Divinity: Original Sin II

Crash on startup, Classic works

Are you shutting down all non-essential programs (especially anti-virus) before starting the game? Firewalls can cause conflicts (generally on startup or loading screens) and overlays from graphics tweaking/monitoring programs or chat programs can also caused issues.

Try exiting out of the Steam client, and starting the game directly from the '..\SteamApps\common\Divinity Original Sin 2\DefEd\bin\EoCApp.exe' program file, by right clicking and running as administrator (or '..\Divinity Original Sin 2\Classic\EoCApp.exe' for the original release).

Try right clicking the executable, select Properties, switch to the Compatibility tab and check off the 'Override high DPI scaling behavior' option (set it to Application), maybe run as administrator and disable fullscreen optimization, and set a Win 7 or 8 compatibility mode.

Try verifying local files: in the Steam library, right click on the game and select Properties, switch to the Local Files tab and then click on the 'Verify Integrity of Game Files...' button.
With the GOG version, in the (optional) Galaxy client, select the game, then the settings icon at the top right (beside the Play button) and under Manage Installation 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), 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 for the game (maybe sort by Date and Time, or search for 'EoCApp')
- check the information under the 'General' tab below the list of events, starting with "Faulting application name..."

If you get a VC dll error when trying to start from the executable, manually install the 2017 redistributable package (now included with the 2019 release); Classic uses the 2015 version (also included in 2019).
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Steamworks Shared\_CommonRedist\
C:\Program Files (x86)\GalaxyClient\Dependencies\__redist
or https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads


Try doing a clean boot and then test the game. For example, there is a known conflict with the Nahimic service used by two audio programs (SonicRadar and Sonic Studio) for certain motherboards which can cause the DE to crash after about a second of black screen, but the Classic release is ok. In that case, there may or may not be an event listed in the Event Viewer for NahimicService.exe, as well as the game executable (probably both 'RADAR_PRE_LEAK_64' events); this should be fixed with the latest updates for the Nahimic drivers and apps.
Click Start, or hit WinKey-R, type in msconfig and hit enter; in the General tab, click Selective Startup, uncheck Load startup items (if required) and leave Load system services and Use original boot configuration options checked. Next, click on the Services tab, check the box to Hide all Microsoft services, then click the Disable All button (maybe make a note of which are currently enabled/disabled), then click OK and reboot the computer.
Run msconfig again to switch back to the normal boot configuration.

Try changing the default audio output in Windows. A handful of people have reported crashes in the DE, but not Classic, which could be avoided that way (or in a couple cases fixed by changing, starting the game, exiting and switching back), some related to USB headsets.

If you have the graphics injector program GeDoSaTo installed, this can cause a crash (in the dxgi.dll file) with the Definitive Edition of the game.
In that case, try zipping the 'GeDoSaTo64' folder, delete the folder (or uninstall the program), reboot and try the game again. A couple of people reported a conflict with GeDoSaTo64.dll (or shim64.dll in the same folder) even if the program was not running, or uninstalled but the files still in the folder.

There is a known startup crash issue with 16+ core Threadripper CPUs, which can be avoided by enabling game mode or disabling SMT (simultaneous multithreading) via the Ryzen Master utility.


If applicable, disable Steam cloud support either globally (in the client click on the Steam menu and select Settings, and then Cloud) or just for this game (in the library right click Divinity: Original Sin 2 and select Properties, then switch to the Updates tab and check the Steam Cloud section).
Alternately, exit out of the Steam client, or Galaxy for the GOG version, and just start the game directly from the executable when required.

Next, try browsing to the '..\Documents\Larian Studios' folder and rename the 'Divinity Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition' subfolder.
This folder contains the saved games, configuration files and a level cache folder. Deleting or renaming it will get the game to recreate it on startup; playing the game from a different Windows user account would effectively do the same thing. With Steam/Galaxy running and cloud support enabled, the client would just download the cloud copy of your existing profile. if this is a new install without any saves, you can just delete the Documents D:OS 2 DE folder.

After that, see if you can start D:OS 2 DE. If so, create a new profile and maybe check that you can start a new game and save/load. If that works, exit and copy a couple saves from the renamed folder into the newly created profile's ..\Savegames\Story folder, if applicable. If that continues to let you start the game and load the saves, move the rest of the saves over.

If the game crashes, delete the new D:OS 2 DE folder and extract the replacement folder from this download into your '..\Documents\Larian Studios' folder, and see if that will let you start the game properly. The graphicSettings.lsx file is set to 1280x720 Windowed mode, Very Low quality preset and low audio quality, which you can change in the options (manually, or hit autodetect) if this gets the game to start.
If that helps, create a new profile and maybe check that you can start a new game and save/load. If that works, exit and copy a couple saves from the renamed folder into the newly created profile's ..\Savegames\Story folder, if applicable. If that continues to let you start the game and load the saves, move the rest of the saves over.

If the game still crashes, delete the new My Documents D:OS 2 DE folder and rename the original back again.


If that doesn't help, please contact support with a dxdiag report (WinKey-R, type in dxdiag and hit enter, then when it finishes loading click on the 'Save All Information...' button and save the report somewhere handy). Also check the '..\Divinity Original Sin 2\DefEd\bin' folder for the gold.log file, and if any 'CrashDump' files are being created, zip a few together to include.

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