SCHEDULE 1 PC — "schedule 1 pc" / "schedule 1 download" / "schedule 1 how to play" / "schedule 1 game guide" / "schedule 1 system requirements" = 2M–5M+/mo combined (viral indie breakout of spring 2025; developer Tyler Szabo / TVGS; drug empire simulation on Steam Early Access; 4M+ copies sold within weeks of launch; Unity engine, low system requirements, up to 4-player co-op; priced ~$19.99)
What Is Schedule 1?
Schedule 1 is an Early Access drug empire simulator developed solo by Tyler Szabo (studio: TVGS). Released on Steam in March 2025, it became one of the fastest-selling indie games of the year — reaching 4 million+ copies in its first month through viral word-of-mouth and streaming coverage.
You arrive in Hyland Point, a fictional Pacific Northwest city, broke and unknown. Your path: build a drug production and distribution operation from a dingy motel room into a full criminal enterprise. You grow product, mix substances to create more potent varieties, recruit street dealers, manage territory, launder money, and navigate escalating police heat.
The game is single-player or co-op for up to 4 players, available exclusively on Steam for Windows PC. It carries a mature content rating and is intended for adult players who enjoy management/simulation gameplay in a criminal fiction context.
System Requirements
| Tier | CPU | GPU | RAM | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Intel Core i5-8600K / AMD Ryzen 5 2600 | GTX 1060 6GB / RX 580 8GB | 8 GB | 15 GB SSD |
| Recommended | Intel Core i5-10600K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600 | GTX 1070 8GB / RX 5600 XT | 16 GB | 15 GB SSD |
Schedule 1 runs on Unity, which is considerably less demanding than modern AAA engines. Most gaming PCs from 2016 onwards will run it at 60+ FPS without any optimisation.
Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit or newer. macOS and Linux are not currently supported.
How to Download and Install
- Open Steam (download at store.steampowered.com if not installed).
- Search "Schedule 1" → click the game page → Add to Cart (~$19.99) → purchase.
- Click Install in your Steam Library → choose install location → wait for download (~8–12 GB).
- Launch via Steam Library → Play.
- On first run, accept the content warning → reach the character creation/intro sequence.
Controller support: Xbox controller and DualSense work out of the box. DualSense requires DS4Windows for full feature support; basic input works via USB without it. Keyboard/mouse is the primary input method and recommended for managing menus and maps efficiently.
Best PC Settings for Performance
Schedule 1's Unity engine is not demanding. On most modern gaming PCs, you can leave settings on High/Ultra and expect 60+ FPS. These settings matter primarily for older hardware.
| Setting | Recommended | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Resolution | Native (1080p/1440p/4K) | No upscaling needed on recommended hardware |
| Quality Preset | High | Ultra offers minimal visual gain; High is the sweet spot |
| Anti-Aliasing | TAA | Smoothest on Unity; SMAA if you prefer sharper but slightly noisier image |
| Shadow Quality | Medium–High | Shadows are the biggest FPS lever on low-end hardware |
| Draw Distance | Medium | Increase to High on GTX 1070+ with no FPS penalty |
| VSync | Off | Cap FPS via NVIDIA/AMD driver to avoid input lag; or use framerate cap in settings |
For low-end PCs (GTX 1060 / RX 580):
- Set Quality Preset to Medium, Shadows to Low.
- Lower resolution to 900p and use bilinear upscaling.
- Target: 60fps at Medium, 1080p.
Beginner's Guide: First Hour
Starting Situation
You begin in Motel Room 1 with minimal cash and a first contact: Benji, a dealer who gives you your entry into the business. Benji will direct you to your first customers.
Day 1 priority list:
- Talk to Benji (triggers main progression).
- Purchase your first seed packet from the dealer contact or grow supply store.
- Set up your first grow tent inside the motel room.
- Grow, harvest, and cure your first batch.
- Package and sell to your first customer.
