PC users have reported plenty of issues with Capcom’s latest release. The monster expansion to Monster Hunter World, Iceborne, is plagued with problems. Not only are users saying their save data has been deleted, but more problems have been reported. For many gamers, they cannot even run the game reliably.
The core culprits of these issues relate to two separate problems. One of the more infamous problems that users are reporting is the new anti-cheat and DRM solution in Monster Hunter World Iceborne. Capcom implemented constant file integrity checking using CRC32, a process that runs persistent threads on the CPU to see if a file is being modified. This prevents mods from running in Monster Hunter World Iceborne, but also introduced some performance issues. According to modders who poked through the game code, this CRC checking only accounts for at most 5% of the CPU usage of the game.
Still if you want to disable the CRC checking and run mods, there is a way around it. There’s a couple different ways to do it. There’s a file-based solution, that involves running Steam in offline mode and using a special hack file. I can’t for legal reasons link to the file directly, but it can be found online. I’ve also included a malware scan if that kind of thing concerns you. Here’s a rundown of how to disable the CRC via the hack:
- Run Steam in offline mode.
- Launch the game from Steam and get to the main menu of the game.
- Run the included program, MHWResetCRC.exe.
- Follow the instructions that it displays, and when it tells you, you will see “Success! Leave this open, until ready to quit the game, then press OK.”
- When you wish to close MHW, press OK to close the game to shut down without triggering CRC checks and causing a crash.
The other workaround involves instead exploiting a bug within the CRC checks that appear to force the game into disabling the checks altogether. Users are reporting that the following fix reduces CPU usage in Iceborne by around 20%-30%.
- Start the game and wait until you’re in the main menu.
- Press alt+enter to switch to windowed mode from fullscreen.
- Press ‘X’ to close the window.
- A window will popup asking to confirm closing the game, simply select “No”, this will keep the game running but trick the CRC into disabling.
- Press alt+enter again to switch from windowed back to fullscreen.
Monster Hunter World Iceborne is a fun expansion, but these problems have certainly soured the fun for many PC players.
