Fix: Shadow Warrior 3 Stuttering, Lags, or Freezing Badly

Shadow Warrior 3 is a free-to-play game that pairs the best of ARPG combat and MMO depth to create a vast, vibrant world with thrilling fights. It is co-developed by Tripod Studio and Smilegate’s game development subsidiary Smilegate RPG. To run the game requires enough hardware configuration to run properly especially for PC because not everyone may have such 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 Shadow Warrior 3 Stuttering and Lags issues.

It’s quite unfortunate that some Shadow Warrior 3 PC players are experiencing multiple issues like stuttering, lags, crashes, frame drops, etc while in the gameplay. It can be a severe issue on some PCs depending on the compatibility factor. 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 Shadow Warrior 3 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 7
Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 965 (4 * 3400) or equivalent. Intel Core i5-3470 (4 * 3200) or equivalent.
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Radeon R7 260X (2048 VRAM) or equivalent. GeForce GTX 760 (2048 VRAM) or equivalent.
Storage: 31 GB available space
Additional Notes: The Minimum Specification listed allows gameplay experience at 30 FPS on average while using Low graphical settings and 1080p resolution.

Recommended System Requirements:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 2700 (8 * 3200) or equivalent. Intel Core i7-6950X (10 * 3000) or equivalent.
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Radeon RX 5700 (8192 VRAM) or equivalent. GeForce GTX 1080 (8192 MB) or equivalent.
Storage: 31 GB available space
Additional Notes: The Recommended Specification listed allows gameplay experience at 60 FPS on average while using High graphical settings and 1080p resolution

Fix: Shadow Warrior 3 Stuttering and Lags Badly

Fixing in-game lags or frame drop issues isn’t an easy thing to do 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 will recommend you try following 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. Screen Resolution

Changing the resolution of the game according to the PC configuration will be helpful enough to fix the in-game lag or frame drop issue whatsoever. Reducing the in-game screen resolution should increase the FPS count and reduce lags.

2. Texture Resolution

If you’re not interested in playing the in full detailed or texture resolution then you can try reducing or turning off the texture resolution whatsoever. Setting it low will reduce bottleneck with the GPU/CPU and can increase smooth gameplay. Make sure to set it from ‘High’ to ‘Low’.

3. Shadow Resolution

Shadows or shadow texture can look good visually but if your PC hardware is older enough or doesn’t take the stress that much then make sure to either turn it off or set it to ‘Low’.

4. Frame Rate

If your computer is struggling to run the game at a higher FPS rate with medium or low settings then it’s better to set the maximum frame rate count to 30/60FPS manually. It’ll improve the gameplay consistency.

5. Characters Displayed

The characters displayed in the gameplay can sometimes eat up a lot of VRAM and other system resources to render and load properly. It’s also recommended to reduce the number of NPCs rendered on-screen at one time.

Try This Fixes to Resolve Stuttering Issue

It’s worth mentioning that there are a couple of possible reasons behind such an issue which should be fixed manually. Sometimes compatibility issues, in-game settings, or even issues with the game files may cause stuttering or lagging issues on the PC. It’s better to check out all the steps below.

1. Use Launch Options

Open your Steam client > Go to Library > Right-click on the Shadow Warrior 3.
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 there is an update available, it’ll automatically download and install the latest version.
Once done, make sure to reboot your computer to change 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 Shadow Warrior 3 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 Shadow Warrior 3 game task.
Select Set Priority to High.
Close Task Manager.
Finally, run the Shadow Warrior 3 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:

Verify Game Files on Steam:

Launch Steam > Click on Library.
Right-click on Shadow Warrior 3 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 ‘Shadow Warrior 3’ 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 Shadow Warrior 3 game directory.
Find and right-click on the GRIDLegends.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 Shadow Warrior 3

If in case, you haven’t updated your Shadow Warrior 3 game for a while then make sure to follow the steps below to check for updates and install the latest patch (if available). To do this:

Steam Users:

Open the Steam client > Go to Library > Click on Shadow Warrior 3 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, make sure to close the Steam client.
Finally, reboot your PC to apply changes, and then try launching the game again.

This is how you can easily fix Shadow Warrior 3 Stuttering and Lags on the PC. That’s it, guys. We assume this guide is useful to you. For further queries, you can comment below.