wardogs · crash troubleshooting · community notes
wardogs crash guide
what we found so far, from almost 50 crashes on 10 different pcs. tap a section to open it.
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 almost 50 crashes from 10 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.
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.
- press Win + R, type
%temp%and press enter - sort by date modified
- 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 - 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
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
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
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
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
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? 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.WinDbgopen your dump with File → Open dump file, type this in the command box and look at what it prints:
.exr -1ExceptionCode: 00008000→ the freeze crashruntime_...+0x0000000000000001andAttempt to execute non-executable address→ the launch crashruntime_...+0x0000000002b6e517andAttempt to write to address 0000000000000018→ out of memoryatmokyTrueSpatial+...→ the audio crash
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 -vAPPLICATION_FAULT_8000_WardogsClient-Win64-Shipping.exe!Unknown→ the freeze crash.FAILURE_ID_HASHwill be{9d270a92-128e-14a2-a826-642bbd7d489f}, the same on every pc we've checkedSOFTWARE_NX_FAULT_INVALID_POINTER_EXECUTE_CODE_c0000005_runtime.dll!Unknown→ the launch crashINVALID_POINTER_WRITE_c0000005_runtime.dll!Unknown→ out of memory (WRITE_ADDRESSshould say0000000000000018)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
- Win + R →
sysdm.cpl→ enter - Advanced tab → Performance Settings → Advanced tab → Virtual memory Change
- either tick Automatically manage paging file size, or pick an SSD with free space and set Custom size: initial 16384, maximum 65536
- 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.
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. nobody has tested the 2 oct hotfix yet.
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
- close wardogs completely
- Win + R, paste this, press enter:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Wardogs\Saved - delete every file that starts with
D3DDriverByteCodeBlob_(they end in.ushaderprecacheand are a few hundred MB each). that's the game's compiled shaders, one file per graphics card - don't touch
Config(your settings),SaveGames, orWardogs_PCD3D_SM6.upipelinecache(deleting that one just gives you more stutter) - optional, to fully copy what a new driver does: also empty
%LOCALAPPDATA%\NVIDIA\DXCache(amd:%LOCALAPPDATA%\AMD\DxCacheandDxcCache). other games use this cache too, so they'll recompile once - 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
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 6 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).
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 /fto undo it:
reg delete "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers" /v TdrDelay /fis your gpu throttling? (nvidia) one command after playing
after playing, open a terminal and run:
nvidia-smi -q -d PERFORMANCEunder "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.