Performance and FPS Issue - All Possible Fixes

[Dug]

So, this clearly isn't the first post discussing performance issues or FPS drops, however, it seems like most people have found various work around's to make the game at least playable. As far as I'm aware I've tried every possible fix, solution and recommendation to no avail. I manged to clock around 400 hours in Iceborne but in the last week the game suddenly runs so poorly it's unplayable.I apologise in advance for what will end up being a long post, but if it helps or sheds some light on the issue, then that'll be a win.

Solution 1: Clean/Dust Computer to prevent overheating

Solution 2: Verify integrity of game files in steam

Solution 3: Disable Overlays - Discord, Shadowplay, Steam, Geforce Experience ect.

Solution 4: Run the game with all graphics on lowest settings

Solution 5: Set all graphics to lowest settings, restart game, set graphics back to desired levels.

Solution 6: Setting the in game FPS limiter to "No Limit" (Also try setting a 60 FPS limit in Nvidia control panel/other software)

Solution 7: Increase the priority of the game in task manager - Go to the details tab, find monsterhunterworld.exe, right click and set priority to high.

Solution 8: Nvidia Control Panel - Go to "Manage 3D settings" then "Program Settings" and find the Monster Hunter World executable. Adjust the following settings:
Threaded Optimisation: On
Power Management: Prefer Maximum Performance
Low Latency Mode: Off
Texture Filtering - Quality: Performance

Solution 9: Update Drivers - AMD or Nvidia

Solution 10: (Nvidia only) Roll Back Driver - Driver 445.75 can cause some issues so try rolling back to driver 442.75.

Solution 11: Turning off virus protection software (AVG, Avast, ect)

Solution 12: Turning Off "Real Time Protection" - Go to Windows Security and select "Virus and Threat Protection", click on "Manage Settings", Turn Off "Real Time Protection" (This will turn back on after some time and will need to be repeated)

Solution 13: Closing the Game in Windowed Mode - Start the game and get to the main menu, press Alt + Enter to switch to windowed mode, close the window by clicking the X in the top right, when prompted to close the game say "No" (Some people say leave this window open), press Alt + Enter to go back to full screen.

Solution 14: Task Manager Processor Affinity - Run Monster Hunter World, open task manager, go to the details tab at the top, find Monster Hunter on the list, right click and select "Processor Affinity", uncheck the last CPU (For me this was CPU 7)

Solution 15: Try running the game with vsync ON and OFF to see which performs better

Solution 16: (Windows 10 only) DirectX 12 - Try running the game with DirectX 12 ON and OFF to see which performs better (DirectX 12 ON seemed to be slightly better for me)

Solution 17: Special K - Download the "Special K" mod from the Steam Forums and attempt running the game (Easy to find and instructions are on the forum post) Just a heads up, "Special K" mod does NOT work with DirectX 12, so make sure you turn it off!

Solution 18: Nvidia Inspector - Download "Nvidia Inspector", run "Nvidia Profile Inspector", in the "Profiles" drop down find "Monster Hunter World", click the red cross to delete this profile, create a new profile by clicking the sun icon and name it 001 MHW, click the "Add Application" button and select monsterhunterworld.exe, save by clicking "Apply Changes", close Inspector and run the game.

EDIT: New Solutions that have been commented

Solution 19: ThrottleStop - Download "ThrottleStop" and run the program, tick the "Disable Turbo" box, click save, make sure that ThrottleStop is turned ON, launch game.

Solution 20: Riot Anti Cheat - Some people have had problems with game company Riot's anti cheat, if you have the game "Valorant" it may be worth uninstalling the game along with "Riot Vanguard" and testing to see if this helps performance.

Solution 21: Uninstall/Reinstall - Far from a perfect solution but a select few have had performance improvements after uninstalling Monster Hunter and reinstalling it.

This is everything that I have tried to get my game running smooth, but as stated above, nothing has worked. If you have any other solutions that I didn't find or forgot to mention, please comment them below. If any of these solutions helped then feel free to comment and say which one's you tried and what seemed to help the most.

TL;DR: Game runs very poorly, this is a list of every solution I found. Feel free to try them and comment if they work.

[Mika]

Incredible, thanks for the explanation.

The only thing that worked for me is the "Special K" and from what I understand the developer has blocked it completely. Currently I use version 0.10.01 of Special K (The last one compatible with Windows 7), I get ERR18, according to the LOG file of the game, when hunting a monster of the mission or ending the expedition the mod tries to load a DLL about 3 times, on the fourth try the game crash with ERR18. Although I have seen people who have the same error without the mod.

Without the mod I can't play, the game gets completely frozen.

I hope that the developer takes the time to find a solution and not make small patches.

[Dug]

Originally posted by Mika:

Incredible, thanks for the explanation.

The only thing that worked for me is the "Special K" and from what I understand the developer has blocked it completely. Currently I use version 0.10.01 of Special K (The last one compatible with Windows 7), I get ERR18, according to the LOG file of the game, when hunting a monster of the mission or ending the expedition the mod tries to load a DLL about 3 times, on the fourth try the game crash with ERR18. Although I have seen people who have the same error without the mod.

Without the mod I can't play, the game gets completely frozen.

I hope that the developer takes the time to find a solution and not make small patches.

Special K still works as far as I could tell, I had it running in game with no problems. Saying that, I did have to change something in the "dxgi.ini" file, open it up, scroll down to "[Steam.Log]" and it should say "Silent=false", you need to change it to "Silent=true". From that point on it was running fine, unfortunately it did nothing to fix my fps/performance issues.

[Mika]

Originally posted by Dug:

[...]you need to change it to "Silent=true"[...]

