Tried everything, game still crashes on launch

[Mxier]

Hello, I currently have 18.3 hours in the game without ever having been able to play it. It either crashes on launch, or crashes during shader compilation (more detail below). I am just so lost now and I have no idea what to do considering I've tried every fix I've found online.

My other games run perfectly, and I have never had an issue until this game.

Specs: i5-13400f, RX 7700xt, 32GB RAM

Here's a list of what I have tried (there are probably more that I haven't put down)
- verify integrity of game files
- all compatibility modes, running as admin
- many driver versions (uninstall using DDU each time)
- driver settings
- checking physical GPU connection
- config changes
- page file RAM allocation
- directX versions
- gpu clock/voltage adjustments
- cpu clock adjustments
- BIOS update
- XMP on, XMP off
- reinstalling game (including wiping my D drive and only installing steam and the game)
- replacing DirectStorage version
- ISLC
- DISM restore, SFC scan
- turning off all overlays
- windows memory diagnostic says my RAM is okay

Note on config changes:
If the EcoShaderCache variable in config is set to True, the game will launch into a black screen then crash immediately with the crash report tool. If the EcoShaderCache variable is set to False, the game will load and shaders will compile until about 90% of the loading bar, where it will then crash. It ends up with the same result whether or not I reset the shader cache or not. Right now I have it on True

DxDiag: https://pastebin.com/d3YTJfMb
Crash Report: https://pastebin.com/BFsMxWmj

Anything helps - I just want to play this game

[NeoX]

Do you also have this with the Benchmark?

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Mxier:

Tried everything, game still crashes on launch
Hello, I currently have 18.3 hours in the game without ever having been able to play it. It either crashes on launch, or crashes during shader compilation (more detail below). I am just so lost now and I have no idea what to do considering I've tried every fix I've found online.

My other games run perfectly, and I have never had an issue until this game.

Specs: i5-13400f, RX 7700xt, 32GB RAM

Here's a list of what I have tried (there are probably more that I haven't put down)
- verify integrity of game files
- all compatibility modes, running as admin
- many driver versions (uninstall using DDU each time)
- driver settings
- checking physical GPU connection
- config changes
- page file RAM allocation
- directX versions
- gpu clock/voltage adjustments
- cpu clock adjustments
- BIOS update
- XMP on, XMP off
- reinstalling game (including wiping my D drive and only installing steam and the game)
- replacing DirectStorage version
- ISLC
- DISM restore, SFC scan
- turning off all overlays
- windows memory diagnostic says my RAM is okay

Note on config changes:
If the EcoShaderCache variable in config is set to True, the game will launch into a black screen then crash immediately with the crash report tool. If the EcoShaderCache variable is set to False, the game will load and shaders will compile until about 90% of the loading bar, where it will then crash. It ends up with the same result whether or not I reset the shader cache or not. Right now I have it on True

DxDiag: https://pastebin.com/d3YTJfMb
Crash Report: https://pastebin.com/BFsMxWmj

Anything helps - I just want to play this game

There is so much chaotic stuff in the list, as if you just got from every topic something randomly without picking something which actually addresses your issue.

At this state you either give the current state of things properly, or you format your system considering the last time something did so much like you, we could not find their issue for a week, because they caused it themselves without realising it.

[Mxier]

Originally posted by アンジェル:

There is so much chaotic stuff in the list, as if you just got from every topic something randomly without picking something which actually addresses your issue.

At this state you either give the current state of things properly, or you format your system considering the last time something did so much like you, we could not find their issue for a week, because they caused it themselves without realising it.

Everything I have done I did in isolation - I did not stack these fixes upon each other, except for larger changes such as updating my BIOS. I always restore the game or my system to the initial state before I try a new fix. I made sure to make backups of my system to go back to. This issue has been present ever since I bought the game, and I have never been able to open it even until now (more than a month later). The error message remains the same as when I first launched the game, so I don't believe that anything I've done is detrimental to it. Still, right now, the current state is that the game is in its freshly installed state - I have not adjusted anything. My AMD drivers are on 25.2.1. and everything on my GPU is on default settings. Clock settings are on default. XMP is off. Like I said, I have tried formatting my drive and the result is still the same.

[Mxier]

Originally posted by NeoX:

Do you also have this with the Benchmark?

Yes, but somehow I was able to run the benchmark before the actual game released. Now, it crashes the same way.

[NeoX]

Originally posted by Mxier:

Originally posted by NeoX:

Do you also have this with the Benchmark?

Yes, but somehow I was able to run the benchmark before the actual game released. Now, it crashes the same way.

the same? Then it seems like something is core faulty or incompatible. Can you make out a point where it started? Maybe its a driver or windows update that caused it. otherwise i can only confirm what was posted before. Time for a fresh & clean reinstallation of windows with the latest drivers for your hardware an check again.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Mxier:

Originally posted by アンジェル:

There is so much chaotic stuff in the list, as if you just got from every topic something randomly without picking something which actually addresses your issue.

