This guide contains some simple and basic fixes or solutions for PC users who are having trouble trying to start Outriders on PC due to the game constantly crashing.
Outriders is constantly crashing for some PC users and for some Steam users it won’t even start
Why does Outriders hang or won’t start?
I think if I just said that “Outriders is an always-online AAA game in 2021,” that would pretty much explain the whole situation. I mean, problems like these have become quite common in AAA games today. The condition is even worse in online AAA games. Ask players about recent Call of Duty titles.
There is no doubt that Outriders is a phenomenal title and I can easily see that this game is one of the best games of 2021. But that does not mean that it is perfect. The technical part of Outriders still needs a lot of polishing. The game has its fair share of performance-related issues. I will talk about them in a different article. Right now, I’m talking about the crashes and launch issues that people are experiencing.
Now, it’s no secret that Outriders is a demanding title. To play the game at 60fps smoothly at 1080p resolution, you must have:
- AMD Ryzen 5 1600
- Memory:16GB RAM
- Graphics:Nvidia Geforce GTX 1060 6GB
But then what about people who have powerful gaming rigs? You know folks with RTX 3080 and 3090. Why does it crash or not start for them? Well, you see the problem is that it is difficult to say specifically what is causing this problem. Startup problems can be triggered by a number of things. And the situation is different for different users. And if the problem is on the developers’ side, forget about fixing it yourself.
Now the main question is, is there a solution for this problem?
How to fix crashes and launch issues in Outriders
Before going any further in this guide, I would like you to make sure you are using Windows 10. If not, there is no point in reading this guide further. Outriders runs only on Windows 10 and also only on the 64-bit version. The Outriders Steam page has mentioned this specifically. There has been a lot of discussion about this on the Outriders Steam Discussion page. And I can confirm that the developers are not adding Windows 7 Support for Outriders at any time.
You don’t necessarily need a DirectX 12 GPU, but that helps a lot. If you are someone who uses Windows 7, 8.1, or a 32-bit operating system, then you are out of luck here. Also restart your PC before following the steps below.
Now, I don’t know what the hardware specs of your system are. Therefore, it is impossible for me to know what is causing the accidents specifically for you. But judging from my experience with these issues, most of the time these hang issues and “won’t start” issues are caused by antivirus software, outdated drivers, or Visual Studio not present on the system. And that is exactly what I will recommend here.
Download and install the latest drivers specifically optimized for Outriders
Nvidia has already released a Game Ready driver for Outriders. The version is 465.89 and it was released on 03/30/2021. This new Game Ready driver provides support for the Outriders release, which features NVIDIA DLSS technology. You can download it from here or through GeForce Experience.
AMD has also released an adrenaline driver for Outriders. It’s called Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition 21.3.2. You can download it from here.
Your PC may be missing the necessary C ++ redistributable files
Make sure you are using the latest version of the Visual C ++ Redistributable , as there is a possibility that it was not installed correctly. Just go to this link and download the latest one. The 64-bit version is the version that you should install. So click on the one that says ” x64: vc_redist.x64 “. Restart your PC after the installation is complete.
Your antivirus software may be blocking the game
In some cases, the Outriders .exe file can be silently quarantined by some antivirus software, preventing the game from starting. In that case, you may need to disable the real-time scan function or the real-time protection function of your antivirus to play the game. If you do not want to completely disable the software, you will need to add the Outriders .exe to the Exceptions list of your AV Software.
Instead of Steam, try running the game directly through the Outriders executable
Try to run the executable file or the Outriders .exe file as an administrator . Just go to the folder where you have installed Outriders. Right click on Outriders.exe and select Properties. Now click on Compatibility and check the box next to “ Run this program as administrator .” Launch the game directly by double-clicking on the exe file , instead of launching the Steam or Epic Games Launcher.
Check the integrity of game files via Steam or EGL
If you are a Steam user, go to your Steam library, right-click Outriders from the list, and click Properties. Click on the Local Files tab and select “Verify integrity of game files …”.
Epic users can follow the steps below:
- Epic open games
- Go to your library
- Take the mouse pointer in Outriders
- Click the Settings icon ( …) next to the launch icon
- Click Verify
- Restart the launcher after the process is complete
Give them a try for now and let me know in the comment section below whether or not your issues were fixed.
