Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 PC Optimized Settings + Comparisons

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is out on PC and consoles following the launch of the original nearly a decade ago. The game is off to a strong start, peaking at 175K concurrent players on Steam. Built on a modified version of the Cry Engine, it retains the look and feel of its predecessor. There’s no ray or path tracing, but voxel-based lighting is just enough to give the game a modern look. Here’s how Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 performs on PC with a detailed look at the optimized settings for various systems.

Windows/System Settings to Optimize

• Enable Resizable BAR.
• Turn on Game Mode.
• Enable Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS) and Windowed Optimizations.
• Use the Windows “High Performance” power profile and set your GPU power management mode to the same.
• Disable Memory Integrity. Windows Menu->VBS->Device Security.
• Ensure you use the proper XMP/EXPO memory profile (if available).
• Overclock your GPU if you’re narrowly missing the 60 FPS mark.
• Here’s a guide with more detailed instructions.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 PC: System Requirements

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Kingdom Come Deliverance 2: Graphics & Resolution Scaling

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 averages 67 FPS at 1440p, up from just 46 FPS at 4K using the “Experimental” quality graphics settings. QHD to 1080p shows minimal scaling, dropping to single-digit percentages with upscaling. This is likely the result of a CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions, especially FHD.

In smaller towns and villages, the GeForce RTX 4090 produces ~100 FPS on average with performance mode upscaling. Unfortunately, resolution-based performance scaling drops to 20% at 1440p and less than 10% at 1080p.

Test Setup

• CPU: Intel Core i9-12900K @ 5.3 GHz.
• Cooler: Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420.
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4090 FE.
• Motherboard: MSI PRO Z790-P WIFI.
• Memory: 16 GB x2 @ 6000 MT/s CL30.

The graphics presets show remarkable scaling. We measured averages of 62 FPS at “Experimental,” 85 FPS at “Ultra,” 114 FPS at “High,” 136 FPS at “Medium,” and 164 FPS at the “Low” quality preset at 4K using DLSS quality mode upscaling.

Object Detail, Lighting & GI

Object Detail controls the LOD (Level of Detail), adjusting the geometric detail of trees, buildings, clutter, and other man-made objects in the scene. Distance objects are replaced by blocky, low-poly models similar to blobs at lower-quality options. The performance impact ranges from 7-14%, with high being the sweet spot.

Voxel Cone Tracing consists of three primary steps. First, the scene is voxelized into a sparse 3D grid of voxels (3D pixels). Second, each voxel needs to be injected with the incoming lighting (direct illumination) from various luminous sources in the scene. Lastly, several cones are traced from each shaded pixel into the voxelized scene.

Each cone probes numerous smaller voxels closer to origin and fewer (larger) voxels further away. Therefore, the lighting contribution from the surrounding voxels drops the farther the cone goes. The lighting data from the voxels in the cone’s path is used to calculate the indirect lighting at the pixel.

After the first cone bounce, the collected lighting data is stored in the voxels. Then a second set of cones are traced from the updated voxels, simulating multiple bounce global illumination. It is much more accurate for indoor scenes as it simulates lighting bouncing around in an enclosed space but is quite intensive.

Particle Quality sets the resolution of particle effects, including dust, leaves, rain, destruction, etc. The performance impact is minimal, incurred only when the effects are applied. Consequently, the exact metrics are hard to pin down.

Lighting sets the number of artificial light-casting sources in the scene. It also defines the quality of the shadows cast by these lights. The lowest quality disables most shadows, while ultra and above enable distant shadows. The performance impact of lighting is minimal (1-2%).

Shaders & Shadows

Post Processing adjusts the quality of various blur effects (depth of field, motion blur), bloom, and lens flare. Luckily, it doesn’t perceivably impact the game’s performance.

Volumetrics & Vegetation Detail

Volumetric Effects sets the resolution of godrays, fog, and clouds. It has a subtle 2-3% performance impact, with experimental quality dropping the 1% lows by up to 10%.

Character Detail sets the detail and draw distance of NPCs. In most smaller towns and villages, its performance impact is negligible. However, in Kuttenberg and other larger settlements, it’ll likely drain framerates on midrange and lower-end PCs. I’m yet to progress that far, so you’ll have to wait a bit longer for the numbers.

Upscaling & Anti-Aliasing

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 features SMAA, temporal SMAA, DLSS 3.7, and FSR 3 upscaling. Performance scaling past the quality mode is limited due to the game’s CPU-bound nature. This preset grants a 30-35% performance uplift over native 4K.

Despite utilizing the older version of DLSS, the upscaler works perfectly, producing native-quality images in performance mode. FSR substantially degrades quality, losing much of the finer details.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2: VRAM Usage

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 uses nearly 15 GB of graphics memory in the “Experimental” quality mode at 4K. Enabling upscaling brings it down to 13 GB, while switching to ultra quality further reduces it to 12 GB. Scaling down to the lowest quality mode results in an average VRAM consumption of 11.5 GB. QHD or 1440p uses 13 GB, while 1080p averages over 12.5 GB at the highest quality preset (with DLAA).

