Finally fixed my FFXV crashing (and stutter)

[the-slunk]

After researching the forums since purchasing this game (and trying every proposed fix outside of downgrading to version 1.25) nothing resolved my FFXV crashing issue. The crashes would occur anywhere between 5 minutes to an hour of gameplay. Additionally, I ran into the horrid graphics and audio stutter shortly after starting the game. The stuttering issue occurred at the first gas station (hammerhead) immediately after interacting with/activating avatara.

I wanted to share what finally resolved the crashing issue for me in hopes that it helps someone else out without having to revert to version 1.25 and losing their saves. Additionally, I wanted to share someone else's method of fixing the stuttering issue (note that these are two separate problems).

Issue #1: Stuttering

As mentioned, I ran into a horrid graphic and audio stuttering issue almost immediately after starting to play the game. It actually started right when I got to Hammerhead and interacted with the Avatara NPC. I followed the instructions by user Morbic in this thread (https://steamcommunity.com/app/637650/discussions/0/2564160288787962173/?ctp=3#c3435626476280354677)

Step 1 : Disable Control Flow Guard (CFG) in Windows 10 App Security settings (Windows Security -> App & Browser control -> Exploit protection settings -> Control flow guard (CFG) Select "Off by default".

Step 2 : Add an exception for the game's exe file in Windows/Bitdefender Antivirus

Following these two steps and restarting the game immediately resolved the stutter issue and made the game playable... until it crashed... constantly.

Issue #2: Crashing

Disclaimer: Disabling windows page filing (virtual memory) can cause adverse affects in Windows. This is especially true if you have less than 16gigs of ram in your system. I haven't run into any issues, but they mostly apply to those who are relying on virtual memory (virtualization, SE tasks, etc.) but you should know who you are.

Step 1 : Type "Performance" in the windows search bar and select the Performance options result-> Click the "Advanced" tab in the window -> Click "Change..." in the Virtual memory option under the Advanced tab -> Uncheck the "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" in this window, and then select the "No paging file button" radio button -> press the "Set" button next to the selection -> click "OK"
(This is the opposite of other suggestions to increase the paging file size, but doing that only extended the time I could play before crashing, this is the first method that stopped the crashing completely for me)

Step 2 : RESTART YOUR PC. Setting to "No paging file" will not instruct you to restart your PC by default like it does when you set a custom size, but RESTART ANYWAY.

Step 3 : Set your TRAM to Low in the games options. This is technically unrelated to the above steps and may not need to be set, but before performing the above steps I could see the VRAM slowly creeping from 50% to around 93% in the in-game fps counter during gameplay.

After I performed the above steps, I was able to play for 7 hours straight without crashing. It was actually the first time I stopped playing by quitting out of the game rather than giving up after several crashes. I also played this morning for a few hours just to confirm it worked before posting this, again crash free.

My System:
CPU: I7-6700k
GPU: MSI 1080 ti
RAM: 16Gigs (4x4gb) 2800Mhz DDR4
OS: WIN10 64-bit
Drives: Steam on SATA SSD, Game loaded to 1TB 7200RPM HDD

If you end up trying this, please let me know if it worked for you or not. I'm only posting this up because it's the only method which worked for me and I tried literally every other suggestion (which felt like i was clutching straws) aside from reverting to version 1.25 and nothing resolved the issue for me previously.

Thanks!

[Captain Harrison]

I just disabled control flow guard, and already I am noticing a real difference. The stuttering hasn't disappeared completely, but it's infrequent enough to be tolerable (so far anyway). I don't use Bitdefender so I don't think the other step applies to me, but thank you so much for posting this! I was at my wits' end and really didn't want to buy this game on another platform just to replay it, you've done me an absolute solid today.

[the-slunk]

Originally posted by Captain Harrison:

I just disabled control flow guard, and already I am noticing a real difference. The stuttering hasn't disappeared completely, but it's infrequent enough to be tolerable (so far anyway). I don't use Bitdefender so I don't think the other step applies to me, but thank you so much for posting this! I was at my wits' end and really didn't want to buy this game on another platform just to replay it, you've done me an absolute solid today.