The Production Loop
Step 1: Growing
Schedule 1 starts with cannabis as the introductory substance. The grow cycle works as follows:
- Plant seeds in your grow tent or grow pot.
- Water regularly — plants need watering every in-game day. Neglect = reduced yield.
- Harvest when the plant reaches maturity (green indicator turns gold).
- Dry and cure the harvested buds in a drying rack (curing improves quality and value).
Grow tent vs. grow room: The motel room fits 1–2 pots. As revenue grows, rent a property with dedicated space for a larger operation. A 6-pot grow room significantly increases daily output.
Step 2: Mixing
The mixing table is where Schedule 1's depth emerges. Different substances can be combined to create custom product variants — each with different effects, addictiveness ratings, and sale prices.
Mixing basics:
- Combine a base substance with a mixer (additives like caffeine, paracetamol, gasoline, etc.).
- Each mix creates a unique product with a name the game generates.
- High-addictiveness mixes generate repeat customers; high-quality mixes attract premium buyers.
- Experiment early — some combinations produce very high-value products.
Starter strategy: Sell base product first while you save up for mixing supplies. Once you have $500+ profit, invest in one mixer and test combinations.
Step 3: Packaging
Packaged product sells for more than loose product. Use a packaging station to put your goods into bags, jars, or bricks depending on quantity.
- Bags: Small quantities, lower per-unit price, faster to sell individually.
- Jars: Mid-tier — best balance of price and sell speed.
- Bricks: Bulk sales, highest per-unit revenue, but require a buyer who purchases large quantities.
Dealers and Distribution
Manually selling to every customer is only viable in the first few hours. Scaling requires hiring dealers — NPCs who sell your product on consignment in their territory.
How to Recruit a Dealer
- Talk to an NPC who has a "Recruit" dialogue option (found through exploration and completing intro missions).
- Pay the recruitment fee (varies per dealer, ~$200–$500 early game).
- Assign the dealer to a territory on the map.
- Give them product (they sell on consignment — they keep a cut, you keep the rest).
Managing Your Dealer Network
| Stat | What It Means | How to Improve |
|---|---|---|
| Territory | Area of the map they cover | Assign to dense areas with more foot traffic |
| Cut | Their commission percentage | Negotiate with reputation points |
| Supply | How much product they currently hold | Resupply regularly to prevent stockout |
| Heat | Police attention on their territory | Rotate territories if heat gets high |
Key rule: Don't let dealers run out of product. An empty dealer earns nothing and loses morale. Resupply every 1–2 in-game days.
Police and Heat System
The police presence in Hyland Point responds to your business activity. Heat is the core risk-management mechanic.
Heat Levels
| Level | Police Behaviour | What Triggers It |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — Cool | No attention. Cops walk past. | Normal low-scale activity |
| 2 — Warm | Cops notice suspicious behaviour | Selling in public without discretion |
| 3 — Hot | Active patrols, occasional stop-and-search | Large volume, caught dealing |
| 4 — Burning | Cops will investigate your known locations | Major busts, repeated offences |
| 5 — Raid | Property raids | Sustained high-level activity |
Staying Low
- Use dealers, not personal sales for bulk. Personal selling in public raises heat faster.
- Keep grow operations discreet — don't run multiple visible deliveries from the same address.
- Launder money regularly — see below. Unexplained wealth triggers investigations.
- Let heat cool by pausing operations for 1–2 in-game days. Heat decays over time at low levels.
Money Laundering
Cash from drug sales is "dirty" — spending it at businesses raises suspicion over time. Laundering converts dirty cash to clean money you can invest legitimately.
Laundering methods:
- Laundromat / Car Wash — basic laundering rate, available early game.
- Small business investment — buy a stake in a local business; profits arrive as clean income.
- Property purchases — buying properties legitimately converts dirty funds into assets.
Keep a laundering ratio of roughly 30–40% of gross income to avoid investigative flags.
