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Elden Ring’s new patch still stutters; here’s how to fix it

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Elden Ring received a new patch today, but it’s not the solution to PC performance issues fans had hoped for. Version 1.02.2 (1.2.2 on Steam, even though the announcement says otherwise) only has a few notes. FromSoftware fixed an issue with the graphics card not being used, a bug with a certain boss, and various smaller bugs.

But there’s still no solution for stuttering.

An armored character wiels a sword in Elden Ring.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Stuttering has been the main performance issue facing Elden Ring, as the game occasionally slows to a crawl regardless of the hardware you have. Out in the open world, it’s not a big deal. When a boss is a few hits away from death? Yeah, stuttering can cause some problems.

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I downloaded the patch and jumped into the Lands Between to see if it improved performance at all. It didn’t. I’m still getting stutters left and right. That said, I noticed several performance tweaks improved the situation by a lot. Elden Ring still needs some work, but the new patch combined with some performance fixes makes the game playable.

Nvidia Control Panel settings for Elden Ring.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

I tested every fix for Elden Ring performance issues I could find — read my full guide on Elden Ring PC performance problems for details — but some small tweaks in the Nvidia Control Panel is what worked for me. If you have an Nvidia GPU, open up the Nvidia Control Panel and do the following:

  • Click Manage 3D Settings.
  • Under Global Settings, set Shader Cache Size to Unlimited.
  • Click Apply.
  • Click the Program Settings tab on the same screen, then click Add.
  • Add the game from recently used programs, or add it manually by clicking Browse (installation hard drive/Steam/steamapps/common/Elden Ring/Game/eldenring.exe)
  • Set Power Management Mode to Prefer Maximum Performance.
  • Set Max Frame Rate to 59 fps.
  • Click Apply.
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The manual frame rate cap is what made the difference on my rig with an RTX 3090 and Core i9-10900K. I still had stuttering, particularly in loading zones. The barrier in the early Stormfoot Catacombs still showed up after the patch, and I had some stutters in the area beyond the first church.

However, all of these tweaks made stuttering in the open world much better. When stutters showed up, they were minor, and I didn’t encounter nearly as many issues as I did before the patch. It’s hard to say for sure due to the semi-random nature of these stutters, but the patch combined with Nvidia tweaks improved my experience a lot.

Two knights duel in Elden Ring..
Image used with permission by copyright holder

For my AMD friends, I didn’t forget about you. Open up Radeon Software and do the following:

  • Click Settings and select the Graphics tab.
  • Click Advanced and set Frame Rate Target Control to 59 fps.
  • (Optional) If you don’t see Frame Rate Target Control, select Radeon Chill and set the Max fps to 59 fps.
  • Scroll down and select Reset Shader Cache.
  • Click Apply.

The patch may not have solved the issues with stuttering, but it seems to include at least a few optimizations. Thankfully, the patch does much more. Issues with the game not recognizing your graphics card are gone, and the game-breaking bug when you fight the Fire Giant boss is a thing of the past.

We’re far from a full solution with Elden Ring, as FromSoftware games are notorious for their own brand of comedic jank. Hopefully, the fixes I’m using will improve your stuttering, at least until FromSoftware issues a proper patch for the problem.

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Jacob Roach
Jacob Roach
Lead Reporter, PC Hardware
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
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