[FIX] Crash on launch / stuck on shaders – Intel Core Ultra laptops (npu_d3d12_umd)

[LoboBiZARro]

If you're on a laptop with an Intel Core Ultra CPU and the game crashes right after the window opens, or freezes during shader compilation, this might be your fix.

My setup: Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, RTX 5080 Laptop 16GB, 64GB RAM, Windows 11, NVIDIA driver 617.14

Symptoms:

Game window opens, then crashes to desktop
Sometimes hangs at 0% CPU during shaders and has to be force-closed
Unreal crash reporter shows Unhandled Exception: 0x80000003 with npu_d3d12_umd at the top of the call stack, followed by D3D12Core / D3D12 / SWGR_Win64_Shipping

Cause: npu_d3d12_umd is the driver for the Intel AI Boost NPU built into Core Ultra CPUs. Windows lists the NPU as a DirectX 12 device, so the game touches its driver when it checks your graphics devices at startup, and that driver crashes the game. It has nothing to do with your NVIDIA GPU.

Fix:

Right-click Start → Device Manager
Expand Neural processors
Right-click Intel(R) AI Boost → Disable device
Launch the game

That fixed it instantly for me. The game doesn't use the NPU. Disabling it only affects Windows AI features like Studio Effects, and you can re-enable it any time. A newer NPU driver from your laptop maker or Intel may fix it permanently.

Things that did NOT fix it for me: updating the GPU driver, clearing the NVIDIA/DirectX shader cache, verifying files, reinstalling, -clearPSODriverCache, disabling the Epic Online Services overlay.

Devs: please look into the game enumerating the Intel NPU as a D3D12 adapter. It's probably hitting a lot of Core Ultra laptop owners.

Update for devs: This matches a known UE 5.7 issue. The NNEDenoiser / NNERuntimeORT plugin hits the Intel NPU driver and crashes with 0x80000003. Epic posted a patch on Aug 3, 2026 in this thread: https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/intel-npu-driver-causing-a-crash-in-5-7/2753986. Applying it should fix this for all Core Ultra users.

[Kainn]

Thanks bro, It worked for me. It was very frustating last night. I came from work, expecting to play, but was crashing on launcher... I will play later, and see If crashes during gameplay.

Intel core ultra 7 255HX, 32gb, rtx 5070 laptop 8gb, W11, NVidia driver uptated to 06/10