Digital Foundry Confirms Monster Hunter Wilds PC Performance Drops Caused by Thousands of DLC Checks — But Only in Specific Scenarios

A new technical investigation has shed light on one of the most puzzling performance issues affecting Monster Hunter Wilds on PC. According to a recent analysis by Digital Foundry, the game performs thousands of DLC ownership checks in real time, which can significantly hurt frame rates—but only under very specific conditions.

What’s Causing the Performance Drops?

The issue first came to light when modder de_Tylmarande discovered that the PC version of Monster Hunter Wilds continuously checks whether the player owns various cosmetic DLC packs. Ironically, the fewer DLCs a player owns, the worse performance can become, as the game repeatedly verifies missing content.

This behavior is especially problematic given that Monster Hunter Wilds includes dozens of cosmetic DLC items, increasing the frequency and cost of these checks.

Shortly after the discovery, a Nexus Mods user named Vaeux released a workaround called “Less DLC Checks”, which reduces how often these checks are performed. The mod requires REFramework by praydog, a well-known tool that enhances and fixes several PC issues in RE Engine–based games developed by CAPCOM.

Digital Foundry’s Findings: When Does It Happen?

Digital Foundry decided to take a closer look to verify the claims. Their conclusion:
Yes, the game is indeed performing thousands of DLC checks, heavily taxing the CPU—but only in a specific gameplay scenario.

According to their analysis, the issue occurs when:

• The player is inside a hub area
• A Support Desk Felyne NPC is nearby

These NPCs are responsible for managing the in-game DLC menu, which explains why the checks spike in those moments.

Outside of these conditions, the performance impact is far less noticeable.

Performance Gains Measured by Digital Foundry

Using a Ryzen 5 3600 test system, Richard Leadbetter from Digital Foundry measured how much performance improves when the Less DLC Checks mod is applied. Interestingly, the gains increase as graphics settings are lowered:

• 1440p Ultra (RT + DLSS Balanced): 🔼 11.4% FPS increase
• High settings with Ray Tracing: 🔼 20% FPS increase
• Lowest settings (DLSS Ultra Performance, no RT): 🔼 25.6% FPS increase

This suggests that the bottleneck is largely CPU-related, becoming more apparent when the GPU is under less stress.

Should Players Be Worried?

The good news is that this issue does not affect all gameplay scenarios. It mainly impacts players who spend time in hub areas near DLC-related NPCs. However, the fact that such a problem exists—and went unnoticed for nearly a year after release—is still concerning.

Digital Foundry emphasized that CAPCOM should address this at the engine level, rather than relying on community mods to resolve a performance flaw tied to DLC handling.

Final Thoughts

While Monster Hunter Wilds remains a strong technical showcase in many areas, this discovery highlights how backend systems like DLC verification can quietly impact performance. Thanks to the PC modding community and Digital Foundry’s deep analysis, the issue is now well understood—and hopefully on CAPCOM’s radar for an official fix.

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