Glad it worked for you, and i felt the same exact way about having to buy the game twice just to play it without headache.

Also, all credit goes to user Morbic for the stutter issue solution from the linked post. I just wanted to put it on this post because his comment could be easily looked over.

[VerrücktesPferd]

I was experiencing frequent crashes that prevented me from enjoying the game and playing longer than 1 h on average. I follow your simple guide and now the game has got much more playable. I did a test run of quite longer than 2 h so far without issues. I almost forgot how it was to actually 'exit the game' when you want instead of deciding not to play longer after being kicked to the desktop.

So, many thanks for your guide. I already had pagefile disabled so I apply the other suggestions and they did the job apparently. Reducing TRAM seems to have been crucial as it also reduced VRAM comsumption and temperature.

By the way my PC setting is quite similar (only older and lower) to yours so that may also be related: Windows 10 x64 running the last version of the game, both Steam client and game on SSD (although not the same one) and a core i7 6700 with nVidia GTX 970 (4 GB). I had no issues with the RAM because I have 16 GB DDR4 on base speed (2133).

Many thanks and hoping they fix this game anyway!!

[Sarumoon]

Did you just try putting the game on an SSD? I read your whole post only to find out you are playing it on an old mechanical HDD? That's yer problem right ther.

[the-slunk]

Originally posted by aturuxo:

I was experiencing frequent crashes that prevented me from enjoying the game and playing longer than 1 h on average. I follow your simple guide and now the game has got much more playable. I did a test run of quite longer than 2 h so far without issues. I almost forgot how it was to actually 'exit the game' when you want instead of deciding not to play longer after being kicked to the desktop.

So, many thanks for your guide. I already had pagefile disabled so I apply the other suggestions and they did the job apparently. Reducing TRAM seems to have been crucial as it also reduced VRAM comsumption and temperature.

By the way my PC setting is quite similar (only older and lower) to yours so that may also be related: Windows 10 x64 running the last version of the game, both Steam client and game on SSD (although not the same one) and a core i7 6700 with nVidia GTX 970 (4 GB). I had no issues with the RAM because I have 16 GB DDR4 on base speed (2133).

Many thanks and hoping they fix this game anyway!!

Glad it helped you! I appreciate the feedback too. I was wondering after all the things I've tried to resolve this, if I was just experiencing a placebo effect.

Originally posted by Sarumoon:

Did you just try putting the game on an SSD? I read your whole post only to find out you are playing it on an old mechanical HDD? That's yer problem right ther.

I have a 1TB SSD arriving Friday, but I ruled that out as the sole problem after reading (numerous) other posts and noticing that the people in those posts had their games loaded on SSDs. I also installed the game onto my girlfriends PC (Samsung EVO 860) and the only difference was that the crashes were happening less frequently, but happening nonetheless.

I for sure agree that it adds to the issue which is why I ordered 1TB SSD to keep my games on, but its definitely not the only contributor. Definitely excited to see how stable it will run on the SSD in addition to the above changes.

[Lioness 西施]

You can disable CFG on a per-app basis. Sadly, none of these fixes worked for me.

[tracksone]

Originally posted by Sarumoon:

Did you just try putting the game on an SSD? I read your whole post only to find out you are playing it on an old mechanical HDD? That's yer problem right ther.

No, that is not the problem as this happens on HDD or SSD

[Red]

Originally posted by the-slunk:

Originally posted by Sarumoon:

Did you just try putting the game on an SSD? I read your whole post only to find out you are playing it on an old mechanical HDD? That's yer problem right ther.

I have a 1TB SSD arriving Friday, but I ruled that out as the sole problem after reading (numerous) other posts and noticing that the people in those posts had their games loaded on SSDs. I also installed the game onto my girlfriends PC (Samsung EVO 860) and the only difference was that the crashes were happening less frequently, but happening nonetheless.

I for sure agree that it adds to the issue which is why I ordered 1TB SSD to keep my games on, but its definitely not the only contributor. Definitely excited to see how stable it will run on the SSD in addition to the above changes.

From what I've seen, the older SSDs only help a little. If you want proper improvement, you will most likely need the latest M.2 SSD.

