Elden Ring has recently launched, though not without some first-day issues and glitches. PC players, and very occasionally console players, are sometimes finding that enemies are disappearing, though they can still freely attack. While this can be frustrating, there are several remedies that can either temporally or permanently relieve this bug.
Being a vast open-world, Elden Ring prioritizes rending the landscape and environment first. This can lead to characters outside the main hero to load in slowly, or in some cases, not at all. While this is slightly annoying for NPCs and mounts, it can artificially inflate difficulty when it makes enemies transparent.
While these solutions will help many Elden Ring players, they may not work for everyone. Many different configurations of CPUs, GPUs, and ram can all lead to the invisible enemy glitch. While this can act as a band-aid, it is also likely that FromSoftware will fully repair the problem in a future patch.
Making Enemies Visible in Elden Ring
There are a few different causes of the invisible enemy glitch in Elden Ring, typically slow rendering, lighting, or depth of field. To best fix the issue entirely, one should use all of these steps, typically in order. Skipping over one or another may cause the bug to persist.
The first is to force Windows to run the game in High-Performance mode. This can be done by using the Graphics Setting app directly searchable in Windows. If Elden Ring is not automatically found, users can use the browse function to find the eldenring.exe directly in their install folder – like SteamLibrarysteamappscommon if purchased from Steam. Additionally, if one is using Steam that will also want to Verify integrity of game files by right-clicking on Elden Ring in the library and selecting the manage prompt.
The second step is to update all graphics card drivers by the brand manufacturer. This will typically be done directly on Nvidia or AMD’s website. However, both also offer services and apps that will automatically download drivers. This is especially useful if one doesn’t know their machine’s current specs. Both brands have issued new drivers in the last few months, making them more compatible with Elden Ring. If opting for the brands’ apps, one should also use any recommended settings specific for Elden Ring and for the GPU to render instead of the CPU.
Graphics Settings Within Elden Ring
While the above fixes are the best solution before launching the game, further steps are a good idea once inside Elden Ring proper. Ideally, one will want to play the game in true windowed mode as both fullscreen and borderless window can still cause invisible enemies. From the settings menu, one will also want to increase the shading, lighting, and depth of field to at least High or Maximum. All other graphical settings in Elden Ring may need to be set to Low.
Once on the field, it is still possible that enemies are invisible from long distances, making them an issue for Elden Ring archery and mage builds. If the previous out-of-game fixes were done, those enemies will still appear when close up, and are less of a hindrance for melee characters. Another solution is to purposely sneak towards enemies and then retreat. By doing so, foes will stay fully visible and spawned even once moving away. Additionally, leaving an area and coming back will force Elden Ring to attempt to render characters again. If done frequently or fast enough, previously invisible enemies will pop back into the world.
Elden Ring is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
