Guide to Graphic Issues

Many issues with GPU/video/graphic cards and drivers can cause multiple issues with the launching and playing of Star Citizen. This guide walks through the most common issues and how to solve them.

Crashes including black screen, hear music see nothing, flickering screen, etc can be solved by one or more of these!

• GPU crashes and errors
• Black screen crashes, sometimes with music playing
• Screen flickers
• Large resolution crashes
• Graphic card blocked
• Disable Fullscreen Optimization
• Disable Nvidia G-Sync and 3D

This guide includes the following:

• GPU crashes and reading logs
• GPU status: Timeout - long running shader or operation
• Update and verify graphic drivers in Windows
• Disable Windows Game Bar
• Check for larger resolutions, x1440, Nvidia and AMD
• "DXGI device blocked" or "your graphics card has blocked StarCitizen.exe"
• Nvidia 3D Vision and G-sync
• Disable Fullscreen Optimization on game .exe files

GPU crashes and reading logs

If you have a crash handler display, you can open the following files to get an idea of what is happening:

• game.log - Collects info on what happens when you load the game and stops saving when the game crashes.
• gpu_error.log - If the video/graphic card crashes, the specific action is logged here.
• log.log - Collects info on actions and crashes through the Launcher.

Open the files:

1. Press the Windows key + R to bring up a Run dialog.
2. Type the following and click OK: %localappdata%\Star Citizen
3. Open game.log and search for: GPU crash. If you find lines, you can look them over for some info.
4. If a GPU crash is caught, you should also see a gpu_error.log.
5. Press the Windows key + R to bring up a Run dialog.
6. Type the following and click OK: %appdata%\rsilauncher
7. Open log.log and scroll to the end for the latest.

If your GPU crash log doesn't have enough information, you can do the following:

1. Close Star Citizen and the RSI Launcher entirely.
2. If you already have a user.cfg file, add the following line and save the file: r_gpuMarkers = 3
3. If you do not already have a user.cfg file, create a new text file in your (install drive)\Roberts Space Industries\StarCitizen\LIVE directory.
4. Add the following line to the file: r_gpuMarkers = 3
5. Save the File as user.cfg.
6. Run the RSI Launcher and Verify Files.
7. Play as normal.

If you have crashes, the gpu_error.log should have more information.

 

GPU status: Timeout - long running shader or operation

Symptoms:

• Game runs, black window and flickering - ends with crash
• Game runs, black window, music continues playing - ends with crash
• Game tries to open, minimizes, flickering - ends with crash
• Additional errors display including 15006 and 30007 issues. Those connectivity issues may occur due to timeouts from your video/graphics card.

You may typically see the following errors in the logs.

game.log error:

---------------- GPU CRASH
GPU crash message: [...\DeviceManager\DeviceManager.cpp:1146 CDeviceManager::Create2DTexture] 
(0x887A0005) DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED The GPU device instance has been suspended. Check 
gpu_error.log for more details, raise value of r_gpuMarkers and / or run with 
r_enable_full_gpu_sync = 2 to get to the source of the problem. Passed Arguments: 
Width: 16 Height: 32 Mips: 3 Format: 78 ArraySize: 1 BindFlags: 8 CPUFlags: 0 Usage: 0 
MSAA: 1 MSAAQuality: 0 MiscFlags: 0

Run from internal: No
Is fatal error: No
Is GPU crash: Yes

gpu_crash.log errors:

GPU status: Timeout - long running shader or operation
Pipeline section: ATMOSPHERE_UPDATE_LUT

GPU status: Timeout - long running shader or operation
Pipeline section: CREATE_DEFERRED_BUFFERS

GPU status: Timeout - long running shader or operation
Pipeline section: SCENE\TRANSPARENT_PASSES\MOTIONBLUR_AND_DEPTHOFFIELD_PO\MB\VELOCITY BUFFER\PACK VELOCITY

To resolve, try the following:

• Update and verify graphic drivers in Windows
• Check for larger resolutions, x1440, Nvidia and AMD
• Nvidia 3D Vision and G-sync
• Disable Fullscreen Optimization on game .exe files

 

Update and verify graphic drivers in Windows

Symptoms:

• Game runs, black window and flickering - ends with crash
• Game runs, black window, music continues playing - ends with crash
• Game tries to open, minimizes, flickering - ends with crash
• Additional errors display including 15006 and 30007 issues. Those connectivity issues may occur due to timeouts from your video/graphics card.

These steps should work for all Windows versions.

Running the automated driver check and update for your graphic drivers may not always work. After running the Nvidia and AMD driver updates, you may want to check your drivers through your Windows Device Manager.

1. Right click on your Windows icon, click Search.
2. Search for and open Device Manager.
3. Expand the Display adapters, right-click your graphics card, and check the Driver details.
   You want to verify this driver version and date are correct with the latest driver install.
   
4. You can further check your Monitors and Sound, video and game controllers to verify the driver versions recognized by Windows.

