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As a visually impressive game, Stalker 2 puts a high demand on your system. Even if you have a beastly rig, it might struggle at times. That’s not even taking into account lower-end PCs. That’s why getting in and tinkering with graphics settings is your best bet to get the game looking good and running well. In some cases, there’s a trade-off between the two, especially when taking some optimization issues and errors into account. With this guide, we’ll offer two best graphics settings options for Stalker 2 – one for higher-end PCs that aim to look good while at stable FPS, and another for low-end PCs to help them run the game smoothly and get the most FPS they can.
Best graphics options for fidelity and performance
Set the baseline option to High, even with a more powerful PC. Captured by VIdeoGamer
Set post-processing to High, then lower Motion blur to 0%, which will remove the Motion blur quality option. Captured by VideoGamer
The environmental effects can be a drain on resources, but they are worth it if your PC can handle it. Captured by VideoGamer
First things first, to change your graphics settings, from the main menu go to Options, and select the Graphics tab. Then, set the options as shown in the table below:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Overall | High |
| Texture quality | High |
| Hair | High |
| Object details | High |
| Effects quality | High |
| Materials | High |
| Post processing | High |
| Antialiasing | High |
| Motion blur | 0% |
| Depth of field | High |
| Light shafts | Enabled |
| Sharpness | 20% |
| Upscaling | On (DLSS or FSR Quality or DLAA/FSR Native AA) |
| Upscaling quality | Quality |
| DLSS Frame generation | On |
| FSR 3 Frame generation | Off (if you’re using DLSS Frame generation) On (if you’re not using DLSS Frame generation) |
| Shading quality | High |
| Global illumination | High |
| Reflections | High |
| Shadow quality | High |
| Clouds | High |
| Fog | High |
| Sky | High |
| Foliage quality | High |
| Environment draw distance | High |
These options will still make the game look good while relieving some stress on your hardware and providing more stable FPS. Even if your PC can handle Epic settings, we don’t recommend them, unless you have all the latest-gen components. The game is not too well optimized in its current state, though the devs have reported that they’re working on fixing that as well.
With that, press F to apply the changes you’ve made before moving on. Next, head to the Display tab right next to Graphics. Over there are some native settings that you don’t want to change, such as the Graphics Card and Display. Here’s what you should change:
- Screen Mode: Fullscreen (Exclusive)
- Display resolution: Match your monitor
- Field of view: Set to preference – we recommend trying with 100
- V-Sync: Off
- Frame rate: Limit to your monitor’s refresh rate
- Nvidia Reflex Low Latency: Disabled
- Image encoding: sRGB (LDR)
After that, set up Gamma and Contrast to match your preference and display, and don’t forget to press F again to apply changes.
Stalker 2 can be a dark game to look at, so we’d also sugest increasing the game’s brightness up from the default 50% value. This can vary depending on which type of monitor you have, so tinker until you find the number you’re happy with.
Best graphics options for FPS
As before, go to Options from the main menu and select the Graphics tab. Then, set all the options as shown in the table below:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Overall | Custom |
| Texture quality | High |
| Hair | Medium |
| Object details | Medium |
| Effects quality | Medium |
| Materials | Medium |
| Post processing | High |
| Antialiasing | Medium |
| Motion blur | 0% |
| Depth of field | Low |
| Light shafts | Disabled |
| Sharpness | 10% |
| Upscaling | On – DLSS or FSR Quality or DLAA/FSR Native AA |
| DLSS Frame generation | On |
| FSR 3 Frame generation | Off (if you’re using DLSS Frame generation) On (if you’re not using DLSS Frame generation) |
| Shading quality | Low |
| Global illumination | Low |
| Reflections | Low |
| Shadow quality | Medium |
| Clouds | Low |
| Fog | Low |
| Sky | Medium |
| Foliage quality | Low |
| Environment draw distance | Medium |
These settings are meant for the middling-to-low spectrum of PCs, while maintaining some of the game’s fidelity. If your computer is even older, then turning more options to Low may help to squeeze out a bit more FPS.
As mentioned above, press F to apply the changes to graphics options, then move on to the Display tab to Graphics. Once again, we won’t change settings like the Graphics Card and Display, instead here’s what you should be changing:
- Screen Mode: Fullscreen (Exclusive)
- Display resolution: Match your monitor, but don’t go higher than 1920×1080
- Field of view: Set to preference – we recommend trying with 100
- V-Sync: On
- Frame rate: 60
- Nvidia Reflex Low Latency: Disabled
- Image encoding: sRGB (LDR)
With that done, set up Gamma and Contrast options to your preference, and once again press F to apply the changes you’ve made.
Our testing rig:
- CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070
- RAM: 16 GB DDR 4RAM
- Storage: SSD
Best audio settings
Besides graphics settings, it’s worthwhile checking audio settings as well. Most of these should be set to your preference. However, there are a few options we want to draw your attention to:
- To access Audio settings, select Options from the main menu, then select the Sound tab.
- Master volume: this option changes the sound level across the whole game, however, you can set up individual values with the option below that, namely Music Volume, SFX Volume, and Dialogue Volume.
- Combat music: this option can mute the music that plays during fights. You can use it to better hear your enemies in case you find the music too distracting.
- Mono or Stereo: You can select Mono to direct all sound to a single channel. Stereo mode directs it to two channels, which is the better option in most cases, especially for playing with headphones.
- Dynamic range: This option determines the difference between loud and quiet sounds during gameplay. The higher the setting, the bigger the difference – so turn it up if you want to accentuate bangs and jump scares. If you like playing with a lower volume, then turning this option down will equalize sounds so you can hear everything better.
Related to sound options, Stalker 2 also comes with a Streamer Mode. You can find it in Options under the Game tab. Turning on the Streamer Mode will turn off music that could infringe copyright, so that your stream doesn’t get flagged for it.
With that, you should be ready to start your adventure in the Zone, right after setting up the best keybinds to play Stalker 2. To help you, check out our list of missions in Stalker 2 and try to get some of the best early weapons in the game.
About the Author
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
- Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series X
- Genre(s): Action, Adventure, RPG, Shooter, Survival Horror
