God of War Ragnarök Crashing, Won’t Launch, or Not Responding on PC: Released in 2022, God of War Ragnarök is an action-adventure game crafted by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Recently, it has become available for PC gamers. However, as with many new titles, some players have reported experiencing various issues, including game crashes, launch failures, and unresponsiveness.
If you find yourself facing a startup crash or difficulties launching the game on your PC, rest assured that you are not alone. Such challenges are increasingly prevalent in the realm of PC gaming, regardless of whether the title is a blockbuster franchise or an independent release.
These particular issues are often linked to bugs within the game or overall stability concerns. Given that the game is still fresh on the market, it may take some time for the developers to implement fixes that enhance stability and reduce bugs.
What are the Reasons for God of War Ragnarök Crashing?
When encountering issues with launching the Risk of Rain game on your PC, it’s crucial to consider a variety of potential causes. These may range from temporary system glitches and compatibility problems with your hardware to outdated game updates, corrupted game files, or an obsolete graphics driver.
Additional factors such as conflicts arising from older system versions, issues with the Steam overlay, and missing or outdated DirectX and Visual C++ Redistributables can also contribute to launch failures. Moreover, unnecessary third-party applications running in the background may further complicate matters.
The good news is that there are effective solutions available to address these issues. We encourage you to systematically apply the troubleshooting steps outlined below until the problem is resolved. Let’s get started and explore these solutions.
1. Restart the PC
It is advisable to perform a manual reboot of your computer prior to exploring alternative solutions. This action can help clear any transient glitches or cache-related problems that may be interfering with game launches.
A simple restart can frequently address the issue at hand. Should this approach prove ineffective, please proceed to the following troubleshooting methods.
2. Check the System Requirements
To guarantee a smooth gaming experience with God of War Ragnarök, it’s essential to verify that your hardware and software align with the game’s minimum system requirements.
Failure to meet these specifications may lead to difficulties when attempting to launch the game. Below, you will find the minimum system requirements for God of War Ragnarök, which you can assess to confirm your system’s compatibility.
Minimum System Requirements:
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- Processor: Intel i5-4670k or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1060 (6GB) or AMD RX 5500 XT (8GB) or Intel Arc A750
- DirectX: Version 12
- Storage: 190 GB available space
Recommended System Requirements:
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- Processor: Intel i5-8600 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super or AMD RX 5700 or Intel Arc A770
- DirectX: Version 12
- Storage: 190 GB available space
3. Run God of War Ragnarök as an Administrator
To resolve potential launching issues with the God of War Ragnarök application on your PC, it’s important to run it with administrative privileges. Follow these steps to check if this resolves the problem. Running the game without administrative access may lead to various operational difficulties.
- 1. Navigate to the folder where the game is installed on your computer.
- 2. Locate the God of War Ragnarök.exe file and right-click on it.
- 3. Select ‘Properties‘ from the context menu.
- 4. In the Properties window, go to the ‘Compatibility‘ tab.
- 5. Check the box that says ‘Run this program as an administrator.’
- 6. After making this change, click ‘Apply‘ and then ‘OK‘ to confirm and save your settings.
This should help improve the game’s performance and accessibility.
4. Update God of War Ragnarök
To ensure a smooth gaming experience, it’s advisable to regularly check for updates and configure the Steam client to prevent issues associated with outdated game patches.
Staying up to date with game updates is crucial for minimizing bugs and enhancing performance. Here’s how to make sure that God of War Ragnarök is fully updated on both Steam and the Epic Games Launcher:
**For Steam:
- 1. Launch the Steam client and navigate to your Library.
- 2. Locate God of War Ragnarök and right-click on it.
- 3. Select “Manage” and then click on “Properties.”
- 4. Move to the “Updates” tab.
- 5. Enable “Automatic Updates” to allow the game to update automatically whenever a new version is released.
**For Epic Games Launcher:
- 1. Open the Epic Games Launcher and go to your Library.
- 2. Click on the three dots next to God of War Ragnarök.
- 3. Activate the “Auto Update” feature to ensure the game receives updates as soon as new patches are available.
By following these steps, you can help maintain the best performance of your game.
5. Verify and Repair the Game Files
Game files on your system can occasionally become corrupted or lost due to unforeseen circumstances. Such issues may lead to difficulties when trying to launch the game. To resolve this, it is advisable to check and repair your game files by following the steps outlined below.
**For Steam Users:
- 1. Open Steam and go to your Library.
- 2. Locate God of War Ragnarök in your game list and right-click on it.
- 3. Select ‘Properties‘ and then click on the ‘Local Files‘ tab.
- 4. Choose ‘Verify Integrity of Game Files‘ from the options.
- 5. Allow the process to finish, and once it’s done, restart your computer to implement the changes.
**For Epic Games Launcher Users:
- 1. Launch the Epic Games Launcher and head to the Library section.
- 2. Find God of War Ragnarök and click on the three dots next to the title.
- 3. From the menu, select ‘Verify.’
- 4. Wait until the verification process is complete, and then restart your PC.
6. Turn Off the Steam Overlay
To prevent potential conflicts when launching God of War Ragnarök, you might want to consider disabling the Steam in-game overlay feature through the Steam client. Occasionally, in-game overlays can cause crashes during program startup on your PC. Here’s how to disable it:
- 1. Launch the Steam client and navigate to your Library.
- 2. Locate God of War Ragnarök and right-click on it.
- 3. Select Properties from the context menu.
- 4. In the GENERAL tab, uncheck the option that says “Enable Steam Overlay while in-game.”
