Hey!
Have you installed mods (now or in older versions of the game)? If so could you check if all traces were removed? You can also delete the modsettings.lsx file and Mods folder in the profile folder. In patch7 the profile folder location has been changed so deleting it in the documents folder would not affect the game. You should be able to fix this by deleting the mod folder in the AppData Larian folder. Delete the Mods folder and modsettings.lsx file and check if that fixes it. 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 BG3 and select Properties, then switch to the General tab and check the Steam Cloud section).
Try completely removing them (check the 'Mods' and 'Public' folders in the '..\SteamApps\common\Baldurs Gate 3\Data' folder, if either folders are present, it is safe to delete them).
The AppData folder is hidden by default so to see it you'll have to change the windows explorer settings to show hidden folders. An easier way to get there would be to either
- Start the launcher, open the launcher settings by clicking on the gear icon and scrolling them and selecting Open Profile Folder
- Copy the line below into the location bar in Explorer and hit Enter.
%LocalAppData%\Larian Studios
Alternately, exit out of the Steam client, or Galaxy for the GOG version, and just start the game directly from the executable when required.
If you've never installed mods could you try the following and see if any of that works?
In the launcher, try switching between DirectX 11 and Vulkan, as applicable, to see if that gets the game to start.
Try verifying local files, to make sure there were no issues with the install process:
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'.
Try exiting out of the Steam client, or Galaxy for the GOG version, and starting the game directly from the '..\SteamApps\common\Baldurs Gate 3\bin' folder, by right clicking the executable (bg3.exe for Vulkan, or bg3_dx11.exe) and running as administrator.
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), run as administrator and disable fullscreen optimization, and maybe set a Win 7 or 8 compatibility mode. In Windows 7, check off the option to 'Disable display scaling on high DPI settings', disable desktop composition and run as administrator.
Try right clicking and holding on the bg3_dx11.exe / bg3.exe executable, then hold Shift down, release the right mouse button and select Run as administrator, continuing to hold Shift until the splash screen comes up. Holding Shift prevents the game from taking focus when loading, and can avoid certain resolution or DirectX/Vulkan issues. Holding Shift when starting the game from the launcher may do the same thing.
Check for updated graphics drivers, and Windows updates in general.
Try updating the Vulkan Runtime. Normally this is included with graphics drivers, but manual updates have been reported to fix a couple of crashing issues. The Runtime installer can be downloaded from the site below, or the direct download link (the latest as of the last time I checked).
https://vulkan.lunarg.com/sdk/home
https:/
If the game gives a VC related dll error when starting from the executable, try installing the 2019 Visual C++ redistributable (64bit). In the Control Panel, Programs and Features, try right clicking the MS VC++ 2015-2019 redistributable entries (32 bit and 64) and select Uninstall and then Repair. If that does not help, repeat the process but continue with the uninstall, reboot and then try installing from the redistributable installer.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Steamworks Shared\_CommonRedist\
C:\Program Files (x86)\GalaxyClient\Dependencies\__redist
or https:/
If you are using a program such as Process Lasso to adjust the core affinity for games (for example to have games and system processes run on different cores), try disabling it to restore the default (all cores).
One person reported a conflict with Process Lasso's 'core engine' being on, even with the settings for the game restored to default.
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 'bg3')
- check the information under the 'General' tab below the list of events, starting with """"Faulting application name...""""
Try browsing to the 'C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Larian Studios' folder and delete the contents of the 'Baldur's Gate 3' folder.
The easiest way to get there would be to either
-Start the launcher, open the settings through the gear icon, scroll down and click on Open Profile Folder
-Copy the line below into the location bar in Explorer and hit Enter.
%LocalAppData%\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3
This folder contains the saved games, configuration files and a level cache folder. Normally I would suggest renaming the folder for troubleshooting purposes, but if you don't have any saved games that isn't an issue.
Next, extract the replacement folder from the download below into your '..\Local\Larian Studios' folder, to see if that will let you start the game.
https:/
The graphicSettings.lsx file is set to 1280x720 Windowed mode and Very Low quality preset, which you can change in the options (manually, or hit autodetect) if this gets the game working (as well as optionally create a new profile).
If the game still crashes, you can delete the replacement BG3 folder.
Try doing a clean boot and then test the game. 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.
If that doesn't help, please reply 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 '..\Baldurs Gate 3\bin' folder for the gold.log file, and if there are any CrashDump files being created there (or in '..\bin\db\attachments'), zip a few together to include.
Also, open the Start menu (or WinKey+S), type cmd then right click 'Command Prompt' in the search results and select 'Run as administrator'. At the command prompt, type the following command (copy and right click to paste into the window) and reply with the file it creates on the Windows Desktop.
vulkaninfo > %UserProfile%\Desktop\vulkaninfo.txt
