Game always crashing on spinning coin screen

[Bit]

I have not yet made it past the spinning coin screen!
Before the patches I was able (after the game crashed and I clicked "Yes" when it asked me if I wanted to boot the game in safe mode) to at least get into the main menu for like 10 seconds but even then it also always crashed. Now the crash manager isn't even opening anymore and I also don't get the safe mode prompt. The coin always spins exactly 1 1/2 times. Super weird.

Verified the game files like 10 times
Actually reinstalled Windows
Tried several graphics drivers (current GRD, the "hotfix driver" (currently installed) and v528.49).
Checked and updated all my drivers.
Tried several memory profiles in my BIOS
Installed the games to several hard drives
Made sure my iGPU is disabled
Disabled all overlay software
There is no OC on the CPU

No matter what I do, I always get the same exact result: coin spins 1 1/2 times, screen freezes for about 5 to 10 seconds, crashes to desktop - no crash manager, no status prompt, nothing.

Is there anyone else who has this problem or even solved it?!
This is so incredibly frustrating!

Windows 11 - freshly updated
i9 19300k
ROG STRIX RTX 3080 (didn't touch any OC settings)
ROG STRIX z690-G
32 GB G.SKILL Trident Neo Z5 (DDR5)

[SpiderFlash]

Could you check the Event Viewer and go to the Application events tab. Look for the cause of the crash there.

[Bit]

Originally posted by SpiderFlash:

Could you check the Event Viewer and go to the Application events tab. Look for the cause of the crash there.

Not exactly sure if this is what it means but I found this error in the logs:

Faulting application name: tlou-i.exe, version: 1.0.2.0, time stamp: 0x642f4fc0
Faulting module name: nvwgf2umx.dll, version: 31.0.15.3158, time stamp: 0x642b2cce
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000000000074627c
Faulting process id: 0x0x4078
Faulting application start time: 0x0x1D9699BB495F072
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Last of Us Part I\tlou-i.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispig.inf_amd64_7bc3bc05849a7948\nvwgf2umx.dll
Report Id: 53dc37f2-5edf-4010-9fc6-8f4aeff1755d
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

[bepmen]

I solved it by increasing the virtual memory in windows

[Bit]

Originally posted by bepmen:

I solved it by increasing the virtual memory in windows

I already set a fixed page file size of 32gig as well. Didn't help :/

[skooma cat]

nvwgf2umx.dll seems like it's related to nvidia drivers, have you used DDU after updating your drivers?

[Bit]

Originally posted by skooma cat:

nvwgf2umx.dll seems like it's related to nvidia drivers, have you used DDU after updating your drivers?

Yes I rand DDU before switching drivers.
Right now this is the only Nvidia driver ever installed on my current OS since I just re-installed Windows a couple hours ago.

[kgkong]

Originally posted by Bit:

Originally posted by skooma cat:

nvwgf2umx.dll seems like it's related to nvidia drivers, have you used DDU after updating your drivers?

Yes I rand DDU before switching drivers.
Right now this is the only Nvidia driver ever installed on my current OS since I just re-installed Windows a couple hours ago.

Get the nVidia hotfix driver. 531.41 is the latest full release driver out but 531.58 has the game fix for the driver causing the game to crash.

[Uburrato]

Originally posted by KingGorillaKong:

Originally posted by Bit:

Yes I rand DDU before switching drivers.
Right now this is the only Nvidia driver ever installed on my current OS since I just re-installed Windows a couple hours ago.

Get the nVidia hotfix driver. 531.41 is the latest full release driver out but 531.58 has the game fix for the driver causing the game to crash.

I did that and the game is still crashing. Gotta keep waiting then

[skooma cat]

Possible solutions for nvwgf2umx.dll according to google results:
Cap fps to 60 in nvidia control panel
Disable antivirus
Disable VPN
Update BIOS (although this seems like it should be your absolute last resort)

[kgkong]

Originally posted by skooma cat:

Possible solutions for nvwgf2umx.dll according to google results:
Cap fps to 60 in nvidia control panel
Disable antivirus
Disable VPN
Update BIOS (although this seems like it should be your absolute last resort)

Those are just workarounds to try and remove anything that might possibly trigger the driver crash.

But I know some people who tried to install the nVidia 531.58 hotfix and it doesn't properly install. It basically puts 531.41 in but with the tag 531.58 so the fixes don't even work in the driver even though it says it's installed.

nVidia just dropping the ball hard with drivers lately.

[Bit]

Originally posted by skooma cat:

Possible solutions for nvwgf2umx.dll according to google results:
Cap fps to 60 in nvidia control panel
Disable antivirus
Disable VPN
Update BIOS (although this seems like it should be your absolute last resort)

Thanks for your help! Updating the BIOS actually did the trick. :)

I also googled the whole nvwgf2umx.dll thing and found 3 forum posts that stated it had to do with RAM issues in their cases. It makes sense for me now... I got my new CPU, motherboard and RAM last November and since DDR5 RAM is still pretty new it seems I had some "first mover problems". I had stability issues overall, not just with TLOU.

I can now finally move past the spinning coin screen and spend hours compiling shaders like everyone else, yay! (Also checked other stability issues I had, and they are gone!).

Thanks for the help again!

[skooma cat]

Nice, glad it worked! Hope you don't run into any more issues and can enjoy the game :D

[kgkong]

Originally posted by Bit:

Originally posted by skooma cat:

Possible solutions for nvwgf2umx.dll according to google results:
Cap fps to 60 in nvidia control panel
Disable antivirus
Disable VPN
Update BIOS (although this seems like it should be your absolute last resort)

Thanks for your help! Updating the BIOS actually did the trick. :)

I also googled the whole nvwgf2umx.dll thing and found 3 forum posts that stated it had to do with RAM issues in their cases. It makes sense for me now... I got my new CPU, motherboard and RAM last November and since DDR5 RAM is still pretty new it seems I had some "first mover problems". I had stability issues overall, not just with TLOU.

I can now finally move past the spinning coin screen and spend hours compiling shaders like everyone else, yay! (Also checked other stability issues I had, and they are gone!).

Thanks for the help again!

Glad to hear you're working now too.

Expect a handful of updates to how your chipset on your motherboard for further handles DDR5 stability.

I was gonna suggest looking into making sure XMP was properly enabled and make sure you have the latest full release BIOS version as the next place to look if re-confirming you have the 531.58 driver was still causing a crash.