One of the most baffling technical mysteries of the last console generation is simply this: why is that every From Software title on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One stutters so noticeably? From the studio’s 2014 PS4 debut – Bloodborne – through to this year’s Elden Ring, From Software’s 30fps frame-rate solution just doesn’t look or feel right on any of its games.
At Digital Foundry, we call this phenomenon ‘inconsistent frame-pacing’ – where even if you’re getting 30 new frames per second, the staccato, inconsistent delivery of each new frame gives the illusion of much lower performance. But here’s the thing: unofficial patches for every From game exist for hacked PlayStation 4s and astonishingly, it’s a simple, rudimentary code fix. I’ve tested these patches – and they work, producing a far smoother, stutter-free effect. All of which made me wonder, why hasn’t From Software fixed its own games if it’s this simple. Are there any catches to these patches?
I first heard about this story from noted From Software ‘code archeologist’ Lance McDonald, creator of the Bloodborne 60fps patch we’ve seen running flawlessly via back-compat on PlayStation 5. He was highlighting the work of a hacker called Illusion, whose blog contains a wealth of patches for unlocking performance on a vast range of PlayStation 4 titles, or quality of life improvements such as – yes – frame-pacing fixes for every PS4 From Software title.
To get any of these patches working is not a process for the faint of heart: first of all, you require a PlayStation 4 console running on firmware 9.0 or lower, which requires an exploit run through the PS4 web browser which installs a payload from a USB stick. This allows users to install unsigned code in a way similar to Sony development consoles. However, installing the exploit is just the beginning of the tasks required: beyond that, you need to dump and decrypt the games you’re patching before installing them on your hacked machine. None of this is particularly simple and for the purposes of this piece, further explanation isn’t really relevant. In the case of the patched From Software titles, it’s simply the means to put the theory to the test: that the studio’s signature dodgy 30fps cap can actually be fixed.
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According to Illusion, the problem is fairly straightforward. From’s vanilla frame-rate cap does little more than the name suggests – it ensures that no more than 30 frames are presented per second. What it does not do is consider when each new frame should be delivered. In theory, a 30fps game should display a new frame on every other screen refresh – every 33.3ms – but instead, From titles see new images displayed at 16.7ms, 33.3ms or 50ms intervals. This is the classic Digital Foundry nemesis – inconsistent or ‘bad’ frame-pacing.