Thats what I use personally. The rest of my specs arent top tier, yet I'm able to run all settings at max, with all extra features switched on, and i even went into the nvidia control panel to increase some of the settings for the game there.

I get a stable 45 fps, lowest 40 and highest 50-55.

Regarding the crashing issue, I've only crashed once, well, not crashed technically, but rather the game got stuck at the loading screen lol, but yeah, it only happened when I played for over 5 hours straight and the game started to take more than 20gb of ram.

For stuttering. Its super rare, and just happens once/lasts 1 sec, then gone.

[the-slunk]

Originally posted by Adol Christin:

Originally posted by the-slunk:

I have a 1TB SSD arriving Friday, but I ruled that out as the sole problem after reading (numerous) other posts and noticing that the people in those posts had their games loaded on SSDs. I also installed the game onto my girlfriends PC (Samsung EVO 860) and the only difference was that the crashes were happening less frequently, but happening nonetheless.

I for sure agree that it adds to the issue which is why I ordered 1TB SSD to keep my games on, but its definitely not the only contributor. Definitely excited to see how stable it will run on the SSD in addition to the above changes.

From what I've seen, the older SSDs only help a little. If you want proper improvement, you will most likely need the latest M.2 SSD.

Thats what I use personally. The rest of my specs arent top tier, yet I'm able to run all settings at max, with all extra features switched on, and i even went into the nvidia control panel to increase some of the settings for the game there.

I get a stable 45 fps, lowest 40 and highest 50-55.

Regarding the crashing issue, I've only crashed once, well, not crashed technically, but rather the game got stuck at the loading screen lol, but yeah, it only happened when I played for over 5 hours straight and the game started to take more than 20gb of ram.

For stuttering. Its super rare, and just happens once/lasts 1 sec, then gone.

You are very lucky haha, I did not realize how abundant this issue was until I did research to fix it. The frames aren't a problem at all, j can get around 109fps steady at 3440x1440 depending on the settings. The stutter issue affects sound and graphics and when it was present it would randomly drop me to what seemed like 1 frame every 3 seconds, but the FPS counter still read like 59fps. The game was just riddled with issues for some post 1.26 update from what I'm gathering.

Others may not experience stutter or crashing, but there is still a memory leak present. The craziest part is that for some it may be so slow that the game isn't affected, while others like myself will experience issues within minutes of playing. My guess is the variance in how it affects everyone is contributing to how difficult it is to resolve the problem.

Also, I use a m.2 form factor SSD for my main drive but it is still using a SATA interface which is functionality the same as a 2.5 inch SSD. I was looking at NVMe drives but after watching a half dozen reviews it seemed to make little to no difference in gaming so I just purchased another SATA SSD.

[the-slunk]

Originally posted by Lioness 西施:

You can disable CFG on a per-app basis. Sadly, none of these fixes worked for me.

Sorry to hear that :/ have you tried the other proposed fixes? There are several threads floating around with like a dozen suggestions. The ones I posted were just the ones that helped me so I wanted to highlight them in hopes that it would work for others too.

[Lioness 西施]

Yup, I have. I'm going to keep playing it until it becomes unplayable and then wait for a patch, I suppose.

[Red]

Originally posted by the-slunk:

You are very lucky haha, I did not realize how abundant this issue was until I did research to fix it. The frames aren't a problem at all, j can get around 109fps steady at 3440x1440 depending on the settings. The stutter issue affects sound and graphics and when it was present it would randomly drop me to what seemed like 1 frame every 3 seconds, but the FPS counter still read like 59fps. The game was just riddled with issues for some post 1.26 update from what I'm gathering.

Others may not experience stutter or crashing, but there is still a memory leak present. The craziest part is that for some it may be so slow that the game isn't affected, while others like myself will experience issues within minutes of playing. My guess is the variance in how it affects everyone is contributing to how difficult it is to resolve the problem.

Also, I use a m.2 form factor SSD for my main drive but it is still using a SATA interface which is functionality the same as a 2.5 inch SSD. I was looking at NVMe drives but after watching a half dozen reviews it seemed to make little to no difference in gaming so I just purchased another SATA SSD.

Seems like I am xD.

I wish I had the specs to get the fps over 60 at least, with my settings.

