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Elden Ring Nightreign's first patch warns of possible PC performance problems on some setups

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Developers are looking into it but in the meantime, you may need to reduce your graphical settings if your PC is suffering frame rate drops.

The Executor in Elden Ring: Nightreign stands poised with his blade at the ready.
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Elden Ring Nightreign won't be out for a few more hours—3 pm PT, 6 pm ET, or your local equivalent, here's the full rundown of all the Nightreign launch times—but the first patch is here. Which is to say, the patch notes are up on the Bandai Namco website, along with a heads-up that the PC version of the game may suffer frame rate drops on some setups.

The patch notes for Elden Ring Nightreign version 1.01 are, well, vague:

  • Improved handling of playable characters
  • Soundtrack addition and adjustment
  • Text adjustments
  • Balance adjustments
  • Added character scenarios
  • Bug fixes

It's not much to go on—hopefully we'll have a clearer picture of what "improved handling" and "balance adjustments" mean fairly soon. What's more of note for now, though, is the warning about possible issues with the PC version of the game.

First things first, if you have trouble getting Elden Ring Nightreign to start at all, be sure to verify the game files on Steam. We probably all know how to do that but just in case, right-click on Elden Ring Nightreign in your Steam library, then select "Properties," followed by "Installed files," and then "Verify integrity of game files."

Give it a few minutes to do its thing, Steam may have to re-download some files—go make a coffee or something. This is standard operating procedure for troublesome PC games on Steam, but Bandai brought it up in the patch notes, so I'm bringing it up here.

A potentially bigger issue lies in the game's graphical performance.

"We have confirmed that some PC configurations using the latest graphics cards may experience frame rate drops," the patch notes say. "We are currently investigating the cause. In the meantime, If you experience significant frame rate drops, you may be able to resolve it by setting the graphics settings from the default 'High' to 'Medium' or 'Low' and lowering the screen resolution, as well as installing the latest drivers for your graphics card."

Hopefully they'll have that sorted quickly: Elden Ring is a very pretty game and I would expect no less from Nightreign, so having to dial back the eye candy just to get it running smoothly would not make me particularly happy.

Elden Ring Ranni questElden Ring Blaidd questElden Ring Nepheli questElden Ring Fia questElden Ring volcano manor quest

Elden Ring Ranni quest: Follow the witch
Elden Ring Blaidd quest: Wolf man watch
Elden Ring Nepheli quest: Warrior woman
Elden Ring Fia quest: Cold comfort
Elden Ring volcano manor quest: Get Mt. Gelmir

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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