Fix: Sons of the Forest Stuttering, Lags, or Freezing constantly

Sons of the Forest, the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 2014 game The Forest, has been released by Endnight Games and Newnight in early access for Microsoft Windows on February 23, 2023. This survival horror game, like many modern PC titles, demands a robust hardware setup to run smoothly, especially for those aiming to play at full resolution and high frame rates. This requirement often poses a challenge for players whose systems may not align with these performance-hungry specifications.

In the course of gameplay, several Sons of the Forest players on PC have reported encountering issues such as stuttering, lagging, crashing, and frame drops. These problems can be particularly acute on PCs where there is a mismatch in game compatibility and system hardware. Therefore, addressing these issues becomes crucial for an optimal gaming experience, allowing players to enjoy the game with a stable and respectable FPS count. This guide provides a series of steps and potential solutions aimed at resolving these performance issues, helping players overcome these technical challenges in Sons of the Forest.

Check System Requirements

Check out the system requirements of the Sons of the Forest game below to ensure that your PC configuration meets the game’s system requirements.

Minimum Requirements:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: 64-bit Windows 10
Processor: INTEL CORE I5-8400 or AMD RYZEN 3 3300X
Memory: 12 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB or AMD Radeon RX 570 4GB
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 20 GB available space
Additional Notes: SSD (Preferred)

Recommended Requirements:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: 64-bit Windows 10
Processor: INTEL CORE I7-8700K or AMD RYZEN 5 3600X
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 1080Ti or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 20 GB available space
Additional Notes: SSD (Preferred)

Fix: Sons of the Forest Stuttering and Lags Badly

Addressing in-game lags and frame drops is often complex, as these issues can arise from various factors. These include the specifications of your PC hardware, the game’s display resolution, the set maximum FPS (frames per second) limit, and potential conflicts with third-party applications. To combat these issues effectively, it’s advisable to methodically try different solutions to see which yields the best results.

One more immediate approach is adjusting the game’s graphics settings. Often, simply lowering these settings can significantly improve performance. This may involve tweaking various options, such as the game’s screen resolution, texture resolution, shadow resolution, and maximum frame rate. Reducing the number of characters displayed and other memory-intensive visual effects can also help. These adjustments can make a noticeable difference in reducing lags or frame drops, particularly when you’re playing the game at a specific resolution and quality level, in addition to managing the FPS count. Following the steps outlined below, you can tailor your game settings to achieve a smoother gameplay experience.

1. Use Launch Options

Open your Steam client > Go to Library > Right-click on the Sons of the Forest.
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 the Sons of the Forest 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 Sons of the Forest game task.
Select Set Priority to High.
Close Task Manager.
Finally, run the Sons of the Forest 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:

Launch Steam > Click on Library.
Right-click on Sons of the Forest 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 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 ‘Sons of the Forest’ 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 Sons of the Forest game directory.
Find and right-click on the Sons of the Forest.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 Sons of the Forest

If you haven’t updated your Sons of the Forest game for a while, 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 Sons of the Forest 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 relaunching the game.

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