That sucks man. For me, SK was already installed into the game after I downloaded it. I have no idea how lol, but maybe that might have helped improve the game for me.

My main drive is a 250gb samsung 860 evo. I've been using a 2TB HDD for my games. I only heard about the M.2 NVMe SSDs like end of last year. It was in a MMO I was playing. Everyone told me to get that specific type of SSD, as it would improve the loading time for the game the most. Far more than normal SSDs, according to them.

So, I got a 1TB Samsung 970 evo plus, and its definitely a huge improvement over HDDs for sure, but I have no idea how it compares to other SSDs personally.

[the-slunk]

Originally posted by Adol Christin:

Originally posted by the-slunk:

You are very lucky haha, I did not realize how abundant this issue was until I did research to fix it. The frames aren't a problem at all, j can get around 109fps steady at 3440x1440 depending on the settings. The stutter issue affects sound and graphics and when it was present it would randomly drop me to what seemed like 1 frame every 3 seconds, but the FPS counter still read like 59fps. The game was just riddled with issues for some post 1.26 update from what I'm gathering.

Others may not experience stutter or crashing, but there is still a memory leak present. The craziest part is that for some it may be so slow that the game isn't affected, while others like myself will experience issues within minutes of playing. My guess is the variance in how it affects everyone is contributing to how difficult it is to resolve the problem.

Also, I use a m.2 form factor SSD for my main drive but it is still using a SATA interface which is functionality the same as a 2.5 inch SSD. I was looking at NVMe drives but after watching a half dozen reviews it seemed to make little to no difference in gaming so I just purchased another SATA SSD.

Seems like I am xD.

I wish I had the specs to get the fps over 60 at least, with my settings.

That sucks man. For me, SK was already installed into the game after I downloaded it. I have no idea how lol, but maybe that might have helped improve the game for me.

My main drive is a 250gb samsung 860 evo. I've been using a 2TB HDD for my games. I only heard about the M.2 NVMe SSDs like end of last year. It was in a MMO I was playing. Everyone told me to get that specific type of SSD, as it would improve the loading time for the game the most. Far more than normal SSDs, according to them.

So, I got a 1TB Samsung 970 evo plus, and its definitely a huge improvement over HDDs for sure, but I have no idea how it compares to other SSDs personally.

I was looking at that drive and the WD Black SN750 (cheaper, almost on par with performance). Needless to say, I envy you for the drive haha. Also, it is dumb that it took me this long to finally get an SSD as a dedicated game drive considering I've dumped so much money into the rest of my system. I used the extra space on my windows drive (the m.2 SATA SSD) but with so many recent games coming out and being like 80gigs+, I sort of just defaulted to the HDD and put it on the back burner. This is the first game that I kinda thought would actually benefit from an SSD (outside of load times) and triggered research into HDD vs SSD load times. Sure enough I pulled the trigger on a 1TB SSD like 3 videos in and am beating myself up for not doing it sooner. There were some games where load times were like 14seconds for SSDs, and over a minute for the HDD and I was like "WTF am I doing with my life!!!". NVME vs SATA SSDs seemed to consistently be like a second or so apart and I couldn't justify the purchase, though I still REALLY want one. It's that "I don't need it" argument that's gonna eat at me until I get one anyway :/

[the-slunk]

Originally posted by Lioness 西施:

Yup, I have. I'm going to keep playing it until it becomes unplayable and then wait for a patch, I suppose.

How bad is it currently? Mine was unplayable by any standard which is why I aggressively started researching solutions. I think within like 3 days I tried 12 or so things. I dunno if my issue was resolved as a combination of those things (disabling Ansel, lowering TRAM, my posted steps, etc.) But since the steps I posted, it's been the first time I can play the game for over an hour without crashing. It's dumb how rewarding the fact that I stop playing by quitting out of the game vs getting fed up with trying is but I hope an official patch comes soon so I can return my settings to how the game should be played. Until then, I'll just have to keep in mind how much worse it could be (first world problems).

[Andrehoodcool]

I tried this and saw this on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IREwfq7IIpU&t=11s and so far it was playable than before....i can play this...although sometime problem occurs but its fine...thx for the guide