Ghostrunner 2 is a brand-new title, and it is bound to come with a handful of bugs and issues.
So, if you are having a hard time trying to launch the Ghostrunner on your PC, these are some potential fixes we can try out.
How to fix Ghostrunner 2 won’t Launch or Crashing at Startup
Although it is one of the most highly anticipated games of the year, Ghostrunner 2 is also bundled with a couple of problems. Some of these issues are related to the crashing during startup or the game won’t launch. We have been very active on the forums since the game was released, and we have seen many complaints about the startup and launch issues in Ghostrunner 2. For some players, their PC/Laptops might be incapable of running the game, but surprisingly, even people with high-end Gaming PCs face the same issues. So, it completely rules out the argument that it has nothing to do with the PC hardware. So, are there any fixes for this? Identifying the root cause of the issue is difficult as various reasons can trigger startup and launch issues, and the causes can vary. If the issue is from the developer team, you must sit back and wait for the upcoming patches and updates. However, some fixes might help you bypass the won’t launch and crashing issues in Ghostrunner 2. Remember that these suggested ones worked for many users and might also work for you.
How to fix this issue
The first thing you need to do, if you are playing this game on a RTX GPU, is Disable Ray Tracing. Ray Tracing in Ghostrunner 2 is bugged at the moment. A lot of users are getting this error message after the game is crashing due to Ray Tracing being enabled:
The UE4-Ghostrunner2 Game has crashed and will close
Fatal error: [Filer:Unknown] [Line: 1005]
Ray Tracing sampler descriptor heap overflow. It is not possible to recover from this error, as maximum D3D12 sampler heap size is 2048.
Almost every time you will get this error message if Ray Tracing is the reason behind the crash. If you are not being able to disable Ray Tracing because of the game constantly crashing, go to this location:
- C:\Users\ [Your Username Folder]\AppData\Local\Ghostrunner2\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor.
Open the file called “GameUserSettings”. Inside the file, you will find a line that says “RaytracingEnabled=1”. Change it to “RaytracingEnabled=0”. Save the file. Now, right-click on the GameUserSettings file, and tick “Read-only”. Hit Apply after that.
This should disable RT permanently, which will allow you to launch the game without crashing.
Run the Ghostrunner executable file (.exe) file as an Admin. To find it, head to the game’s installed location, click Ghostrunner2.exe, and select Properties. Select the Compatibility tab and then check the box beside “Run this program as an administrator”. Click OK and then relaunch the game by double-clicking on the exe file instead of running it from Steam.
You also have to ensure your Antivirus is not blocking the game. Trust us, this has happened alot of times with the majority of the games that we tested out. Ghostrunner 2 gets quarantined automatically by the pre-installed antivirus, thus preventing the game from launching. This isn’t a problem with your security software. It is a problem with the game itself.
The developers have already noticed this and are working to resolve it with their upcoming updates. Meanwhile, you can disable the Real Time Scanning and Real-Time Protection Features if you do not want to disable the security software completely. You can add the Ghostrunner.exe file to your exceptions list so it doesn’t quarantine itself.
You can also try downloading the latest version of the Visual C++ Redistributable because it might happen that it has not been installed properly. If none of them works, you must completely reinstall the game. If you have the demo version of the game installed, you can try uninstalling and reinstalling the game.
If the problem you are facing is serious, go and submit a ticket to 505 Games support. And don’t forget to check out the Steam discussions page of Ghostrunner.
If you think this guide has helped you, let us know in the comment section below. Also, if you are facing other game problems, try checking out our other guides on Ghostrunner 2. Who knows, you might end up finding a fix.
That’s all, folks!
Last Updated on October 26, 2023
Akash Roy, 31, Senior Editor at Frondtech and an avid gamer by choice dabbles in all things tech. Whether be it spending hours in single-player narrative-based games or going through the latest innovation in technology and chip manufacturing he prefers to stay on top of things. At the other times, you’ll find him tucked away drumming and headbanging to Rock and Roll Classics.