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Monster Hunter Wilds’ Steam update Ver. 1.040.03.01 was scheduled to go live on January 28, 2026, at 02:00 UTC—6:00 p.m. Pacific Time on January 27. Capcom said it would fix a specific CPU-load problem near the Support Desk in Base Camp and the Grand Hub, where the game checked whether players had unclaimed content. The announcement’s “today” referred to January 27, 2026, not October 8, 2026.
When did the Monster Hunter Wilds PC performance patch go live?
Capcom scheduled Ver. 1.040.03.01 for Wednesday, January 28, 2026, at 02:00 UTC, which was Tuesday, January 27, at 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time. The timing comes from Capcom’s official Steam update notice. Windows Central reported the same planned time on January 27, but the official notice is the primary source for the schedule.
That date is historical. As of October 8, 2026, the official Monster Hunter Wilds Steam announcements include a later Ver. 1.042.00.02 update, dated August 14, 2026, which addressed frame-rate drops reported after Ver. 1.042.00.01.
What was the DLC-related frame-rate bug?
Capcom said reports from players and its own testing confirmed that CPU load could rise near the Support Desk in Base Camp or the Grand Hub. In those locations, the game checked the claim status of content so it could alert players to items they had not collected. That extra processing could cause frame-rate drops in those two areas.
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- Introduces Kirin, a lightning-charged elder dragon mega boss that delivers one of the most demanding and strategic hunts in Monster Hunter World: The Board Game.
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The effect could depend on whether a player had unclaimed content and on CPU performance. Capcom specifically said the number of DLC items owned did not affect the issue. This was not a general penalty for owning DLC, nor did the announcement say that DLC lowered frame rates throughout the game.
Capcom described the status-check problem as an unintended bug and said it would be resolved with the update. The notice did not publish a measured FPS gain, benchmark percentage, or count of affected players, so it does not establish how large the improvement would be on a particular PC.
What else changed in the Steam update?
CPU, GPU, and shader processing
The notes listed improved CPU and GPU processing specific to the Steam version. They also said shader-warming processes outside the shader compilation screen were reduced to lower CPU load.
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Texture streaming and the High Resolution Texture Pack
Capcom adjusted texture streaming with the stated aim of improving visual quality while reducing VRAM use. Changes to the High Resolution Texture Pack were intended to reduce both its VRAM use and its package size.
Graphics options and fog settings
The update added a CPU tab for load-related settings and added graphics-setting categories and options. It also revised graphics presets and introduced a confirmation window on first launch. Volumetric Fog expanded from two settings to five.
Other listed fixes
The notes also listed an adjustment that forces Variable Rate Shading off during upscaling to preserve the proper appearance of effects, plus miscellaneous fixes.
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How large was the update, and what drivers did Capcom recommend?
In its January 2026 Steam notice, Capcom specified approximately 2.0 GB of required space, or approximately 31.0 GB total with the High Resolution Texture Pack. Players using that pack had to redownload approximately 31 GB; Capcom said the revised pack would be about 45 GB smaller than its previous version.
For that update, Capcom recommended NVIDIA GeForce driver 581.57 or newer, or AMD Radeon driver 25.9.1 or 25.9.2. It warned of issues with AMD Radeon versions 25.10.2 and higher and said its guidance could change with vendor support. These are the announcement’s historical January 2026 recommendations, not current driver advice.
Does the patch guarantee better frame rates everywhere?
No. Capcom described the status-check fix as addressing drops near two named locations, and the other performance changes were listed without benchmark results. The announcement does not promise a specific FPS increase or a universal fix for performance problems across the Steam version.
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