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The reliable way to fix Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 stutter is to measure the problem first, then change the setting that matches the bottleneck. Put the game on an SSD, update the game and graphics driver, verify the installation, remove mods and overlays for a clean test, and record average FPS plus 1% lows. Start from the High preset, lower Shadows and Vegetation detail if necessary, and use DLSS or FSR in Quality or Balanced mode. If the GPU is fully loaded, tune resolution or upscaling; if GPU usage drops in crowded areas while a CPU thread is busy, a lower resolution will not cure the hitch.
Check whether your PC meets the game’s requirements
Performance problems are easier to solve when the machine is compared with the official baseline. Steam lists Windows 10 64-bit or newer, an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600, 16 GB of RAM, a GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB or Radeon RX 580, 100 GB of storage, and an SSD as the minimum specification. The recommended target is a Core i7-13700K or Ryzen 7 7800X3D, 32 GB of RAM, a GeForce RTX 4070 or Radeon RX 7800 XT, and an SSD. These are support targets, not a promise of a fixed frame rate in every town or at every resolution.
| Component | Minimum listed by Steam | Recommended listed by Steam |
|---|---|---|
| Operating system | Windows 10 64-bit or newer | Windows 10 64-bit or newer |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600 | Intel Core i7-13700K or AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D |
| Memory | 16 GB RAM | 32 GB RAM |
| Graphics | GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB or Radeon RX 580 | GeForce RTX 4070 or Radeon RX 7800 XT |
| Storage | 100 GB and an SSD | SSD |
What the requirement table tells you
Sixteen gigabytes can run the game when the rest of the system is suitable, but 32 GB gives the recommended amount of headroom for a demanding open-world title. An SSD is explicitly required; a hard disk can turn streaming into pauses even when the graphics card is fast enough. If the game is already on a healthy SSD and you have adequate free space, buying a faster SSD will not compensate for a CPU or GPU limit.
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Establish a clean, repeatable baseline
Do not judge a fix from a single walk through a town. Pick one repeatable route that includes the location where the hitch occurs, and record the same resolution, preset, upscaler mode, average FPS, and 1% low each time. The 1% low is especially useful: average FPS can look healthy while short frame-time spikes make movement feel uneven.
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- Install the latest game build offered by your launcher.
- Install the current graphics driver for your GPU.
- Temporarily remove mods, ReShade files, and third-party overlays. They can be restored after the unmodified game is stable.
- In Steam, open Library, right-click the game, choose Properties, open Installed Files, and select Verify integrity of game files. Use the equivalent verification command if you launch through another store.
- Write down your location, resolution, preset, upscaler and mode, average FPS, and 1% low before changing a setting.
- Reproduce the hitch on the same route after each change, allowing the game to stream the area again before comparing results.
PLAION’s support hub provides PC help, technical FAQs, patch notes, and a bug-report channel. If a clean installation still exhibits the same reproducible fault, include your hardware, driver, location, settings, and frame-time observations in the report.
Use High as the starting graphics preset
High is the practical starting point. PC Gamer’s 2025 comparative testing found it the best balance and reported that most tested systems reached 60 FPS or more at 1080p and 1440p on High. Moving from High to Ultra cost roughly 20% average frame rate in that test set, while the Ultra-versus-High comparison was also described as about a 26% performance hit in the tested systems. The difference reflects different test comparisons, so treat both figures as PC Gamer measurements rather than universal values.
| Preset choice | Measured performance effect | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| High | Baseline recommended by PC Gamer; most tested systems reached 60 FPS or more at 1080p and 1440p | Start here and tune individual options |
| Ultra | About 20% lower average FPS than High in one PC Gamer comparison; elsewhere characterized as about a 26% hit | Use only after your frame-time target is already met |
| Experimental | About 30% additional performance cost over Ultra in PC Gamer’s tested systems, for a modest visual gain | Reserve for high-end hardware and discretionary image quality |
Lower the expensive options first
If High is close to your target but not quite smooth, lower Shadows and Vegetation detail before dropping the entire preset. These changes preserve more of the overall image than moving every option to Medium. Test one option at a time so you know which change helped.
