Here are my Stronghold Crusader 2 graphics settings for best performance.
Stronghold Crusader 2 is poorly optimized, there is no secret about it.
The game looks bad and moves pretty bad for its graphics quality.
Here are some tweaks / settings that allows you to have a decent framerate in Stronghold Crusader 2.
Use the following settings:
The default resolution of your monitor.
Vertical Sync: off.
Fullscreen: on. The game is pretty much unplayable on windowed mode.
You won’t be able to move the camera on the right side.
There is no fullscreen – windowed option in Stronghold Crusader 2.
Shadow quality: medium.
It won’t make a big difference unless is set on high.
Texture detail: low.
Water detail: low.
Terrain detail: medium.
Dynamic lights: on.
The game looks awful with this option turned off.
Stronghold Crusader 2 graphics settings advanced
SS Ambient Occlusion: off.
Rim lightning effects: off.
Bloom effects: off.
Tonemapping: on.
Depth of field effect: off.
Level of detail scaling: low.
Particle detail: high.
The game works fine on this video card: ATI Radeon HD 5670 (1 GB GDDR).
If you have a worse video card, just try the game with everything on low.
In 2021, with a modern graphics card, playing Stronghold Crusader 2 on the highest graphics setting should not be an problem.
As most modern graphic cards have a lot of ram.