Rainbow Six Siege replaces Vulkan with DX12: How to switch to DirectX, recommended settings, and more

Rainbow Six Siege replaces Vulkan API with DX12 in the upcoming season - Operation Twin Shells. This decision came out of the blue and took the player base by surprise, naturally facing immense backlash from the community. This is because Vulkan was the better of the two APIs, having very low input latency and stable frame times when compared to its DirectX counterpart.

The developers decided to remove Vulkan just so they could focus on optimizing the game as a whole, instead of having to iron out issues caused by the presence of two different API models. An example that provides clarity to this decision is the visual artifacting that was predominant on Vulkan API during the release of Operation New Blood. It made players temporarily switch to DirectX until Ubisoft patched it with a Hotfix.

In this article, we will cover how players can switch to DirectX 11/12 after Rainbow Six Siege removes Vulkan API, as well as look at some recommended settings to run the game on.

Note: the 'recommended settings' section is subjective and reflects the author's own competitive experience and game knowledge.

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Rainbow Six Siege replaces Vulkan: How to switch to DirectX12

New launch options are available as Rainbow Six Siege replaces Vulkan with DX12 (Image via Steam)

Players might want to know how they can switch to DirectX12 as Rainbow Six Siege replaces Vulkan. The section below will cover how the launch options can be utilized. The available titles for the options are:

• Play Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
• Play Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege DX11

Whether it be Steam or Uplay, the game will allow players to choose from two distinct options while starting the game.

1. You can access these options via a dropdown menu on the right side of the 'Play' button on Uplay.
2. On Steam, players can click the 'Play' button to find a popup window asking for a preference. One can even save the option and have the launcher not ask for a choice every time.

While the first option does not mention an API, it will be using the new DirectX12 options while the latter is marked as the older DX11. Since Rainbow Six Siege replaces Vulkan even on the Test Server, we got a sneak peek of what the launcher will be looking like post-maintenance with the onset of Operation Twin Shells.

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Rainbow Six Siege replaces Vulkan: Recommended Settings for DX12 / DX11

Graphics Settings for Rainbow Six Siege Operation Twin Shells (Image via Ubisoft)

The graphics settings recommended for the best competitive edge and integrity are as follows:

• Texture Quality: Low
• Texture Filtering: Linear
• LOD Quality: High
• Shading Quality: Low
• Shadow Quality: Medium
• Reflection Quality: Low
• VFX Quality: Low
• Ambient Occlusion: Off
• lens Effects: Off
• Zoom-In Depth of Field: Off
• AMD FSR 1.0: Off
• AMD FSR 2.0: Off
• Anti-Aliasing: Off
• Render Scaling: Default (this setting should be Unavailable)
• T-AA Sharpness: Default (this setting should be Unavailable)

The only settings enabled are the ones that are beneficial to players. LOD and Shadows on any setting above Low are the most crucial ones here. However, people who own low-end systems can choose to disable Shadows if they are getting low FPS. The LOD setting does not contribute significantly to fps and can be left on High.

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Rainbow Six Siege replaces Vulkan: DX12 or DX11, which one should you choose?

DX11 is going to be your best bet after Rainbow Six Siege replaces Vulkan with DX12 because results have shown worse lows and highs with slightly worse frame times on the newest API added to the game.

Benchmark results for DX11 (Image via Ubisoft)

Benchmark results for DX12 (Image via Ubisoft)

These APIs were tested on a system running:

• CPU: Ryzen 7 5700X3D
• GPU: AMD RX 7700 XT
• Memory: 16GB DDR4 3600MT/s

Although the newer API is performing worse at launch compared to the older version, hotfixes can make improvements in this department. Therefore, this section of the article is subject to change with further updates expected in the first few weeks of Operation Twin Shells.

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