This game nearly killed my computer.

[Valravn Black]

I have a cutting edge gaming desktop I built myself, which is FAR more powerful than this game would need. And yet, this game nearly killed my computer. For starters, the game wouldn't even launch. It crashed to desktop immediately stating Unreal Engine was out of video memory. Which is ridiculous, because my GPU has far more VRAM than this game could even use.

I tried the fix people have recommended, which is going into your Nvidia control panel and increasing the shader buffer to 10 GB.

This was a terrible mistake, upon launching the game, both my monitors went black, and my computer's fans cycled up to maximum speed. I was forced to hard reboot my desktop, as it was completely unresponsive.

EDIT: People in the comments made some good points about the cause of the issue, which I investigated further. As someone said, there is an issue with 13th and 14th gen Intel CPUs overvolting and overclocking to the point of a system crash.

The easiest solution is to prevent your CPU from overclocking at all. You really don't need overclocking on high end Intel CPUs anyways, their base clock is more than enough.

The easiest fix for this doesn't even involve messing with the BIOS, all you need to do is go into your power management settings in Windows, and go into advanced power management. Set your minimum and maximum usage to a number less than 100%, and it will turn off overclocking entirely. If you aren't concerned about damage like I am, set it to 99% and you'll be fine. I had my system crash a few times, so I'm going to stick with 90% maximum and 5% minimum for now.

EDIT 2: Turning off overclocking in the BIOS and through power management is NOT enough, this will not fix the issue. You have to dial down the performance core multiplication using a tool called Intel XTU. This will fix the issue with Unreal games like this one.
This article explains the process, its very quick and simple, and will prevent your CPU from taking damage from overvolting and overheating: https://www.radgametools.com/oodleintel.htm

Btw people asked for my specs.

Windows 10, latest update
MSI MEG Z690 ACE Mobo
Nvidia RTX 3090Ti GPU
64 GB of DDR5 6000Mhz RAM
Intel i9 14900K CPU
Noctua NH D-15 Chromax Black tower cooler
Corsair RM1000X power supply
6 1TB+ NVME drives for windows and storage


....and no, I did not forget to apply thermal paste. Yes, I saw that comment.

[sintri]

I mean every post with "I have a cutting edge gaming desktop" or "I have a very powerful gaming pc" or whatever variant of you can be assured they don't have a clue what they're doing. Bonus points when they add "more than this game would need".

[HalyconShade]

İlk olarak sintri tarafından gönderildi:

I mean every post with "I have a cutting edge gaming desktop" or "I have a very powerful gaming pc" or whatever variant of you can be assured they don't have a clue what they're doing. Bonus points when they add "more than this game would need".

I really do have a monster rig and game works fine - 120 odd fps all settings ultra, 5120x1440 @ 240Hz...when I remember to update my nvidia drivers :D However, be warned; setting your lighting to ultra isn't fun - I had to craft about 40 lights so I could see inside my outpost after :/

As someone else mentioned, maybe the OP's thermite paste has been too dry too long :)

[Black Raven]

İlk olarak Legion tarafından gönderildi:

As someone else mentioned, maybe the OP's thermite paste has been too dry too long :)

Already identified the problem, its the 13th/14th Gen Intel Stability problem

[HalyconShade]

İlk olarak Black Raven tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Legion tarafından gönderildi:

As someone else mentioned, maybe the OP's thermite paste has been too dry too long :)

Already identified the problem, its the 13th/14th Gen Intel Stability problem

Whilst I do agree, I didn't have to use this fix.

What I am trying to say is that if OP's setup is so good, then they would not need to either.

[semeku]

İlk olarak Legion tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Black Raven tarafından gönderildi:

Already identified the problem, its the 13th/14th Gen Intel Stability problem

Whilst I do agree, I didn't have to use this fix.

What I am trying to say is that if OP's setup is so good, then they would not need to either.

Except it's actually Intel's fault. They want to play it down to Mobo manufacturer's fault for not "using proper settings", when they themselves didn't tell them the proper maximum values for actual stable performance.
TL;DR:

90% intel fault and 10% mobo manufacturer fault.

