Fix: Death Stranding Director’s Cut Stuttering, Lags, or Freezing constantly

2019’s Death Stranding is one of the action-adventure video games developed by Kojima Productions and published by 505 Games that has received pretty good reviews on available platforms. Recently, the developers have come up with a new DLC called ‘Death Stranding Director’s Cut, which has added some new features and more.

Running the game requires enough hardware configuration to run properly, especially for a PC. Not everyone may have such a configuration to run the game in full resolution and higher FPS. It’s quite common for most PC titles because they’re performance-hungry. We’ve provided steps to fix Death Stranding Director’s Cut Stuttering and Lags issues.

Unfortunately, some Death Stranding Director’s Cut PC players are experiencing multiple issues like stuttering, lags, crashes, frame drops, etc., while in the gameplay. Depending on the compatibility factor, it can be a severe issue on some PCs. So, it’s always a better idea to fix the issue so that at least you can play the game with a respectable FPS count. There may be several reasons behind such an issue that can be resolved by following this guide.

Check System Requirements

Check out the system requirements of the Death Stranding Director’s Cut game below to ensure whether your PC configuration is meeting the game’s system requirements or not.

Minimum System Requirements:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: Intel Core i5-3470 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: GeForce GTX 1050 4 GB or AMD Radeon RX 560 4 GB
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 80 GB available space
• Sound Card: DirectX compatible
• Additional Notes: AVX instruction set required

Recommended System Requirements:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: Intel Core i7-3770 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB or AMD Radeon RX 590
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 80 GB available space
• Sound Card: DirectX compatible
• Additional Notes: AVX instruction set required

Fix: Death Stranding Director’s Cut Stuttering and Lags Badly

Fixing in-game lags or frame drop issues isn’t easy because it depends on multiple factors such as PC hardware, the display resolution of the game, maximum FPS limit count, conflicting third-party apps, and more. So, we recommend you follow all the methods one by one until the problem gets fixed or reduced a lot. Mostly changing the in-game graphics-related settings or keeping them low can fix several problems in a jiffy.

It may include the Screen Resolution of the game, in-game Texture Resolution, Shadow Resolution, Maximum Frame rate, number of Characters Displayed, or other visual effects that require higher graphics or memory. So, you can follow the steps below to try reducing the lags or frame drops up to some extent depending on which resolution and quality you’re playing the game apart from FPS count.

1. Use Launch Options

• Open your Steam client > Go to Library > Right-click on the Death Stranding Director’s Cut.
• Select Properties > On the General tab, you’ll find Launch Options.
• Enter the launch options -fullscreen = Forces the engine to start in fullscreen mode.

2. Update Graphics Drivers

• Right-click on the Start Menu to open up the Quick Access Menu.
• Click on Device Manager from the list.
• Now, double-click on the Display adapters category to expand the list.
• Then right-click on the dedicated graphics card name.
• Select Update driver > Choose Search automatically for drivers.
• If an update is available, it’ll automatically download and install the latest version.
• Once done, make sure to reboot your computer to change the effects.

3. Run the game as an administrator

Make sure to run the game exe file as an administrator to avoid user account control regarding privilege issues. You should also run the Steam client as an administrator on your PC. To do this:

• Right-click on the Death Stranding Director’s Cut exe shortcut file on your PC.
• Now, select Properties > Click on the Compatibility tab.
• Make sure to click on the Run this program as an administrator checkbox to checkmark it.
• Click on Apply and select OK to save changes.

4. Set High Priority in Task Manager

Make your game priority in the higher segment via the Task Manager to tell your Windows system to run the game properly. To do this:

• Right-click on the Start Menu > Select Task Manager.
• Click on the Processes tab > Right-click on the Death Stranding Director’s Cut game task.
• Select Set Priority to High.
• Close Task Manager.
• Finally, run the Death Stranding Director’s Cut game to check for the issue.

5. Verify Integrity of Game Files

If in case, there is an issue with the game files and somehow it gets corrupted or missing then make sure to perform this method to easily check for the issue. To do so:

• Launch Steam > Click on Library.
• Right-click on Death Stranding Director’s Cut from the list of installed games.
• Now, click on Properties > Go to Local Files.
• Click on Verify Integrity of Game Files.
• You’ll have to wait for the process until it gets completed.
• Once done, just restart your computer.

6. Change GPU Settings

Make sure to change the graphics card settings on the PC by following the steps below to check if the problem has been fixed or not.

For Nvidia:

• Open up Nvidia’s Control Panel > Right-click on the desktop screen.
• Click on Nvidia Control Panel > Click on Manage 3D Settings.
• Select Program Settings > Find ‘Death Stranding Director’s Cut’ and manually add the game if it’s not in the list:
  • Monitor Tech: G-Sync (If available)
  • Maximum Pre-rendered frames: 2
  • Threaded optimization: On
  • Power Management: Prefer Maximum Performance
  • Texture Filtering – Quality: Performance

For AMD:

• Monitor Tech: G-Sync (If available)
• Maximum Pre-rendered frames: 2
• Threaded optimization: On
• Power Management: Prefer Maximum Performance
• Texture Filtering – Quality: Performance

7. Disable Fullscreen Optimizations

Full-screen optimization and DPI settings are the default ones on Windows. You should try disabling it by following the steps below:

• Locate the Death Stranding Director’s Cut game directory.
• Find and right-click on the cyberpunk2077.exe file.
• Select Properties > Click on the Compatibility tab.
• Checkmark the ‘Disable Full-Screen Optimizations’ box.
• Now, click on the ‘Change high DPI settings button.
• Checkmark the ‘Override high DPI scaling behavior’ > Select ‘Application’ from the drop-down menu.
• Click on Apply and then OK to save changes.

8. Update Death Stranding Director’s Cut

If, in case, you haven’t updated your Death Stranding Director’s Cut game for a while, then follow the steps below to check for updates and install the latest patch (if available). To do this:

• Open the Steam client > Go to Library > Click on Death Stranding Director’s Cut from the left pane.
• It’ll automatically search for the available update. If there is an update available, make sure to click on Update.
• It may take some time to install the update > Once done, close the Steam client.
• Finally, reboot your PC to apply changes and launch the game again.

That’s it, guys. We assume this guide is useful to you. For further queries, you can comment below.