Monster Hunter Wilds Is Finally Getting Serious About Performance
Monster Hunter Wilds has had a rough time since launch, especially on PC. Performance problems have been bad enough that even Capcom investors now use the game as a warning sign when they talk about technical issues. The good news is that a major round of fixes is finally coming.
Capcom has unveiled Title Update 4, arriving on December 16, which aims to boost CPU and GPU performance across all platforms and prepare the way for more PC specific optimizations in early 2025. Alongside those technical upgrades, the update also brings a returning elder dragon, new weapon and armor upgrade systems, and other tweaks designed to keep players hunting.
If you have been holding off on Wilds because of stutters and inconsistent frame rates, this new roadmap is the most concrete sign yet that Capcom is trying to turn things around.
What Title Update 4 Actually Changes
Title Update 4 is the last major free content update for Monster Hunter Wilds, but it also doubles as the first big step in a longer performance overhaul. Capcom says this patch will improve CPU and GPU performance on all platforms through a mix of engine level and gameplay level optimizations.
Here is what Capcom is promising in the December update:
- Better frame processing The studio is adjusting how frames are handled to cut down on wasted processing time and smooth out frame pacing.
- Smarter collision detection By optimizing how the game checks hits and physics interactions, the CPU should spend less time crunching unnecessary calculations.
- Fewer simultaneous effects Wilds can get visually busy with particle effects, monster attacks, environmental hazards, and companion abilities. The update will reduce the strain from these visuals without fully stripping the spectacle.
- Cutting unnecessary processes Capcom mentions reducing background work that was eating up CPU and GPU resources for no good reason.
- Over 100 targeted processing tweaks These focus on specific in game elements like players, monsters, Seikrets, Palicoes, NPCs, and more. It sounds like a large set of small optimizations rather than one giant fix.
On top of this, Title Update 4 also brings back the elder dragon Gogmazios, along with new weapon and armor upgrade systems. For players who stayed despite the performance frustrations, there will be fresh builds to chase and a formidable monster to test them against.
The PC Roadmap: January And February Patches
While December’s update should help all versions of Wilds, PC players will need to wait a little longer for the heavy duty fixes that target their platform specifically. Capcom has laid out a two patch plan for early next year that focuses on PC performance and graphics control.
January PC focused patch
- Extra CPU and GPU optimization for PC only code paths Capcom says this patch will aim at systems and processes that exist only on the PC version, which often include things like input methods, windowed modes, and platform specific rendering paths.
- New graphics settings More ways to tweak visual options, likely giving players finer control over things like shadows, effects, and texture quality.
- New CPU related settings and presets Expect updated performance presets tuned around different hardware classes, so lower mid range and high end rigs can pick more accurate defaults.
These added settings are nice, but they will not matter much if the underlying engine issues remain. The real test will be whether the processing optimizations in December and January actually fix the constant stutters and heavy drops that many PC players have reported since launch.
February optimization and LOD overhaul
Capcom is also planning a third patch in February that continues this optimization push:
- More CPU and GPU tuning A further round of performance work to follow on from the earlier patches.
- New level of detail quality levels for 3D models Level of detail or LOD systems swap higher and lower detail models in and out based on distance to reduce GPU load. Adding more LOD quality levels for the polygon meshes should let the game scale visuals more intelligently instead of either overspending GPU power or popping to extremely low detail too aggressively.
Players have already noticed odd looking low poly monsters, nicknamed origami monsters, when the game drops to very crude models at a distance. The fact that Capcom is now manually implementing more precise LOD levels suggests that the automated system was not behaving as intended. Better LOD tuning can significantly improve performance without ruining image quality, which is crucial for big open environments full of huge monsters and companions.
Can These Fixes Repair Wilds’ Reputation?
There is also a trust issue hanging over all of this. Previous patches for Monster Hunter Wilds have sometimes introduced new problems, including fresh crash bugs. That history makes it hard for players to get excited about yet another promise of optimization until they can see the results on their own rigs.
From a business perspective, Wilds helped Capcom secure an eighth consecutive year of record profits thanks to strong early sales. But as performance complaints spread and long term sales dropped hard, the game started to look like a risk to the Monster Hunter brand instead of a straightforward win.
If Capcom can deliver meaningful and stable performance improvements between December and February, there is still time to bring players back, especially on PC where strong hardware should not be held back by poor optimization. For newcomers with gaming PCs, it may be worth waiting until the January and February patches land before diving in, just to see how much improvement they actually bring.
For now, Title Update 4 marks the beginning of a more aggressive technical recovery plan. If Capcom follows through, Monster Hunter Wilds could finally feel like the smooth, modern hunting experience it was meant to be instead of the cautionary tale it has become.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/capcom-says-monster-hunter-wilds-performance-improvements-are-arriving-next-week-but-more-pc-focused-fixes-will-be-coming-in-january/
