Crash on loading screen (compiling shaders)

[De Belastingdienst]

Hi all,

I juist built my new pc (i9 14900K, RTX 4080 S, 64 GB RAM, ASUS ROG STRIX Z790-A GAMING WIFI II) and I haven't been able to get through the loading screen.

- I updated bios to latest version
- tried -dx11 and -dx12
- tried frame cap
- tried optimizing through Nvidia
- deleted files in appdata
- verified game files multiple times (actually, I tried everything mulitple times)
- tried differend shortcuts
- tried some mods downloaded from Nexus
- reinstalled the game
- Tried lowering CPU speed with Intel Extreme Utility

All without any luck; the game just crashes when the loading bar is filled for 4% or so. Haven't made it to the menu. I've been reading many posts and they mostly go back to release date and not much feedback from the past week. Does anybody know any fix for this apart from the fixes mentioned above here?

EDIT: Contacted stalker technical support team. They replied by giving me the common reasons for these kind of issues. I have added the Dxdiag file and now waiting for a reply.

EDIT/UPDATE:

I have contacted the Stalker 2 support some more: They basically brought up all the troubleshooting tips I also already found online and they acknowledged that they are aware of the issue regarding Intel CPU's and the game. They also mentioned they are working on a fix.

[d3uS2029]

When did you build the PC? What other games have you tried?

[soulfull]

To many processor cores could be the problem. I had the same problem (i9 13900K - RTX 4090).

[De Belastingdienst]

Originally posted by d3uS2029:

When did you build the PC? What other games have you tried?

I finished the build 3 days ago. All other games run flawless, haven't had a single crash on PoE 2, Cyberpunk 2077, EFT and other games. Stalker 2 really is the only game I can't even get to start.

I also contacted the devs @ Stalker 2 support, just to ask if this is a known problem (Intel CPU's specifically) and if I should just wait for patch.

[d3uS2029]

Originally posted by De Belastingdienst:

Originally posted by d3uS2029:

When did you build the PC? What other games have you tried?

I finished the build 3 days ago. All other games run flawless, haven't had a single crash on PoE 2, Cyberpunk 2077, EFT and other games. Stalker 2 really is the only game I can't even get to start.

I also contacted the devs @ Stalker 2 support, just to ask if this is a known problem (Intel CPU's specifically) and if I should just wait for patch.

Sometimes the GPU on the 13th and 14th gen is defaulted. Double check this. most games shouldn't have an issue but maybe STALKER 2 is glitching? While you have the NVIDIA control open open double check every setting. Have you undervolted your CPU? If you haven't its a quick 2 setting change in BIOS. Sometimes certain games find flaws in your system. For example BF2042 is very finicky with CPU voltage. It helped me fine tune my system stability with my undervolting. Is XMP enabled in BIOS?

One other thing you can try is to DDU your graphic drivers. and make sure to have the latest drivers already downloaded to desktop. Windows update likes to kick in automatically and install whatever version is on their end which is usually 3 or 4 updates behind. after DDU, restart and open the driver install immediately.

[[LKM818] Riboflavin]

Updating my bios fixed mine but I saw a post saying change the shader cache to unlimited in Nvidia control panel. I had this issue with outer worlds and capping the frame rate to 30 fps for the first launch of the game using Nvidia control panel fixed it then. Try both of those.

[De Belastingdienst]

Originally posted by d3uS2029:

Originally posted by De Belastingdienst:

I finished the build 3 days ago. All other games run flawless, haven't had a single crash on PoE 2, Cyberpunk 2077, EFT and other games. Stalker 2 really is the only game I can't even get to start.

I also contacted the devs @ Stalker 2 support, just to ask if this is a known problem (Intel CPU's specifically) and if I should just wait for patch.

Sometimes the GPU on the 13th and 14th gen is defaulted. Double check this. most games shouldn't have an issue but maybe STALKER 2 is glitching? While you have the NVIDIA control open open double check every setting. Have you undervolted your CPU? If you haven't its a quick 2 setting change in BIOS. Sometimes certain games find flaws in your system. For example BF2042 is very finicky with CPU voltage. It helped me fine tune my system stability with my undervolting. Is XMP enabled in BIOS?

One other thing you can try is to DDU your graphic drivers. and make sure to have the latest drivers already downloaded to desktop. Windows update likes to kick in automatically and install whatever version is on their end which is usually 3 or 4 updates behind. after DDU, restart and open the driver install immediately.

Thanks for the comment. I have tried all these things except for undervolting further than a bit.. Basically all the tips and tricks I could find regarding this game I have tried.
Yes, XMP is enabled in BIOS.

At this point I think it's better to bring up the patience and wait for a patch than to screw more with settings which I don't remember doing later on ;). Also, this is thus far the only game that doesn't start. All other games not a single error or anything..

[De Belastingdienst]

Originally posted by LKM818 Riboflavin:

Updating my bios fixed mine but I saw a post saying change the shader cache to unlimited in Nvidia control panel. I had this issue with outer worlds and capping the frame rate to 30 fps for the first launch of the game using Nvidia control panel fixed it then. Try both of those.

Thanks for the reply. I have tried these but didn't work.

[ToxicDutch]

Originally posted by De Belastingdienst:

Tried lowering CPU speed with Intel Extreme Utility

Just to be sure, you used XTU to lower the Performance Core Ratio right?

[De Belastingdienst]

Originally posted by ToxicDutch:

Originally posted by De Belastingdienst:

Tried lowering CPU speed with Intel Extreme Utility

Just to be sure, you used XTU to lower the Performance Core Ratio right?

Yessir!

[[LKM818] Riboflavin]

Found this, be careful messing with anything:

https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/games-keep-crashing-issue-with-14900kf-and-z790/td-p/1031012?awc=31828_1733760889_b0caa2e147af954373605b729db0ac4c

You said you did but double check bios is up to date as well.

[De Belastingdienst]

Originally posted by LKM818 Riboflavin:

Found this, be careful messing with anything:

https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/games-keep-crashing-issue-with-14900kf-and-z790/td-p/1031012?awc=31828_1733760889_b0caa2e147af954373605b729db0ac4c

You said you did but double check bios is up to date as well.

I did actually double checked it and what's funny is that they released a new bios just a couple of hours after I built my pc and updated my bios.
So I really thought that would be the solution, but the game keeps crashing still

[ToxicDutch]

Originally posted by De Belastingdienst:

Originally posted by LKM818 Riboflavin:

Found this, be careful messing with anything:

https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/games-keep-crashing-issue-with-14900kf-and-z790/td-p/1031012?awc=31828_1733760889_b0caa2e147af954373605b729db0ac4c

You said you did but double check bios is up to date as well.

I did actually double checked it and what's funny is that they released a new bios just a couple of hours after I built my pc and updated my bios.
So I really thought that would be the solution, but the game keeps crashing still

Core Voltage Offset: -0.040 V in XTU maybe? (was an extra fix for my 13900k)
https://imgur.com/a/z9BqrXO