Those that are experiencing performance issues and crashing

[Cryemore]

EDIT: As we suspected after discussing it in this thread, Win11 version 24H2 seems to be what is causing all the issues.

24H2 is known to cause issues with many games. To check which version of windows you are using, press the windows key+R, type winver in the command line and press enter.

The process for reverting back to 23H2 is beyond the scope of this post and can be found through other sources easily enough if you do not know how.

OP:
If you are experiencing performance issues and crashes and come here for help yet fail to list your hardware specs how is anyone supposed to help you? Are we supposed to divine your operating environment?

I have had zero performance issues or crashes.

Win11 (23H2)
i9 11900k
RTX3080ti
32gb ram
samsung 840evo

If you do not know your hardware specifications for whatever reason, type dxdiag in the search bar and execute. If these crashes and performance issues can be narrowed down to certain operating environments the community may actually be able to help you.

Edit: With the game running my resource manager is showing the following:

Freedom Wars Process:
CPU utilization: 23%
Memory: 591MB

System Wide:
GPU Utilization: 30 - 50%
GPU Memory: 3.1GB
CPU Utilization: 23 - 30%
Memory: 8.6GB

[Rxzlion]

Originally posted by OrochiTabris:

I have yet to upgrade to 24H2, so if 23H2 is the fix it's not gonna help me. Disabling EAC didn't change anything. Antivirus isn't being problematic for me. Drivers are all updated.

What's weird is how, for me anyway, it runs on my Deck. My laptop has an 11800h, a 3070, 32GB of RAM, and NVMEs for system and games. The Deck is obviously weaker, except maybe its iGPU (which, on my laptop, isn't used).

When I first launched it there was so much stuttering and freezing that it took way longer to get to gameplay than i should have. It improved once I was in my cell, but only to frequent stutters (maybe 3-5 seconds between) in any situation, including the practically empty tutorial missions and standing still in my cell. In combat the stutters often hit at the worst possible time, and when they aren't doing that they're still making the game jerky when I'm running around and moving the camera.

I installed it on my Deck, expecting it to be even worse but I figured it's a relatively small install so might as well try. if it somehow runs better then it'd be like playing on effectively a Vita with better analog controls andI won't have to wait for fixes. Turns out it runs almost perfectly. I get the occasional stutter at the start of missions, and I've had one crash (which felt really familiar, I think the Vita version crashed in the same mission), but beyond that the game ran perfectly on first launch with no changes to game or Deck settings.

It's weird how there doesn't seem to be any consistent link to the issues. I've seen some say it's unplayable on their Deck, despite how little variation there is in specs. I'm not sure if there's something in the OLED decks that could cause problems.

For stuttering try this:
Leave Vsync on.
open the NVIDIA app or Control Panel, and under Graphics settings, add a new application to the list of programs. Browse to the folder where Freedom Wars is installed and select "START.exe". Then, set "Max Frame Rate" to match your monitor (e.g. 60).

Source:
https://www.reddit.com/r/FreedomWars/comments/1hz4ipf/stutter_fix_for_nvidia_gpus/https://www.reddit.com/r/FreedomWars/comments/1hz4ipf/stutter_fix_for_nvidia_gpus/

I also would like to point out like I did in the other thread the EAC issue is only related to freezing/crashing the stuttering is a compactly different issue that is unrelated to EAC

[OrochiTabris]

Originally posted by Rxzlion:

For stuttering try this:
Leave Vsync on.
open the NVIDIA app or Control Panel, and under Graphics settings, add a new application to the list of programs. Browse to the folder where Freedom Wars is installed and select "START.exe". Then, set "Max Frame Rate" to match your monitor (e.g. 60).

I should've mentioned that I did try that. I felt like I was leaving something out.

I tried multiples of my laptop's max refresh (which is 360hz, a bit overkilll, chose it for other reasons though), and there was some improvement (with fullscreen being a bit better than borderless), but basically from "unplayable mess" to "somewhat playable mess." Still gets the stutters, still feels jerky when just running around, and now and then it'll be hit by the same stuttering and freezing I experienced when I first ran it. Maybe the last part is a memory leak, but it doesn't happen on my Deck.

I'm not sure if it's relevant, but it is a bit odd that in the control panel, Freedom Wars is listed as "Age of Pirates 2" after adding start.exe to program settings, which I don't own and doesn't even seem to be on Steam. It's definitely Freedom Wars when it's launched, I've just never seen a game in that control panel get listed as something else.

[Atomic Runner]

I've only played on my Steam Deck OLED so far, and I'm also getting crashes (game closes out of nowhere) and freezes (image freezes and I'm forced to reboot the deck).

[Cryemore]

Originally posted by OrochiTabris:

Originally posted by Rxzlion:

For stuttering try this:
Leave Vsync on.
open the NVIDIA app or Control Panel, and under Graphics settings, add a new application to the list of programs. Browse to the folder where Freedom Wars is installed and select "START.exe". Then, set "Max Frame Rate" to match your monitor (e.g. 60).

I should've mentioned that I did try that. I felt like I was leaving something out.