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TechSpot’s 2025 GPU testing illustrates the range rather than guaranteeing it: at 1080p Medium, every tested GPU exceeded 60 FPS, including the Radeon RX 6600. At native 1440p Medium, an RTX 3060 averaged about 59 FPS and an RTX 4060 about 63 FPS. Those figures came from TechSpot’s defined test system and location; your processor, driver, background load, and scene can produce different results.
Choose DLSS or FSR without creating new blur
Upscaling renders internally below your output resolution and reconstructs the final image. It can relieve a GPU that is already saturated, but it has little power against a CPU limit.
DLSS options on GeForce hardware
NVIDIA documents DLSS Super Resolution support in the game. Users of the NVIDIA app can apply the DLSS 4 transformer model override, and DLAA is available when you prefer native-resolution anti-aliasing rather than a performance gain. The transformer override changes the reconstruction model; it does not remove a CPU bottleneck.
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FSR options on Radeon and other hardware
PC Gamer found both FSR and DLSS cleanly implemented. Begin with Quality. Move to Balanced when monitoring shows that the GPU is the limit. At 1080p, PC Gamer warns that Performance mode uses an unusually low internal resolution and can make books and inventory text uncomfortably blurry.
| Upscaler mode | Likely use | Image-quality trade-off | Effect on 1% lows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality | First choice when the GPU needs relief | Smallest reduction among the useful performance modes | Can help only when the GPU is limiting |
| Balanced | More GPU relief after Quality is insufficient | More softness, especially on fine detail | May improve lows with a GPU bottleneck; not a cure for CPU hitches |
| Performance | Last resort, mainly at higher output resolutions | At 1080p, text in books and inventory can become too blurry | Does not solve CPU-limited lows |
| Native resolution or DLAA | When image quality matters more than extra FPS | No upscaling blur; DLAA costs performance compared with DLSS Super Resolution | Only useful if your existing headroom is sufficient |
In PC Gamer’s Radeon RX 7800 XT test, FSR increased average FPS by as much as 36%, but 1% lows improved only 21% because the processor became the limiting factor. That gap is why an upscaler can make the FPS counter look better without eliminating a hitch in a crowded settlement.
Identify the bottleneck before buying hardware
Use a frame-time and utilization overlay while reproducing the problem. Watch GPU utilization, per-thread CPU activity, VRAM allocation, average FPS, and 1% lows together.
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Signs of a GPU limit
- GPU utilization stays close to full during the slow scene.
- Lowering resolution or moving from native rendering to DLSS/FSR Quality produces a clear frame-time improvement.
- VRAM allocation is close to the card’s capacity and hitches appear when entering detailed areas.
For this case, keep High settings, reduce Shadows or Vegetation detail, and try Quality or Balanced upscaling. If the GPU remains saturated and your target still is not met, a faster GPU is the hardware change that addresses the measured limit.
Signs of a CPU or game-thread limit
- GPU utilization falls during the hitch instead of remaining near full.
- One or more CPU threads are heavily loaded while the graphics card waits.
- The problem is concentrated in dense settlements or busy scenes, and lowering resolution changes average FPS but barely changes 1% lows.
PC Gamer described the game as quite CPU-heavy in its 2025 testing. In this situation, reduce CPU-heavy world-detail or crowd-related options where the game exposes them, close background workloads, and consider a faster CPU platform only after the measurement confirms the limit.
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Match the symptom to the likely cause
Hitching after entering a new area
Confirm that the installation is on an SSD and that the drive is healthy and not nearly full. Verify the game files, remove mods, and repeat the same route in the unmodified build. An SSD upgrade is relevant when the game is still on a hard disk, an aging SATA drive, a failing drive, or a saturated system drive. It is not a replacement for insufficient CPU or GPU performance.
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Stutter only above High
Check VRAM allocation while the hitch occurs. PC Gamer saw occasional stutter on a 6 GB RTX 4050 laptop at presets above High and suspected that more than 8 GB of VRAM may be needed for 1440p High or higher in that workload. Lower textures or the preset, then retest; do not treat that observation as a universal VRAM requirement for every card or location.
