Dark Souls 2 Crashes and Other Issues

[Keys]

Keep in mind

This thread is no longer being updated but I'll keep it here in case somebody might find some of these solutions helpfull, make sure to check out the last couple of pages for potential fixes that I have not added.

Most Recent News:

A patch has been released and has fixed the White screen Crash for the majority of people. However some users are still reporting having the same crash.
Others, on the other hand, can now launch the game but are stuck in a black screen when they attempt to start a new game. This is due to them not being able to load the intro video, work-arounds for this will be added to this post.

In the event Dark Souls 2 works flawlessly for you now, it's a good idea to uninstall any work-around programs you installed.[/b]

Official Statements:

Bandai Namco Games Community Team:
"UPDATE 4/28: A patch has been deployed to help users who have had issues with the game crashing upon start-up. We will continue to monitor this issue. Thank you for your patience."

Link to The Official Bandai Namco Support Thread: http://steamcommunity.com/app/236430/discussions/0/558754259718155271/

J. Kartje (Community Manager at Bandai Namco US):
This guy's probably your most up-to-date bet if you're trying to find out more about the current issues.

Link to the Twitter page of J. Kartje: https://twitter.com/JKartje

Unofficial Work-arounds:

These are unofficial workarounds so they're not guaranteed to work for everyone, and using them is at your own risk.

New work-arounds will be added once a decent portion of people are reporting it fixed the issue for them. To be clear, this does not mean it's a guaranteed fix for every single person having problems, only that some people have found it helpful.

Black Screen

Description: When the player starts a "New Game" the screen just turns black and the intro video fails to load, leaving the player stuck there with nothing happening.

1st Work-around
This is for the Windows 8.1 N Edition users.
They may be required to install Windows Media Player in order to play the intro video.
Download link here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40744

2nd Work-around

• Go to the windows Configuration Screen
  
• Click on "Programs and Components"
  
• Search for any "Media Codec" or "K-lite codec pack" installations
  
• Select the Codecs and uninstall them

// Once again uninstalling these is at your own risk.

Mouse Lag

Description: There's a significant delay before the game reacts to mouse button clicks.

1st Work-around
Coeco has made a thread about how to resolve the mouse lag problems some people have
Link: http://steamcommunity.com/app/236430/discussions/0/558754259701364973/
Give him a big thanks if it solved the issue for you!

White Screen Launch Crash

Description: The game boots in a white window and hangs there until the windows error message shows up saying "Dark Souls 2 has stopped responding".

The work-around that has worked for the most people is number 10, so to safe you time consider doing that one first!

1st Work-around
For AMD graphics cards.

• Go to the AMD control center.
  
• Go to Properties (Digital flat-panel)
  
• Enable GPU scaling.
  
• Apply and start the game

For Nvidia graphics cards.

• Open your Nvidia Control Panel
  
• Go to "Adjust desktop size and position"
  
• Set "Perform scaling on" to "GPU" // Some people seem to not have the GPU option.
  
• Tick "Override the scaling mode set by games and programs"
  
• Apply and start the game

2nd Work-around

• Select Dark Souls 2 in Steam.
  
• Unplug your HDMI/DVI/VGA Cable
  
• Hit Enter (this will start the game) and wait for a few seconds to let the game start.
  
• Plug it back in.

// Unplugging and plugging in cables while your computer is running may damage your pc, use at your own risk.
// Using this workaround the game is locked to windowed mode on a low resolution.
// After setting your resolution and Fullscreen mode in the options menu, restart the game using the same technique. For some people this will allow the game to be played at their desired resolution and in fullscreen mode.
// As a result of this workaround, there will be no sound sent through your HDMI cable.

3rd Work-around
If you are using a multi-screen setup disabling either screen might solve the issue.

4th Work-around
For AMD graphics cards.

• Open Catalyst Control Center, navigate to the Gaming section and select 3D Application Settings.
  
• Locate section Texture Filtering and turn off Surface Format Optimization.

5th Work-around

• Launch the game.
  
• When you see white screen press Win+P and select Duplicate.
  
• The game should launch.
  
• Press Win+P again ans select Extend.
  
• Navigate to the video setting, select Windowed to access all available screen resolutions.

