wardogs · crash troubleshooting · community notes

wardogs crash guide

what we found so far, from 57 crashes on 12 different pcs. tap a section to open it.

newest build checked
25677108 (2 oct hotfix)
last updated
4 oct 2026

every crash we've logged, by bug, game build and pc: wardogs crash tracker

tldr

if your game freezes for about 20 seconds and then just closes, that's a bug in the game itself and there's no real fix yet. if it crashes because your pc ran out of memory, you can fix that yourself in 2 minutes (step 3).

been digging into these crashes for about 3 weeks with some of you. we went through 57 crashes from 12 different pcs, so this isn't guessing. here's how to find out which crash you have, what actually helps, and what's a waste of time.

5 steps, then what doesn't help, steam support's workarounds (untested) and a few extra checks.

1 find your crash dump it's not in Saved/Crashes. it's a PACKER_….dmp file in your temp folder

wardogs doesn't put its crash files where you'd expect. nothing in Saved/Crashes, no windows error report. it dumps them in your temp folder.

  1. press Win + R, type %temp% and press enter
  2. sort by date modified
  3. look for a file like PACKER_730546_900.dmp (usually 2 to 12 MB). you get one per crash, and the last number is the game's process id
  4. copy it somewhere safe, windows cleans the temp folder now and then

heads up before you post it: the dump contains your steam id (the game puts it in there on purpose), your windows username and your pc name. no passwords, no email, no ip address. if you don't want people finding your steam profile, dm it instead of posting it in public.

2 figure out which crash you have there are at least 5. pick the one that matches what you saw on screen

there's not one wardogs crash, there's at least 5. most of the time you can tell from what happened on screen:

game freezes for ~20 sec, then closes with no error can be after a few minutes or after 2+ hours no fix yet, game bugmost common

what it is: the game's own watchdog killing itself because its render thread stopped responding. a game bug, by far the most common one.

can you fix it: no, the devs have to. see step 4 for what might help in the meantime.

closes a few seconds after launch before you even see the menu just relaunch

what it is: the game's protection layer (runtime.dll) crashing on startup.

can you fix it: not really, just relaunch. see step 5.

crashes randomly, sometimes with a windows "low on memory" warning you can fix this

what it is: your pc ran out of RAM + pagefile.

can you fix it: yes, see step 3.

crashes in the first few minutes, dump blames atmokyTrueSpatial.dll report it

what it is: the game's 3D audio plugin.

can you fix it: no, report it. see step 5.

a different crash every time, in different spots maybe, test on stock settings

what it is: could be unstable RAM or CPU (XMP/EXPO, overclock, undervolt).

can you fix it: maybe. test on stock settings.

want to know for sure? the easiest way is to drop your dump into check a dump on the crash tracker. it reads the file in your browser and never uploads it. or check it yourself in WinDbg:

check the dump in WinDbg free microsoft debugger, takes a few minutes

install WinDbg (free, from the microsoft store or with this command):

winget install Microsoft.WinDbg

open your dump with File → Open dump file, type this in the command box and look at what it prints:

.exr -1

the full analysis

type this instead. the first time it takes 1 to 2 minutes (it downloads microsoft's symbol files) and it prints a lot, so scroll to the FAILURE_BUCKET_ID line:

!analyze -v
  • APPLICATION_FAULT_8000_WardogsClient-Win64-Shipping.exe!Unknown→ the freeze crash. FAILURE_ID_HASH will be {9d270a92-128e-14a2-a826-642bbd7d489f}, the same on every pc we've checked
  • SOFTWARE_NX_FAULT_INVALID_POINTER_EXECUTE_CODE_c0000005_runtime.dll!Unknown→ the launch crash
  • INVALID_POINTER_WRITE_c0000005_runtime.dll!Unknown→ out of memory (WRITE_ADDRESS should say 0000000000000018)
  • INVALID_POINTER_READ_c0000005_atmokyTrueSpatial.dll!Unknown→ the audio crash
  • anything else→ something we haven't seen yet, send it over

or just send me the dump and i'll check it.

3 fix the out of memory crash the one you can fix yourself: set your pagefile and close heavy apps

this is the one you can actually fix. windows can only hand out as much memory as your RAM + pagefile, and wardogs is hungry. on my pc the game alone hit 24 GB in a 3 hour session at 1440p, and the whole pc peaked at 44 GB. with 32 GB of RAM and a small pagefile you will run out.

set your pagefile

  1. Win + R → sysdm.cpl → enter
  2. Advanced tab → Performance Settings → Advanced tab → Virtual memory Change
  3. either tick Automatically manage paging file size, or pick an SSD with free space and set Custom size: initial 16384, maximum 65536
  4. click Set, then OK, then reboot

don't use a small fixed size and don't turn it off. i had mine on 16 GB fixed and crashed after 23 minutes. one player's pagefile was only 80 MB, another had 5 GB fixed and was 1 to 4 GB away from running out in every crash.

close the heavy stuff before you play

browser with a ton of tabs, mod managers, other launchers. in my 23 minute crash, other apps were already using 27 GB before the game even started. next session i had about 19 GB in the background and it ran 3h15m.

how to tell it was memory

Event Viewer → Windows Logs → System → Filter Current Log → Event ID 2004 (low on virtual memory) around the time you crashed. if you send me your dump i can also see your RAM and pagefile size from it.

