[SOLUTION FOUND]
For NVIDIA users at least.
Go to your NVIDIA control panel - Manage 3D Settings - Program Settings - NS2.exe.
In the settings below find CUDA - GPU and set it to use your GPU, usually the second option. Then press …
As I said, I've tried turning down my graphics, dropping everything to absolute bare minimum and disabling all effects. I even went as far as manually disabling it in my NVIDIA control panel, it didn't help. I also just tried a reinstall of the game…