ARC Raiders has made a strong impression in just a couple of days since launch with its Unreal Engine 5 visuals, PvPvE gameplay, and intense coop raids. Like any multiplayer game launch similar to Battlefield 6 crashing on PC, many ARC Raiders are also facing random crashes, PC freezes, and error messages that cut the action short.
This guide explains the real reasons behind ARC Raiders’ instability and walks you through every solution that works to fix game crashes on PC.
ARC Raiders Crashing PC – Possible Causes
ARC Raiders is developed on Unreal Engine 5, a marvel, but also a diva. Most of the time, it’s smooth and cinematic, while other times, it detonates your RAM midway. Game crashes on PC usually happen for one of the following reasons:
- Outdated GPU drivers: The game is heavy on modern rendering technology, so with old graphics drivers installed on the system, the game will likely struggle.
- DirectX tantrums: UE5 and DirectX 12 sometimes fight like siblings. The error like “Unhandled Exception: EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0x00007ff65c8f5fe8” happens due to DX12 support.
- CPU & RAM overload: This game is CPU-hungry. When things get hot, and your system can’t keep up, the game takes a nosedive.
- Shader compilation: If you see a crash during loading or the first run, the reason might be shader compilation overkill, especially if your PC barely meets the game’s recommended specs.
- Background apps and overlays: Discord overlays, Steam pop-ups, Afterburner, and Chrome tabs create conflicts and consume system resources that should have been used by the game.
- Overclocking: Yes, you squeezed an extra 5% performance last night, but today the overclock might send your CPU into meltdown, so it needs to be disabled.
ARC Raiders Crashes During Tutorial or Loading
Players on Reddit and Steam have reported that the game crashes during the tutorial or when loading into the first combat zone, and it’s usually fixable by driver updates, DirectX tweaks, and disabling overlays.
Starting with GPU drivers, Nvidia’s latest Game Ready driver or AMD’s Adrenalin update can make a big difference in game performance. ARC Raiders is optimized for modern APIs, and outdated drivers are the fastest way to desktop purgatory.
If the crash still occurs with the updated graphics drivers, mainly the error message including “D3D12Core” or “amdxc64,” DirectX 12 likely misbehaves. In this case, force the game to use DirectX 11 and to do that, open Steam → right-click ARC Raiders → Properties and under Launch Options, type -dx11. It will drop your FPS a bit, but at least you’ll be able to finish your raid instead of glaring at the loading screen.
When UE5 Throws the EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION Error
This issue mostly appears on systems with new GPUs or CPUs from Team Red. The game tries to read from a bad memory address and the desktop. The root cause is probably a messy interaction between ARC Raiders’ DirectX 12 implementation and AMD’s shader handling. Again, switch it to run the game on the DirectX 11 stable version using the same entry: -dx11.
Also, update both your GPU and chipset drivers. AMD users can download the latest from the official site, and Intel users can update chipset drivers through Intel’s Driver & Support Assistant.
These are the steps to follow:
- Update GPU and chipset drivers and restart the PC.
- Run with
-dx11. - Keep the game and Windows fully updated (ARC devs are working to release patch fixes for the errors, and soon-to-come updates will resolve them).
Close Background Apps and Services
ARC Raiders game eats system resources like it’s running on a toaster’s power budget. If every heavy program is running like Chrome, Discord, OBS, Spotify, and Steam Chat during playtime, you are asking your CPU to implode.
Keep your background running tasks as much less as possible when you game. Close background processes, disable overlays, and if you have 16GB of RAM or less, free up as much as possible. Even disable Windows startup junk because it can improve ARC Raiders more than you’d expect. A clean session means fewer random spikes and game crashes.
Disable CPU Overclocking
If your PC throws a tantrum the moment ARC Raiders starts “building shaders,” it happens with the games. Shader compilation can cause instant crashes or full system freezes on borderline rigs, especially if the overclocking is enabled or your PC equips an old CPU. The fix is to disable overclocking and let your hardware breathe. Once shaders are built successfully the first time, performance stabilizes after that.
Reinstall Drivers Properly
Sometimes, your GPU drivers get so tangled up with Windows updates and half-baked auto-installs that only a clean slate can save you.
Use a tool like DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) in Safe Mode to completely remove your drivers, then reinstall the latest versions from Nvidia or AMD. This eliminates old registry junk, bad profiles, and the “ghost” driver conflict that no one can ever quite pinpoint. Once the reinstall is done, make sure you restart the computer twice.
Reinstall Visual C++ and DirectX
If ARC Raiders won’t launch or you face the “UE-PioneerGame-Breadcrumb” error, it’s probably due to missing or corrupted runtime libraries. Download the latest DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer and Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables from Microsoft’s official site. Reinstall both, reboot, and the game should finally stop tripping over its own dependencies. This fix works well for game launch crashes, especially those that happen right after you hit the “Play” button.
Reinstall the Game
If you’ve done everything above and the game still crashes, you might now nuke and pave. Reinstall the game completely and make sure to add game files to the antivirus exception because aggressive AV software sandbox UE5 processes. Once it’s reinstalled, run it clean without overlays and recording software. You’ll be surprised how much more stable the game becomes when it doesn’t have to fight your whole software ecosystem.