At this state you either give the current state of things properly, or you format your system considering the last time something did so much like you, we could not find their issue for a week, because they caused it themselves without realising it.

Everything I have done I did in isolation - I did not stack these fixes upon each other, except for larger changes such as updating my BIOS. I always restore the game or my system to the initial state before I try a new fix. I made sure to make backups of my system to go back to. This issue has been present ever since I bought the game, and I have never been able to open it even until now (more than a month later). The error message remains the same as when I first launched the game, so I don't believe that anything I've done is detrimental to it. Still, right now, the current state is that the game is in its freshly installed state - I have not adjusted anything. My AMD drivers are on 25.2.1. and everything on my GPU is on default settings. Clock settings are on default. XMP is off. Like I said, I have tried formatting my drive and the result is still the same.

Not your D: drive needs wiping, but your C: drive.

Let us see then if we can isolate your issue. To me it looks like an overclocking issue with your GPU.

1. Enter this in terminal as administrator

net user Administrator /active:yes

2. Then restart your PC and log into the unlocked admin account.

3. Cleanup your C: that you have at least 120 GB free space there, move stuff from C: to D: if necessary

4. open the task manager and either share a list or the screenshot of your startup apps, while you are on the admin account

5. Do the tips from this guide #1 + #2 + #4 + #5 + #6 + #7 + #8 + #16
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3436896664

Ideally do tip #1 in safe mode, before returning into your admin account
https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/33318782143267259/1127AE105CF5E2FCA9B36129FA71DE9639E9F180/

https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/33318782143267268/BE29681DDD1D8558E5970E40EEAE6D82175D8DBC/

Put the virtual memory from tip #2 on D: and make sure ISLC is running all the time

6. Run the installers in this package while on admin account
https://www.nexusmods.com/helldivers2/mods/93

7. Lastly do the maintenance check via entering these lines of code into terminal as admin

sfc /scannow
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /AnalyzeComponentStore
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /StartComponentCleanup
chkdsk /f /r C: D:

8. Restart your PC and give it a try launching the game in admin account

If the issue persists, share after you did all the changes a new DxDiag report and the screenshot/list of startup apps I told about in 4.

[NeoX]

Originally posted by アンジェル:

Originally posted by Mxier:

Everything I have done I did in isolation - I did not stack these fixes upon each other, except for larger changes such as updating my BIOS. I always restore the game or my system to the initial state before I try a new fix. I made sure to make backups of my system to go back to. This issue has been present ever since I bought the game, and I have never been able to open it even until now (more than a month later). The error message remains the same as when I first launched the game, so I don't believe that anything I've done is detrimental to it. Still, right now, the current state is that the game is in its freshly installed state - I have not adjusted anything. My AMD drivers are on 25.2.1. and everything on my GPU is on default settings. Clock settings are on default. XMP is off. Like I said, I have tried formatting my drive and the result is still the same.

Not your D: drive needs wiping, but your C: drive.

Let us see then if we can isolate your issue. To me it looks like an overclocking issue with your GPU.

1. Enter this in terminal as administrator

net user Administrator /active:yes

2. Then restart your PC and log into the unlocked admin account.

3. Cleanup your C: that you have at least 120 GB free space there, move stuff from C: to D: if necessary

4. open the task manager and either share a list or the screenshot of your startup apps, while you are on the admin account

5. Do the tips from this guide #1 + #2 + #4 + #5 + #6 + #7 + #8 + #16
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3436896664

Ideally do tip #1 in safe mode, before returning into your admin account
https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/33318782143267259/1127AE105CF5E2FCA9B36129FA71DE9639E9F180/

https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/33318782143267268/BE29681DDD1D8558E5970E40EEAE6D82175D8DBC/

Put the virtual memory from tip #2 on D: and make sure ISLC is running all the time

6. Run the installers in this package while on admin account
https://www.nexusmods.com/helldivers2/mods/93

7. Lastly do the maintenance check via entering these lines of code into terminal as admin

sfc /scannow
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /AnalyzeComponentStore
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /StartComponentCleanup
chkdsk /f /r C: D:

8. Restart your PC and give it a try launching the game in admin account

If the issue persists, share after you did all the changes a new DxDiag report and the screenshot/list of startup apps I told about in 4.

personaly i would recommend fresh & clean reinstallation with latest drivers and latest Windows ISO. This smells like an update or installation was massively broken.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by NeoX:

Originally posted by アンジェル:

Not your D: drive needs wiping, but your C: drive.

Let us see then if we can isolate your issue. To me it looks like an overclocking issue with your GPU.