4 the freeze crash (no confirmed fix yet) a game bug the devs have to fix. what might help in the meantime

being honest, nobody has a real fix for this one. it's the game's own watchdog. it happens on nvidia and amd cards, windows 10 and 11, every driver version we've seen, and it was still there after the 30 sep patch. the devs have to fix it. the 2 oct hotfix didn't fix it either: 3 different pcs have already frozen on it.

what worked for me (maybe)

after i swapped my gpu, the game recompiled all its shaders and my next session ran 3h15m without crashing. before that i always died somewhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours. could be the shader recompile, could be the new gpu, not sure yet. two other players still got the freeze right after a driver update (which also makes the game recompile), so don't get your hopes up too much. if you try it, tell us how long your sessions last after.

how to force a shader recompile delete the game's compiled shaders, keep your settings
  1. close wardogs completely
  2. Win + R, paste this, press enter:
    %LOCALAPPDATA%\Wardogs\Saved
  3. delete every file that starts with D3DDriverByteCodeBlob_ (they end in .ushaderprecache and are a few hundred MB each). that's the game's compiled shaders, one file per graphics card
  4. don't touch Config (your settings), SaveGames, or Wardogs_PCD3D_SM6.upipelinecache (deleting that one just gives you more stutter)
  5. optional, to fully copy what a new driver does: also empty %LOCALAPPDATA%\NVIDIA\DXCache (amd: %LOCALAPPDATA%\AMD\DxCache and DxcCache). other games use this cache too, so they'll recompile once
  6. launch and let it finish compiling before you join a match. close other heavy stuff while it compiles

other stuff that can't hurt

  • the game leaks memory the longer it runs (2 to 7 GB per hour on my pc), and on my pc a faster leak meant an earlier crash. restarting the game between long sessions doesn't fix the bug, but you start fresh
  • send your dump to the devs and mention "0x8000 freeze, RHIInterruptThread". the more of these they get, the sooner it gets fixed
clean gpu driver reinstall with DDU wipe every leftover of your old driver, then install a fresh one

this isn't a confirmed fix for the freeze, switching driver versions didn't change anything (see what doesn't help). but it rules out a broken driver install, and if the new driver is newer than yours, the game recompiles its shaders too. do the shader recompile at the same time and you've reset everything.

  1. find out which graphics card you have and download its newest driver before you start (dropdowns below)
  2. download DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) from the official site only, there are fake copies around: wagnardsoft.com. extract it somewhere
  3. disconnect from the internet (unplug the cable or turn wifi off), so windows update doesn't sneak its own driver in
  4. boot into safe mode: hold Shift and click Restart in the start menu → Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart → press 4. if your pc uses bitlocker or device encryption it can ask for your recovery key, so have that ready
  5. run DDU, set the device type to GPU, pick your brand (NVIDIA / AMD / Intel) and click Clean and restart
  6. back in normal windows, install the driver you downloaded, then reconnect the internet
which graphics card do i have? check in device manager
  1. right click the windows icon on the taskbar
  2. pick Device Manager
  3. open Display adapters
  4. if there are two, ignore the one built into your cpu (AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics on ryzen cpus, Intel(R) UHD Graphics or Iris(R) Xe Graphics on intel cpus). the other one is your graphics card, e.g. RX 6800 XT, RTX 5070 Ti or Intel(R) Arc(TM) B580
nvidia driver geforce rtx and gtx cards
  1. go to nvidia.com/en-us/drivers
  2. find the Latest Driver Downloads section
  3. download the latest driver
  4. run it and pick either driver only or driver + NVIDIA App. driver only is enough, the app is optional

gtx 10 series and older: your card is end of life and doesn't get new game ready drivers anymore, so the latest driver won't install. type your exact card into the Manual Driver Search on the same page and download what it gives you.

amd driver radeon rx cards
  1. go to amd.com/en/support/download/drivers.html
  2. scroll down to Search or Browse Drivers and Support by Product
  3. select Graphics
  4. select your product family (for most people that's the RX series)
  5. select your generation (RX 6800 XT → RX 6000 series)
  6. select your exact card → Submit
  7. find your windows version and download the latest AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition
  8. run it and pick either driver only or the full AMD Software install
intel driver arc cards
  1. go to intel's arc graphics driver page
  2. download the Game On driver and install it
5 launch crash and audio crash relaunch for the first one, report the second one
launch crash game closes a few seconds after you start it

that's the game's protection layer, not your pc. one player got it 3 times in a row and the 4th launch worked, so just relaunch. it can also hit mid game but that's rare.

the 0.1.2 patch said it fixed a "WD-L020" crash caused by a windows 11 update, but we still see this one on the newest build. if you get a popup with an error code like WD-L020, post it, that tells us if it's the same bug.

audio crash dump blames atmokyTrueSpatial.dll, usually in the first few minutes

that's the game's 3D audio plugin reading memory it already freed. we've only seen it on one pc so far, but on two different builds.

