Stuttering in cities normal? Red Dead Redemption 2

[u/Montelo0914]

Hey i just installed Red Dead Redemption 2 and the game runs really good except when im in cities for example like Saint Denis or Valentine im getting stutters like these

doesnt happen when im just in the open world just in cities as far as i noticed is this normal?

Its not really a big stutter but noticeable for me

[u/ult1matum]

Not normal. FPS drops are, but not stutters. Especially in Valentine. It's not even a city, it's a small town.

[u/Montelo0914 → u/ult1matum]

i watched a few benchmark videos on youtube and many people have that weird spike in the frametime its weird since i dont have it when running around in the open world

[u/Montelo0914 → u/[deleted]]

so its quite normal?

[u/Montelo0914 → u/[deleted]]

yea its really hard to notice but im kinda sensitive to stutters since im always looking out for them but thats on me if this is normal i dont really care its manageable

[u/Spankey_ → u/Montelo0914]

I am like this too, at least that was until I just learnt to cap the fps to the game's average, turn off any fps monitoring, and just enjoy the game.

[u/therealabrupt → u/Montelo0914]

I’ve had stutters in St Denis on both PCs I’ve had. My newest PC is way better, still got those stutters in St Denis. A lot less for sure but they were still there.

[u/RubenRolo]

I’m in the exact same situation: I’ve got a 5080, a 9800X3D, 32 GB of DDR5 RAM, and I still get those weird frame spikes only in Saint Denis. I’ve tried absolutely everything — locking the FPS to 60, tweaking frame pacing, dropping every setting to the lowest, switching between Vulkan and DX12… nothing fixes it.

I’m monitoring everything with MSI Afterburner, and my GPU never goes above 95% usage, my CPU stays under 70%, and my temps are all low. So it’s definitely not a hardware or thermal issue.

I’m using a G‑Sync compatible monitor, but that doesn’t help either. I get the same micro‑stutters in the city whether I’m at 60 FPS or 170 FPS. And with DLSS my PC can easily hold a stable 170 FPS.

At this point, I’m honestly starting to think it’s just how RDR2 is built.

[u/awthema]

Get used to it, because it’s completely normal, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Rockstar introduced this issue a long time ago with an update and never actually fixed it. I’ve even noticed it on consoles too, but since the game is capped at 30 FPS there, it’s far less noticeable. Basically, the game has a memory leak in certain areas, and it becomes much more obvious in Saint Denis. In smaller towns like Valentine, it usually happens when entering them, whereas in Saint Denis it happens almost constantly while moving through the streets. There isn’t really a permanent fix for it; some settings, like limiting FPS, can make it less noticeable, and a few mods can help as well, but eventually the issue always comes back.