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The best graphics settings for Dragon’s Dogma 2 will give you a huge head start in performance optimization on PC, and players on PS5 and Xbox Series X will have a little to play with too.
There’s a bubbling pot of performance related conversation around DD2. Amid it all is the FPS and graphics settings on the console variants, while the PC version of the game seems to be experiencing a far more amicable reception.
Despite running on next generation consoles (capable of pushing 60FPS), Dragon’s Dogma 2 will only run at an uncapped 30FPS target on the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. On top of that, they’re seeing a very limited scope of options in terms of graphics settings and modes.
Best graphics settings for Dragon’s Dogma 2 on PC
As we’ve already discovered when taking a look at the best graphics cards for Dragon’s Dogma 2, the game heavily favours newer components and cutting edge hardware.
Performance graphics settings for Dragon’s Dogma 2
With an RTX 3090 and Ryzen 5 3600X, I was topping 70FPS, averaging at 60, with very frequent dips below 50FPS This is with the performance graphics settings enabled, which goes to show how optimisation really is in-game.
| Graphics Settings | 1080p | 1440p |
|---|---|---|
| Display Mode | Full Screen | Full Screen |
| Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 | 2560 x 1440 |
| Frame Rate | Variable | Variable |
| Vertical Synchronisation | Off | Off |
| Dynamic Resolution | Off | Off |
| FidelityFX Super Resolution | Off | Off |
| DLSS Super Resolution | Off | Off |
| DLSS Nvidia Reflex Low Latency | Off | Off |
| Upscale Sharpness | 3 | 3 |
| Rendering Mode | Interlaced | Interlaced |
| Ray Tracing | Off | Off |
| Image Quality | 4 | 4 |
| Ambient Occlusion | SSAO | SSAO |
| Anti Aliasing | TAA | FXAA+TAA |
| Screen Space Reflections | Off | On |
| Mesh Quality | Low | Mid |
| Texture Filtering | High (ANISO x 2) | (High ANISO x 4) |
| Texture Quality | High (0.25GB) | High (0.5GB) |
| Grass / Tree Quality | Low | High |
| Resource-Intense Effects Quality | Low | Low |
| Shadow Quality | Low | Mid |
| Shadow Cache | On | On |
| Contact Shadows | Off | On |
| Motion Blur | Off | Off |
| Bloom | On | On |
| Depth of Field | On | On |
| Lens Flare | On | On |
| Lens Distortion | On | On |
| Subsurface Scattering | Off | On |
| Motion Quality | High | High |
In these settings, we’ve elected to disable a few key features. Motion Blur is a sickler for graphics resources, so disabling it will increase your FPS ever so slightly. It does come at a cost, however. You may see the effects of frame rate stuttering a little more prominently, however your overall performance will improve.
Beware: DLSS!
Despite the fact that DLSS ordinarily helps performance, Capcom have warned that it’s causing some players issues. You might want to test it with and without before you commit.
Ordinarily, resolution upscaling is a must-have for modern games. However, Dragon’s Dogma 2’s woeful optimization is hitting CPUs extremely hard. DLSS and FSR rely heavily on CPU load, so getting rid of it is going to let your processor focus on rendering annoying NPCs with Dragonsplague.
After I got rid of DLSS in-game, my FPS was a lot more stable, remaining above 60FPS at 2K with very infrequent dips below to 40 in populate areas. Ray tracing, though it’s a fun and novel feature, has no place in a game that can’t consistently hold its frame rate. Goodbye, fancy lighting.
We’d also implore players to get rid of lens distortion and chromatic aberration, both of which will hamper a smooth experience. You might have noticed that we still have the texture quality set to High. This isn’t a terrible idea. While it might cost a little bit of your GPUs resources, it’s a compromise in fidelity and optimization that is often worth it.
Shadows and Resource-Intense Effects Quality can be set to low, though feel free to fiddle with these options to find a fidelity that works for your gaming system.
