How to Fix DragonSword Awakening Crash on Launch on Steam (2026 Guide)

DragonSword Awakening has finally arrived after months of anticipation, bringing flashy combat, massive fantasy landscapes, and the kind of fast-paced action RPG gameplay that many players have been waiting for throughout 2026. Unfortunately, for a surprising number of PC users, the adventure ends before it even begins.

Instead of reaching the character creator, players are seeing instant crashes after pressing Play on Steam, endless black screens, Unreal Engine fatal errors, or the game silently closing without any warning. I’ve seen the same reports appear everywhere—from Steam discussions to Reddit troubleshooting threads—and while the exact symptoms differ, the underlying causes are remarkably similar.

The good news is that most launch crashes aren’t caused by defective hardware or a broken installation. In many cases, they’re connected to Windows runtime libraries, graphics driver conflicts, corrupted configuration files, or storage bottlenecks that can be fixed without reinstalling the entire game.

If DragonSword Awakening refuses to launch on your PC, work through the solutions below. These are the methods that consistently solve the majority of startup crashes reported by the community.

Why DragonSword Awakening Crashes Before Launch

Modern Unreal Engine games perform a surprising amount of work before the first splash screen appears. During startup, DragonSword Awakening initializes shaders, loads graphics APIs, checks anti-cheat components, verifies system libraries, and begins streaming large asset packages into memory.

If any of those processes fail, Windows usually terminates the game instantly.

The most common reasons include:

• Damaged Microsoft Visual C++ or DirectX components
• Graphics API conflicts between DirectX 11 and DirectX 12
• Corrupted Engine.ini or GameUserSettings files
• GPU driver instability
• Installing the game on a slow mechanical HDD
• Windows permission restrictions
• Insufficient virtual memory allocation
• Third-party overlays interfering with Unreal Engine

Fortunately, every one of these problems has a practical solution.

1. Repair Visual C++ Redistributables and DirectX

If your Event Viewer shows errors involving VCRUNTIME140.dll, MSVCP140.dll, or KERNELBASE.dll, your runtime libraries are the first thing to check.

DragonSword Awakening depends heavily on Microsoft’s Visual C++ packages. Even if another game works perfectly, damaged runtime files can cause this title to crash immediately.

How to Repair Them

1. Download the latest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables.
2. Install both the x64 and x86 versions.
3. If Windows offers a Repair option, use it.
4. Download and install the latest DirectX End-User Runtime.
5. Restart your computer after installation.

A reboot is important because Windows won’t fully reload the repaired runtime libraries until the system restarts.

2. Change the Graphics API and Reset Corrupted Settings

One issue I’ve seen repeatedly is players getting a brief black screen before the game disappears.

That usually points toward a graphics initialization problem.

Some systems simply behave better under DirectX 11, while others perform more reliably with DirectX 12.

Switch the Rendering API

Open Steam.

Go to:

Library → DragonSword Awakening → Properties

Under Launch Options, try one of these commands:

• -dx11
• -dx12

If one doesn’t work, remove it and test the other.

Reset Your Graphics Configuration

Sometimes the game remembers unstable settings from an earlier launch.

Navigate to:

C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\DSClient\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor

Delete one or both of these files:

• Engine.ini
• GameUserSettings.ini

The next launch creates completely fresh configuration files.

After reaching the main menu, switch the game’s upscaling technology to TSR or DLSS if available instead of AMD FSR, as several players have reported improved stability after making that change.

3. Move DragonSword Awakening to an SSD

Large Unreal Engine games absolutely love fast storage.

DragonSword Awakening streams textures, shaders, and environment data almost immediately during startup. Mechanical hard drives simply can’t feed data fast enough in some situations, leading the engine to assume something has gone wrong.

The result?

• Black screens.
• Infinite loading.
• Startup crashes.

Moving the Installation Through Steam

1. Open Steam.
2. Right-click DragonSword Awakening.
3. Select Properties.
4. Open Installed Files.
5. Click Move Install Folder.
6. Select an SSD library.
7. Allow Steam to complete the transfer.

