Late last night I noted that Elden Ring's latest patch, ver. 1.02, solved quite a bit of the stuttering we were experiencing in the game pre-release. However, it didn't quite fix all of it, and there were still some considerable framerate drops leading to stutters during gameplay.
Following the game's release, more players have noted the same thing. The game even has received a mixed review score on Steam, in large part due to the performance issues. That's despite a flurry of perfect or near-perfect Elden Ring review scores from major outlets.
Now only hours after release, a blog post on the Bandai Namco website acknowledges the performance issues and asks players for "patience."
"We are currently experiencing some issues that are preventing the game from playing properly under some conditions. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and ask for your patience," the post says.
It goes on to list the main issues that are being looked into as a priority:
- Regarding the problem of the mouse being too sensitive in the PC version. We will be sending out a patch for this issue in the near future.
- Regarding the problem of Easy Anti-Cheat failing to launch when the Steam account name is set to 2-byte characters. We are aware of the cause of this issue and will be providing a patch in the near future.
- Regarding the phenomenon of frame rate and other performance-related issues during gameplay. We will be constantly working to improve the game so that it can be played comfortably on various PC environments and platforms. For the PC version, updating your graphics card drivers to the latest version may significantly improve performance.
- About the phenomenon of game data that does not save correctly in the PlayStation 5 version. If the PS5 console is unexpectedly turned off while playing a game or in rest mode, saved data may not be saved correctly. We are aware of the cause of this issue and are working on a patch to correct it, but until the patch is released, please save your game manually by exiting the game regularly. Game data will be saved correctly if you quit the game by opening the system menu using the OPTION button and selecting "Quit Game.”
That's a good note about updating your graphics card drivers. The lack of optimised drivers will absolutely throw your game for a loop and only lead to worse performance and instability.
I'm pretty hopeful the performance issues can be rectified soon with a later patch. The ver. 1.02 patch, while seemingly not doing enough for all players, did massively improve my own gameplay experience and cut out a lot of the random stuttering I was encountering as I was playing.
The stuttering that still occurs can be pretty painful at times though, as you can see above. I've already spoken about how the stuttering left me worse for wear after falling down a hole, but if you get hit with bad stutters mid-boss it can be the end of that run and perhaps a lot of runes, too.
The stuttering doesn't appear connected to any specific graphics setting in my experience, either, which doesn't leave players with any options to fix on the client-side. Either way, it's good to see a swift acknowledgment of the issues facing PC players, and hopefully future fixes will be just as speedy.
If you're just looking for a better blend of performance and looks, we've tested and curated our own recommended best settings for Elden Ring that should deliver just that.