Obviously that option is set "TRUE" since otherwise the game won't start and I hear the Metal Gear alert sound every time I try to start the game. I'm up to date with the mod and the last thing that was published the modder is that the mod is dead. The old versions still work, all because I use Windows 7.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/582010/discussions/3/1745594817439431537/

No matter, currently my problem is that I get ERR18 when I finishing an expedition or hunting the monster.

[pengtuck]

One more option - Prioritize frame rate over resolution.
Don't know what CPU you have but this game loves threads. Seems like 8 or more threads give more consistent performance.

[TomzzZ_]

R7 3800X/RTX 2070 S/16GB Ram

I'm playing in 4k with DSR at 30fps on highest settings, it plays fine. I can do up to 120fps or so in -1440p in lower settings. The games animation and timings still seem to be in 30fps unlocked.

4k 30fps is fine with me, I just enjoy it being crystal clear with no aliasing.

DLSS is an option to play in 720p if you need frames that bad. Most rigs should run the game fine at 30fps in most resolutions.

It's not that bad. x_x

[Mika]

Even if I put everything to the minimum possible (including 640x480) the CPU usage is 100% all the time and it's impossible to play, with the Special K I can play, sometimes it takes a little pause but it's playable, with any config the CPU usage doesn't drop (according to MSI Affterburn) while GPU usage does drop, going from 100% higher to 30% lower, but CPU usage in Astera is keeps at 60 - 80% without the mod and between 40 and 50% with the mod. Without the mod in expeditions it doesn't drop 100% of use and in IB the PC is completely stuck and I have to turn it off from the power supply. With the mod the usage reaches 100% but it stays around 50-60% (capped at 30 FPs) and in IB it goes up to 80-90%.

In my profile you can see the complete HW I use, the processor is an i5 3570/GTX1060 6GB, I only have problems with this game, the others I can play perfectly and even some in 4K DSR. In fact recently the ETS2 was going badly for me to play in 1080P / 30 Medium, but I play the last week for not being able to play MHW and I found that I can now go up to 8K DSR Ultra at about 20 - 25 FPs (4K Ultra 40 - 60 FPs), it can be seen that they have optimized it a lot. The developer of MHW should do the same, since it doesn't want to remove the anti-cheats system that consumes about 50% of CPU, at least CPU load by the game, some option to reduce the number of models, map visibility and those things that consume CPU (not GPU).

Something to reduce CPU usage for those with a smaller processor, for years I didn't see a game use so much CPU. It reminds me of old games that only use the CPU.

About 5 years ago I used my laptop with a T4500, the first game to have a bottleneck was the NFS MW (2012), because even games like BF3 are moved by that processor without problems.

Anyway the game currently gives me ERR18 when finishing an expedition or killing the monster of the mission (sometimes any monster). And the new update doesn't seem to patch anything.

For now, nothing works for me except the Special K, I hope that other solutions will work for other people.

[オナニー]

All these issues..
How long has this game been out?
I just dont understand how companies let these kinds of things slide. Similar to GTA Online having bugged heists. I was never a monster hunter fan, this is my introductory game & I am massively disappointed with the constant crashes.

[Dug]

Originally posted by pengtuck:

One more option - Prioritize frame rate over resolution.
Don't know what CPU you have but this game loves threads. Seems like 8 or more threads give more consistent performance.

Probably should have mentioned it in my original post but I did try every resolution and monitor option available in game. Some websites suggest running with prioritising resolution and other suggest prioritising framerate, but both run almost identically. Same with running the game in full screen/windowed/borderless, all 3 run very similar with only slight improvements in full screen. Thank you for the suggestion though, it's nice to see more solutions added to the list.

[Wisedude]

Originally posted by PiKK\/Mi:

All these issues..
How long has this game been out?
I just dont understand how companies let these kinds of things slide. Similar to GTA Online having bugged heists. I was never a monster hunter fan, this is my introductory game & I am massively disappointed with the constant crashes.

You should look at the input stutter issue thats been going on for 2 years now.Took them 1 year to make an official thread by them and another year with 0 response.
About 1-2 months ago they partially fixed it where it was semi playable but then they brought it back.Then they partially fixed it again.Then they brought it back to its full force.

This with me and others sending emails troughout these 2 years.So they knew of the issue.

[amethyvst]

Where can I download the special k mod?

[Dug]

Originally posted by amethyvst:

Where can I download the special k mod?

https://gitlab.com/Kaldaien/SpecialK/

[Raybeze]

i wish i came across this days ago, i just wasted $60 Canadian that i can't get back.

thanks for the post, i'll share it with my friend whos in the same situation.

[Numeriku]

All good, except K has abandoned Special K now due to Capcom's bull. So unless someone else has picked up the mantle (or K changed their mind recently) I wouldn't rely on it for the long run.

[Dug]

Originally posted by Numeriku:

All good, except K has abandoned Special K now due to Capcom's bull. So unless someone else has picked up the mantle (or K changed their mind recently) I wouldn't rely on it for the long run.

Yea, sad that it's no longer a reliable option. I left it as a solution because some people seem to have luck with older versions. Even a very slim chance of a fix is better than nothing I suppose.

For those still trying I would recommend playing around with all graphic settings in game, it's tedious; but changing one, running around for 10 minutes, restarting, then changing it again and running around for another 10 minutes to test what works best got my game back to playable. It seems that very specific options I'm using make the game run ok.

[RuDoKa]

guys I have a fix (for laptop users who's cpu are throttling). Download throttlestop and click "disable turbo". You can also undervolt your cpu with this software but the most important thing to do is to check this.