mhw

The reports were frankly staggering. Could buying DLC really improve performance in the beleaguered PC version of Monster Hunter Wilds?

In a Reddit post initiated by contributor de_Tylmarande, it was revealed that the game ran with huge frame-rate advantages on a Steam account where the user had purchased a bunch of DLC - significantly faster than de_Tylmarande's own account, sans downloadable content. The story spread like wildfire and while we can confirm that the report is valid, the extent of the problem is somewhat less extreme than initially suggested. It's more of a bizarre bug than a game-wrecking issue, it only impacts limited parts of the game, and while Capcom needs to act, a mod is already available that comprehensively addresses the problem.

Since this appeared to be a CPU issue, I used a Ryzen 5 3600-based system to verify the report, paired with an Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti. Then I downloaded the "Less DLC Checks" mod, which turned out to be invaluable. The mod plugs into the RE Framework modding tool and when active, it indicates when the game code is checking for the presence of downloadable content. You see, it turns out that it's not the lack of DLC that is causing the performance problems, it's the game checking to see if you have it or not. In hub areas in certain conditions, Monster Hunter Wilds can flood the CPU with DLC checks and the upshot is that it does impact performance if you don't have DLC installed.

The Less DLC Checks mod features a handy little counter that lets you know how many checks are being made as you play. Initially, I found no weird behaviour whatsoever. The amount of DLC checks from an early game save was precisely zero. But then, at base camp, I interacted with a character that offered me the DLC menu - and then mod's DLC counter kicked in. In less than a minute, Monster Hunter Wilds had checked for DLC thousands upon thousands of times, adding to the CPU load of an already over-burdened processor. On the very lowest settings, with the game set up to DLSS ultra performance mode at 1440p, we were already completely CPU limited - and the DLC checks made the situation worse.

How much worse? I carried out three tests within base camp. Fully maxed at 1440p ultra with RT and DLSS balanced mode, we were still CPU-limited, but using the mod to block DLC requests improved performance by 11.4 percent across a minute of capture. Dropping down to high settings with RT active saw the mod increase performance by 20 percent. Finally, on lowest of the low settings with RT off and DLSS in ultra performance mode - fully isolating the CPU - performance increased by 25.6 percent with the mod active, disabling the DLC checks.

The description for the Less DLC Checks mod fully explains the situation:

It looks like this only happens when you're close enough to a Support Desk felyne (the ones that handle bounties and have a DLC menu) to see an exclamation point on its map/world icon, which pops up if DLC is purchased or is newly available, so you know to go and redeem and/or look at the new DLC. So it only matters while you're standing in/near a Base Camp and the Support Desk doesn't already have a DLC notification. Not quite as game-changing as some were hoping, but better than nothing.

So, the hit to CPU performance shouldn't have that much of an impact on actual gameplay, and even in the hub areas, you're only likely to notice an issue if you meet specific conditions. That said, having only played the game before on a high-end Ryzen 7 9800X3D, I did find it surprising and disappointing to see that the hub areas are so impactful on lower-end processors, even when no DLC checks are happening.

At the very least, the initial "buying DLC improves frame-rate" narrative has been debunked, even if the nature of the issue does not reflect well on Capcom and its QA processes. This is clearly a bug, not a feature, but it is an issue that Capcom should address in what should be an easy fix. However, in the meantime, your hub experiences within Monster Hunter Wilds can be sorted with the Less DLC mod.

Based on my limited time with the game though, I can't help but agree with Alex's long-standing opinion on the state of the game - there are wider, more fundamental problems with this title's PC version and we still feel that there's a lot of work to do until Monster Hunter Wilds' long-standing performance problems are fully addressed.