Why Elden Ring stutters and what you can do about it

Ever since the release of Elden Ring last week (25 February), there have been a lot of complaints online regarding its performance, particularly on the PC version.

While the game has been praised by many media outlets (including us) as a masterpiece, a lot of players are suffering from the constant frame drop issues and stuttering of the game.

Even the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game are not immune to these, but the problems happen a lot more frequently on the PC version due to the variability in system specifications for each computer rig.

Through our in-depth testing and observation, we could not find a one-size fits all solution that solves these stuttering issues, but we could apply certain methods to alleviate the problems.

But first, let’s attempt to explain why this is happening, and why no method implemented by the end user will ever make the problems disappear completely.

The only way for this to be fixed is to get a game update of some sorts from the developers (which, knowing this writer’s luck, might happen within a minute or two of publishing this article. In which case, you’re welcome).

Loading and shader issues

Basically, the game stutters whenever there is a new kind of object that needs to be introduced to the game world.

Simple things like a new stone texture or an attack’s special effects are enough to send the game into a stuttery mess.

The problem lies with the communication of information from your hard disk or SSD to your GPU.

You would think that a fast SSD would solve this issue, since it could pump the data to the GPU faster than your conventional hard drive, but in fact, that is not the case.

It also doesn’t matter how beefy your GPU is — as long as it is a new asset that hasn’t been introduced in your current play session, it has the potential to cause your game to experience frame drops.

Story continues

Elden Ring has poor buffers for loading assets into the game world, and in turn, causes the game world to stutter, because it needs to constantly load the world every time you encounter some graphical assets not present in your playthrough before.

FromSoftware probably designed the game this way to make sure that any kind of lower-end GPU would be able to run the game. To add additional buffers to load the assets would mean that the game needs to consume more GPU memory than it currently does, in order to house these assets.

In our prior testing, even a lowly 4GB memory GPU like the AMD Radeon RX 6500XT could run the game as well as the 12GB Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti on 1080p.

If the game were to increase its asset buffers, the 6500XT may suffer more stutters in the long run because of the additional video memory required, but the 3080 Ti would benefit more from it since it has a lot of video memory to spare.

Ways to alleviate the stutters

There are a few methods that you can try to bring the stuttering to the most minimum, but due to how the game functions, it is impossible to completely have your game running at 60fps all the time.

1. Update your drivers to the latest GPU drivers

The simplest of the lot, updating your drivers will provide you with the ones that are most up to date with your hardware, especially your GPU. While it won’t magically make the game run flawlessly, it will make the process smoother as your GPU is able to process information according to the latest drivers.

2. Reduce the graphical settings

Reducing your graphical settings will help the game process the assets much faster, as it doesn’t need to load in that many of them to run.

While it may not be ideal for some (Elden Ring is a really beautiful game at maximum settings), if you prioritise stable frame rates over looks, this is your closest option to achieve that without taking any further drastic measures.

3. Reduce the game’s resolution

This is something that is worth exploring if you ABSOLUTELY prioritise stable frame rates.

Testing the game at 720p instead of playing at 1080p on the 6500XT and 3080 Ti yielded a constant 60fps in game. This included sections like fighting the Tree Sentinel at the start of the game, where it used to stutter in 1080p.

While it is not ideal to play the game this way, especially when you have at least a 1080p monitor, if your goal is to get stable fps, this is your only way at the moment.

4. Turn on Nvidia G-Sync or AMD FreeSync

This is a personal favorite of mine.

While it doesn’t eliminate the issue, it lessens the impact of the stuttering because your monitor is constantly in sync with the frames provided by your GPU.

It will feel like you are constantly running at 60fps, but do know that it is only an illusion presented by the technology.

You will barely notice the stuttering, although there are times you may feel like the game is eating your controller input, because the stutters are not obvious.

But if you prioritise smooth gameplay, this is the option to try.

There are other ‘fixes’ that you can try to make the game run smoothly, like tweaking your power settings and the like, but in our testing, it does absolutely minimal, if not nothing, for the game.

The options mentioned above are the easiest for the end user and the most reliable at the moment, and short of FromSoftware releasing a patch to fix this, there are no other ways to stop the stuttering from happening.

Hopefully an update to address this is released soon.

Seeing how tough this game is for most players, the timing for consistent attacks, dodges and parries are most essential in completing the game.

A simple stutter could mess with your dodges, and make a difference between life and death in Elden Ring. Or the difference between life and death for your controller/keyboard/mouse. You get the idea.

Dominic loves tech and games. When he is not busy getting headshotted in VALORANT or watercooling anything he sees, he does some pro wrestling.

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