Some Black Myth: Wukong players are experiencing crashes and performance issues on PC. While that’s not unusual for a new release, this time around, the problem isn’t necessarily the game. Instead, it’s a problem with 13th and 14th-gen Intel CPUs that’s just starting to come to light.
A potential fix for Black Myth: Wukong PC crashes and performance issues
Some PC players are experiencing issues with Black Myth: Wukong crashing during the initial shader cache process or general poor performance and stuttering. Unfortunately, many are facing these problems due to buggy Intel CPUs. In particular, those with 13900K and 14900K processors seem to be most commonly affected. However, desktop SKUs across both generations have reportedly been affected.
Intel states that updating the BIOs could help and blames incorrect voltage for the issues. However, many (myself included) found this doesn’t solve the problem. Another microcode update is in the works that Intel says should be released in mid-August, but there’s no guarantee that it’ll work.
I found that Unreal Engine (which Black Myth: Wukong is built on) games will most likely trigger the Intel issue. Fortunately, if a BIOs update doesn’t help, there is something you can do to stabilize your system enough to play the game:
- Download Intel Xtreme Tuning Utility.
- Once installed, use it to lower your boost multiplier from x55 to x54.
Following those simple steps should significantly improve your experience. If you continue to have problems, you can lower the multiplier to x53 and see if that helps.
However, be warned that this is an issue that many have reported degrading over time. My 13900K got to the point where even downclocking it didn’t fix things. So, this is likely a band-aid and not a real cure.
Hopefully, the next microcode update Intel issues will solve the issue completely. If you’re one of those affected keep an eye out for BIOs updates from your motherboard vendor to drop sometime this month.
