Elden Ring

Elden Ring

Developers
	FromSoftware
Publishers
	Bandai Namco Entertainment
Japan	FromSoftware
Release dates
Windows	February 25, 2022
Reception
Metacritic	94
OpenCritic	95
IGDB	97
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, DLC
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, RPG
Art styles	Stylized
Themes	Fantasy

Elden Ring is a singleplayer and multiplayer third-person action and RPG game.

General information

Official Discord server

Official Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Launch Edition exclusive to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
GamersGate		Shadow of the Erdtree Edition and Shadow of the Erdtree Deluxe Edition also available.
		Shadow of the Erdtree Edition and Shadow of the Erdtree Deluxe Edition also available.
Green Man Gaming		Shadow of the Erdtree Edition and Shadow of the Erdtree Deluxe Edition also available.
Humble Store		Shadow of the Erdtree Edition and Shadow of the Erdtree Deluxe Edition also available.
Steam		Shadow of the Erdtree Edition and Shadow of the Erdtree Deluxe Edition also available.

All versions require Steam DRM.

Version Differences

The Shadow of the Erdtree Edition contains the base game and the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.

The Shadow of the Erdtree Deluxe Edition contains the base game, the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, as well as their respective digital artbooks and soundtracks.

The Launch Edition contains the base game as well as a poster, three stickers, three artwork cards and a woven patch.

Monetization

Type	Notes
Expansion pack	Shadow of the Erdtree is an expansion that includes new areas, new weapons, new bosses, new NPCs, and new story content.
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Shadow of the Erdtree	Upcoming expansion.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\EldenRing\GraphicsConfig.xml
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1245620/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\EldenRing\<user-id>\ER0000.sl2
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1245620/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		16:9. See Mods to remove letterboxing.
Multi-monitor		See Mods.
Ultra-widescreen		See Mods.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		See Mods.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Scales automatically via Texture Quality setting.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Anti-aliasing quality can be switched between Off, Low (FXAA), and High (TAA).
High-fidelity upscaling
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Capped at 60 FPS. See Mods to change FPS limit and remove 60 Hz limitation.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Ray tracing (RT)

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Many keys cannot be remapped. Set "Device for On-Screen Prompts" to "Keyboard and Mouse" to show keyboard prompts for controls.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity		Range from 0 to 10.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Under Keyboard/Mouse settings, listed as Mouse Y-Axis. X-Axis can also be inverted.
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity		Range from 0 to 10.
Controller Y-axis inversion		X-Axis can also be inverted.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts		Xbox Wireless Controller variant.
Impulse Trigger vibration

PlayStation controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Generic/other controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, Sound Effects, Voice.
Surround sound		Gameplay uses up to 7.1. Cutscenes are limited to 5.1.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Hungarian				A fan translation is available at "TRC's Playground".
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese				Audio and voice: AI dubbed, Nexus Mods.
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish
Thai

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play		Up to four players total. Two other players can be called for cooperative play with additional room for one invading player. Up to 127 players can join if using the Seamless Co-op mod.

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	27014-27050, 50050
UDP	27000-27030, 3478, 4379, 4380, 50000-50003

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues unresolved

Random stutter and frame rate drops in open areas

The game appears to suffer from stuttering issues, particularly during combat in open world areas, likely caused by background loading and shader compilation mismanagement.

Potential fix for stutter and frame rate drops[citation needed]

The game is a DirectX 12 title with no shader precompiling. The game will stutter less the more it's played, as it saves its shaders on the system. Note that every time the drivers are updated, the shader stutter will begin again. Hyperthreading (Intel) or SMT (AMD) seems to be a major cause for freezing/stuttering on CPUs with more than 8 cores. It is recommended to disable Hyperthreading/SMT in the BIOS settings, or by using an application such as Process Lasso. Forcing Vsync off in the GPU control panel for the game or globally, substantially reduces stutters at the cost of introducing tearing. Setting Vsync to fast turns it off and reduces tearing to imperceptible levels. Disable Microsoft Device Association Root Enumerator in Device Manager. To find this, go to the Control Panel, locate Software devices, Right click Microsoft Device Association Root Enumerator and click Disable Device. Disable Steam Overlay by Right clicking Elden Ring in the Steam Library, choose Properties, Uncheck Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game. The game may occasionally freeze up for several moments at a time when using a controller. A mod that fixes it can be found here. Uninstall all Microsoft Store and PC Game Pass games that are located in the WindowsApps folder. Update the Xbox App via the Microsoft Store. Reinstall the games via the advanced installation settings located in the General section to another custom game folder. If the Xbox app does not show the advanced installation settings, uninstall it, then reinstall it from the Microsoft Store. Some games, such as Sea of Thieves, do not currently support advanced installation. If all else fails, uninstall the Xbox app and all Xbox games. Further explanation here. Potential fix, archived by WaybackMachine. Changing the Power Plan to "Ultimate Performance" might resolve FPS problems.

