An Elden Ring modder has decided to remove the Erdtree from the game in order to boost frame rate, effectively rendering the entire conflict of The Lands Between a moot point.
As pointed out by PC Gamer, Remove Erd Tree (FPS Boost) is a mod available on Nexus Mods, and the disdain for the Erdtree is apparent in its spelling. With it activated, modder K4richard removes the giant, golden centerpiece from the game, an accidentally hilarious deletion considering Elden Ring's plot hinges upon the tree.
Essentially, many believe the Erdtree is the physical, plant-based manifestation of the Greater Will, a god of great power that chooses its champions and, therefore, the ruler of The Lands Between. Different groups you encounter during your Elden Ring playthrough believe different things about the Erdtree - some want to undermine its power to free the world from its reign, while others seem pretty happy remaining under the rule of its golden branches.
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PC Gamer reached out to K4richard and asked why the modder removed the essential Erdtree, and the response is matter-of-fact and somewhat hilarious. "The closer I got to the Erdtree the more demanding the game became," he says. "The Erdtree and a bunch of particle effects were clearly the root cause of the problem." According to PC Gamer's Tyler Colp, using the mod and deleting the Erdtree did indeed bolster performance, increasing the frame rate by between five to 10 frames per second. Since K4richard is laying on an older graphics card, this makes a big difference, though PC players with newer graphics cards might find the mod's effects negligible.
As an Elden Lord who decided to embrace the Frenzied Flame Elden Ring ending and burn the Erdtree myself, I admire K4richard's dedication to yeeting the tree out of the Lands Between. The mod does not delete the ash that falls from the tree for the rest of the game after you burn it, but this one does. K4richard's only other mod deletes the lion on Godfrey's shoulders, and since Godfrey is a boss who sits at the foot of the Erdtree, maybe this person just has a thing against trees.
In other news, Elden Ring is still the best-selling game of 2022 in the US.
