Mortal Kombat 1 Stuttering, Lags, or Freezing constantly on PC

Mortal Kombat 1 is a new fighting game developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Games. It is the twelfth main installment in the Mortal Kombat series and serves as a sequel to Mortal Kombat 11 and the series’ second reboot following Mortal Kombat. The game has been released for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X, and Series S.

The game requires enough hardware configuration to run properly, especially for PCs. 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. Here, we’ve provided steps to fix Mortal Kombat 1 Stuttering and lag issues.

Unfortunately, some Mortal Kombat 1 PC players are experiencing multiple issues like stuttering, lags, crashes, frame drops, etc., while in gameplay. Depending on the compatibility factor, it can be a severe issue on some PCs. So, it’s always better 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.

Mortal Kombat 1

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-8400 | AMD Ryzen™ 5 3600X
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce® GTX 1080 Ti or AMD Radeon™ RX 5700 XT or Intel® Arc™ A770
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 100 GB available space

Fix: Mortal Kombat 1 Stuttering and Lags Badly

Fixing in-game lags or frame drop issues can be challenging due to multiple factors such as PC hardware, the display resolution of the game, maximum FPS limit count, conflicting third-party apps, and more. Therefore, we recommend trying each method individually until the problem is fixed or reduced. You can quickly solve several problems by changing the in-game graphics-related settings or keeping them low.

If you’re experiencing lags or frame drops while playing a game, it could be due to various factors such as screen resolution, in-game texture resolution, shadow resolution, maximum frame rate, number of characters displayed, or other visual effects that require higher graphics or memory. To reduce the lags or frame drops, you can follow the steps below depending on the resolution and quality you’re playing the game, apart from the FPS count.

1. Use Launch Options

Open your Steam client > Go to Library > Right-click on Mortal Kombat 1.
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.
An update will automatically download and install the latest version if available.
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 Mortal Kombat 1 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 Mortal Kombat 1 game task.
Select Set Priority to High.
Close Task Manager.
Finally, run the Mortal Kombat 1 game to check for the issue.

5. Verify the Integrity of Game Files

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

For Steam Users:

Launch Steam > Click on Library.
Right-click on Mortal Kombat 1 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, restart your computer.

For Epic Launcher:

Watch our YouTube video to learn how to verify game files on Epic launcher.

Remember that verifying game files is an excellent troubleshooting step if you encounter issues such as crashes, performance problems, or missing content.

6. Change GPU Settings

Make sure to change the graphics card settings on the PC by following the steps below to check whether the problem has been fixed.

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 ‘Mortal Kombat 1’ 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 Mortal Kombat 1 game directory.
Find and right-click on the Mortal Kombat 1.exe file.
Select Properties > Click on the Compatibility tab.
Checkmark the ‘Disable Full-Screen Optimizations’ box.
Now, click on the ‘Change high DPI setting 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 Mortal Kombat 1

If in case, you haven’t updated your Mortal Kombat 1 game for a while, follow the steps below to check for updates and install the latest patch (if available). To do this:

For Steam:

Open the Steam client > Go to Library > Click on Mortal Kombat 1 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 > close the Steam client.
Finally, reboot your PC to apply changes, and then try launching the game again.