The Talos Principle 2 is a first-person puzzle solver game, a sequel that was released almost a decade after the first one. Both titles are incredible and have been received well by gamers and critics alike. The Talos Principle 2 runs on the Unreal Engine 5, while it does allow the game to render beautiful visuals with Ray Tracing features, it also introduces some issues as UE5, at the time of writing, is still in its infancy. According to PC users, they are unable to play The Talos Principle 2 as it’s crashing at startup. In this The Talos Principle 2 guide, I will list fixes that will help PC users fix the crash at startup issue.
The Talos Principle 2 Crash At Startup Fixes That’ll Help
The Talos Principle 2 is an incredible puzzle adventure game that runs on the Unreal Engine 5. However, a lot of PC users are unable to play it as it crashes at startup or doesn’t launch when they click play. There are multiple reasons why the game crashes at startup like the files left over from the Demo interfering with the game, outdated Windows OS, damaged or corrupt DIrectX shader cache, and more. The following are the fixes that will help PC users fix The Talos Principle 2 crash at startup issue.
Delete Demo Files And Do A Clean Install
Before The Talos Principle 2 launched, the devs rolled out a demo for it so that gamers could try it. However, PC users who bought the game after trying the Demo didn’t do a clean install and instead upgraded the Demo to the full version. This results in The Talos Principle 2 crashing at startup as the files from the game’s Demo are still present in the full release. To fix the startup crashes, delete the game completely and reinstall it.
Delete DirectX Shader Cache
Windows creates a DirectX shader cache to improve performance and quickly render the game without any delays. DirectX is a graphics API that is necessary to play any video game on any PC. The shader cache for DirectX being corrupt is another reason why The Talos Principle 2 is crashing at startup. Delete the DirectX shader cache and Windows will create a new one when you launch the game and will also fix the crash at startup issue.
- Open Disk Cleanup utility
- Select C drive
- Check “DirectX Shader Cache” and press OK
- Play The Talos Principle 2, a new DirectX Shader Cache will be created and it won’t crash
Increase Paging File Size
Paging File, also known as Virtual Memory, helps a lot in Windows operations and also plays an important part in running video games on PC. UE5 games have an issue with Paging File, where if the user hasn’t allocated enough of it, the game crashes. This is why The Talos Principle 2 is crashing at startup, as the allocated Virtual Memory isn’t enough. Set a custom Paging File and The Talos Principle 2 will stop crashing at startup.
- Open Windows Settings go to About > Advanced system settings
- Click “Settings” under the Advanced tab
- Click “Change” under Virtual Memory
- Uncheck “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives”
- Select a drive that has available space
- Check “Custom Size”, and input the Initial size and Maximum size in MBs
- Press OK and restart your PC
- Play The Talos Principle 2 and it won’t crash again at launch
Note: You have to set the Initial size and Maximum size values yourself depending on your RAM size. Virtual memory values have to be between 1.5x and 3x of your installed RAM size. If you have 2GB of RAM, you can set a maximum of 6,144 MB. Calculate your value in MB and input it in both Initial size and Maximum size.
Disable Fullscreen Optimizations
Windows enables Fullscreen Optimizations for every installed program and game on your PC by default. It can cause the game to crash at launch and disabling it will fix it.
- Right-click The Talos Principle 2 in Steam library > Manage > Browse local files
- A new window will open containing game files
- Right-click the game executable and select Properties
- Go to the Compatibility tab, check “Disable Fullscreen optimizations” and apply the changes
- Play The Talos Principle 2 and it won’t crash at startup
Increase Shader Cache Size
Unreal Engine 5, like its previous iterations, relies on Shaders to render in-game visuals and improve performance to some extent. The reason why The Talos Principle 2 is crashing at launch is that the default Shader Cache size set by the GPU driver isn’t enough. Increase the Shader Cache size and The Talos Principle 2 crash will be fixed.
- Open the Nvidia Control Panel
- Go to Manage 3D Settings > Global Settings
- Scroll down to Shader Cache
- Select 10 GB and apply the changes.
Install/Repiar Visual C++ Redistributables
Your PC is missing important Visual C++ files or the files are corrupt, which is causing The Talos Principle 2 to crash at startup. Install or repair the Visual C++ Redistributables and the game will stop crashing at launch.
- Open the Steam library and type ‘Steamworks’ in the search bar
- Right-click “Steamworks Common Redistributables” > Manage > Browse local files
- A new Explorer window will open
- Go to _CommonRedist\vcredist
- There are folders with names in years starting from 2010
- Open each folder and run the VC_redis, both x64 and x86 versions
- Install or repair Visual C++ Redistributables and restart your PC
That is all for our The Talos Principle 2 fixes for crashing at startup issues. If you are facing errors and issues with other PC games or your PC, then also see our hub for commonly occurring PC errors and their fixes.