Home » How to fix Satisfactory won’t launch, crashes, freezes, black screen issues
Satisfactory

How to fix Satisfactory won't launch, crashes, freezes, black screen issues

This guide will show you how to fix crashes, freezes, and black screen issues in Satisfactory. Also, possible solutions for unexpected crashes at startup (e.g. Unhandled Exception: EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION) that result in the game not launching are in this article.

There can be many reasons why Satisfactory would crash or freeze. Generally, outdated mods, corrupted game files, and GPU drivers cause crashes in Satisfactory.

How to fix Satisfactory won't launch, crashes, freezes, black screen issues

Repair the files

You can repair the game files on Steam & Epic Games launcher

On Steam:

  • Open Steam
  • Go to library
  • Right click on Satisfactory
  • Go to Properties > Local Files
  • Click the "Verify integrity of game files"

On Epic Games launcher:

  • Open Epic Games launcher
  • Navigate to Library > Satisfactory > Three dots > Verify

DirectX

It is possible to fix launching issues by entering one of the following DirectX parameters in the launch options. It is recommended that you try them all in order.

-dx11
-d3d11
-vulkan
-d3d12
-dx12

  • Steam: Library > Satisfactory > Right-click > Properties > General > Launch Options
  • Epic: Settings > Manage Games > Satisfactory > Additional Command Line Arguments

Update or disable the mods

Especially after major updates to Satisfactory, such as FICSMAS update, mods that haven't been updated yet cause the game to crash. That's why I suggest you disable mods temporarily, at least until a new update comes out for the mods you are using. Satisfactory mods like Cargo Transporter, Refined Power, Smart cause crashes when out of date.

Follow these:

  • Update Satisfactory Mod Manager to the latest version.
  • Update or uninstall all of your mods.

Or:

  • Go to the Satisfatory's main folder
  • Open the FactoryGame folder
  • Delete the Mods folder
  • Then navigate to C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Local\FactoryGame\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor
  • Delete all ini files.

Update the drivers

Updating the GPU and audio drivers may fix technical issues such as crashes, freezes, and black screens in Satisfactory.

You can check out the DDU guide for clean driver installation.

Black screen and "ImgMedia failed to load" error

If you encounter a black screen when you run Satisfactory and then get an "ImgMedia failed to load" error, you should install UE4 Prerequisites x64 by following these steps.


I hope the above solutions worked for you. Detailed information on crashing issues is here.

Add Comment

Click here to post a comment