How to pause the game in Elden Ring

From software’s biggest and the most in-depth open-world RPG Elden Ring is a true masterpiece. Brutal and engaging combat inside a beautiful deep world with tons of discoveries and mysteries Elden Ring provides one of the best Gaming experiences without a doubt. However, there are certain issues that really kill the buzz, the performance issues the game currently has(Read the complete fix here) and much like every Soulsbourne game no pause menu. From software games are hard and there’s no if and buts about it and not being able to pause the game makes it worse. Isn’t it annoying that in the middle of a boss fight you have to get up because maybe somebody is knocking on the door or for whatever reason you have to go AFK and there’s no way to pause the game? Here in this guide, we will show you how to pause the game in Elden Ring with the help of a mod.

Pausing the Game in Elden Ring

• Pause the game without any mods by accessing the Help section it the inventory.
• Using mods to allocating a hotkey to pause the game

Is It possible to pause the Game without any mods?

Well, it kinda is. The pause menu is simply absent from the game. Even when you open the System settings the game doesn’t stop and the enemies would eat you alive. However, the enemy’s movement is put to a stop when accessing the inventory screen and clicking on help and then menu explanation but isn’t it quite frustrating that every time you want to pause the game you have to navigate to the inventory screen instead of a simple one-click option that is available in games generally. You can actually make that possible and pause the game with a single key making it a whole lot more convenient by using a mod which we have explained below.

The Pause game mod

Modders have already got to work for Elden Ring and have produced quite some mods to make the game better. A mod that allows you to pause the game and go AFK without any worries has been released recently.

How to Install the pause game mod for Elden Ring

In order to download and use the Pause game mod, you will first have to disable the anti-cheat system for the game.

Steps to disable Easy Anti-Cheat-

1. Create a text file “steam_appid.txt” inside “xxxxx\ELDEN RING\Game\”, and write 1245620 inside the text document.
2. Rename the “start_protected_game” file to “start_protected_game.old”.
3. Then, create a copy of “eldenring.exe” and rename it to “start_protected_game”.
4. Start the game with ‘eldenring.exe’ The game should start without EasyAntiCheat loading up. You shall get a message saying “Inappropriate activity detected” in the menu which is normal.

Important– Make sure you are offline and don’t try to play Co-op or PVP. In order to access multiplayer again simply delete “start_protected_game” and remove “.old” from “start_protected_game.old” or you can verify game files via steam which will restore the files back to default.

Steps to Install the Pause game mod

• Go to the following link and download the Pause game mod.
• Paste the contents of the download zip file into the Elden Ring/Game folder.

NOTE-The mod is not compatible with Msi afterburner and Reshade overlays and might cause crashes.

In order to use Reshade simply rename ReShade’s .dll to “reshade.dll”.

How to uninstall the mod 

If you run into any errors or issues and want to get rid of the mod simply delete the “dxgi.dll” from ‘Elden Ring/Game’ and the mod will be uninstalled.

Also since you are pretty much altering the game files you should only play offline. Here are some steps you can try to be extra safe.

• Start Steam in offline mod.
• Block the game throught firewall
• Disconnect from the internet