Try lowering you desktop resolution; that should get the game to try starting in a lower resolution, which may allow it to load, and create the configuration files.
Try starting the game directly from the '..\SteamApps\common\Divinity - Original Sin\Shipping\EoCApp.exe' program file by right clicking and running as administrator (the GOG version should already be set to run as administrator by default).
If applicable, try right clicking EoCApp.exe and selecting Properties, then switch to the Compatibility tab and check 'Disable display scaling on high DPI settings', and maybe try Win 7 compatibility mode, or something.
Are you shutting down all non-essential programs (especially anti-virus) before trying to start the game?
Firewalls have caused conflicts (generally on loading screens) and overlays from graphics tweaking/monitoring programs or chat programs have also caused issues.
Try verifying local files: in the Steam library, right click on Divinity Original Sin (or the Enhanced Edition entry) and select Properties, switch to the Local Files tab and then click on the 'Verify Integrity of Game Cache...' button.
With the GOG version, in the (optional) Galaxy client, select the game in the left column, then click on the More button, and in the Manage menu select 'Verify / Repair'.
If you check the Event Viewer, does that give an error code or 'Faulting Module' file name that might help identify the cause of the crash?
- click Start (or WinKey-R or WinKey-W in Win 8), then type "event viewer" into the search box. in Windows 10, 'event' should bring up 'View event logs'.
- after starting the Event Viewer, expand 'Windows Logs' in the left column and select 'Application'
- in the center column, look for a recent error (maybe sort by Date and Time) for the game
- check the information under the 'General' tab below the list of events, starting with "Faulting application name..."
EDIT 2:
Windows 10A couple people have reported problems loading saves or starting a new game after upgrading to Windows 10. It appears this is due to changes in the (presumably) default permissions for My Documents, or in how folders backed up before the upgrade are assigned permissions afterwards. One person specified the error codes 100, 119 and sometimes 120 were given when the load failed. In all 3 cases so far, the problem was fixed by adding Full Privileges to Users, or a specific user, on the Larian Studios folder (see spoiler for details).
From the topic
UError Codes 100, 119 on loading any save:
I had copied the Larian Studios folder in Documents folder before upgrading, and ran the upgrade with the "Keep Nothing" option. I reinstalled Steam and D:OS, but although my save files were listed (from cloud), they all gave the errors 100, 119 and sometimes 120.
I then retrieved my backed up folder and pasted it over top of the one that had been created automatically on installation, and discovered that it required "Administrator Access" to perform it, even though I had rights to my own Documents folder. Still, this indicated that my current user didn't have security permissions on that folder. (Edit: I did try the save files, and got the same errors as before.) Closing the game, I right-clicked the Larian folder and went to properties, then the Security tab, then clicked on Advanced. The Owner of the folder is listed at the top, with an option to change. Clicked "Change", and in the resulting window typed in my username as it appears in the C:\Users folder, and hit Check Names. It found my user, then I hit OK. Having changed the owner of the Larian folder to my Win10 user, my saves began working again.
Hope this helps someone!
EDIT 3:
OS X 10.11
El CapitanThere is a known issue with El Capitan and games that use Game Center for multiplayer. For example, in some games you may not be able to send an invitation to play, though D:OS should be fine with that.
Two people have reported D:OS crashing on startup after upgrading to El Capitan, which could be avoided by logging out of Game Center.
EDIT:
If there is any loading time before the game crashes, try Alt-Tabbing away from the game and see if that avoids the crash. If so, you may be able to switch back to the game once it loads.
If the crashes started after a Steam update or trying to hex edit a pak file (one of the ways to enable 4 player co-op), check the contents of your '..\SteamApps\common\Divinity - Original Sin\Data' folder. This folder should contain (in 1.0.252) an engine.pak and game.pak files, 2 main pak files and 3 textures pak files (and a text file). A couple people have had crashes on startup due to extra pak files in this folder; one was a case of a copied file (with a different extension) made to try hex editing a main pak file, while the other was apparently temporary files not cleaned up properly after an update.
From the Steam discussion
[FAQ] Divinity: Original Sin:
- check if you have the latest drivers
- check if you meet the minimum requirements for the game
- check if you have a sound device (one that has uptodate drivers and is visible in dxdiag.txt. If you have a sound device but its name and drivers end up empty in dxdiag, it is likely the game will not start up. >>> Reinstall sound drivers)
- some people have reported uninstalling AMD Gaming evolved (raptr) fixes crashing on startup. Control panel > programs and features > uninstall raptr software.
- check if the support packages for the game are installed correctly (you can find these in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Divinity - Original Sin\_CommonRedist)
EDIT 4:
Enhanced EditionThere are some additional things to check for the Enhanced Edition of the game.
For Windows 7, please make sure you have Service Pack 1 installed. Win 7 SP1 (64 bit) is the minimum required version of Windows, due to needing full support for DirectX 11 (just having it installed is not enough).
Check that your graphics card has hardware support for DirectX 11.
One way to check which card you have is to click Start (or WinKey-R), type in dxdiag and hit Enter, then in the window that opens, switch to the Display tab.
Also in that tab, check the 'DDI Version' in the Drivers section on the right; it should be 11 or higher. If it is less than 11, still check the video card specs, since there are driver issues and some programs that can result in the DDI Version being lower than what it should be. In that case, a clean re-install of the drivers may help. If possible, check your monitor/laptop manufacturer's site for an updated inf file, especially if a monitor is just listed in Windows as a generic PNP monitor (that is often the case for laptops).
It is also possible for the DDI Version to be listed higher than the actual hardware support. For example, Intel's integrated graphics drivers can cover an entire family of GPUs and will report one number, even if they include chips with different levels of DirectX support. Intel HD 2000 and 3000, for example, only support 10.1.
If you are playing on a laptop with dual graphics, make sure the game is loading on the discrete graphics (nvidia or AMD) rather than integrated (Intel, though HD 4000 and later should have DiretcX 11 support).
Try manually installing the support packages (from the folder ..\SteamApps\common\Divinity Original Sin Enhanced Edition\_CommonRedist) and reboot. There is a similar folder in the GOG install folder, as well.