6th Work-around

Nguyên văn bởi Jordan:

Here's a step by step guide for Strobelight
(This only works if the issue is caused by your monitor running above 60Hz.)

1. Download Strobelight: http://www.monitortests.com/strobelight-beta4.zip
2. Run Strobelight-Setup.exe (You don't even have to unrar the file)
3. When you reach screen pictured here:
http://i.imgur.com/ZaH6Xkj.png
Select those options ONLY and then click install refresh rates. If you don't want to click the link then you've just to select 120Hz Strobed and ONLY 60Hz on the other side.
4. Reboot the computer (Yes, I know what your thinking. Just DO IT.)
5. Game should run properly now. Rerun that file and select reset this display if you wish to uninstall the program (when DS2 is fixed for example.)

// Installing and using 3rd party programs is at your own risk.

7th Work-around
For Nvidia graphics cards.

• Update to the beta driver: 337.50

// Keep in mind they're called beta for a reason, so once again I have to mention that installing these is at your own risk.

8th Work-around
If your graphics card has two DVI ports, try the other one. It may lower your refresh rate down to 60Hz and thus possibly fixing the issue.

9th Work-around
For the tech-savy people among us; setting your graphics processor to your on-board graphics processor instead of your normal GPU in your computer's Bios may fix the issue for you.
// Obviously your performance is going to be a lot lower than normal and it might not even be playable beyond 5 fps.
// Please realize that changing stuff in your bios is purely at your own risk and changing the wrong thing may damage your PC in a way.

10th Work-around
This link has a driver file that tricks your PC into thinking you have a passive 3D Acer monitor.
Link: http://www.afriendlyfox.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Acer-HR274H-3D-Monitor-EDID-Override.zip

• Extract the contents of the ZIP you just downloaded to some folder.
  
• Open Device Manager by opening your Start Menu (or start screen) and typing “Device Manager,” then press enter.
  
• Expand thee “Monitors” category.
  
• Right click the currently installed monitor under the “Monitors” category and select “Update Driver Software.”
  
• Click “Browse my computer for driver software.”
  
• Click “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.”
  
• Click “Have Disk…” toward the bottom right of the window.
  
• Browse to the location of the INF file you extracted in Step 1, then press OK.
  
• Press “Next,” then “Install This Driver Software Anyway.”
  
• Reboot!
  
• Launch Dark Souls 2

// If you run into driver signature problems, you’ll have to disable driver signature enforcement. To do so, perform a Google search for “disable driver signature enforcement <Your OS>,” and follow the steps you find.
// As with all 3rd party programs, installing and using them is at your own risk.
// To uninstall this work-around:

• Open up deivce manager,
  
• Right click the ASUS monitor you installed under monitors,
  
• Click properties, and then go to drivers,
  
• Now, hit UNINSTALL rather than roll-back.
  
• It should uninstall fine, now restart your computer.
  
• Look again in the device manager to see if the driver are back to their originals.
  
• Might not work for everyone, but the driver will automaticaly install/switch upon boot-up after you uninstall the driver.
  
• Check the Nvidia control panel to make sure everything is the way you want it/how it was prior to instaling the ASUS driver.

Original Source: http://afriendlyfox.com/2013/02/04/massively-improved-nvidia-3d-vision-on-passive-3dtvs-edid-override/
// There's no need to mess with the registry for this work-around.

[epstein]

same here

[Red Light]

[Coe⁧⁧✔️[Quality Control]]

Lovely. Same here.

[tofu]

this

[Holden]

This is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ridiculous.

[kazRium]

I have 3 mins to go, I hope not to join you.

[DrChaoss]

Same problem, has ATI HD card

[DFogz]

Took forever to unpack, now I can't play

edit: I've got intel cpu & sli gtx setup if anyone thinks it might be hardware related
edit2: I'm using HDMI, seems like that might be the cause of the problem

[ArtificerProdigy]

Disabling multiple monitors does not seem to solve the problem.

[Brother Wallace]

It was happening to me until I played on my laptops native monitor rather than the TV. Or maybe im just lucky.

[CryptoKingKitty]

no fix yet?

[ElGato]

Same here gtx 670

[kazRium]

Try shutting down all unnessasary programs, might be a conflict somewhere

[Infinity]

Same problem.....

[Budoshi]

this doesn't bode well ..