Dark Souls 3 Crashing: How to Fix It Fast

Dark Souls 3 keeps crashing on startup or in the mid-game? We've got your PC's back🎯

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A lot of players complained about encountering Dark Souls 3 Crashing issues. However, such problems are hard to tolerate when it comes to Souls games. After all, they are the hardest games out there, and it is very frustrating to almost beat a boss or to finish a hard quest line just to start it all over again. But do not worry; we have a list of solutions and fixes for the Dark Souls 3 Crash problems.

You might encounter DS3 crashing on startup, when loading save, or randomly which is the most annoying thing which can happen, even more annoying than the twins fight.

Why is Dark Souls crashing?

Dark Souls is crashing because you have either corrupted game files, outdated drivers, way too high graphic settings, or background processes that are causing software conflicts. Although there might also be other problems that could potentially lead to DS3 crash issues.

You should also check that you meet the system requirements below to run the game properly. After that, if you encounter issues with the game, follow our solutions below.

How to fix Dark Soul 3 crashing?

  1. Repair the game files
  2. Remove background processes
  3. Update GPU drivers
  4. Change graphics settings

1. Repair the game files

Corrupted, faulty, or missing game files will only cause trouble for your gameplay, and they might also lead to other functionality-related errors and problems. Using a repair tool is the quickest and easiest way to verify game files.

  1. Go to Library and right-click on the game in Steam.
  2. Select Properties and go to Local files.
    click on game properties
  3. Click on Verify the integrity of game files.
    Verify Integrity of Game File
  4. Wait to find potentially corrupted files and repair them.

2. Remove background processes

By closing unnecessary background processes, your system will be able to allocate more resources to DS3, thus making it more stable. Also, by removing some processes, you will decrease the chances of having to deal with random game crashes created by different types of conflicts between services, files, and processes.

  1. Open Task Manager and go to the Processes tab.
  2. Right-click on interfering apps and press End process.
    click on Processes end task
  3. Repeat the action for any risky programs in the list.
  4. Close the window and retry the game.

3. Update GPU drivers

Updated GPU drivers will make the game more stable, thus allowing you to play at full resolution and with the best graphics Settings that your PC can handle. After all, corrupted, outdated, and faulty GPU drivers can only lead to DS3 crashes randomly.

  1. Open Device Manager on your desktop.
  2. Expand Display adapters and select the driver.
  3. Select Update driver from the menu.
    Update GPU driver
  4. Go for Search automatically for drivers.
    Search automatically for drivers

We also suggest you use PC HelpSoft to update the graphics card driver. Windows Device Manager often fails to get the latest driver. But third-party tools like PC HelpSoft can easily update any drivers on your PC and solve game crashing problems.

⇒ Get PC HelpSoft

4. Change graphics settings

A useful way to get rid of different crashes while in-game is to modify your graphics settings from the menu and reduce system resources that may result in issues like crashing.

  1. Launch the game.
  2. Go to the Game Options and select Graphics settings.
  3. Change all the Graphic Settings to Low or Medium if they were on High.
  4. Also, change the resolution which may affect the game’s stability.
  5. Try to enable VSync as it will balance the refresh rate of your monitor with the fps.

Some workaround that may help you fix the crashes:

➡ Dark Souls 3 Bonfire Crash: this is one of the most encountered crash in the game. It happens when you try to defeat the giant boss from the tutorial. To fix it, set the Lighting from the Game Settings to Low.

➡ Dark Souls 3 Crashes at Higher Resolution: it seems that the game crashes on higher resolution, like 1440p – 4K. To fix this issue just go back to 1080p resolution. This resolution of 1440p requires a lot of system performance, it requires almost 50% more.

Close third-party overlays: Sometimes Dark Souls 3 crashing randomly problem is triggered by the overlays provided by other apps, and the security system might consider them cheating applications. To fix it, disable third-party overlays from applications like Discord, Nvidia, YouTube, Twitch, Steam, and Xbox.

Related Articles:

  1. How to Fix Dark Souls 3 FPS Issues: FPS Drop & Low FPS
  2. Dark Souls Prepare to Die Crashing: Why & How to Fix It
  3. Elden Ring Keeps Crashing: How To Fix It
  4. How To Fix Games Crashing On Startup: Ultimate Gamer’s Guide
  5. How To Increase FPS In Games: 7 Easy Tips To Boost It

We hope that our guide helped you fix your Dark Souls 3 crashing and that now you are playing and enjoying the game. If you encounter any other issue or if you don’t know how to apply a solution or a workaround from above, please comment below and we will help you fix your game.

