Cyberpunk 2077 lag spikes and stuttering: How to fix your frame rate and reduce lagging problems on PS4, Xbox One, PS5, PC, Google Stadia and Xbox Series X/S


After one of the longest development periods in history, CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 is finally out in the wild. Initially scheduled to release in April, CDPR delayed its RPG numerous times before finally settling on the December 10 release date.

However, what became apparent when the Cyberpunk reviews started rolling in was that this game, despite the extra time given to developers by the delays, suffered from quite a lot of bugs and issues.

Aside from the more humorous T-Posing graphical issues, players are experiencing frequent frame drops and lag as they start their adventure in Night City. If this has happened to you, here's what you can try...

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How to fix frame drops and lagging problems on PS4/PS5

The PlayStation 4 version of Cyberpunk 2077 is locked into 30 FPS gameplay, while the game can run at up to 60 FPS on the PlayStation 5. This means that ultimately, if you want the smoothest experience on a PlayStation console, you'll need to upgrade to a PS5.

It's also worth noting that this 60 FPS on the PS5 is via backwards compatibility, as Cyberpunk's next-gen version is not set to release until next year.

Unfortunately, if you're suffering from frame drops on the PlayStation, this version does not include the toggle between Performance and Quality mode, meaning you can not change between these two modes to see if it improves your gameplay experience.

NightCityCyberpunk
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Cyberpunk's Night City looks stunning no matter where you play

We'd recommend also checking you have downloaded the huge 45GB Day One patch for Cyberpunk 2077. This should resolve some of the more pressing issues with the game, and should download automatically when you install the game. However, if it does not start downloading (which might happen if you don't have enough space on your console), click on the game's icon and select 'Check for Updates'.

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How to fix frame drops and lag problems on Xbox One/Xbox Series X

Much like the PlayStation version of Cyberpunk 2077, the Series X will run the Xbox One version via backwards compatibility until the next-gen version releases in 2021.

As with its PlayStation counterparts, you will only get 60 FPS on the Xbox Series X/S consoles, while the Xbox One version of Cyberpunk 2077 is capped to 30 FPS. For the best gameplay experience possible, it's likely that an upgrade to a next-gen console is required.

We'd also recommend you ensure the game is running in Performance mode rather than the Quality mode if you are concerned about frame drops. This Performance setting will sacrifice visual fidelity for a higher frame rate, while the Quality mode will lose frames to ensure a higher resolution.

Finally, if you haven't already downloaded the Day One update, this is essential for fixing a host of bugs and issues with Cyberpunk 2077. You can check for updates via the Cyberpunk 2077 game hub if the update did not begin automatically.

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How to fix frame drops and lag problems on PC

As with most other games on the PC, if you're having issues with frame rates in Cyberpunk 2077, make sure that your drivers are up-to-date and that all other applications are closed before jumping into Night City.

If your PC is still struggling to hold a consistent frame rate in Cyberpunk, we'd recommend turning down the graphical settings from Ultra to Very High or High, depending on your specs.

If you're using an NVIDIA graphics card that supports DLSS technology, you should enable DLSS as this will allow your game to run at a higher frame rate without suffering from (noticeable) resolution changes.

As with the other versions of Cyberpunk 2077, the Day One patch is an essential download for the best performance, as this should resolve a number of bugs and issues in the previous build.

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How to fix frame drops and lag problems on Google Stadia

When you suffer from lag on Google Stadia, there are likely two explanations: either there are problems with the cloud servers, or your internet connection is weak.

As there isn't much you can do about the cloud server issues without working at Google, we'd recommend ensuring you have a strong and stable internet connection capable of a high frame rate and frame rate.

You can check your internet connection speed for Google Stadia here.

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