Koei Tecmo’s WILD HEARTS is available worldwide, and for the first game of its kind launching without a beta or any free demo, it’s received significantly positive praise overall. The gameplay, mechanics and world design have been especially noteworthy, but unfortunately, the performance leaves something to be desired.
While the Quality and Performance modes on consoles aren’t perfect, at least their performance is decent. The same can’t be said of the PC version, which has suffered from stuttering issues and terrible frame rates. Koei Tecmo has acknowledged the performance issues and is working on a patch, though it’s yet to be released. A workaround is available, but let’s look at the PC requirements first.
Before that, please be advised that the following methods are to be used at the sole discretion of the system owner. GamingBolt or its staff members take no responsibility for problems or issues that may occur from trying the below. Remember that official support is always the best support.
PC Requirements
Here are the minimum and recommended requirements for WILD HEARTS on PC. A 64-bit CPU with Windows 10 64-bit, DirectX 12, and 80 GB of installation space is necessary regardless.
Minimum Requirements:
- Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600
- Memory: 12 GB RAM
- Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 1060 (VRAM 6GB) / Radeon RX 5500 XT (VRAM 8GB)
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Sound Card: 16bit 48kHz WAVE format stereo
Recommended Requirements:
- Processor: Intel Core i7-8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics Card: GeForce RTX 2070 (VRAM 8GB) / Radeon RX 5700 XT (VRAM 8GB)
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Sound Card: 16bit/24bit 48kHz WAVE format Stereo/Surround (5.1ch/7.1ch)/Spatial sound (headphone/speaker)
Now let’s look at the most common issue that players on PC are experiencing: Stuttering.
Stuttering Issues
Whether you’re setting the graphics quality to Medium or High, WILD HEARTS tends to struggle and experience frame stuttering. If you’re on an RTX 30 or 40 Series GPU, there is a way to heavily reduce stuttering (which is also recommended by the development team). Ready? Open the audio settings and change the output from Stereo to 7.1 Surround Sound. That’s it.
Keep in mind that it won’t work for everyone. Wolf_Hands, a community developer for the game on Reddit, revealed that players “already running recommended spec at over 60 FPS are unlikely to see an improvement.” Nevertheless, they encourage everyone to try it and see if it helps.
Another solution comes from a user on Steam. Open the Nvidia Control Panel, and go to Manage 3D Settings, then Program Settings. Locate WILD HEARTS, and add it here. Go to Power Management Mode and set it to “Prefer Maximum Performance.” You can also turn off Threaded Optimization and Upscaling while enabling Triple Buffering.
Apply these settings and then launch the game. It should result in a performance increase.
Crashes
Crashes can also occur while playing, and unfortunately, it’s yet another issue that won’t properly be addressed until the next patch. You can open the Task Manager with Ctrl+Alt+Delete and stop any unnecessary processes to help free up some bandwidth for the game, but that’s pretty much it.
WILD HEARTS is playable on Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Check out our official review here for more details. You can also look into tips and tricks here. A patch to improve performance should be going live this week on PC, so stay tuned.
Note: Given the wide range of PC hardware available, some of the fixes mentioned here may or may not work for you (especially changing the output audio). However, it’s worth giving them a shot since these have worked for some players.