Fidelity graphics settings for Dragon’s Dogma 2
- Display Mode: Full Screen
- Screen Resolution: 3840 x 2160
- VSync: On
- Dynamic Resolution: On
- DLSS Super Resolution: Quality
- DLSS Nvidia Reflex Low Latency: On
- Upscale Sharpness: 4
- Ray Tracing: On
- Ambient Occlusion: SSAO
- Anti-Aliasing: TAA
- Screen Space Reflections: On
- Mesh Quality: High
- Texture Filtering: Medium (Trilinear)
- Texture Quality: High
- Grass/Tree Quality: Medium
- Resource Intense Effects Quality: Medium
- Shadow Quality: High
- Shadow Cache: On
- Contact Shadows: High
- Motion Blur: Off
- Bloom: On
- Depth of Field: On
- Lens Flare: On
- Lens Distortion: On (with Chromatic Aberration)
- Subsurface Scattering: On
- Motion Quality: High
In terms of cranking out a game with beautiful fidelity – Dragon’s Dogma 2 is certainly capable of that too. You’re going to need an absurdly powerful gaming PC to do so, well above the recommended system requirements at that.
You will be able to toy with ray tracing, though I’d expect this to only work on PCs with an RTX 3080 or better. Get FSR or DLSS involved if you’re rocking a current generation CPU, a Ryzen 7800X3D or better. Then, you’re going to be able to toy around with better texture quality, grass, shadows and mesh quality too. If motion blur is your thing, whack it on. For me, though, it’s not.
On fidelity mode with an RTX 3090, we were playing with an FPS that averaged at 60 FPS, with drops down towards 60 in densely populated areas. However, as soon as we got rid of ray tracing, we saw FPS’ closer to 80, with far less drops.
What I used to test out the best graphics settings for Dragon’s Dogma 2
I first tested out Dragon’s Dogma 2’s performance settings on the Aya Neo AM02: Ryzen 7 7480HS, Radeon RX 780M, and 32GB DDR5 RAM. Surprisingly so, at 1080p, we saw a consistent frame rate at 30FPS, with infrequent spikes down to 25. Bearing in mind that this is a mini PC with an integrated APU, it fared pretty well indeed.
For the fidelity graphics, I used an RTX 3090, and AMD Ryzen 3 3400. The CPU was definitely a bottleneck when I was testing out these graphics, so bear that in mind. A better PC would definitely encourage a higher FPS, with less issues when surrounded by NPCs.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 performance on PC is woeful
As already mentioned, my benchmarks of Dragon’s Dogma 2 have not been hopeful so far. On a 780M, it was hitting 20FPS, while on a RTX 2070 Super it’s been hitting between 30-35 on 1080p. That’s not good at all.
There’s also been huge issues with DLSS not working as intended, which has played a huge part in tanking performance on Nvidia card users gaming PCs. This is a result of the CPU resource allocation in-game, and the hope of a next patch is the only real solution for this.
Capcom recommends you do this for better performance
In response to all of the criticism that Dragon’s Dogma 2’s performance has received, Capcom suggested this quick little fix for a better experience in-game.
- Confirm the game is closed
- 2. Right-click “Dragon’s Dogma 2” in the Steam Library and open “Properties”
- Select “Browse Local Files…” in the Local Files tab
- Rename config.ini to config_backup.ini
- After copying config_default.ini, rename the copied file to config.ini
- Click “Play” from the Steam client to start the game
You might need a new graphics card…
In order to play the game on its recommended settings, you will need an RTX 2080 or RX 6700. This will net you 4K at 2160p, pretty much the same as what you’d get from the console game. To eclipse that and enjoy the game at 60FPS or higher, fidelity sacrifices will need to be made.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 PS5 and Xbox Series X/S graphics settings
The most recent patch for DD2 on PS5 implemented a few new graphics options, though unfortunately they don’t make a remarkable impact on frame rate. You can now disable motion blur and ray tracing, though these will only impair fidelity without a huge impact on how the game feels.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dragon’s Dogma 2 60FPS on PS5 and Xbox Series X?
No. Dragon’s Dogma 2’s FPS is uncapped, and aims to target between 30-40FPS. This is a result of the game’s fidelity, though may also be attributed to poor optimisation. Not many open world games with the same scale of texture and realism can achieve a consistently high frame rate, despite previous Capcom titles hitting a near similar performance. With limited graphics settings on next-generation consoles, don’t expect to hit frame rates above 40 in most cases.
Does Dragon’s Dogma 2 have a performance mode?
Dragon’s Dogma 2 doesn’t have a performance mode on console, nor is there a specific graphics mode either. The game is locked at an uncapped FPS, and will hover anywhere between 30 and 40FPS. There are some reports of it dropping to as low as 24 on the PS5, which a performance mode would surely fix.
