How to Fix Elden Ring Crashes, Stuttering, and Controller Problems During Starscourge Radahn

iTechGuides is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more

Start by updating Elden Ring, then confirm the title screen’s App Ver. and Regulation Ver. before changing graphics or input settings. On PC, the highest-value checks are Ray Tracing Quality, the graphics driver, Steam file verification, and third-party mouse-control utilities. On PS5, install the current update and use Rebuild Database from Safe Mode only when unstable frame rate continues. If the specific post-Radahn soft-lock leaves you unable to reach a grace, touch the Starscourge Radahn grace itself. Controller failures have no documented Radahn-specific official repair, so the remaining steps are platform-specific diagnostics rather than a guaranteed fix.

Identify the symptom before changing anything

Starscourge Radahn problems fall into different categories. A crash or unexpected exit closes the game. Stuttering is a repeated hitch or unstable frame pacing while the fight continues. A soft-lock leaves the character unable to progress after the boss, while an input failure affects a controller but may leave keyboard controls working. The remedy depends on which behavior you can reproduce.

#	Preview	Product	Price
1		Elden Ring (PS5) (European Version)	$34.00	Buy on Amazon
2		Elden Ring, 1 PS5-Blu-ray Disc	$74.27	Buy on Amazon
3		Demon's Souls - PlayStation 5	$39.45	Buy on Amazon

• Crash or unexpected exit: the game closes, returns to the dashboard, or fails during startup.
• Stutter or unstable frame rate: the game remains open, but camera movement, attacks, or streaming produce repeated hitches.
• Post-fight soft-lock: after defeating Radahn, the map will not let you move to a site of grace.
• Controller failure: buttons, sticks, vibration, or the entire controller stop responding, while another input method may still work.

No authoritative source publishes a prevalence rate for any of these Radahn symptoms. Treat online reports as anecdotal and diagnose the behavior on your own platform.

Check the game and regulation versions first

Close the game completely, install every available game update, and restart the platform. At the title screen, record both version labels. Elden Ring separates the executable’s App Ver. from its gameplay-balance and data Regulation Ver.; a current-looking app with an old regulation file is not the same update state as a fully patched installation.

#1 Best Overall

Elden Ring (PS5) (European Version)

• Collaborating with George R.R. Martin to create the ELDEN RING mythos has been a genuinely delightful experience and a source of wonderful inspiration. The team is working hard to ensure that the world of ELDEN RING will be a fascinating place for players to explore, filled with peril and wonder from its furthest reaches to its lowest depths. This is a FromSoftware title through and through, rich in fantasy and RPG action. We sincerely hope you look forward to it.
• Building the world of ELDEN RING with Miyazaki-san and his team was a treat! The graphics, mythos, and action-RPG gameplay will deliver an unforgettable experience. I can’t wait for people to see what ELDEN RING has in store for them.” Said George R.R. Martin.

$34.00

Buy on Amazon

Version 1.03.2 corrected an unintended reduction in some Starscourge Radahn attack power. Its title-screen combination is App Ver. 1.03.2 and Regulation Ver. 1.03.3. Do not use that historical pair as a target today; use the newest versions your platform offers. The important check is that the download completed and both labels changed when an update required it.

Bandai Namco’s 1.05 notice covered PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam. It described the release as improving gameplay stability and fixed a bug that could prevent movement from the map to a grace after defeating Starscourge Radahn. The same notice documents the recovery described below.

Use this safe troubleshooting order

1. Fully quit Elden Ring. Do not leave it suspended in Quick Resume or Rest Mode while troubleshooting.
2. Install the latest game and regulation update. Reopen the title screen and note App Ver. and Regulation Ver.
3. Reproduce the symptom once with extras closed. Disable overlays and close nonessential controller, mouse, macro, monitoring, and capture utilities. This creates a clean comparison without deleting saves.
4. Apply the platform branch below. PC needs graphics, driver, and file checks; PS5 has an additional database-maintenance step; Xbox and PS4 rely primarily on updates, restarts, and local-storage checks.
5. For the documented post-Radahn soft-lock, touch the correct grace. Do this before experimenting with travel, quitting, or save files.
6. Record what still fails. Note platform, wired or wireless connection, whether the keyboard works, the Steam Input state if applicable, and the exact point at which the failure occurs.

