Elden Ring Won’t Launch and Crashing at Startup on Steam – How to fix

After much anticipation, Elden Ring is out across all gaming platforms. The game does come with some technical issues. But that is expected from a game this big. Some PC players are facing crashing and launch issues in the game. The good thing is, that many people from the community have already recommended some fixes for that. Check them out.

How to Fix Elden Ring won’t start and crashing issues

Make sure you at least have the Build 1909 of Windows 10 64-bit

Yes, Elden Ring does not support Windows 7 or 8.1. Windows 10 64-bit is mandatory. And the OS Build should be at least 1909.

If you don’t know how to check your Windows build, then all you have to do is:

1. Type winver on your Windows Search Bar
2. Click on the first application that shows up on top

Your build details will pop up in a small window. It should look something like this:

I am using Windows 10 Version 20H2 OS Build 19042.1526, and I can confirm that this version runs Elden Ring flawlessly. I haven’t had any issues launching the game on any of my four PCs.

Make Sure you have 12 GB RAM At least

I am pretty sure, a lot of you didn’t know, that the minimum requirements for Elden Ring PC, includes 12 GB of RAM on the list. Which means, if you have less ram, then your PC most probably won’t be able to launch Elden Ring.

The Open World of Elden Ring is huge, and though the graphics of the game are nothing spectacular. The resources that are needed to support the massive world, is kind of insane.

Update your Windows OS

Which brings me to my next step. Update your OS immediately, if you are using Windows 10. Microsoft releases Windows 10 updates very frequently, and they end up breaking stuff with them, even more frequently. So, there is a huge chance that you might be sitting on a buggy version.

I can guarantee that, even if you have a low-end PC, you won’t face any crashing or launch issues if your OS and drivers are updated. I have tested the game on four systems, and one of them has a GTX 1050 TI installed. Elden Ring started and ran flawlessly on all of them. So hardware is, most probably, not the issue for most of you.

1. Go to Settings
2. Go to Update & Security
3. Click on Check for updates
4. Wait for the updates to get installed
5. Restart your PC

GPU drivers optimized for Elden Ring (Fix for crashes)

Nvidia has already released a Game Ready Driver for Elden Ring. The version is 511.79. You can download it from this link or directly via GeForce Experience. Here are the release notes:

I have already checked the official website of AMD. But I didn’t find any drivers, specifically for Elden Ring. Pretty sure, they will release one soon. And as soon as they do, I will update this article with the download link.

Set the preferred graphics processor of your PC to the Dedicated one, from your GPU Control panel

Make sure that you are using the Dedicated GPU inside your system, and not the integrated one. I don’t think I have to explain, how under powered integrated GPUs are. This issue is very common with gaming laptop users. If the wrong graphics processor is set on your GPU Control Panel, then considering how resource-heavy Elden Ring is, it will crash every time.

Check if the .exe file of Elden Ring is being quarantined by your Anti-virus software or not

Anti-Virus software hook very deep into user systems and can affect disk and network operations, which can cause games to crash, or prevent them from starting. Some games also use copy protection technology that can appear as malicious software to an AV scanner, resulting in potential false-positive alerts.

Try disabling your Anti-Virus software temporarily and then try to launch Elden Ring. It may also be necessary to add exceptions for the game in your AV configuration.

Make sure that you have DirectX 12

One of the biggest technical details about Elden Ring, that a lot of people seem to have missed, is that Elden Ring runs only on the DirectX 12 API. If you have anything other than DX 12, then you are out of luck here. In order to check the DirectX version on your system:

1. Press Windows+R keys on your keyboard
2. Type “dxdiag” inside the box and press Enter
3. The DirectX Diagnostic Tool will pop up
4. Make sure you are on the System tab, look at the bottom of the System Information list. You should see your DirectX version there
   

If it is DirectX 12 then you can move further into this guide. If it is not, then you already have your answer. You can try downloading and installing the latest DirectX version from here. And see if that works out for you.

Use the .exe file of Elden Ring to start the game

Instead of launching the game via Steam, just visit the folder where you have installed Elden Ring. And launch the game directly by double-clicking on the executable or .exe file of the game. You can also try to launch it ‘as admin’, by right-clicking on the file, and selecting ‘Run as administrator’. This will most probably fix the “won’t launch” or “won’t start” issue for most of you.

Avoid GPU overclocking to fix crashes

If by any chance you are witnessing crashes and freezes in Elden Ring, that are completely random, then chances are it is being caused by an overclocking application or utility running in the background. A lot of games have been suffering from crashes lately due to applications like MSI Afterburner or Zotac firestorm. So it is best to stay on the safe side and run your GPU and CPU on default speeds.

Install the latest Microsoft Visual Studio

If you are getting errors like “vcruntime140_1.dll missing” or “MSVCP140.dll was not found”. Then please try downloading and installing the latest version of Visual C++ redistributable, as there’s a chance it hasn’t been installed correctly.

Verify in the files Elden Ring on Steam

You can actually verify the in-game files of Elden to check whether your system is missing any files that might be causing the game to crash or freeze:

• Go to your Steam Library
• Right click on Elden Ring
  
• Select Properties
• Click on the Local Files tab
• Click on Verify Integrity of Game Files

Updates from FromSoftware

Considering how big the launch of Elden Ring on PC is, the devs at FromSoftware are constantly on their toes, addressing the issues coming their way immediately. So be patient and wait for a word from the developers. We are pretty sure that they will be releasing a patch to fix the crashing issues pretty soon.

Contact Elden Ring Support

If nothing else works for you, I would suggest that you submit a ticket to the Bandai Namco Support. Visit this link, and click on the “Submit a Request” button on top.

So, that is all on “How to fix Elden Ring Won’t Launch and Crashing at Startup on Steam” If you think this guide has helped you, then let us know in the comment section below. And for more Elden Ring guides, keep an eye on Frondtech. We will be covering every single technical issue of the game on the launch day. Good luck!

That’s all folks!

Last Updated on December 26, 2023

Shoaib

Shoaib, 30, is a simple guy who loves to play video games, and enjoys new cuisines sporadically. He has been gaming since he was 7 years old, and with an experience of 22 years, under his belt, there is not a single AAA game in this world, that he hasn’t played. Despite being a MBA Graduate he decided to follow his passion. And because of his love for gaming, Frondtech came into existence.