1. Enter this in terminal as administrator

net user Administrator /active:yes

2. Then restart your PC and log into the unlocked admin account.

3. Cleanup your C: that you have at least 120 GB free space there, move stuff from C: to D: if necessary

4. open the task manager and either share a list or the screenshot of your startup apps, while you are on the admin account

5. Do the tips from this guide #1 + #2 + #4 + #5 + #6 + #7 + #8 + #16
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3436896664

Ideally do tip #1 in safe mode, before returning into your admin account
https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/33318782143267259/1127AE105CF5E2FCA9B36129FA71DE9639E9F180/

https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/33318782143267268/BE29681DDD1D8558E5970E40EEAE6D82175D8DBC/

Put the virtual memory from tip #2 on D: and make sure ISLC is running all the time

6. Run the installers in this package while on admin account
https://www.nexusmods.com/helldivers2/mods/93

7. Lastly do the maintenance check via entering these lines of code into terminal as admin

sfc /scannow
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /AnalyzeComponentStore
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /StartComponentCleanup
chkdsk /f /r C: D:

8. Restart your PC and give it a try launching the game in admin account

If the issue persists, share after you did all the changes a new DxDiag report and the screenshot/list of startup apps I told about in 4.

personaly i would recommend fresh & clean reinstallation with latest drivers and latest Windows ISO. This smells like an update or installation was massively broken.

I concur.
But it cannot be helped if they ignored that suggestion already at the first time.

[Lumen]

Originally posted by Mxier:

Hello, I currently have 18.3 hours in the game without ever having been able to play it. It either crashes on launch, or crashes during shader compilation (more detail below). I am just so lost now and I have no idea what to do considering I've tried every fix I've found online.

Hi, I'm reading your DirectX report.
I have total different hardware but I write drown what I would also try.

Desktop Refresh rate 165 try to setting it to something lower like 60 for testing.

See if you can find a monitor profile, should work anyway but probably gives you more features of the monitor like refresh rates etc.

Not much else in there I can make sense of.
Does the windows event log show a exception?
If so is there any faulting module other than Wilds? Eg some system component?

[Mxier]

I will try all these solutions and get back as soon as I can, thank you all

[Lumen]

Maybe the autodetect on the gfx card fails since you never made it into the game.
Is there a way to force the amd card instead of the cpu in the amd driver settings?

[Mxier]

https://pastebin.com/B3eCAmYf

This is the dxDiag after trying all the steps listed. (I also tried changing my monitor's refresh rate but that didn't change anything). Windows event log doesn't show any application exceptions.

I don't want to wipe my system and reinstall windows since I have a lot of personal and work files to backup, but it seems that will have to be my next option.

[Mxier]

I forgot to attach the task manager startup image:

https://imgur.com/3NCyu0j

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Mxier:

https://pastebin.com/B3eCAmYf

This is the dxDiag after trying all the steps listed. (I also tried changing my monitor's refresh rate but that didn't change anything). Windows event log doesn't show any application exceptions.

I don't want to wipe my system and reinstall windows since I have a lot of personal and work files to backup, but it seems that will have to be my next option.

Originally posted by Mxier:

I forgot to attach the task manager startup image:

https://imgur.com/3NCyu0j

While the DxDiag report looks better, your C: drive still does not reach the suggested minimum free space.

At this point, if you want to keep using the PC for gaming, I suggest a drive swap and fresh format. As in using the Samsung as your system SSD if you cannot afford a new SSD.

Use Rufus to use Windows 11 Pro for Workstations, you should still be able to use your current key with help from Microsoft support, or get a new one for around 20 EUD.
https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/2008097317942748894/8C9699074306947405A10E57DA8AA589F1B006B0/

Then, since you have written you also use your PC for work, make a split - an account for gaming, and an account for office, as otherwise you get that mixed up stuff, as seen in the screenshot, which is hindering your performance strongly.

Also, last but not least, considering your changes from before which I am strongly against

Originally posted by Mxier:

Note on config changes:
If the EcoShaderCache variable in config is set to True, the game will launch into a black screen then crash immediately with the crash report tool. If the EcoShaderCache variable is set to False, the game will load and shaders will compile until about 90% of the loading bar, where it will then crash. It ends up with the same result whether or not I reset the shader cache or not. Right now I have it on True

you should also check for savegame corruption, as those changes are dangerous. Disable Steam Cloud for the game , then move the remote folder from

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\YOURPERSONALSTEAMID\2246340

to desktop e.g. and check if the game loads - if it does, then you know your config changes did something bad. If it does not load, then you know it is at least no savegame corruption.

[Lumen]

Reinstalling is the last option you should try.
Allways a mess, allways something gets lost.

Originally posted by アンジェル:

[
personaly i would recommend fresh & clean reinstallation with latest drivers and latest Windows ISO. This smells like an update or installation was massively broken.
...........
I concur.
But it cannot be helped if they ignored that suggestion already at the first time.

Yeah but that's already a drastic action. Involving severall hours of work and flatlining your pc gaming time for a day at least.
However sometimes it has to be done but really try those first, usually they fix most stuff.
sfc /scannow
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /AnalyzeComponentStore
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /StartComponentCleanup
chkdsk /f /r C: D:
They really take a long while, restart after they finished.

However, for a lucky try create a new user (no admin rights) an try to run it on that user.
If it works something in your registry is broken.