To run the game comfortably at the maximum quality settings of 1080p and 1440p, you’ll need a 12 GB VRAM buffer, while 4K requires a 16 GB GPU.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2: CPU Bottlenecks

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is mildly CPU-bound, with a GPU-Busy deviation of 12% at 1080p using performance mode upscaling. QHD or 1440p shows minimal bottlenecking (a deviation of under 5%), while 4K is completely GPU-bound.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Performance Summary

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 isn’t a particularly taxing game, but it can strain most PCs at the highest (Experimental) quality mode. Here are the most taxing graphics settings of KCD 2:

• Shadow Quality: Most users will want to stick to the ultra quality. The experimental mode produces significantly more detailed silhouettes, is 10-15% slower, and uses nearly a while GB of VRAM.
• Global Illumination: Multi-bounce SVOGI is enabled at ultra and above. It’s a generational upgrade over traditional SSAO but is 10% slower even on the fastest PCs.
• Vegetation: The highest quality option enables detailed shadows for distant grass patches, but costs up to 12% FPS.
• Object Detail: If you’re still falling short of your target performance, consider dropping this to high for an 8-10% boost.

Best Settings for Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 on PC

Optimized Settings	High-end	Midrange	Low-end PC
Resolution	4K	1440p	1080p
Target FPS	60 FPS	60 FPS	60 FPS
V-Sync (Enforce from CP)	Off	Off	Off
Object Quality	Experimental	Experimental	Ultra/Experimental
Particles	Experimental	Experimental	Ultra
Lighting	Experimental	Experimental	Ultra
Global Illumination	Experimental	Ultra	Ultra
Postprocess Quality	Experimental	Ultra	Ultra
Shader Quality	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental
Shadows	Experimental	Ultra	Ultra
Textures	Experimental	Experimental	Ultra
Volumetrics Effects	Experimental	Experimental	Ultra
Vegetation Detail	Ultra	Ultra	Ultra
Character Detail	Experimental*	Ultra*	Ultra*
Res Scaling (DLSS/FSR)	Performance	Balanced	Balanced
FOV, Depth of Field, Motion Blur	Up to you	Up to you	Up to you

	High-end (4K)	Mid-range (1440p)	Low-end (1080p)
CPU	Core i7-13700K|Ryzen 7 7700X	Core i5-12600K|Ryzen 5 7600	Core i5-12400 AMD Ryzen 5 3600
GPU	GeForce RTX 4080 Super	GeForce RTX 4070 Super	RTX 3060|RTX 4060
Memory	32GB (dual-channel)	16GB (dual-channel)	Less than: 16GB (dual-channel)

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Optimized Settings	RTX 4090	RTX 4080 Super	RTX 4070 Ti	RTX 4070 Super	RTX 4070
Resolution	4K	4K	4K|1440p	4K|1440p	4K|1440p
Target FPS	60 FPS	60 FPS	60 FPS	60 FPS	60 FPS
V-Sync (Enforce from CP)	Off	Off	Off	Off	Off
Object Quality	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental	Ultra|Experimental
Particles	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental
Lighting	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental
Global Illumination	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental
Postprocess Quality	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental
Shader Quality	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental
Shadows	Experimental	Experimental	Ultra	Ultra	Ultra
Textures	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental
Volumetrics Effects	Experimental	Ultra	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental
Vegetation Detail	Experimental	Ultra	Ultra|Experimental	Ultra|Experimental	Ultra|Experimental
Character Detail	Experimental*	Experimental*	Experimental*	Experimental*	Experimental*
Res Scaling (DLSS/FSR)	Balanced	Performance	Performance|Balanced	Performance|Balanced	Performance|Balanced
FOV, Depth of Field, Motion Blur	Up to you	Up to you	Up to you	Up to you	Up to you

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2: Best Settings for Low-end PC

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 runs well on budget and low-end hardware. On our $650 build, we averaged a healthy 62 FPS tearing through a heavily forested area around sunset. These framerates were achieved using a mix of high and ultra-quality settings at 1080p with DLSS upscaling set to balanced mode. Here’s our add-on guide for low-end PCs.

Optimized Settings	RTX 3060	RTX 4060	RTX 3060 Ti
Resolution	1080p	1080p	1080p
Target FPS	60 FPS	60 FPS	60 FPS
V-Sync (Enforce from CP)	Off	Off	Off
Object Quality	High	Ultra	Ultra
Particles	Ultra	Ultra	Ultra
Lighting	Ultra	Ultra	Ultra
Global Illumination	High	High	Ultra
Postprocess Quality	Ultra	Ultra	Ultra
Shader Quality	High	Experimental	Experimental
Shadows	Ultra	Ultra	Ultra
Textures	Experimental	Experimental	Experimental
Volumetrics Effects	Ultra	Ultra	Ultra
Vegetation Detail	High	High	High
Character Detail	High	High	High
Res Scaling (DLSS/FSR)	Balanced	Balanced	Balanced
FOV, Depth of Field, Motion Blur	Up to you	Up to you	Up to you