After you’ve completed these steps, try launching the game again to see if the issue persists.
7. Check for Graphics Driver Updates
An outdated or faulty graphics card driver can lead to various issues, including game crashes or failures to launch. To resolve this, it is advisable to check for updates to your graphics driver by following these steps:
- 1. Press the Win+X keys together and select Device Manager from the menu.
- 2. Locate and double-click on Display adapters.
- 3. Right-click on your current dedicated graphics card.
- 4. Choose Update driver, then select Search automatically for drivers.
- 5. If a newer version is available, it will be downloaded and installed automatically.
- 6. After the installation is complete, restart your computer to apply the changes.
Alternatively, you can also manually download the latest driver from the official website of your graphics card’s manufacturer. Make sure to select the correct driver corresponding to your specific graphics card model.
8. Close Background Apps
Background processes and applications that are not essential can significantly consume system resources such as CPU and memory, leading to decreased performance. This can result in issues like startup crashes, slow response times, and failure to load applications. To mitigate these problems, it’s advisable to terminate any unnecessary third-party background processes. Here’s how you can do that:
- 1. Open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc on your keyboard.
- 2. Navigate to the Processes tab and identify any non-essential tasks that are using a lot of CPU or memory.
- 3. Select the unwanted process and click on “End Task” to terminate it.
- 4. Repeat this step for any other unnecessary third-party processes you find.
- 5. After you have closed these tasks, restart your computer to implement the changes.
By following these steps, you can help improve your system’s performance and resolve the issues you may be experiencing.
9. Disable Fullscreen Optimizations
To prevent any conflicts related to fullscreen display, it’s advisable to manually turn off fullscreen optimizations on your Windows system by following these steps:
- 1. Right-click on the God of War Ragnarök application on your computer.
- 2. Choose the Properties option, then navigate to the Compatibility tab.
- 3. Locate and check the box for Disable fullscreen optimizations.
- 4. After making this selection, click Apply and then OK to ensure your changes are saved.
10. Update Windows
Outdated system software can lead to performance issues, particularly in resource-intensive applications like multiplayer games. To ensure your device runs smoothly, it’s essential to keep your system software up to date. Here’s how you can easily do this:
- 1. Open Windows Settings by pressing the Win+I keys simultaneously.
- 2. Navigate to Update & Security, then select Windows Update.
- 3. Click on the “Check for updates” option.
- 4. If an update is available, click on “Download and Install” to initiate the process.
- 5. Allow the system to complete the update and restart your computer as needed.
Regularly updating your software helps maintain optimal performance and reduces the likelihood of conflicts during usage.
11. Turn Off the Antivirus Protection
To ensure a smooth gaming experience and prevent any interference from antivirus software, it is advisable to temporarily disable the antivirus protection on your computer.
Here’s how to do it:
- 1. Press the **Win + I** keys together to access Windows Settings.
- 2. Navigate to **Update & Security** and select **Windows Security** from the menu on the left.
- 3. Click on the **Open Windows Security** button.
- 4. Select **Virus & Threat Protection**.
- 5. Look for the option labeled **Manage Settings**.
- 6. Toggle off the **Real-time Protection** switch.
- 7. If a confirmation prompt appears, click **Yes** to continue.
After completing these steps, check if the game is still crashing.
Important Note: If you are using a third-party antivirus program, make sure to manually disable its real-time protection feature as well.
12. Perform a Clean Boot
Several reports indicate that certain third-party applications consistently operate in the background during the Windows startup process. To enhance your system’s performance, it’s essential to conduct a clean boot and disable any startup applications that may be causing conflicts.
To initiate this process, follow these steps:
- 1. Press the Win + R keys simultaneously to open the Run dialog box.
- 2. Enter “msconfig” and press Enter to launch the System Configuration utility.
- 3. Navigate to the Services tab and check the option to “Hide all Microsoft services.”
- 4. Click on “Disable all,” then select Apply and OK to confirm your changes.
- 5. Next, switch to the Startup tab and click on “Open Task Manager.”
- 6. Within Task Manager, go to the Startup tab.
- 7. Identify applications with a higher startup impact, select each one, and click on “Disable” to deactivate them.
- 8. Repeat this process for all programs that show a significant impact on startup performance.
- 9. Finally, restart your computer to ensure that the changes take effect.
By following these steps, you can improve your computer’s efficiency and streamline the boot process.
13. Update DirectX and VCRedist
To resolve potential issues with program launches and system process conflicts, it’s advisable to ensure you have the most current versions of DirectX and Visual C++ Redistributables installed on your computer. Outdated versions of these software components can cause various problems. Here’s how to update them:
- 1. Go to the official Microsoft website to download the latest DirectX installer.
- 2. Execute the installer and follow the prompts to complete the installation of DirectX.
- 3. After that, return to the Microsoft website to download the most recent version of the Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime.
- 4. Install the downloaded Visual C++ Redistributables on your computer.
- 5. Finally, restart your computer to apply all changes effectively.
By keeping these components up to date, you can help ensure smoother operation of your applications.
14. Contact Arrowhead Game Studios Support
If you’ve tried all the suggested solutions and are still experiencing issues, we recommend reaching out to the God of War Ragnarök Support team for additional help.
Creating a support ticket can facilitate a more effective resolution, as it allows the developers to analyze the problem in detail. Furthermore, consider following the @SonySantaMonica Twitter account to stay updated on the types of issues other players are encountering.
We hope you found this guide useful. If you have any further questions, feel free to leave a comment below.
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