Elden Ring players share possible fixes for technical problems
FromSoft say they're investigating Easy Anti-Cheat issues, at least
After three years of waiting and hoping, Elden Ring finally launch last night and yep, sounds like it launched too early. Many PC players are reporting suffering low framerates, or stuttering, or crashes, or nonfunctional controllers, or.... While we wait for official fixes in patches, players are sharing possibly-maybe-kinda workarounds that might help.
To my great surprise, Elden Ring this morning sits on Steam with a 'Mixed' player review rating with only 60% positive reviews. Almost every negative review I've read is about technical issues: stuttering, low framerates, crashes, invisible enemies, controllers not being recognised, Easy Anti-Cheat errors, and more. While Steam player reviews obviously can be gamed and abused, these just read like people frustrated with a game they want to enjoy.
A blog post says they've fixed mouse sensitivity and will roll that out in a future patch, and vaguely says they're working on performance. In the meantime, they suggest updating your drivers. Developers FromSoftware have also said they're aware of Easy Anti-Cheat issues.
While we wait for fixes, players have a great many suggestions for various workarounds. None of these seem to be universal fixes, and some might well be placebos or weird hyper-specific issues, and everything is of course at your own risk. But you might want to try...
- Improving framerates and fixing invisible enemies by making sure it's running on your graphics card not integrated graphics
- Fixing crashes by disabling Easy Anti-Cheat (putting you offline)
- Fixing micro-stuttering by disabling a Windows component
- Improving framerates by ensuring Windows runs it in High performance mode and, on GeForce, improving framerates by changing an Nvidia Control Panel option
- Fixing your controller by deleting vJoy, or changing Steam's controller settings, or unplugging your keyboard and mouse before launching
Might help. Might not. Might cause other problems. I suppose you should also mouth a silent prayer and run through the usual rituals: restart the game; restart Windows; turn down your graphics settings; burn a wicker GeForce in effigy.
I wish they'd delayed the game instead. I wish everyone could have gone in fresh and been able to enjoy the game for what it is, not fighting through technical problems. Sure, you could wait and buy it a few patches later, but you'll miss out on the shared surprise and excitement between those who actually can play. Just a bummer, because the game is otherwise great.
In our Elden Ring review, Ed called it "an unmissable journey through the most impressive open world to date". The game's out now on Steam for £50/€60/$60.
If the game is broadly running okay for you, James has an Elden Ring PC performance guide to help you tweak your settings for a few extra frames. And our guidegang have advice on the Elden Ring best class to start with, and the best weapons to nab in the early game too.