 

Best practices for driver installs

You can download and install the latest driver to see if it solves your graphic issues:  Nvidia and AMD. Sometimes you need to roll-back a driver. If you install an older driver, don't use one more than a month or two old. Upgrades are provided not only for performance, but to support Windows updates, firmware updates for other hardware, network, and more. To load the list for all available drivers, check these links:

• Nvidia Beta/Legacy driver search 
• AMD driver search

Fully uninstall your current driver or older drivers

1. Right-click on your Windows button.
2. Select Search and enter Uninstall Program.
3. Select the option for removing programs: Windows 10.
4. Select and uninstall the older drivers for your Nvidia or AMD card.
   • Nvidia uninstall provides an option to uninstall all Nvidia software components. 
   • AMD Catalyst Install Manager provides an option to Express uninstall ALL AMD Software, which includes Catalyst. Or you can choose Uninstall Manager to selectively uninstall.

Download and install drivers

1. For the latest driver, visit Nvidia and AMD. Follow the prompts to search for and download the driver. For an older Nvidia driver, see Nvidia Beta/Legacy driver search. 
2. Install your driver.
   • For Nvidia, install using the custom option. Select Peform a clean install option to fully clear old files. 
     
   • For AMD drivers, if using the Custom Install option and the installation detects older AMD driver software, it will also provide you with an option for a clean install:

After installing, set the following configurations:

• Nvidia resolutions and scaling
• AMD resolutions and scaling
• Nvidia 3D Vision and G-sync
• Download Intel Graphics Drivers

You can also use Windows System Information to check your graphic card version, driver, and more. 

1. Right-click on your Windows button.
2. Select Search and enter System Information.
3. Expand Components and select Display. You can review information on your card and driver.
   

 

Disable Windows Game Bar

The Windows Game Bar is causing a growing number of crashes to black screen for players. For more information on disabling the Game Bar, see this article.

1. Right-click the Windows button.
2. Click Search, and search for Game Bar. You will find it in Settings > Game > Game bar. 
3. Disable by clicking the switch under "Record game clips. Screenshots, and broadcast using Game bar."

 

Check for larger resolutions and scaling, x1440, Windows, Nvidia, and AMD

Symptoms:

• Game runs, black window - ends with crash
• Game tries to open, minimizes, flickering - ends with crash
• Game runs, black window, music continues playing - ends with crash
• Additional errors display including 15006 and 30007 issues. Those connectivity issues may occur due to timeouts from your video/graphics card.

Affects resolutions using 1440 including 3440x1440 and 2560x1440 on your monitor or the main/first monitor in multiple monitor setup.

Larger resolutions may not fully load, hit a timeout for shaders, or crash the game on load. You have resolutions in Windows, your graphic card control panel, and in game.

 

Nvidia resolutions and scaling

For more information, see this Nvidia guide.

1. Open the Nvidia Control Panel.
2. Under Display, click Change Resolution.
3. Check the resolution and refresh you have set here. For example:
   
4. Under Display, click Adjust desktop size and position.
5. On the Scaling tab, turn off Override the scaling mode set by games and programs.
   

 

AMD resolutions and scaling 

For additional information, see this AMD guide.

1. Open the AMD Radeon Settings.
2. Click Display.
3. Check and click GPU Scaling to Off. If you have multiple monitors, check for each.
4. Check and set Scaling Mode to Preserve aspect ratio.  If you have multiple monitors, check for each.
   

 

"DXGI device blocked" or "your graphics card has blocked StarCitizen.exe"

Symptom:

• You get an error of your graphics card has blocked
• Game won't run, just errors out

You may receive a message that the graphics card has been blocked. Some players may solve this issue by adding a Profile for StarCitizen.exe to the NVIDIA Control Panel:

1. Open the NVIDIA Control Panel. You can right-click your desktop to open, or use a File Manager and navigate to C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\Control Panel Client\, then run nvcplui.exe.
2. Click Manage 3D Settings.
   
   
3. Click the Program Settings tab to add a profile for Star Citizen.
4. Click the Add next to the drop-down list.
   
5. Click Browse.
6. Navigate to (install drive)Program Files\Roberts Space Industries\StarCitizen\Live\Bin64.
7. Select StarCitizen.exe and click Open. This adds a profile for Star Citizen.
   
   You can select any features you want to modify for Star Citizen from 2. Specify the settings for this program. Optional, click the Setting field and make selections. If you make changes, click Apply.
8. If you have made changes to your default settings, the Restore is active. Click Restore and Apply if needed to reset all feature settings to the defaults. 

 

Nvidia 3D Vision and G-sync

Symptoms:

• Game runs, black window and flickering - ends with crash
• Game runs, black window, music continues playing - ends with crash
• Game tries to open, minimizes, flickering - ends with crash
• Additional errors display including 15006 and 30007 issues. Those connectivity issues may occur due to timeouts from your video/graphics card.