Elden Ring has finally arrived and as we'd hoped, it is very much Big Dark Souls. As it turns out, taking after Dark Souls also includes taking after some of the usual PC port goofiness that Souls games have had in the past. Players are reporting troubles with gamepads, framerates, and Easy Anti-Cheat during their first day with Elden Ring.
Don't despair, Tarnished One. There are already fixes for some of the problems you might be seeing. Here are the most common Elden Ring launch issues we've seen so far and what you can do to fix them.
Elden Ring framerate stuttering
Prior to launch, we encountered some pretty serious frame stuttering issues in Elden Ring. We observed frame rates dipping to half what we were normally playing at and down to 0 frames per second in the worst cases. The day one patch for Elden Ring fixed some of these issues, but frame drops are persisting even on systems that shouldn't be struggling to run the game. DirectX 12 shader compilation woes strike again.
What to do: There's no outright fix right now. Look at your Elden Ring main menu and be sure that you're on version 1.02 or later, and also ensure you're on the latest drivers for your graphics card. FromSoftware is working on additional patches to address this problem. You can also use our Elden Ring settings guide to make the most of your PC's power.
Elden Ring controller not working
Lots of PC players have been reporting issues with Elden Ring not recognizing their gamepad, even when their PC does. We've had mixed results among PC Gamer staff members, but avoid alt+tabbing out of Elden Ring if possible, as that seems to have triggered our issues.
What to do: The solution that worked for us was to delete Vjoy, the virtual joystick program, from our Windows apps. Vjoy being installed seems like the common culprit. You can also try these other Elden Ring controller fixes, including checking your Steam gamepad settings to enable "Xbox Configuration Support" or "Generic Gamepad Configuration Support".
Elden Ring performance problems
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Aside from framerate issues, players are experiencing other miscellaneous performance problems like crashing and screen tearing. Enough players are having issues that Elden Ring's launch day user reviews on Steam wound up "mixed." FromSoftware said it would be working on additional patches to address performance.
"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."
What to do: While waiting for more official patches to roll out, make sure your graphics drivers are updated, as FromSoftware recommends. You can also use our guide on how to remove screen tearing in Elden Ring with Vsync settings.
Elden Ring "Network status check failed"
If you see the "network status check failed" message, it means you've failed to connect to Elden Ring's online services. On launch weekend, it's possible you'll run into this problem as lots of folks rush in to play and the servers get crowded. The bad news is that there's nothing you've done wrong and no way to fix it on your end other than patience. The good news is that the player reports I've looked through so far have been from console players, not PC players.
What do do: FromSoftware said on February 27 that "the online issues Xbox users have been facing (e.g. 'Network Status Check Failed') should now be fixed." If you see this message in the future, the quick way to keep playing is to enable offline playing in your main menu.
Elden Ring Easy Anti-Cheat fails to launch
On PC, Elden Ring uses the Easy Anti-Cheat system to prevent cheating and hacking online. Unfortunately some players are getting griefed by Elden Ring itself before any rude invaders can show up in their games. If Elden Ring fails to launch while showing the EAC logo, this is likely the issue you're dealing with.
What to do: As of patch 1.02.1 on PC on February 26, FromSoftware says "start-up issues related to Easy Anti Cheat (EAC) have been improved". If you're still struggling to launch after updating your game version, our colleagues at Windows Central have outlined a way to disable EAC, which will mean you have to play offline but will be able to launch the game.
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