If you’re still gaming from an older HDD, this upgrade alone can eliminate many startup issues while also reducing loading times throughout the game.

4. Verify the Game Files

Launch-day downloads aren’t always perfect.

Interrupted downloads, unstable internet connections, or partially applied patches can leave missing or corrupted files inside the installation.

Steam can automatically repair those files.

Verify Installation Integrity

1. Open Steam Library.
2. Right-click DragonSword Awakening.
3. Choose Properties.
4. Select Installed Files.
5. Click Verify Integrity of Game Files.

Steam compares every installed file against its official version and replaces anything that’s missing or damaged.

This process is much faster than downloading the entire game again.

5. Launch Steam with Administrator Rights

Windows security has become increasingly strict over the years.

Depending on where Steam is installed, User Account Control can prevent certain game components from initializing correctly.

That can be enough to crash DragonSword Awakening before the first window even appears.

Give Steam Elevated Permissions

• Exit Steam completely.
• Right-click the Steam shortcut.
• Select Run as Administrator.
• Launch DragonSword Awakening again.

If that fixes the issue, make the setting permanent.

Open:

Steam Shortcut → Properties → Compatibility

Enable:

Run this program as administrator

Click Apply, then OK.

6. Perform a Completely Clean GPU Driver Installation

Simply pressing the “Update Driver” button inside Nvidia App or AMD Software isn’t always enough.

Old shader caches, corrupted driver profiles, and leftover registry entries can continue causing crashes even after updating.

For stubborn launch problems, a clean installation is usually the better approach.

Recommended Process

1. Download the newest driver for your graphics card.
2. Download Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU).
3. Restart Windows into Safe Mode.
4. Run DDU to remove the existing driver.
5. Restart normally.
6. Install the latest GPU driver using the Clean Installation option.
7. Restart once more.

Fresh drivers often resolve Unreal Engine crashes that appear impossible to explain.

7. Increase Windows Virtual Memory

DragonSword Awakening allocates a significant amount of memory during startup.

If Windows has a very small paging file—or you’ve disabled virtual memory entirely—the operating system may terminate the game before initialization finishes.

Increase the Paging File

1. Search for Advanced System Settings.
2. Open Performance Settings.
3. Select the Advanced tab.
4. Click Virtual Memory → Change.
5. Disable automatic management.
6. Select your Windows drive.
7. Choose Custom Size.

For a PC with 16 GB RAM, a common configuration is:

• Initial Size: 4096 MB
• Maximum Size: 16384 MB

Restart Windows afterward.

Extra Fixes Worth Trying

If none of the primary solutions solved the issue, there are still a few things worth checking.

• Disable Discord Overlay.
• Turn off GeForce Experience Overlay.
• Close RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS).
• Exit MSI Afterburner temporarily.
• Disable OBS Game Capture while testing.
• Temporarily pause antivirus software or whitelist the DragonSword Awakening installation folder.
• Install the latest Windows cumulative updates.
• Disconnect unnecessary USB devices if the game freezes before loading.

These may sound minor, but overlay software has been responsible for launch problems in countless Unreal Engine releases.

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Quick Troubleshooting Overview

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Final Thoughts

DragonSword Awakening is one of the more visually ambitious action RPGs released this year, and like many modern Unreal Engine titles, it’s also fairly demanding during its startup sequence. The encouraging part is that the majority of launch issues aren’t permanent bugs hidden deep inside the game—they’re usually the result of software conflicts or system settings that can be corrected in a matter of minutes.

If I had to prioritize the fixes, I’d start by repairing the Visual C++ runtimes, verifying the Steam installation, deleting the configuration files, and testing both DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 launch modes. Those four steps alone have resolved the problem for a large portion of the community. If the crashes continue, moving the game to an SSD and performing a truly clean graphics driver installation are the next two solutions I’d recommend without hesitation.

Once DragonSword Awakening gets past that troublesome startup sequence, the experience becomes far more stable for most systems. Spending a little time troubleshooting now is well worth it, because the game has a lot to offer once you’re finally exploring its world instead of staring at a desktop crash window.

Fix DragonSword: Awakening Crashing on Startup