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29 Comments
  1. Lukasta says

    thanks, “Hide DS4 Controller”. Launch the game. Controller will work for me.

    1. karl says

      for me the camera still spins and i don’t have that program anymore.

      1. Faisal Boker says

        plug the controller AFTER running darksouls and getting the menu
        so first open the DualShock4 windows (or on “hide DS4 controller, then launch Dark souls 3 then plug the controller after getting the title menu

  2. Raul says

    Dark Souls 3 60 second Crash, What minimal and maximun size I must type if I have 8 Gb of RAM?

    1. Denis says

      Change from recommended to maximum of 8 GB.

      1. Nico says

        and what about the initial size?

  3. sgm says

    thanks worked

  4. Rich says

    Thanks, same as Lukasta ” Hide DS4 Controller” in the DS4Windows application worked for me as well. Only thing is you have to make sure to exit all applications that could be using it (steam, uplay, etc.) It usually shows you that error when you press it and have something open, so just make sure to redo it after you close all the programs

  5. Håvardinho says

    Can you guys make a article how to fix this problem? https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls3/comments/4fjk9m/fix_reward_of_30_gamebreaking_bug_not_crash_or/ Video of the problem, pc specs and explaination in the thread

    1. Denis says

      Sure Havardinho, we’ll take a look at this issue.

      1. Håvardinho says

        Thanks, im dying to play dk 3. If you want to ask me some more questions add my steam http://steamcommunity.com/id/Haavardinho/ or message my email [email protected]

      2. Håvardinho says

        Any luck finding a fix to the problem?

  6. Zortrax says

    The hide ds4 controller worked for me.

  7. SheolFear says

    i got a problem on low fps, what if I am win10, how can i fix it?

    1. Denis says

      Yes, the workarounds should work on Windows 10 too.

  8. Joshua.. says

    For #6, how do i know the min and max of my custom size?

    1. Denis says

      The max is your total RAM memory for example if you have 4GB Ram the max is 4000 MB and the min should be written there, it is about 16 MB.

  9. Vilperi says

    Hey! Here is my problem: Im sure you know the first boss in the game, that knight guy who will turn to some fucked up creature in the middle of the fight right? Yes after finaly defeating him I light the bonfire and moved on to the doors there. And everytime when I try to open those doors, my game crashes. And I have tried everything form light settings to knight character:S Do you have any idea what is wrong there?

    1. Denis says

      If you can get through the first door run straight to the next area. Don’t fight anything and don’t pick up any items. Take the upper path where there are no enemies. Some players were able to continue on with the game this way.

      1. Vilperi says

        What about if I cant get through the first door? /: And it also keep crashing if im trying to go backwards. Should I just wait for pathching or?

  10. John Tainton says

    Every time I load up DS3 it says unable to connect to server is there anything I can do to sort this out

    1. john taintoff says

      make sure your router isn’t blocking p2p. That’s what was doing it for me.

  11. CJSA says

    I figured out a fix for the low FPS issue, Nvidia Experience won’t be updating anytime soon. So i went to their site and downloaded the driver that matches my GPU, after downloading, just install and DS3 should run on 60FPS. well, depends on your Graphics Card.

  12. Dominik says

    I have the FPS-issue and the game is crashing in fullscreen (its crashing in the area after the shrine), but my PC should be strong enough to handle DS3 on higher settings (AMD Radeon R9 380; 8GB RAM ; Win 10).

  13. Kenny says

    DS3 is white-screen crashing for me with no error message. i was running the game on a worse gpu then when i switched cards it stopped working

  14. Jam says

    I switched it to window mode to see if that would increase the fps, and it did increase a fair amount. but when i try to switch it back to full-screen it crashed. I closed it and reopened it but all i get is a white screen. What do?

  15. ANTO says

    hey , I m facing a problem directly after I start the game finalizing the character just about to start the game the icon ( shield and other item , still no character show then suddenly the game ( u die ) and the restart to meu.
    I try all the display and system changes and still the same
    I m working on hp i7 5500g invidia gtx 980 16gb ram
    if somone could help
    Thank you in advance.

  16. Jeffrey sarver says

    hi so I’m having a problem my ds3 is locked in at lowerst resolution. unused to play with low settings at a decent resolution. now i can’t change my resolution at all anyone know how to fix this.

  17. BARRY BUTTERWORTH says

    y wont up down l eft right keys work on dark souls 3

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