Although Apex Legends appears to be pretty optimized and smooth, players are still getting micro stutters. If you’re one of them, don’t worry. In this post, you’ll learn how to fix it.
Try these fixes:
You may not need to try them all; simply work your way down the list until you find the one that works.
- Check for Windows updates
- Delete temp files
- Disable unnecessary programs
- Update your graphics driver
- Disable fullscreen optimizations
- Verify the game files
1. Check for Windows updates
Before moving to any advanced settings adjustments, it’s very important to make sure that you’re running on the latest version of windows 10. It’s fast, free and easy to download and install. The latest version of Windows 10 features many exclusive new optimizations for most games.
To check which version of Windows you’re running on:
1) In the Search box, type in winver. Then click on winver command from the results.
2) Now you can know which version of Windows is running. Windows 10 version 20H2 has come out, so if you’re running the latest version, follow the instructions below to install Windows updates.
To install Windows updates:
1) In the Search box, type in check for updates. Click on Check for updates from results.
2) Click on the Check for updates tab and if there are any updates available, it’ll automatically start to download and install it. Simply wait for it to complete and you should be asked to restart your computer.
2. Delete temp files
As the name suggests, temporary files are the kind of files that store temporary data that is created by Windows itself or the programs that users use. But they can clog the system drive and slow down your PC. To get the best possible performance, you’re supposed to delete those temporary files and it won’t cause any problems. Here’s how you can do this:
1) Close all windows.
2) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R at the same time to open the Run dialog box.
3) Type %temp% and then press Enter on your keyboard.
4) Delete all the files in the temp folder. (Press Ctrl and A at the same time to select all the files. Then right-click and select Delete.)
5) After you finish the process, go to your desktop and right-click on the Recycling Bin and select Empty Recycle Bin.
Once it’s done, play your game if this does the trick.
3. Disable unnecessary programs
Programs like browsers, game launchers, anti-virus software are CPU intensive. So if you have them running when playing the game, you’re most likely to suffer from game stutters. To fix that, you should end programs that you don’t need to be running when in-game. But be cautious that you should not end processes that are essential for running Windows, otherwise your computer may fail to work properly.
Here’s end programs running in the background:
1) Right-click on the taskbar. Then select Task Manager from the list of options.
2) In the Processes tab, check the programs that are using more CPU from the list. Then right-click on those programs and select End task.
3) In the Startup tab, you can additionally prevent some programs from starting up on system boot. This will lower your overall cpu usage when using your PC.
After you’ve done these, try launching your game to check if it works.
4. Update your graphics driver
Using outdated drivers can affect performance. If you can’t remember when was the last time you updated your graphics driver, you should do it now. Because driver updates come with bug fixes and it may also help you fix the game stuttering issue. Also, this tweak can make the biggest difference.
There are mainly two ways you can update your graphics drivers: manually and automatically.
Option 1 – Manually update your graphics drivers
To update your video card driver manually, you can go to the official website:
Then find the driver corresponding with your Windows version and download it manually. Once you’ve downloaded the correct driver for your system, double-click on the downloaded file and follow the on-screen instructions to install it.
Option 2: Automatically update your video card driver (recommended)
Manually updating graphics drivers does take some time and patience. Also if you encounter other issues related to drivers updates while playing the game in the future, you’ll again have to bother downloading and installing the latest drivers on your own. So to save your time, we recommend using Driver Easy as your great pick for drivers updates.
Driver Easy is a useful tool that will automatically recognize your system and find the correct drivers for it. You don’t need to know exactly what system your computer is running or risk downloading and installing the wrong driver.
Here’s how you can update your drivers with Driver Easy:
1) Download and install Driver Easy.
2) Run Driver Easy and click the Scan Now button. Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers.
3) Click the Update button next to the flagged driver to automatically download the correct version of that driver, then you can manually install it (you can do this with the FREE version).
Or click Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system. (This requires the Pro version which comes with full support and a 30-day money-back guarantee. You’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click Update All.)
After updating your drivers, restart your computer and launch your game to check if the problem is resolved.
5. Disable fullscreen optimizations
Fullscreen Optimizations was designed for gamers to take up the entire screen, run at full speed, support fast alt-tab switching, and support overlays. But certain games are particularly affected by performance issues when you enable fullscreen optimizations. So to fix it, you need to disable it from Steam or the shortcut.
On Steam
1) Open your Steam client. Under LIBRARY, right-click your game title and select Properties.
2) Select the LOCAL FILES tab and click BROWSE LOCAL FILES… and you’ll be directed to the game’s installation directory. 
3) Locate r5apex.exe. Right-click it and select Properties.
4) Select the Compatibility tab and check Disable fullscreen optimizations. Then click Apply > OK to save the changes. 
Now launch your game to check if it gets better. If you’re still encountering sutters, proceed to fix.
From the shortcut
1) From your desktop, right-click the shortcut and select Open file location.
2) Locate r2apex.exe. Right-click it and select Properties.
3) Select Compatibility tab and check Disable fullscreen optimizations. Then click Apply > OK to save the changes.
If disabling fullscreen optimizations didn’t make any changes for your game, try the next fix.
6. Verify the game files
If the game has missing or corrupted files, the stuttering issue can occur. To check if this is the culprit, you’ll need to verify the game files.
You’re playing Apex Legends on:
Steam
Origin
On Steam
1) Open your Steam client. Under LIBRARY, right-click your game title and select Properties.
2) Select the LOCAL FILES tab and click VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAME FILES….
This process may take some minutes. Simply wait for it to finish.
On Origin
1) Open the Origin client adn sign into your account. On the left pane, click My Game Library. Inside the tab, right-click Apex Legends and select Repair.
This will begin to verify the game files. Once done, it will automatically download any missing files and replace the corrupted files if there are any.
In conclusion, there are several factors that can cause the stuttering problem ranging from an outdated graphics driver to some default settings. But hopefully, with fixes in this post, you are able to see noticeable changes in the game. For further suggestions or questions, please leave us a comment below. We’ll get back to you ASAP.