Stop Crashing ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!

Grim Dawn Guide to Fix Windows 10 Freeze & Crash
Guide Last Updated: April 15th, 2016
Game Version: 1.0.0.2

I’ve made this site as I was sick of having my Windows 10-based (unfortunately) PC with very common hardware constantly freeze-up, crash, stutter, and/or have low-fps for seemingly no good reason.

I figured that this guide on how to stop Grim Dawn from constantly crashing might help some of you out there too, or brick your PC. /shrug (Really though, you should be fine.)

DISCLAIMER: It’s no my fault/you understand the risks of following the below suggestions and other legal ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. If you’re paranoid, backup your PC first. You are already backing up regularly anyway, right? o.O
COMPLETE ALL CHANGES IN ORDER TO STOP GRIM DAWN FREEZING & CRASHING
REBOOT WHEN STATED
*** General Software Changes ***
Install Core Redistributions

This section was mostly copied from Jaknet’s Post which you can find here.
–

Navigate to inside your Grim Dawn install folder, default location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn
Now navigate to _CommonRedist and inside that are 3 folders which contain various installation / set up files.
It is best to right click each install/setup file and select “Run as Administrator” when/if given the option.
DirectX contains a folder “Jun2010” with a list of files. Find and run DXSETUP.exe
DotNet contains a folder “4.0 Client Profile” and inside is 3 files. Run dotNetFx40_Client_x86_x64.exe
vcredist contains 2 folders “2010” and “2012” each folder contains 3 files. Run both vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe from both folders. Select either “install” or “repair” from each of the 4 installs.

–
Create and Edit Compatibility Shortcut

Navigate here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn
Right click on Grim Dawn.exe (Roughly 3mb in size.), and click on “Create Shortcut”.
Drag shortcut to your desktop, or where you like to launch your titles. (Do not worry, the shortcut will automatically open DRM platforms, such as Steam.)
Right click on the shortcut and edit the properties.
Click on the “Compatibility” tab.
Select “Run this program in compatibility mode for” and choose “Windows 7”.
Check/turn on the “Run this program as an administrator” option.
Press “Apply”, close, and use this shortcut to open the game from now on. It’s okay with Steam (or w/e) is already open when opening via the shortcut.

Install Latest Graphic Drivers

Click Here to Download for NVIDIA

OR

Click Here to Download for AMD/ATI
* REBOOT YOUR PC *
Patch Windows 10

Navigate to: Start Menu > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Check for Updates
Let Windows Patch Fully

* REBOOT YOUR PC *
Disable Intel HD Graphics Adapter

OPTIONAL (Intel CPU only, and only if you have a dedicated graphics card.)
Note there is a very small change this may damage your viewing ability, but it is extremely small, and only if you do not have a dedicated AMD/ATI or NVIDIA graphics card. This will correct a large number of crashes, and generally speed up your system noticeably.
While viewing the desktop press “Windows Key+R”.

Type in “control” and run. This will bring up the full Control Panel.
Click on “Device Manager”.
Click on “Display Adapters”.
If you see an adapter labeled Intel(R) HD Graphics (model number), next to your actual dedicated graphics card, then select the Intel HD Graphics adapter.
Right click and press “Disable”. Your monitor(s) may flicker for a few seconds and all will be fine.

* REBOOT YOUR PC *
** The content in this box is marked as questionable regarding the factual nature of the content, being either helpful in anyway, or correct. Feel free to skip this item. **

Edit Options File

Navigate to: Documents\my games\Grim Dawn\Settings
Edit “options.txt”
Scroll to the bottom and change the following settings to what your see below:

forceSingleProcessorMode = false
maxResourceThreads = 4
skipCompatibilityChecks = false

Save the file.
By doing this you are allowing multi-core processing, allowing 4+ threads, and ensuring the compatibility checks are not skipped.
** The content in this box is marked as helping a small margin of gamers. **

It seems that a small subset of NVIDIA users have had success downclocking their graphics cards to fix freezing/crashes. This may make sense on cards that are sold quite a bit overclocked, though the users have not needed to do it for other games, but hey it’s seemed to work for a decent amount of people!

– Thanks to TomoDaK for this tip!
*** In-Game Changes ***
General Options

Turn off “Auto Item Tooltips”. This can cause crashing.
Turn off “Report Anonymous Statistics”.
Video Options

Set “Window Mode” to “Windowed (Borderless)” This way if the game freezes, you can still retain control of your Windows 10 environment by alt-tabbing out. This means that you will no longer need to hard-reset your PC on freeze, which introducing the possibility of bricking your Windows 10 environment.
Possibly turn off “Vertical Sync”. This may cause graphic issues, and/or may help prevent crashes.