Property Progression
| Stage | Property | Space | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting | Motel Room 1 | 1–2 plants | Provided |
| Early | Garage / Small House | 4–6 plants | $2,000–$5,000 |
| Mid | Warehouse (small) | 12–20 plants | $15,000–$25,000 |
| Late | Industrial facility | 40+ plants, full lab | $80,000+ |
When to upgrade: Once your motel operation is consistently selling out within 2 in-game days, you're ready for the next property tier. Upgrading before you have consistent revenue wastes capital.
Co-op Multiplayer
Schedule 1 supports up to 4 players in co-op on a shared operation. One player hosts; others join via Steam Friend Invite or direct IP.
Co-op role division (efficient):
- Player 1: Growing and harvesting.
- Player 2: Mixing and quality control.
- Player 3: Dealer management and deliveries.
- Player 4: Finances, laundering, and property management.
Multiplayer connection issues: Schedule 1's Early Access state means connection stability varies. If Steam P2P fails:
- Host opens their router and port-forwards port 7777 (UDP/TCP).
- Alternatively, use Radmin VPN or Hamachi — both create a virtual LAN that the game treats as local network, bypassing NAT issues.
Troubleshooting Common Errors
| Error | Fix |
|---|---|
| Game crashes on startup | Update GPU drivers; verify game files (Steam Library → right-click → Properties → Local Files → Verify); disable antivirus temporarily (Unity games sometimes flagged) |
| Save file corruption | Back up saves manually: %AppData%\..\LocalLow\TVGS\Schedule 1\Saves\ → copy to external location before long sessions; known EA bug |
| Plants not growing / UI stuck | Save and reload; some growth state bugs persist in Early Access and reset on load |
| Dealer not selling / stuck idle | Reassign the dealer to a different territory, then back to original; if persistent, save/reload |
| Multiplayer can't connect | Use Radmin VPN or Hamachi; ensure host has port 7777 open; both players restart Steam |
| Police stuck in infinite chase | Enter a vehicle and drive to a different district; heat should break after sufficient distance |
| Low FPS on adequate hardware | Check background apps (overlays, streaming software); disable Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS) in Windows Display settings if using an older GPU |
| Black screen on launch | Run as Administrator; update Visual C++ redistributables (2015–2022); switch Windows to High Performance power plan |
Schedule 1 vs Similar Games
| Game | Genre | Setting | Complexity | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schedule 1 | Drug empire sim | Modern US city | High (deep mechanics) | ~$20 |
| GTA V / GTA Online | Open-world crime | Los Santos | Broad, more action | $30 |
| Drug Dealer Simulator 2 | Drug sim | Eastern Europe | Similar but smaller scope | ~$20 |
| Sons of the Forest | Survival sim | Forest | Different genre | $30 |
| Farmer's Dynasty | Management sim | Rural Europe | Similar progression loop | ~$25 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Schedule 1 finished or still Early Access? Early Access as of 2026. The developer has a public roadmap with planned additions: new substances, expanded city districts, new game systems. Expect significant updates before 1.0 release.
Does it have a story? Light narrative framing — you have a backstory and contacts — but it's primarily a sandbox management game. The "story" is the one you build through your operation.
Can I play solo? Yes. Co-op is optional. The solo experience is fully supported and most players start solo.
Is it on console? No. PC (Steam/Windows) only as of mid-2026. No announced console port.
Will I get banned from Steam for playing this? No. Schedule 1 is a legal product sold on Steam. Valve has approved it. Playing it affects nothing in your Steam account.
How long does a playthrough take? Depends on playstyle. Reaching a mid-size operation: 15–25 hours. Building a full empire: 50–80+ hours. New content from updates adds to this.
Is it worth the price? Yes, at ~$20 it offers considerable depth for the price. The mixed early-access caveat: occasional bugs and missing features are part of the deal. If you want a polished 1.0 experience, wishlist it and wait.
Can children play this? No. The game deals with drug production and sales in a simulation context. It is rated Mature and intended for adult audiences.