Which API to use for Baldurs Gate 3 on PC: Vulkan or DirectX11?

The PC release of Baldurs Gate 3 brings with it several options. Players can change their graphical quality and adjust gameplay settings per their preferences at any time in-game. On the topic of graphical quality and performance, players can find themselves in a pickle when launching the game. The game offers players the choice between picking the DirectX or Vulkan API before it starts, which can be puzzling for many.

Read on to learn more about these APIs in-game and the pros and cons of either choice.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the author’s opinions.

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Most players should choose Vulkan over DirectX11 as their API in Baldurs Gate 3

While the differences between the two APIs are quite minimal in Baldurs Gate 3, most players should stick to Vulkan if possible. In particular, players owning AMD or Intel graphics cards should pick Vulkan over DirectX 11. The Vulkan API should offer marginally better performance over DirectX 11 for these brands of graphics cards.

On the other hand, players using the Nvidia RTX series of cards might find it better to use the DirectX 11 API instead. DirectX11 will allow for proper utilization of the DLSS tech that is baked into the Nvidia RTX 20xx and 30xx series of GPUs, which is a complete game changer compared to the aging FSR 1.0 alternative in the game's current build.

Owners of the Nvidia GTX series of cards are better off sticking to Vulkan, however.

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What are the advantages of Vulkan over the DirectX 11 API in Baldurs Gate 3?

Compared to Vulkan, DirectX 11 is quite a bit older. As such, DirectX 11 does not possess all the bells and whistles compared to its newer counterpart, DirectX12 or even Vulkan. In short, DirectX is, in general, a lot less efficient compared to Vulkan for GPU-intensive operations.

Proper utilization of the Vulkan backend will result in a very noticeable uplift in GPU performance across all video game titles. A good example of this would be the excellent DOOM (2016), which had both OpenGL and Vulkan options.

While the OpenGL version was in no way underperforming, the Vulkan version of the game resulted in sizable FPS gains - making it playable across a variety of lower-end hardware (such as integrated GPUs, much like that of the Steam Deck). Another example of Vulkan being a better choice is in the recent Red Dead Redemption 2.

However, it should be kept in mind that the current build of Baldurs Gate 3 contains many features that are still considered “experimental” by the dev team. As such, FSR and Vulkan are still not polished enough within the game to be considered “perfect.”

These issues are expected to be ironed out with future patches to Baldurs Gate 3.