I tried multiples of my laptop's max refresh (which is 360hz, a bit overkilll, chose it for other reasons though), and there was some improvement (with fullscreen being a bit better than borderless), but basically from "unplayable mess" to "somewhat playable mess." Still gets the stutters, still feels jerky when just running around, and now and then it'll be hit by the same stuttering and freezing I experienced when I first ran it. Maybe the last part is a memory leak, but it doesn't happen on my Deck.

I'm not sure if it's relevant, but it is a bit odd that in the control panel, Freedom Wars is listed as "Age of Pirates 2" after adding start.exe to program settings, which I don't own and doesn't even seem to be on Steam. It's definitely Freedom Wars when it's launched, I've just never seen a game in that control panel get listed as something else.

Did you try 60hz or below? Maybe the game engine itself suffers at anything over that. I always have my frames capped to 60 as I have my pc connected to my oled tv with a cable that has a bandwidth capable of 4k60 max.

i know it's a long shot, but this was a Vita exclusive, so they wouldn't have planned on high frame rates from the beginning of development. Maybe when they say the game is now playable at 4k60 they mean literally that, and nothing over 60.

[Rxzlion]

Originally posted by OrochiTabris:

Originally posted by Rxzlion:

For stuttering try this:
Leave Vsync on.
open the NVIDIA app or Control Panel, and under Graphics settings, add a new application to the list of programs. Browse to the folder where Freedom Wars is installed and select "START.exe". Then, set "Max Frame Rate" to match your monitor (e.g. 60).

I should've mentioned that I did try that. I felt like I was leaving something out.

I tried multiples of my laptop's max refresh (which is 360hz, a bit overkilll, chose it for other reasons though), and there was some improvement (with fullscreen being a bit better than borderless), but basically from "unplayable mess" to "somewhat playable mess." Still gets the stutters, still feels jerky when just running around, and now and then it'll be hit by the same stuttering and freezing I experienced when I first ran it. Maybe the last part is a memory leak, but it doesn't happen on my Deck.

I'm not sure if it's relevant, but it is a bit odd that in the control panel, Freedom Wars is listed as "Age of Pirates 2" after adding start.exe to program settings, which I don't own and doesn't even seem to be on Steam. It's definitely Freedom Wars when it's launched, I've just never seen a game in that control panel get listed as something else.

You said control panel but i'll ask anyway did you install just the base driver or do you have the nvidia app?
If you have it then delete that thing because its known to cause issues only use the base drivers.
Also try and disabling the steam overlay.
I also suggest you close any program that is running in the background.
This will help narrow it down

[Daigoji Gai]

So I was experiencing crashes but not anymore.
I've modified the start executable to launch in admin mode along with locking frames at 60 using the nividia control panel (not the app)
I also realized alt-tabbing or background apps that trigger notifications can cause the crash, since I've put notifications on silent and stopped alt-tabbing, I can play for hours now without issue on 24H2 in 4K... that wasn't the case initially.

[Gazbang™ The Goblin]

Windows 11 Home (10.0, build 26100)
Intel i5-12600
RTX 4070 Ti Super
64gb RAM

I got to the general settings screen before character creation, stuttered to like 0.5 FPS and the screen was VERY VERY dark. Barely readable.

Rebooted the game, same thing without the initial settings screen.

Refunded and am waiting for a fix/work around.

[Leown]

windows 11
23h2
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
64GB RAM
RTX 4070 Ti

0 crash issues, 0 Black screens, 1 or 2 stutters noticed in the warrens and or streaming for friends that are interested otherwise i do not notice it much has not affected my gameplay it just comes and goes almost immediately enough for me to notice for a second then just goes away.

I'm on borderless window as well.

[Sprent]

i have gotten less crashes after i reinstalled the game to my c drive there is still 2 times where i have gotten to like 0 frames but music still plays but it is better

[OrochiTabris]

Originally posted by Rxzlion:

You said control panel but i'll ask anyway did you install just the base driver or do you have the nvidia app?
If you have it then delete that thing because its known to cause issues only use the base drivers.
Also try and disabling the steam overlay.
I also suggest you close any program that is running in the background.
This will help narrow it down

I did have the Nvidia app installed, though I've had it and its previous form installed since I bought this laptop in Oct of 2021 and haven't had issues. If a game seems like it can run at 60fps or 90fps (the highest I shoot for) it'll work. I sometimes use the overlay, but I have filters and photo mode disabled, and the latter is where the bigger impact should come from. Shouldn't cause stutters though, just reduced framerate.

That said, I did uninstall it just to test this, since I don't need the overlay, and restarted just to be certain. The stutters were still there, including some really bad stutters for ~10 seconds straight while in my cell.

Steam overlay on or off doesn't change anything.

I don't usually have much else running besides Discord and sometimes Chrome. Multitasking hasn't been an issue with more demanding games, and this game seems to be barely using any resources. I closed them both and nothing changed.