Issues fixed

Controller not detected when playing via Steam Input

Enable desktop configuration[citation needed]

Go to Steam > Controller > Desktop Configuration to open the Steam Controller Configurator. Select 'Browse Configs' and apply a desired configuration to use in-game (note: this will also enable the controller in this configuration on desktop). Exit the Steam Controller Configurator. In the Library, right-click on Elden Ring and select 'Properties...'. In the controller category, ensure Steam Input is enabled.

Run the game at screen refresh rate

Fullscreen mode defaults to 60 Hz, even if the screen refresh rate is set higher than that.

Run the game in Borderless Windowed or see Mods to remove 60 Hz limitation[citation needed]

White screen with cursor followed by a crash to desktop after launching the game

Upgrade to a newer build of Windows[citation needed])
The game seems to require DX12 features not available on some older versions of Windows. Updating to version 21H1 (or at least version 1909 fixes the issue.

Crash at Bandai Namco Logo

Turn off Steam Overlay from Steam (Steam->Settings->In-game->Enable steam overlay [OFF])[citation needed]

Crashes on Radeon Vega 8 Graphics iGPUs

Enable Radeon Anti-Lag[citation needed]
Launch AMD Software and go to Settings > Graphics. Set Radeon Anti-Lag to Enabled. Notes Note that in many scenarios, anti-Lag can cause an input lag increase across all games.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		User profile, see the vorpx forums post for an introduction.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	12

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok, SpeedTree
Audio	Wwise
Interface	Scaleform
Cutscenes	Bink Video
Multiplayer	Steamworks
Anti-cheat	Easy Anti-Cheat

Easy Anti-Cheat

The embedded Easy Anti-Cheat component prevents unknown third-party tools from injecting themselves in the game. This protection can be disabled, which allows the use of said tools.

Online play will be disabled when Easy Anti-Cheat is disabled.

At launch included version of Easy Anti-Cheat was not compatible with CET, which is enabled by default on Windows 11 and some Windows 10 configurations with Zen3 (Ryzen 5000+) and Intel 11th Gen+ CPUs. This should have been fixed with 1.03 game update.

Use Elden Ring EAC Toggler[citation needed]
Notes This tool will make start_protected_game.exe launch eldenring.exe, so the latest game version will always be used and Easy Anti-Cheat will be disabled no matter how the game is launched.

Run through eldenring.exe

Go to <path-to-game>\Game\. Create steam_appid.txt and write 1245620 inside the file. Don't forget to save it. Run the game through eldenring.exe. It will launch directly and still have full integration with Steam. Notes Deleting or renaming start_protected_game.exe located in <path-to-game>\Game\ and then renaming eldenring.exe to start_protected_game.exe, allows the game to be directly launched through Steam. Optionally, add eldenring.exe as a non-Steam game or create a shortcut on the desktop.

Mods

The anti-cheat must be disabled for most mods to load; see Easy Anti-Cheat.

Framerate mods

Flawless Widescreen - general tool.

FPS Unlocker or Proton Patcher - written specifically for Elden Ring.

Allow for various widescreen aspect ratios without resolution limitations.

Enable FOV controls, vignette adjustment from 0% (off) to 100% (default) and chromatic aberration removal.

Increases the distance for full rate animations, unlock the framerate and remove the 60 Hz refresh limitation in fullscreen mode.

Pause the game

Allows the game to be paused, set to the P key by default.

Recover Runes Immediately

Recovers runes immediately upon death, without the need to revisit the point of death.

Fix the camera

Removes the automatic camera re-centering/drag.

Performance Boost

Back up regulation.bin before replacing it.

Can increase framerate and performance stability.

Main packages: Low LOD, Low Grass Range, No Grass, No Shadows, No Rain, No Tree Animation.

The "Performance + Quality" package tries to balance between performance and quality without sacrificing too much.

Increased Draw Distance for Enemies and NPCs

Back up regulation.bin before replacing it.

Fixes the invisible enemies/NPCs bug without unnecessary modifications that degrade performance.

Provides optional files to edit or merge with other mods, with an instruction guide.

Force Dynamic Shadows For All Objects

For Elden Ring v1.09.1 only.

Forces dynamic shadow casting from light sources.

Performance Boost For Potato PC

Back up regulation.bin before replacing it.

Several options to disable things like grass, shadows, weather effects, volumetric effects, chromatic aberration, and more.

Includes a guide on how to merge and edit the included mods.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10	10, 11
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i5-8400 AMD Ryzen 3 3300X	Intel Core i7-8700K AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
System memory (RAM)	12 GB	16 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	60 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 AMD Radeon RX 580 3 GB (Nvidia), 4 GB (AMD) of VRAM DirectX 12 compatible	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 8 GB of VRAM

A 64-bit operating system is required.

The game will run on Intel Core 2 processors, despite the minimum processor requirements.

The game OS requirement can be lowered to Windows 8.1 and 7 with the DXVK and VKD3D wrappers and a patch (anti-cheat has to be disabled).

The game officially requires D3D12 feature level 12_0, but it doesn't actually completely require it. Use the aforementioned W7 patch or others to lower it.