Dishonored 2 doesn’t run well on PC, but these tips might help

Rats

Last week, we reported on the minimum and recommended PC specs for Dishonored 2 offering commentary that they “shouldn’t cause high chaos.” Everything seemed modest enough, reasonable-looking requirements for a triple-A title. As early adopters are finding out, it’s actually the optimization that’s causing high chaos.

Dishonored 2 launched on PC to a worrying number of issues. Framerate fluctuations, performance drops — most of the usual suspects. Some people with high-end rigs are reporting problems, but it seems to mostly affect the mid-range users.

Bethesda has responded with possible solutions that might help matters. The PC specs page has been updated to include the following tips:

General recommendations:

• Avoid using Alt-Tab when playing. Relaunch the game if you see performance dropping after using Alt-tab.
• Avoid having background applications running in addition to the game.

Video Settings:

• If you have performance issues, try lowering the resolution.
  • Use 1440p resolution only if you have a very high-end GPU ( GTX 1070/1080 or equivalent)
• Keep the V-Sync activated, especially if you have large framerate fluctuations.
• If you have framerate under 30 fps, adjust the “Resolution” between minimum (50%) and default value (75%).

Advanced Settings:

• Use the “Auto” presets: this should adjust your visual settings without impacting your framerate.
• If you still have performance issues with “Auto” presets:
  • Try deactivating the “TXAA Anti-Aliasing”
  • Try lowering the texture details

Note that these aren’t permanent solutions; these are just some things that might smooth things out in the meantime. Bethesda hasn’t yet commented on when or if the PC version will be patched to address these performance issues. Until then, just try to make the most of it by following this advice.

Dishonored 2 — Launch FAQ [Bethesda]