if the game has a spatial or 3D audio option, try turning it off (nobody has tested that yet). either way, report it to the devs with the dump.

stuff that does NOT help (save yourself the time) 7 tips that got suggested for the freeze, and why they don't fix it

all of these got suggested at some point and we checked them:

registry tweak to "give the gpu more time" (TdrDelay)

windows' gpu timeout is 2 seconds and it never kicked in during any of my crashes (no Event 4101). the freeze lasts ~20 sec and then the game kills itself, no registry setting changes that. (if you do see 4101s, that's a different problem, see extra checks.)

new or older gpu driver

same freeze on 582, 610, 616 and 617 drivers, and on amd cards too.

turning DLSS / frame gen / FSR / TAA on or off

crashed the same way with all of them.

more VRAM / lower textures

my old 11 GB card still had over 3 GB free when it froze.

capping fps

looked promising at first, then later capped sessions died at the usual times.

gpu temps

checked under load, zero thermal throttling, and it happens on every kind of card.

reinstalling windows / "it's your pc"

the exact same crash, down to the same code addresses, on at least 8 different pcs, windows 10 and 11, nvidia and amd.

lowering settings and closing background apps does help with the out of memory crash though (step 3).

steam support workarounds (not tested by us) what steam support told a player to try. we haven't checked these

heads up: this is the list one player got from steam support. we did not test any of it ourselves, it's just what steam support suggests. the player who sent it tried every step and still crashes.

the list, as steam support sent it
  1. Disable the Intel iGPU in Device Manager.
  2. Repair Elytra: open your WARDOGS installation folder, locate the Elytra folder, run the Elytra setup and select Repair, then restart your PC.
  3. Turn off Memory Integrity: Windows Security → Device Security → Core Isolation → Memory Integrity.
  4. Verify your WARDOGS game files through Steam.
  5. Update your GPU drivers to the latest version available for your model.
  6. If possible, try connecting through a mobile hotspot to rule out a network-related issue.
  7. Disable any CPU/GPU overclocking.
  8. Check that WARDOGS/Elytra isn't being blocked by your antivirus, firewall or Windows Security, and add its folders to the exclusions as necessary.
  9. In %LOCALAPPDATA%\Wardogs\Saved\Config\WindowsClient\GameUserSettings.ini, set both NvidiaDLSSMode and FSR3QualityMode to 0 and run the game again.
  10. If you're on a Windows Insider build, move back to a standard build: Settings → Windows Update → Windows Insider Program → Stop getting preview builds.
  11. Some players found that disabling Windows virtualization features (Hyper-V, Windows Sandbox, WSL2, Virtual Machine Platform) can help.
  12. Temporarily, depending on your setup: disable DLSS, FSR, NIS and frame gen in the NVIDIA/AMD app.
  13. Temporarily: disable HAGS and Windows Game Optimizations.
  14. AMD extra: disabling FSR was the only working fix for some.
our notes: careful with these ones

not about whether they work, just what they cost you:

  • disabling the iGPU: only if your monitor is plugged into the graphics card, not the motherboard, or your screen goes black
  • memory integrity off: it's a security feature that blocks malicious drivers. if turning it off changes nothing, turn it back on
  • antivirus / firewall exclusions: only add the wardogs and elytra folders, never a whole drive
  • editing GameUserSettings.ini: back the file up first. upscaling off costs you fps
  • HAGS off (needs a reboot): DLSS frame generation needs it, so frame gen stops working while it's off
  • hyper-v / sandbox / WSL2 / virtual machine platform off: WSL, Docker and android emulators stop working until you turn them back on
  • leaving windows insider: "stop getting preview builds" only kicks in at the next normal windows release. on dev or canary builds the only quick way back is a clean install
our notes: what our dumps say about the freeze
  • DLSS / FSR / frame gen, driver version, amd vs nvidia: the freeze happened with all of them (see what doesn't help)
  • elytra used 0 seconds of cpu during a whole session that ended in the freeze, so it's not the anti-cheat
  • my pc already had memory integrity off and hyper-v off since 17 sep, and still froze on 27 and 30 sep
  • so for the freeze, don't expect this list to fix it. for the launch crash, the out of memory crash or a different crash every time, it might be worth going through
extra checks is your gpu driver resetting, or is your card throttling?
is it actually your gpu driver? look for Event 4101 at your crash times

Event Viewer → Windows Logs → System → Filter Current Log → Event ID 4101. if you see these at the times you crashed, your gpu driver is resetting, and that's a different problem from everything above. for you the TdrDelay tweak is actually worth a try.

in an admin terminal, then reboot:

reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers" /v TdrDelay /t REG_DWORD /d 10 /f

to undo it:

reg delete "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers" /v TdrDelay /f

a clean driver reinstall with DDU (step 4) is worth doing too.

is your gpu throttling? (nvidia) one command after playing

after playing, open a terminal and run:

nvidia-smi -q -d PERFORMANCE

under "Clocks Event Reasons Counters", if SW Thermal Slowdown and HW Thermal Slowdown both say 0 us, your card hasn't throttled from heat since you booted.