll want at least a mid-range modern GPU and a decent CPU. If you’re on an AMD APU (integrated graphics), your performance will be limited compared to using a dedicated GPU – consider lowering resolution or settings in that case rather than applying more tweaks. If you have a mix of hardware (like an AMD CPU but an NVIDIA GPU, or vice versa), most of this guide still applies – you’d just handle PhysX differently if you actually have an NVIDIA card (then you can enable it on the GPU, but keep in mind Arkham City’s PhysX effects can even strain older NVIDIA GPUs). Also, running the game on an SSD vs. an HDD can make a difference in streaming hitches. The open-world streaming in Unreal Engine benefits from the faster disk access of an SSD.

By following this guide, you’ve addressed Batman: Arkham City’s most common performance pitfalls on AMD hardware. We started with a simple fix – removing the legacy AMD Dual-Core Optimizer – which alone frees your CPU from a potentially harmful constraint. Next, we fine-tuned the game’s engine settings via INI files, allocating more VRAM and adjusting thread handling to better suit modern AMD CPUs and GPUs. Finally, we explored additional tweaks: from turning off demanding NVIDIA-only effects, to using community-made launchers and considering driver/Windows-level optimizations. Each step can be applied gradually – you can test the game after each change to observe its effect, which is a great way to learn how each tweak improves your experience.

After these optimizations, Arkham City should run significantly smoother. Expect more consistent frame rates, far fewer stutters when gliding around the city, and better overall stability (no random slowdowns after playing for a while). The game will feel more responsive, too – especially if you uncapped the frame rate and disabled smoothing, making combat and camera movement more fluid. In short, you get to enjoy this classic Batman title in its full glory on your AMD rig, without technical annoyances getting in the way of the fun.

Feel free to share your results or any further tweaks you discover. PC gaming is all about community knowledge, and what works best can sometimes vary by system – your feedback could help others with similar setups. And if you encounter a stubborn issue, the Arkham community forums and subreddits are still active with folks who can offer tips (just as we cited in this guide). Now, don the cape and cowl, and venture back into Arkham City – Batman (and your CPU/GPU) are ready for action with optimal performance! Enjoy the game, and happy crime-fighting in Gotham.

Sources: Community forums and guides were referenced to ensure the effectiveness of these optimizations, including a Steam user’s detailed fix outline, configuration tweaks verified by player guides, and insights from PC performance analyses. These changes have been tested and reported by many players to yield a smoother Arkham City experience on modern hardware. Remember that every PC can behave slightly differently – but the steps above are proven safe and beneficial in the vast majority of cases. Game on!