Stop Stuttering & Freezing on SR3

How to fix stuttering on modern machines.

Fixing Stuttering

Booted up this game for the first time since around 2014, and found there to be a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of stuttering and couldn't find anything to fix it.

I came across a forum post that said to run it in offline mode, and that worked, but you aren't able to use co-op or any online features then.

It turns out, the stuttering is caused by the game trying to connect to the defunct My Steelport service, that was shut down sometime in 2016.

To fix this, all you need to do it is go to:

%WINDIR%\System32\drivers\etc\

Enter the host file and add this to the end of it:

127.0.0.1 sr3.hydra.agoragames.com

Save and the game should run smoothly!

Many thanks to the PC Gaming Wiki, although this fix was right at the bottom. (Sourced from here: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Saints_Row_IV#Stuttering_caused_by_My_Steelport_service_shutdown)

[Ecchi DaddyTrainWreck]

now how do i open webroot? it's been ages since i have even heard of it, lol. also BTW, Jurassic World Evolution has a really cool foil badge.

[Jurassic Fart 1]

Turned out that it was Webroot, not Windows keeping the hosts file open, so I disconnected from the internet, shut down Webroot, edited the hosts file, relaunched Webroot, and re-established the internet connection.

[Jurassic Fart 1]

This doesn't work. Windows refuses to save the edited hosts file in that directory; it insists that it be saved somewhere else, nor will it allow me to delete the original and replace it with the edited one.

[Anubis 1101]

if youre having trouble, you can also just run the game in offline mode

[sj_490]

I'm not sure I am understanding this guide. Are you saying to add a new line to the hosts file at the bottom with notepad and include the "sr3.hydra.agoragames.com"?

[Shadow Pendragon]

This actually worked thanks bro!
Also for those who keep saying I can't replace the *host* file. Open notepad as administrator and enter the address from there. Worked for me so it should work for you.

[MissGrimReaper]

Please help, says I can't put new files into the folder so I can't replace the "host" file. I also tried Notepad++ but when I save everything after editing it just returns to as it was before editing. I just can't edit the bloody file, how is it simple for everybody else?

[Saul Goodwoman]

for linux users: if you encounter this problem, this fix works on linux distros as well. the file you need to edit (ubuntu/debian) is /etc/hosts

[Stranger]

Thank you very much it works !

[The King of Pants]

Super helpful. I've been playing this for the last few weeks and suddenly started getting the freezing outta no where. The Hosts edit worked, no idea why it started all of a sudden though.