PC: stop crashes and stuttering

Turn off ray tracing and test again

Bandai Namco’s 1.09.1 notes warn that an update can enable ray tracing by default. Ray tracing can therefore become the cause of a performance change even when you did not deliberately turn it on. In Elden Ring open System → Graphics → Set Ray Tracing Quality and choose OFF. Restart the game and test the same area of the Radahn encounter.

If disabling ray tracing removes the hitching or prevents a crash, leave it off until your hardware, driver, and game version are stable. If it changes nothing, continue with the remaining checks rather than repeatedly changing unrelated quality settings. Bandai Namco also directs players to compare their computer with the game’s minimum and recommended environment; hardware below the minimum can make a stable result unattainable.

Update the GPU driver

Install the current driver supplied for your graphics card, then reboot Windows before launching Elden Ring. Bandai Namco specifically recommends a graphics-driver update when the PC version will not start or is unstable. A reboot matters because a driver installer may not replace the active display driver until Windows restarts.

Verify Steam files

Use Steam’s file-integrity check when a crash began after an update, a file-loading problem appears, or the game behaves differently from a second installation. In Steam, open Library, right-click Elden Ring, choose Properties, open Installed Files, and select Verify integrity of game files. Let the process finish, allow Steam to reacquire any damaged files, then restart Steam and the game.

Bandai Namco’s 1.13 guidance also tells PC players who see the message “Inappropriate activity detected” to verify the integrity of game files before restarting. This check does not repair a defective controller, but it can separate a damaged installation from an input or performance problem.

Remove third-party mouse-control software

Close utilities that remap, accelerate, filter, or otherwise control a mouse outside Elden Ring. Bandai Namco identifies third-party mouse-control applications as a possible cause of unstable frame rate, and its 1.13 and 1.15 notes repeat that warning. Exit the utility completely, including its notification-area process, then test the fight again. If the stutter disappears, keep the utility disabled while playing or configure an exclusion rather than reintroducing it during diagnosis.

Use a clean reproduction

• Disable Steam and capture overlays for one test.
• Disconnect nonessential USB input devices and hubs.
• Close monitoring, macro, RGB, and controller-remapping tools.
• Test with the same save and graphics settings so only one variable changes at a time.

These are isolation steps, not an official Radahn-specific fix. If the crash persists with current files, a current driver, ray tracing off, and nonessential utilities closed, preserve the exact App Ver., Regulation Ver., operating-system version, GPU model, and crash location for support.

PS5: address exits and unstable frame rate

Install the update before maintenance

The 1.02.1 notice records a PS5 fix for a bug in which the game unexpectedly ended under certain conditions. Update the console and Elden Ring first; do not treat an old installation as evidence that the hardware is defective.

Rank #3

Sale

Demon's Souls - PlayStation 5

• Discover where the journey began - Experience the original brutal challenge, completely remade from the ground up. All presented in stunning visual quality with enhanced performance, this is the world of Boletaria as you have never seen it before.
• Become the Slayer of Demons - Venture to the northern kingdom of Boletaria – a once prosperous land of knights, now beset with unspeakable creatures and ravenous demons. Meet strange characters, unhinged and twisted by the world around them, and unravel the unsettling story of Demon’s Souls.
• Face the world’s greatest warriors in ferocious PVP combat - With online invasions adding to the danger of your quest. Or play cooperatively by summoning allies to aid in your fight against the demons. Active PS Plus subscription required for online multiplayer.

$39.45

Buy on Amazon

Rebuild the database for continuing frame-rate instability

Bandai Namco’s 1.13 notes say PS5 unstable frame rate may improve after using Rebuild Database from Safe Mode. Version 1.15 repeats this guidance. This is a console-maintenance operation for persistent performance trouble, not a Radahn teleport or a controller reset.

1. Turn the PS5 off completely rather than leaving it in Rest Mode.
2. Press and hold the power button until the second beep to enter Safe Mode.
3. Connect the DualSense with a USB cable and press the PS button.
4. Choose Rebuild Database and wait for the operation to finish.
5. Restart Elden Ring and reproduce the same scene.

