Key points
- Performance can be poor in the later game due to the increased save game size and the increased number of calculations that have to be performed.
- Many of the game's tutorials are broken and cause it to crash.
General information
- Crusader Kings II Wiki
- Steam Community Discussions
Availability
- All versions require Steam. The GamersGate DRM-free version is no longer being updated or supported.[1]
- Steam version can be launched without Steam running.
DLC and expansion packs
- This game has 45 separate cosmetic micro-transactions, these are comprised of unit packs, portraits, music, ebooks, dynasty shields, clothing and customisation tools (not listed below). Below is the major 'expansions' to the game. When an expansion is released a major patch is usually released offering some of the features to everyone (including bug fixes etc.)
Name |
Notes |
|
Sword of Islam |
Now possible to play Muslim rulers. |
|
Legacy of Rome |
Able to restore The Roman Empire, expanded Orthodox religion and employable retinues. |
|
Sunset Invasion |
The Aztec Empire will invade across the Atlantic at mid to late game, unique culture and religion. |
|
The Republic |
Can now play as Merchant Republic, able to build trade posts and compete in new Doge election system. |
|
The Old Gods |
New bookmark set at the year 867. Now possible to play Pagan rulers and reform religion. Added raiding system for Pagan rulers. |
|
Sons of Abraham |
Now possible to play Jewish rulers. Revised Christianity with College of Cardinals for Pope election. Pope has new powers and can now donate to Holy Orders. |
|
Rajas of India |
Now possible to play as Indian rulers. Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism as new religions with separate sects. Also adds a caste system. |
|
Charlemagne |
New bookmark set at the year 769. Introduced tribal holdings that offer a new unique playstyle. |
|
Way of Life |
Rulers are now able to select one of ten focuses for ruler granting stat boosts and new events and decisions. |
|
- When playing multiplayer expansions and some micro-transactions (ruler designer etc.) that the host owns are made available to all clients for that session.
Essential improvements
- Note that any mods installed will use the
settings.txt
located in the mod subfolder, e.g. %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Crusader Kings II\A Game of Thrones\
Notable mods
Game data
Configuration file and save game data location
- This game does not follow the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.
Video settings
Template:Video settings
- Windowed option added in patch 2.1
- Borderless fullscreen option added in patch 2.1
Input settings
Template:Input settings
Audio settings
Template:Audio settings
Network
Multiplayer types
Connection types
Console commands
- All the console commands can be found on the Crusader Kings II wiki. Only some of the debug commands are listed below. Discretion is advised when using the console as it is very easy to cheat with it (adding/removing traits etc.).
Press ~ (or the equivalent key above Tab ↹ on your keyboard) or Alt+Numpad 2+Numpad 1
in-game to enter console commands.
fullscreen
- Toggles fullscreen
clear
- Clears the console
debug_assert
- Toggles asserts on/off
debug_bloom
- Toggles bloom on/off
debug_borders
- Toggles borders on/off
debug_citysprawl
- Toggles city sprawl on/off
debug_dumpevents
- Dumps event data to game log
debug_hires
- Toggles terrain hires mode on/off
debug_info
- Toggles debug info
debug_lines
- Toggles debuglines
debug_nogui
- Toggles GUI on/off
debug_nomouse
- Toggles mouse scrollwheel on/off
debug_postfx
- Toggles postFX on/off
debug_rivers
- Toggles rivers on/off
debug_sky
- Toggles sky on/off
debug_smooth
- Toggles frame smoothing on/off
debug_terrain
- Toggles terrain on/off
debug_textures
- Dumps texture info to debug log
debug_tooltip
- Toggles tooltips on/off
debug_trees
- Toggles trees on/off
debug_water
- Toggles water on/off
debug_wireframe
- Toggles forced wireframe on/off
help
- Print out all console commands or a specific command's description
observe
- Switches to play no character at all
refresh_portraits
- Refreshes all character portraits as soon as possible
reload filename
- Reloads the gui or lua file
reloadinterface
- Reloads the entire interface
reloadtexture texture-filename
- Reloads the specified texture
Issues fixed
Activation code length
If your activation code is too short for the code input box upon installation, fill the additional spaces with the character 'X', e.g. for a code formatted as AAAAA-BBBBB-CCCC
you would input it as AAAA-ABBB-BBCC-CCXX-XXXX-XXXX
.
Graphics card stress/overheating
This is a likely cause of a game crash if your system only just meets the minimum system requirements to run the game. With such crashes, usually your graphics card will be at fault. One way to reduce stress on your graphics card is to turn off some of the more system-intensive options.
- Open
settings.txt
in the game data folder
- Change
draw_trees=yes
to draw_trees=no
- Change
draw_rivers=yes
to draw_rivers=no
- Change
draw_postfx=yes
to draw_postfx=no
- Change
draw_sky=yes
to draw_sky=no
This will prevent the game from rendering trees and thus significantly reduce the amount of information your graphics card has to process, in turn reducing the overall load on your system.[2]
Multiplayer incompatible versions
Your game version is given by "CK2 v<version> (<checksum>)" (for example, "CK2 v1.06 (YYEV)"). After enter a singleplayer or multiplayer game, it's possible for the checksum to change in some PCs (for example, to "CK2 v1.06 (ZYEV)"), while the others keep the same checksum. This won't allow you to play in multiplayer due to incompatible versions.
Restarting the game fixes this problem.
Most mods also change the checksum, so you may not be able to join the host if you do not have exactly the same mods (including same version) as the host.
System requirements
Windows |
|
Minimum |
Operating system (OS) |
XP, Vista, 7 |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium IV 2.4 GHz or AMD 3500+ |
System memory (RAM) |
2 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
2 GB |
Video card (GPU) |
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 or ATI Radeon X1900 512 MB of VRAM |
macOS (OS X) |
|
Minimum |
Operating system (OS) |
10.6.8 |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Core Duo 2GHz |
System memory (RAM) |
2 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
2 GB |
Video card (GPU) |
ATI Radeon HD 6750 / NVIDIA GeForce 320 / NVIDIA GeForce 9600 |
Linux |
|
Minimum |
Operating system (OS) |
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium IV 2.4 GHz or AMD 3500+ |
System memory (RAM) |
2 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
2 GB |
Video card (GPU) |
ATI Radeon HD 6750 / NVIDIA GeForce 320 / NVIDIA GeForce 9600 1 GB of VRAM |
Notes
- ↑ Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
References