For point of reference, the approximate increase above vanilla is of 250% (Pedestrians) and 77% more (Vehicles), as well as to ensure more pedestrians are spawned across larger distances, this does not affect the 2D versions, only 3D, meaning if you see someone a hundred meters away or even people walking in the streets from the view of the apartment downtown you will finally see more than 4 pedestrians walking at the same time

First things first, your game will automatically run like crap, this is a given as the engine is not fully optimized to render as many people as it would be doing with this mod, however, I M M E R S I O N comes really into play, making a true difference between the empty streets currently in the game compared to a busy city.



The settings are set the same for when you are driving (Only traffic will be lowered by 7-9% for a better gameplay experience) meaning that the amount of pedestrians will remain the same. I have tweaked the settings in order to be as balanced as possible, not every time It's going to be peak rush hour for it to be drivable without Flying mods or driving only in bike (Although highly recommended to do so)

Having tested even higher settings, the engine will break and make that NPC disappear just from looking back and forth despite eating your FPS even worse, so these settings will make it the most seamless to have hundreds of NPCs walking on screen (Off-screen too!)

Also, I would like to clarify, this mod won't cause crashes by itself, however as it puts the engine to its limit as it will push any system, it can bring instability on highly modded playthroughs, for those cases it's recommended to run the mod but use population presets such as Medium or Low (All have been modded to accommodate as many pedestrians as possible and more traffic than Vanilla Settings)


REQUIREMENTS

Astonishing setting enabler (Although not mandatory, it's highly recommended for the full Blade Runner cyberpunk crowd packed city experience)

https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/6010

RECOMMENDED MODS

Choose one of the three below, they are not compatible at the same time

Psycho Crowds (On itself that mod won't fully alter the settings, it will make it noticeable for vehicles to drive faster and make it easier to get past traffic)

https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/7159 (Better Performance)

https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/7201 (The one I use)

NC Ambient NPCs (This one will chug the remaining left FPS, but it will make it, so the path finding systems work even better for NPCs to be more aware of spacial recognition and avoid obstacles)

https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/6968 (You can download the older version in files for better performance)


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Let There Be Flight (But beware hovering close to traffic at very high speeds, it can crash your game or major performance drops)

https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/5208

No Crowd Panic mods (Whenever there is panic, FPS will go even lower, so unless there is a shootout, there is no need to scare people for walking crouched)

https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/7360

https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/7353

ONLY FOR THOSE USING 1.6.1 NON-DLSS 3 (or older) - Since Vehicle Combat is not working properly after that update

I do recommend having Vehicle Combat (Or any Police Chase mods) as well as Transports of Night City, you get into a Delamain cab with the police shooting at you within all the panic on the streets, it does really immerse you into the experience

https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/3815 (Vehicle Combat)

https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/1672 (Enhanced Police - Better compatibility with DLSS patch but still not updated - DO NOT COMBINE WITH VC)

https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/7166 (Transports of Night City)

WARNING

Mods such as High Res NPC Faces 4K (Or 2K) or any upscales that alters NPCs for higher quality will make it for this mod becomes even heavier, so it's important to either have a really beefy system or choosing the Low/Medium presets in game

Other mods that can cause crashes are any custom vehicles, since they tend to crash the game when you crash them (No pun intended) and Gangs of Night City with presets such as Gang Wars enabled, performance will break the engine crashing the game