Game freezes on startup with an error "Graphic device has crashed".

Hello!

Thank you for contacting us. Since this is a bug report, I'm moving your ticket to our support page, where our QA team will take care of you.

Kind Regards

Keen Software House

Hello, an additional info: the problem doesn't occur when I use dx9/32bit branch.

Hello, Filip!

Thank you for sharing the update and we sincerely apologize for the issue you have experienced.

Does switching to DX9/32-bit have permanently resolved the issue?

Well, concerning the issue/expectation error mentioned in the original post, could you share some information about it?

With the latest DX version, did the game crash as you launch it or when you load a modded (active MODs) world? If you can launch the game and if the game is crashing when loading a modded world, please try to launch a new vanilla (with no active MODs) world and see if the issue persists.

Although the error SharpDX.SharpDXException: HRESULT: [0x887A0005] is a hardware-related issue which usually caused (and as you have already mentioned) when the GPU is overheated/overclocked or PCI Port malfunctions. To resolve this you could try the following steps ;

• Check GPU/system temps/voltages with something like HWMonitor
• If temperature issues, check GPU and system fans are clean and running
• Switch GPU driver settings to high-performance (i.e. not quality/high quality)
• Update to the latest GPU drivers (or try clean installation)
• Update your OS
• If the GPU/system is over-clocked, revert to stock clock speeds
• Remove, clean, and re-seat the GPU and connections as they can be simply displaced or loose with time, or try putting the GPU in another slot.

If the issue still occurs, try the following workarounds as well ;

Verify your game files on Steam

• Right-click on Space Engineers in Steam Library → Properties → Installed Files → Verify Integrity of Game Files

Delete SpaceEngineers.cfg file

• It means your game configuration will be deleted
• You can access your SpaceEngineers.cfg by typing %appdata% into your Windows search bar and you will be redirected to the hidden Roaming folder. After that just follow: \Roaming\SpaceEngineers.

Delete ShaderCache folder

• Same access as SpaceEngineers.cfg

Also, try disabling all other displays except one or try to change the multi-monitor setup. When using ‘Extend displays’ the game does not recognize it when you move one of the displays into certain locations

If you can launch the game, try changing the Windows Mode, from the Main Menu > Options > Display > change window mode > click OK and load new world.

If you can't launch the game change the window mode by following the below steps ;

- open file “%APPDATA%\SpaceEngineers\SpaceEngineers.cfg” with Notepad and find this section (WindowMode in Key):

<item>

<Key xsi:>WindowMode</Key>

<Value xsi:>2</Value>

</item>

And replace 2 with 0, like this:

<item>

<Key xsi:>WindowMode</Key>

<Value xsi:>0</Value>

</item>

Save and exit Notepad and launch the game via Steam. If the issue still occurs, kindly send us the complete crash log file.

Kind Regards,

Keen Software House: QA Department

Hello again,

I'm answering to some of the questions:

- Does switching to DX9/32-bit have permanently resolved the issue?

-- As far as I use this build, I'm good. Although this is the build for 32 bit and DX9, I noticed that in SpaceEngineers.cfg there is a value:

<item>

<Key xsi:type="xsd:string">GraphicsRenderer</Key>

<Value xsi:type="xsd:string">DirectX 11</Value>

</item>

Does this mean the game uses DX11 even with this build? The cfg file was created in DX9 branch, it could not be created in standard branch as in it, the game never launched that far for the file to be created, as I remember, the file is not present in clean installation before the first launch.

- With the latest DX version, did the game crash as you launch it or when you load a modded (active MODs) world...

-- The crash occured on Vanilla version on the very first start after installation, before the main menu was loaded (I only had a white screen and cursor).

- Although the error SharpDX.SharpDXException: HRESULT: [0x887A0005] is a hardware-related issue...

-- I'll run some diagnostics and cleaning later, I'll let you know.

-- But I have the GPU drivers up to date, OS up tu date and I never overclocked it.

-- And I have never had these issues with any other games, and I do play some other GPU-hungry games too.

- Verify your game files on Steam

-- Done

- Delete SpaceEngineers.cfg file

- Delete ShaderCache folder

-- The error happened before the game properly started for the first time, no cfg file was created and the ShaderCache was empty.

- try disabling all other displays except one...

-- Did that, didn't work.

- If you can launch the game, try changing the Windows Mode...

-- I could not.

Thank you very much for your help, I'll continue with future examination in the evening.

Until then, with regards,

FG

Hello,

thank you for the effort in resolving the issue, I'm sending some more information: a log from the crash and hwmonitor log.

In short terms, the game crashed before any significant load came on the GPU, its temperature at the moment was 64 degrees.

Regards,

FG

Hello, Filip!

Thank you for providing additional information.

A GPU temperature of 64 degrees is within the acceptable range, so overheating doesn't seem to be the issue.

However, the SharpDX.SharpDXException (HRESULT: [0x887A0005]) still appears in the latest log, and it appears that you are still playing on multiple screens.

Please try the following workarounds again to see if the issue can be resolved:

- Unplug any additional screens and try playing on your main/single screen.

- Open your PC's Device Manager > Display Adapters > Nvidia GPU > right-click > update driver > click on "Search automatically for drivers" to check for driver updates.

- Once done, reset Space Engineers to its default version on Steam (i.e., undo from Dx 9 - 32-bit version).

- After the game is updated to the default version, launch the game and set your graphics quality to Low. To do this, go to the Main Menu > Options > Graphics > Quality Preset > Low > click OK.

Please check if the issue still persists. If it does, you may want to consider a clean installation of the game. Before you proceed with the clean installation, please make sure to back up your Save and Blueprint folders from the following directories:

1. Save folder: \AppData\Roaming\SpaceEngineers\Saves
2. Blueprint folder: \AppData\Roaming\SpaceEngineers\Blueprints

Move or copy these folders to a different folder or drive to prevent any loss of your game progress and blueprints after the reinstallation.

Please follow these steps to perform a clean installation:

1. Uninstall Space Engineers through Steam.
2. Delete any remaining files from the following directories:

• \AppData\Roaming\SpaceEngineers
• \Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SpaceEngineers

Reinstall Space Engineers through Steam and launch the game from there.

If the game launches without any issues, you can then move your previously backed-up Saves and Blueprint folders back to the \AppData\Roaming\SpaceEngineers directory.

If the issue persists, first try to lower your graphic quality preset and if the issue still occurs, please send us the latest log file from when the crash occurred.

Kind Regards,

Keen Software House: QA Department

Thank you very much, it turned out that "the most recent and up to date Nvidia drivers" installed via automatic updates were in fact from 2021. Installed new drivers manually, now everything works.

Thank you very much for all your effort,

FG

Hello, Filip!

Thanks for the update.

We are glad to hear that you are no longer experiencing the issue.

As there is no further assistance needed from our side, we are closing this thread.

Please do not hesitate to contact us again if you happen to experience or observe any other issues.

Happy Engineering!

Kind Regards,

Keen Software House: QA Department