Monster Hunter Wilds DLC Checks May Be Behind Weird PC FPS Drops

Monster Hunter Wilds: A Redditor Says DLC Presence Checks Could Be Causing PC Frame‑Rate Drops

This caught my attention because Wilds has been one of those rare blockbuster releases that still feels half-finished on PC: solid design and huge player numbers, but ongoing frame‑rate hiccups that patch notes repeatedly promise to reduce. If a DLC ownership check – something most players would never suspect – is the root cause, the fix could be straightforward for Capcom but maddeningly avoidable in the first place.

Key takeaways

• A Reddit user, de_Tylmarande, reports that Wilds runs much smoother when the game believes all DLC are owned – replicated across accounts and two PCs.
• The theory: repeated DLC “presence checks” (Steam ownership queries or local checks) may be tripping expensive code paths and causing hub-area FPS drops.
• Capcom has not publicly confirmed this; Digital Foundry has reportedly been contacted, and the user may release an open-source workaround if ignored.
• If true, it’s a bizarre backend bug with an easy-sounding fix — but it raises concerns about how DLC metadata is handled at runtime.

{{INFO_TABLE_START}}
Publisher|Capcom
Release Date|2025 (approx.; approaching first anniversary)
Category|Action / Co‑op Monster Hunting
Platform|PC (Steam) — issue currently reported on PC
{{INFO_TABLE_END}}

What the Reddit test shows — and why it’s believable

The Redditor describes a simple but persuasive experiment: they swapped between Steam accounts on the same PC and saw large, repeatable differences in hub-area frame rates. An account that “owned all” DLC ran at 80+ FPS in congested areas, while an account with no DLC dropped to the 20-25 FPS range. They then made a small local tweak so the game thought all DLC were present and saw the high FPS return. They repeated the test on another machine with similar results.

That pattern — consistent cross-account replication and a local change that flips performance — is exactly the sort of signal you want when chasing down a weird game bug. It’s not proof, but it moves the issue off of vague speculation and toward a plausible hypothesis: Wilds may be doing many synchronous checks for each piece of DLC at runtime, and the sheer number (Steam shows ~190 items attached on store pages) could be triggering expensive loops or blocking I/O.

Technical reading: how DLC checks could tank performance

There are several realistic ways a DLC check can become costly. If the game queries Steam for ownership metadata repeatedly and synchronously during hub rendering, or iterates a long list of DLC items to decide which assets to load/display, that can cause stalls. Another possibility is that different code paths execute when DLC are present vs absent — e.g., extra UI elements, character variants, or cosmetic lookups — and those paths are currently unoptimized.

All of this is more likely if DLC are implemented as dozens of separate items rather than a single catalog entry. Every independent item is another entry to check and cache. Properly engineered clients cache ownership and batch-check at startup; a sloppy implementation can re-check on demand and block the main thread.

Why this matters and what Capcom could do

If the claim holds up under independent verification (Digital Foundry is reportedly investigating), this is both a relief and an indictment: relief because there’s a clear, fixable explanation; an indictment because shipping code that queries hundreds of DLC entries in a hot path is an avoidable oversight.

Capcom’s likely fixes range from trivial to moderate: cache DLC ownership client-side, batch-server the checks, avoid synchronous calls on the render thread, or combine many cosmetic items into a smaller metadata set so fewer checks are needed. Any of those would reduce stalling without changing player-facing content.

On the proposed “mod” and what players should do

The Redditor says their tweak doesn’t unlock paid content — it simply makes the client believe the DLC is present so the alleged presence-check logic is skipped. They plan to finish and publish it as open source only if Capcom ignores the problem. That path raises practical and ethical concerns: local mods that alter runtime checks can break online compatibility, potentially trip anti-cheat systems, or create account risks. For now, the safer course for players is to wait for official confirmation or a patch and to avoid installing unofficial tools that change game behavior.

What this means for Wilds players

Practically: keep an eye on upcoming patch notes and Digital Foundry coverage. If Capcom acknowledges the issue, a server- or client-side patch could yield immediate FPS improvements for many players. Strategically: this is a reminder that large DLC catalogs have hidden technical costs if not architected defensively. Developers and publishers should treat metadata and ownership checks as performance-sensitive systems, especially for games with crowded online hubs.

TL;DR

A Redditor has compelling, repeatable evidence that Monster Hunter Wilds’ PC FPS drops may be tied to DLC presence checks. Capcom hasn’t confirmed it yet, but if true the fix should be straightforward — and players should avoid locally altering the game while waiting for an official patch.