An upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds update is set to make some improvements to the game's generally poor performance on PC, but players are worried that Capcom isn't addressing the game's root issue.
The publisher recently released patch notes for Monster Hunter Wilds' second major update, which is adding a ton of changes from returning monsters and equipment to a new event, but folks playing on PC were paying particularly close attention to how the game's performance might be impacted.
You see, when Monster Hunter Wilds first stomped into release, it got absolutely pummelled by PC players upset at its consistently wonky performance, semi-frequent crashes, and odd texture issues. Some of those problems have persisted for so long, Monster Hunter Wilds' recent Steam reviews took an even bigger nosedive – now, only 14% of reviews logged in the last 30 days have positive things to say, giving it an 'Overwhelmingly Negative' rating. Ouch.
So, performance optimizations were front of mind for players scouring the patch notes. Capcom explains that it will have "adjusted the amount of VRAM used with texture streaming, resulting in reduced overall VRAM usage" and "fixed an issue where the VRAM usage displayed incorrect values for the Distant Shadow Quality option in Graphics settings" when the update drops on June 30.
"Fixed an issue where the Estimated VRAM Usage in the Display/Graphics settings was calculated lower than the actual value," the notes continue. "(As a result, the estimated VRAM usage will appear higher, but thanks to a separate optimization, actual VRAM usage has been reduced, so the current minimum and recommended system requirements remain unchanged.)"
Those sound like swell changes, but players aren't convinced it'll meaningfully improve the blockbuster's issues because dodgy CPU optimization has been tanking performance more than anything since Wilds' launch in February.
"So a big nothingburger, thanks Capcom," one player comments on Reddit. "Why wouldn't they want to reduce the insanely high CPU requirements?" Another chimes in to say "we need CPU optimization too. [It's] the main reason the game runs so bad."