Anyway, the OP didn't prove they owned the game or their actual setup information...

[HalyconShade]

İlk olarak semeku tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Legion tarafından gönderildi:

Whilst I do agree, I didn't have to use this fix.

What I am trying to say is that if OP's setup is so good, then they would not need to either.

Except it's actually Intel's fault. They want to play it down to Mobo manufacturer's fault for not "using proper settings", when they themselves didn't tell them the proper maximum values for actual stable performance.
TL;DR:

90% intel fault and 10% mobo manufacturer fault.

Anyway, the OP didn't prove they owned the game or their actual setup information...

Yes; it maybe the chip is bad, or the MoBo is bad, but if someone comes along and sais "my ♥♥♥♥ is the greatest and this game sucks cos I cant run it" then I would direct them to my outpost and point out zero no issues whatsoever, despite it's size :D

I think you and I semeku are fighting the same war but from different angles :)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3239630652

[Endymion72]

lol i'm on a 2020 max spec computer and it's not THIS bad.

2080 ti with an i7 32ram. It used to crash a bunch but the patches fixed that. Very optimized now. Getting 70-80 fps at 4k in multiplayer.

[Sköll Drachen]

my computer is like 5? 6 years old? and barley fits the min requirements and it works fine? maybe you installed something wrong when you self built yours. everyone makes mistakes. dont sweat it. and remember when you point the finger at someone else. there are 4 pointing back at you : Edit: i built mine myself to

[Kaeru]

I turned most settings down to medium and I don't have many problems other than the graphics looking like I'm playing on a xbox 360 and straining my eyes.

[Valravn Black]

Guys, I updated my initial post. Some of you were right, it was indeed a CPU overvolting issue with the 14th gen Intel CPUs. The game SHOULD run fine now. I updated my post and removed my accusations against the devs.

[Sköll Drachen]

İlk olarak Valravn Black tarafından gönderildi:

Guys, I updated my initial post. Some of you were right, it was indeed a CPU overvolting issue with the 14th gen Intel CPUs. The game SHOULD run fine now. I updated my post and removed my accusations against the devs.

thats good im glad it worked out. hopefully you enjoy the game

[Flashand]

upgrade to win 11, it says win 10 comp but every one has moved away from that

[sintri]

İlk olarak Flashand tarafından gönderildi:

upgrade to win 11, it says win 10 comp but every one has moved away from that

Nice try Microsoft.

[Black Raven]

İlk olarak Valravn Black tarafından gönderildi:

Guys, I updated my initial post. Some of you were right, it was indeed a CPU overvolting issue with the 14th gen Intel CPUs. The game SHOULD run fine now. I updated my post and removed my accusations against the devs.

Glad you took it seriously, and I hope you can resolve your hardware issues.

It's not your that fault Intel have messed up in this case, and thankfully the fix is only about 3-5% drop so CPU should still perform well and its still mostly on the GPU to do the heavy lifting.

I just feel bad for anyone less tech savvy with the same issue as the bios is not friendly place for those with less tech confidence.

[Mike]

Yeah, it seems to be a mix with intels latest and the long custom of mb makers who want their motherboards to score better than the competition so they push it just a tad more each gen... so an already basically overclocked base cpu along with more overpower (both voltage and allowed amps/watts) from the mb makers pushes it straight to the edge... and when the occasional game / app comes that really pushes the hardware... it will become unstable.

That's the problem of today, never basically happened back in the days since the silicon have a healthy headroom at their base clocks - Today even the base clocks are almost at the edge and looking at the overclock headroom confirms as much.

Considering the games big numbers of enemies along with the number of turrets on a end game rig (and that their "snappy" as hell ie really acquires targets fast etc) its not hard to figure out why its demanding. Think the devs done quite a good darn job all things considered, naturally its always room for optimizations but i bet their at the point where it would mean cut into the meat... and who wants less bullets flying, less cases ejected ect? I rather take a performance hit when the ♥♥♥♥ really hits the fan than dial back all the rest.