Low FPS mainly in Kuttenberg or other crowded settlements
Compare GPU utilization during the town hitch with utilization on an open-road route. If the GPU is underused while a CPU thread is busy, lower image resolution only if you also want a higher average in lighter scenes; it is unlikely to restore the 1% low in the settlement. A CPU/platform upgrade is more relevant than buying a faster graphics card in that pattern.
Stutter after installing a mod, overlay, or reshade
Disable every add-on and overlay, verify files, and test the stock game. Re-enable one component at a time only after the baseline is smooth. This isolates conflicts without permanently deleting your preferred configuration.
Compare fixes by what they actually change
| Fix | Bottleneck addressed | Average FPS versus 1% lows | Image-quality cost | Cost and reversibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High preset with lower Shadows and Vegetation | GPU load; sometimes scene complexity | Usually raises both when the GPU is limiting; may barely move CPU-limited lows | Moderate reduction in shadows or foliage detail | Free and fully reversible |
| DLSS or FSR Quality/Balanced | Primarily GPU load | Can raise average and lows on a GPU-bound system; limited effect on CPU-bound lows | Some reconstruction softness; Performance is notably blurry at 1080p | Free and reversible |
| Remove mods, overlays, and verify files | Software integrity and conflicts | Varies; can eliminate inconsistent hitching caused by a conflict | None in the unmodified game | Free and reversible |
| Move the game to a healthy SSD | Storage streaming | May reduce streaming pauses; does not raise CPU- or GPU-limited FPS | None | Hardware purchase; migration is reversible |
| GPU upgrade | Sustained GPU saturation or VRAM pressure | Raises averages and lows when monitoring confirms a GPU limit | None, unless you use the extra headroom for higher settings | Higher hardware cost; not reversible without reselling |
| CPU/platform upgrade | Busy-thread and settlement CPU limits | Most relevant to 1% lows and crowded-area frame times | None | Highest installation cost and least reversible |
When an upgrade is justified
- Choose an SSD only when the game is on a hard disk, the existing drive is failing or saturated, or free space is inadequate. A 1 TB NVMe SSD is a sensible capacity upgrade in those cases, but storage speed alone will not fix a weak processor.
- Choose a GPU when utilization is sustained near 100%, Quality or Balanced upscaling has been tested, and lowering High-level settings improves the measured frame time. Check VRAM as well as raw GPU utilization.
- Choose a CPU and platform when the GPU is underused during the hitch, one or more CPU threads are saturated, and the issue is concentrated in dense settlements. Steam’s recommended Core i7-13700K or Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a target, not a guarantee.
- Choose more RAM when the system is below the 16 GB minimum or monitoring shows memory exhaustion. The official recommended amount is 32 GB; adding memory does not replace a required SSD or solve a GPU saturation problem.
Patch-specific information
PLAION’s Patch 1.5.3 note says the update “focuses on expanding hardware compatibility to ensure a smoother experience for players on the latest generation of portables and ultrabooks.” It adds native Windows-on-ARM support for Snapdragon X Elite devices, with improved frame-rate stability, resource allocation, power use, and thermal behavior. The note states that the update contains no gameplay changes. This is a targeted ARM compatibility update, not a blanket fix for every desktop stutter report.
What published testing can—and cannot—prove
TechSpot reported that “traversal stutter is also completely absent” in its 2025 test configuration and saw no shader-compilation screens. That demonstrates that smooth streaming is possible on a defined system; it does not establish that every PC or every location will be stutter-free. PC Gamer’s preset, upscaling, and VRAM observations come from its own hardware and test scenes. Use them to choose what to measure, not as promises for your build.
No single setting, driver version, registry change, or cache-clearing step is established as a universal cure. If the clean baseline, High preset, targeted upscaling, and bottleneck diagnosis do not identify a cause, document the reproducible case and send it through PLAION’s support and bug-report channels.
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