Do not interrupt the console while it is rebuilding. If the game still exits or hitches, record whether the failure affects only Elden Ring or other games as well; that distinction is more useful than repeating the operation.

Xbox and PS4: what the evidence supports

The table distinguishes documented options from options not established by the cited notices. Do not infer that a missing entry is impossible; it means no comparable procedure is established here.

Recover from the post-Radahn map soft-lock

If Radahn is defeated and your character cannot move from the map to a site of grace, use the exact recovery in Bandai Namco’s 1.05 notice: touch the grace named “Starscourge Radahn.” The notice says this moves you to the grace when the map transition is stuck.

1. Open the map after the boss encounter.
2. Locate the site of grace labeled Starscourge Radahn.
3. Select it and touch the grace rather than attempting to walk out of the map state.
4. Once movement is restored, rest or travel normally and confirm that the character responds.

This is a soft-lock recovery, not a solution for a crash, frame-rate hitch, or nonresponsive controller. If the grace is absent, the update did not install correctly, or the character remains stuck after touching it, stop experimenting with save manipulation and document the platform, versions, and exact map state for support.

Controller problems: a platform-specific diagnostic

The official notices examined for this issue do not publish a Radahn-specific controller repair. The following checks are therefore provisional isolation steps. They help identify a connection, configuration, or Steam Input problem without claiming that Radahn causes controller failure.

PC with Steam

1. Quit Elden Ring and reconnect the controller directly to the PC, bypassing a hub for one test.
2. Test a different USB port or, if you normally use wireless, test a wired connection. If wired works, investigate pairing, battery, or wireless interference.
3. In Steam, open Steam → Settings → Controller and note the detected device. In the Elden Ring library entry, open Properties → Controller and test the available Steam Input setting one change at a time.
4. Close remappers, macro tools, virtual-controller drivers, and overlays. Do not run two input layers simultaneously.
5. Launch the game and check whether keyboard input works. Keyboard working while the pad fails points to the input path; neither working points back toward a hang or crash.

Record whether only buttons fail, only the sticks fail, vibration fails while movement works, or the controller disappears entirely. Those distinctions prevent a general crash from being misreported as a controller defect.

PlayStation and Xbox

• Update the console and game, then perform a complete shutdown and restart.
• Reconnect the controller directly and test another controller or cable if available.
• Check whether the controller works in the console dashboard and in another game.
• For PS5, reserve Rebuild Database for the continuing unstable-frame-rate case described above; it is not documented as a controller repair.

If another game also loses input, the console, controller, cable, or wireless link is more likely than the Radahn encounter. If only Elden Ring fails, preserve the platform, wired or wireless state, firmware status, and whether keyboard input is available on PC when seeking help.

When each symptom points to a different next step

What not to do

• Do not keep changing multiple graphics and input settings at once; you lose the comparison that identifies the cause.
• Do not assume a historical App Ver. and Regulation Ver. pair is current simply because it is associated with a Radahn fix.
• Do not delete saves or reinstall before trying the documented grace recovery for the map soft-lock.
• Do not treat a controller symptom as proof that the boss fight is corrupted; the official notices do not establish that relationship.
• Do not interrupt PS5 Safe Mode database rebuilding.

Information to collect if the problem continues

Support can act more quickly when the report is reproducible. Include:

• Platform and model (PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, or Xbox Series X|S).
• Elden Ring App Ver. and Regulation Ver. from the title screen.
• Whether the failure is a crash, hitch, soft-lock, or input failure.
• The exact trigger: entering the arena, a particular attack, opening the map, touching a grace, or resuming from suspension.
• For PC: GPU model and driver version, ray-tracing state, Steam file-verification result, and whether third-party mouse-control software was closed.
• For controllers: wired or wireless connection, cable or battery status, Steam Input state, whether keyboard input works, and whether the controller works elsewhere.

This record separates a known update-related state from a platform or peripheral fault and avoids repeating steps that have already been tested.

Quick Recap

Bestseller No. 1

Elden Ring (PS5) (European Version)

$34.00

Bestseller No. 2

Elden Ring, 1 PS5-Blu-ray Disc

$74.27

SaleBestseller No. 3

Demon's Souls - PlayStation 5

$39.45

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.