Monster Hunter Wilds has had rave reviews, but excessive stuttering is spoiling that game for some players. For example, an MHW player said this on Reddit, “So, I’ve been playing Wilds since its release on my PC, but for some reason, since Monday last week, it’s been borderline unplayable due to stuttering.” Gameplay stuttering can spoil many PC games and is more likely to occur on lower-spec desktops and laptops. Here are some ways you can fix Monster Hunter Wilds stuttering on a Windows PC.
Disable Game Booster in Norton Antivirus
Is Norton 360 for Gamers installed on your PC? If so, try disabling that software’s Game Optimizer feature, as instructed on this Norton page. Some players confirm they have fixed Monster Hunter Wilds stuttering by disabling the Norton Game Optimizer (booster) feature.
Norton isn’t the only security app with a game booster feature. Avira, ESET, Bitdefender, and BullGuard antivirus utilities have similar ‘game-boosting’ features. So, try disabling similar game booster features in any alternative antivirus software installed on your PC.
Delete the Shader.cache2 File
Some players also confirm erasing the shader.cache2 file can fix the Monster Hunter Wilds stuttering. Applying this possible fix refreshes the shader cache. This is how you can erase the shader.cache2 file:
- Open your Steam gaming software, and click Library within its window.
- Right-click on the Monster Hunter Wilds game inside the Library sidebar to select the Manage and Browse local files.
- Find and right-click the shader.cache2 file in the game folder to select Delete.
Lower In-Game Graphics Settings
Higher in-game graphics settings that bottleneck the GPU can cause the Monster Hunts Wilds to stutter. To be more specific, Texture Quality, Shadow Quality, Volumetric Fog, Shadow Distance, and Ray Tracing are settings you need to consider lowering (or disabling). Select Options > Graphics in Monster Hunter Wilds to configure those settings like this:
- Ray Tracing: Off
- Texture Quality: Medium or Low
- Volumetric Fog: Low
- Shadow Quality: Low or Lowest
- Shadow Distance: Near
Add Performance-Enhancing Mods to Monster Hunter Wilds
Two mods for MHW can remedy the Monster Hunter Wilds stuttering issues. REFramework is one such mod released to address stuttering caused by anti-tamper checks. The DLSSG-to-FSR3 Mod for RTX 30 graphics cards fixes stuttering by enabling FSR3 Frame Gen.
You can manually download and add those mods to Monster Hunter Wilds without the Vortex modding software. Click the Manual download option on this DLSSG-to-FSR3 page to obtain that mod. To add the REFramework mod, click Manual download on this mod page. The Description tabs on those pages include instructions for installing the Monster Hunter Wilds mods.
Install the Newest Driver for Your Graphics Card
Although not necessarily a guaranteed solution, updating graphics card drivers can resolve numerous graphical performance issues. An old or even faulty graphics driver can cause graphical glitches and stuttering. Check out our updating GPU drivers guide for further details about how you can apply this suggested fix.
Other Possible Ways to Fix Monster Hunter Wilds Stuttering
The suggested fixes for the Monster Hunter Wilds stuttering above are more widely confirmed. However, these are some additional potential fixes you can also try applying:
- Disable superfluous background apps via Settings and Task Manager before playing Monster Hunter Wilds.
- Set a 60 frame rate cap via the in-game Monster Hunter Wilds settings.
- Reinstall Monster Hunter Wilds on an SSD (solid state drive) instead of an HDD (hard disk drive) if possible. You can also purchase an external SSD for this purpose.
- If your PC has a couple of GPUs, set Monster Hunter Wilds to run with a dedicated NVIDIA or AMD graphics card by selecting High Performance for the game in Settings.
Seldom (if ever) is there a guaranteed way to fix in-game stuttering issues. However, the possible resolutions discussed above might at least reduce the Monster Hunter Wilds stuttering for many players. Monster Hunter Wilds will then be somewhat more playable than before, with smoother gameplay.
