6 Ways to Fix Regular In-Game Crimson Desert Crashing on a Windows PC

Many players have reported that regular in-game crashing spoils Crimson Desert for them. One player said this, “I’m playing Crimson Desert on PC, and the game actually runs very well on my system… The issue is that the game keeps crashing randomly, and I get the error message: ‘The application is not responding.’” Random in-game crashes make it hard to play Crimson Desert. This is how to fix regular in-game crashes in Crimson Desert on Windows PCs.

Turn Off V-Sync

Disabling V-Sync is a potential way to fix in-game crashes in Crimson Desert, as it can resolve issues with the game engine, monitor refresh rate, and GPU frame rendering. Some players who’ve applied this potential fix also say it’s worked for them. This is how you can turn off V-Sync in the Crimson Desert game:

1. First, start the Crimson Desert game.
2. Select the Settings and Graphics tab.
3. Set the V-Sync option to Off.
   
   

   The V-Sync option

4. Select the Apply option.

Set Compatibility Options

Selecting certain compatibility options can potentially fix Crimson Desert crashing for some players. To be more specific, select the Run this program as an administrator and the Disable fullscreen optimizations. This is how you can select those compatibility options:

1. Open the Crimson Desert folder in File Explorer at the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Crimson Desert for Steam users. Alternatively, open this Epic folder location for the game: C:\Program Files\Epic Games\CrimsonDesert.
2. Right-click the EXE file for the Crimson Desert EXE file and select Properties > Compatibility.
3. Select the Disable fullscreen optimizations and Run this program as an administrator checkboxes.
   
   

   Run this program as an administrator option

4. Click Apply to save the selected options.
5. Select OK to confirm.

Disable NVIDIA High Definition Audio

Disabling NVIDIA High Definition Audio is another confirmed way to fix Crimson Desert crashing. Applying this troubleshooting method prevents audio conflicts from crashing the game. These are the steps for disabling the NVIDIA High Definition Audio driver:

1. Click Start with your mouse’s right button and select Device Manager.
2. Select Device Manager to view the window for that tool.
3. Expand the Sound, video, and game controllers category by double-clicking on it.
   
   

   The Disable device option

4. Right-click the NVIDIA High Definition Audio driver and select Disable device.
5. Select Yes to confirm.

Set a DirectX 11 Launch Option

Setting a DirectX 11 launch option is a recommended way to fix Crimson Desert crashing because that can potentially address ray tracing bugs, shader compilation issues, and VRAM usage issues generated by DirectX 12. These are the steps for setting a DirectX 11 launch option:

1. Open the Steam gaming client and the Library tab.
2. Right-click the Crimson Desert game in the sidebar and select Properties.
3. Input a -dx11 parameter for Crimson Desert in the launch options box.

The General tab in Steam

Delete the DirectX Shader Cache

Players confirm that deleting the DirectX shader cache can be an effective way to fix regular in-game Crimson Desert crashing. This is a potential fix because clearing the DirectX shader cache might erase corrupted data. You can clear the DirectX shader cache as follows:

1. Open the file finder tool by clicking on the taskbar’s search box.
2. Type Disk Cleanup into the search box.
3. Click Disk Cleanup to open that tool.
4. Select the C: drive and OK.
5. Next, select the DirectX Shader Cache option.
   
   

   The Disk Cleanup tool

6. Click the OK button.
7. Select Delete Files to confirm.

Reinstall the Game

Finally, try reinstalling the game to fix missing or corrupted game files. You can uninstall Crimson Desert with Epic and Steam like this:

Steam

1. Open Steam and click on Library in that software.
2. Right-click the Crimson Desert game on the left sidebar and select Manage and Uninstall.
   
   

   The Uninstall option in Steam

3. After removing the game, select Crimson Desert in the Library tab and click on Install.
4. Select Install to reinstall the game.

Epic Games

1. Start Epic Games to go into its Library tab.
2. Click the three-dot menu button for Crimson Desert and select Uninstall.
   
   

   The Uninstall option in Epic Games

3. Next, click on the uninstalled Crimson Desert game.
4. Select Install to finish.

The potential fixes above are among the most widely player-confirmed ways to fix regular in-game crashing. That doesn’t mean those troubleshooting methods are guaranteed to resolve persistent crashing for everybody, but they’re worth trying. You can also ask the Crimson Desert support service for more fixes by clicking Contact Support on this PLAION page.

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