Originally posted by Cryemore:

Did you try 60hz or below? Maybe the game engine itself suffers at anything over that. I always have my frames capped to 60 as I have my pc connected to my oled tv with a cable that has a bandwidth capable of 4k60 max.

i know it's a long shot, but this was a Vita exclusive, so they wouldn't have planned on high frame rates from the beginning of development. Maybe when they say the game is now playable at 4k60 they mean literally that, and nothing over 60.

I tried capping the game's framerates to multiples of my refresh rate, including 45 and 60, with no improvement. The game seems to cap itself at 60 when I don't force it, so higher caps don't seem to matter.

I hadn't actually changed my display's refresh rate. I only have 60hz and 360hz to choose from, and I keep it on the latter mostly for the smoother mouse movement. I switched to 60hz, and it seemed like it was better, but then I was hit with the same stutters. Sometimes it goes stutter-free for a minute or so at the start and I think something finally clicked into place, but nope.

I saw that Steam input was on, I guess it's just the default, so I turned that off. Not really needed outside of my Deck, and even if I wanted to use it apparently there are issues if you mix controller and keyboard inputs in this game. Didn't change anything, though.

I saw a comment about running the game as administrator, which I forgot about since I haven't messed with that in a while. So I tried it and initially it felt better but I could see the stutters coming back. I tried a mission, DS4-1 specifically since that's where I'm at, and it also initially felt better. But about half-way through I got some massive stutters and, during a particularly hectic moment, when the game was practically locking up, I actually fell through ground (which, thankfully, was accounted for, and I eventually could respawn). Will be trying that on my Deck to see if it can handle it, since there can be a lotta effects firing off.

Not suggesting administrator mode caused this, just giving a specific example of how bad it can get. I've seen some major stutters in my cell, and even just looking at a menu, before running it as administrator.

A somewhat nuclear option that I haven't tried is updating Windows 11 to 24H2, but I kinda don't wanna do that just for 1 misbehaving game. If 24H2 actually is problematic for games in general, it's not worth it. I'd rather wait until it's no longer opt-in, or until I see chatter that it's worth updating to. Will just play portably for now, and hope for some serious patches or maybe someone finding a fix.

I have an older PC, with a 1st gen Ryzen and an RX 580 GPU, still on Windows 10, which I might try it on later just to see if it magically works. Not sure if people are having better or worse luck depending on if they're using 10 or 11, though 11 hasn't caused me any grief so far.

[Decker]

Also having this issue on the steam deck it's only been happening on the 45 minute liquidation quest so far though DS4-1 Wraith.

[OrochiTabris]

Originally posted by OrochiTabris:

I tried a mission, DS4-1 specifically since that's where I'm at, and it also initially felt better. But about half-way through I got some massive stutters and, during a particularly hectic moment, when the game was practically locking up, I actually fell through ground (which, thankfully, was accounted for, and I eventually could respawn). Will be trying that on my Deck to see if it can handle it, since there can be a lotta effects firing off.

Originally posted by Nixy:

Also having this issue on the steam deck it's only been happening on the 45 minute liquidation quest so far though DS4-1 Wraith.

Just tried DS4-1 on my Deck. Compared to the stuttery, probably borderline crashy mess on my laptop, it had 1 stuttter shortly after I was given control (which has been a pretty consistent thing on the Deck) and I think 1 stutter somewhere in the middle. But it ran so well in general that it could've been the camera getting snagged on a rock since I was running around those a bit.

I hope Dimps is up to taking a serious look at the performance and crash reports (from users, not sure, going by the description, if the in-game data collection includes that) and fixing up the game. There are some QOL issues I'd like to see addressed, but for now I'd just like it to run reliably on PCs that are clearly at or above the pretty low specs it needs.

Can't even recommend it to friends who have Decks because I don't know if it'll run well on their specific Deck for whatever reason. It's a good portable grindy game alongside Monster Hunter, God Eater, and SAO: Fatal Bullet.

[Decker]

It turns out that turning V-sync off on the steam deck sorts out the crashing issue, i managed to do that mission multiple times in a row after disabling V-sync :)

Noticed it mentioned in another post.

[BOSSNOSS]

game closes as soon as the logo's finish displaying and the character starts to become available. played this on the steam deck first, which also took some time to get running as it was telling me steam needed to be running in order to play the game. I fixed that by making it use proton 9. steam deck battery is toast now and i didn't feel like being tethered to a wall while it charges. The game just closes with no errors every time i open it. i made sure all my drivers are up to date, tried running in compatibility modes, and running it as administrator. I love this game so much and it seems like its a battle just to run it. I am at a loss for what to do now. I would love to play this on my actual PC.

[Cryemore]

Originally posted by BOSSNOSS:

game closes as soon as the logo's finish displaying and the character starts to become available. played this on the steam deck first, which also took some time to get running as it was telling me steam needed to be running in order to play the game. I fixed that by making it use proton 9. steam deck battery is toast now and i didn't feel like being tethered to a wall while it charges. The game just closes with no errors every time i open it. i made sure all my drivers are up to date, tried running in compatibility modes, and running it as administrator. I love this game so much and it seems like its a battle just to run it. I am at a loss for what to do now. I would love to play this on my actual PC.

What version of windows do you have?