Microsoft Plans Fix For Stuttering, FPS Drops In Windows 10 Creators Update

One of the things Microsoft focused on when developing the original Creators Update for Windows 10 was playing games. Features such as Beam (now called Mixer) and even a dedicated Game Mode intended to make gaming performance better were introduced with the update. Unfortunately, so were some bugs that had the opposite effect—users have been complaining of stuttering and random drops in frames per second in games such as Overwatch and Rocket League. Now several months later Microsoft says it is working on fixes.

Yes, fixes, as in plural. There is not just one issue causing these problems, but several different ones that Microsoft has identified. Hopefully it will have stomped out all of the bugs when the Fall Creators Update roll out next month (and cross your fingers that it does not introduce new ones), but in the meantime, you may find some relief by becoming a Windows Insider and subscribing to the Fast ring.

Overwatch
Some gamers are experiencing stutters and FPS drops in Overwatch and other games following the Creators Update

"Thank you everyone for providing feedback and submitting traces. We have been analyzing the traces from your feedback and have identified several different problem sources surfacing as stutter in games," Microsoft said. "We have a fix for one of them in the Windows Insider build that flighted to the 'Fast' ring (build 16273 and above). We are actively investigating the remaining stutter causes and appreciate your patience on this issue."

What makes these issues especially perplexing is that no amount of hardware seems to solve the issue. For example, a user on NVIDIA's GeForce forums claims to have "stuttering and major FPS drops" on all of his games on his Intel X99 system with a Core i7-6800K processor and GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card in tow.

"In Battlefield 4 and Battlefield 1 I have a weird kind of latency feel and then the framerate drops from ~130 to ~40 for no reason, it then reverts and repeats," forum member nakquada wrote.

Others chimed in with similar experiences on a variety of setups, including pre-built rigs (HP Omen). Some were able to fix the issue by disabling the Xbox Game DVR feature, while others say it did not help their situation. So at this point, affected users can wait things out and hope the Fall Creators Update provides a miracle cure, or jump the gun and play around with a preview build through the Insiders Program in hopes of finding relief.