The Ascent is one of the most anticipated games of 2021 and it has launched for PC and Xbox consoles. The game looks and feels next-gen and is generally well-optimized. However, The Ascent PC players are reporting errors and issues like the in-game crash, LowLevelFatalError, crash at launch, low FPS, Stuttering, and more. I have compiled a list of errors and issues that PC players are experiencing with The Ascent along with their fixes and workarounds like how to fix in-game crashes, how to fix stuttering, and how to disable film grain, Chromatic Aberration, depth of field, and other post-process effects.
The Ascent Crash, Low FPS, And Fixes
The Ascent is a top-down isometric action RPG that also features co-op play. The game is really beautiful to look at and even feels next-gen at the highest graphical settings. However, PC players are experiencing errors and issues with the game like the in-game crash, LowLevelFatalError, crash at launch, stuttering, low FPS, and more.
The following are the errors and issues that PC players are experiencing with The Ascent along with their fixes and workarounds.
Crash Fix
A lot of PC players are reporting that they are unable to play the game as it crashed while playing or after changing DirectX from 11 to 12. Here is how to fix The Ascent in-game crash issue.
Those of you facing The Ascent crash after switching to DirectX 12, at launch, the game is not optimized for DirectX 12. So switch to DirectX 11 and the game will stop crashing. However, if the game isn’t launching after DirectX 12 crash, then right-click The Ascent in Steam > Properties > type ‘-dx11’ under Launch options and hit OK. This will force the game to launch with DirectX 11 and won’t crash anymore.
Another reason for The Ascent to crash while playing is the use of third-party tools and software. Disable any third-party software you are using and also disable Steam overlay and Geforce Experience overlay. This will fix The Ascent in-game crash.
The Ascent is very demanding in terms of GPU and CPU. Chances are, your CPU might be causing The Ascent to crash due to it being or not having less than 6 cores. There isn’t much players can do about it, but a couple of tweaks might help. Open Nvidia Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings > select The Ascent from the list. In the option below, set “Low Latency Mode” to Ultra and set “Tripple Buffering” to Off. Apply these settings and The Ascent in-game crash issues will be fixed.
As I mentioned above, The Ascent is a demanding game. Your GPU could be the reason why The Ascent is crashing. The GPU is either overclocked or isn’t capable of handling the game’s load. If the GPU is overclocked, revert it to its default GPU clock. If the GPU isn’t overclocked, reduce the graphics settings or use MSI Afterburner and reduce the GPU clock by 100 Mhz. Ideally, players won’t have to reduce the GPU clock by more than 200 MHz.
If the above fixes for the GPU aren’t acceptable, then players can cap The Ascent’s max FPS to reduce GPU and CPU load and stop it from crashing. Open Nvidia Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings > select The Ascent from the list. Enable “Max FPS Limit” and set the value for the maximum FPS you want for the game.
If you are playing at an unlock FPS, cap the game to 60 FPS. If you are currently playing at 60 FPS and the game is crashing, cap The Ascent to 30 FPS. Caping the game to 30 FPS will also allow players to bump up the graphics settings a bit. Capping the FPS will reduce GPU and CPU load and The Ascent won’t crash anymore.
How To Disable Film Grain, Motion Blur, Chromatic Aberration, Depth Of Field
Post-process effects like chromatic aberration, film grain, and more are common in video games. However, most games give players the option to disable these effects. The game uses Film Grain but there is no option to disable film grain, chromatic aberration, and depth of field. Here is how to disable chromatic aberration, motion blur, film grain, and depth of field in The Ascent.
Navigate to “C:\Users\’your username’\AppData\Local\TheAscent\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\Engine.ini”. Open the Engine.ini file in notepad and add the following to the text and save it. This will disable the Film grain.
[SystemSettings]
r.Tonemapper.Quality=3
r.Tonemapper.GrainQuantization=0
To disable Depth of Field, add the following to the Engine.ini file under and save it.
[SystemSettings]
r.DepthOfFieldQuality=0
If players want to Disable chromatic aberration just add the following lines.
[SystemSettings]
r.SceneColorFringeQuality=0
If players only want to disable Motion blur in the game them add the following lines.
[SystemSettings]
r.MotionBlurQuality=0
If players want to disable all of the post-process effects including Film Grain, motion blur, chromatic aberration, lens flare, and depth of field, then add the following lines to the Engine.ini file.
[SystemSettings]
r.MotionBlurQuality=0
r.SceneColorFringeQuality=0
r.Tonemapper.Quality=3
r.Tonemapper.GrainQuantization=0
r.DepthOfFieldQuality=0
r.LensFlareQuality=0
Game Not Starting, Crash At Startup Fix
PC players are reporting that they are unable to The Ascent as the game is crashing at launch or not starting at all. There are multiple reasons behind The Ascent crash at startup issue and here is how to fix it.
For those of you facing the crash at launch issue after switching from DX11 to DX12 in-game, right-click The Ascent in Steam > Properties > type ‘-dx11’ under Launch options and hit OK. This will force the game to launch in DirectX 11 and the game won’t crash. For some users, the game will use DX 12 when they launch the first time, so force the game to use DirectX 11 and the issue will be fixed.
Your anti-virus/Windows Security might be blocking important game files and causing The Ascent to crash at launch. Disable real-time protection or exclude the game’s install folder from the anti-virus/Windows Security and I recommend the latter. For Windows Security, open Settings > Update & Security > Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > click Manage Settings under “Virus & threat protection settings” > click “add or remove exclusions” under “Exclusions”. Browse to The Ascent’s folder and add it. After that, verify game files and the game won’t crash at startup anymore.
If the above fixes didn’t work, right-click The Ascent > Manage > Browse Local Files. Launch the game directly from the exe. Players will probabaly face an error similar to “vcruntime140_1.dll or MSVCP140.dll Was Not Found”. Such errors can be fixed by installing the latest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables both x64 and x86 versions. This will fix The Ascent crash at launch issue.
LowLevelFatalError Fix
The Ascent PC players are reporting that the game is crashing with the following or similar error and are unable to play the game.
LowLevelFatalError [File:Unknown] [Line: 728] pDevice->GetTextureAllocator().AllocateTexture(TextureDesc, ClearValue, Format, *OutTexture2D, InitialState, Name) failed at P:/JH/sharedspace/TARelease/Engine/UE-TheAscent/Engine/Source/Runtime/D3D12RHI/Private/D3D12Texture.cpp:701 with error DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED, Size=64x64x1 Format=(0x00000046), NumMips=7, Flags=
One possible reason for The Ascent LowLevelFatalError is the DirectX 12. See under “Crash at startup fix” to check how to force the game to use DirectX 11.
Another reason for this particular could be the GPU. Check under “Crash Fix” to see how to players can fix the LowLevelFatalError if the GPU is the problem.
How To Fix Stuttering, How To Boost FPS
The Ascent is a game that really needs to be played at 60 FPS due to its fast-paced nature. However, the game is quite demanding and players are reporting performance issues like stuttering, low FPS, or random FPS drops. Here is how to boost FPS and how to fix stuttering for The Ascent.
First, make sure you have installed the latest GPU driver. Do a clean installation if you are updating or reinstalling the GPU driver.
One Window 10 setting might be causing The Ascent to stutter. Players have to disable Control Flow Guard (CFG) for the game to fix stuttering on PC. Open Windows Security > App & Browser control > click “Exploit Protection Settings” under Exploit Protection > Program setting > click “add a program to customize” and select “choose exact file path”. A new window will open, players have to navigate to Ascent’s install folder and add “TheAscent-Win64-Shipping.exe”. Scroll down a bit and check “Override system setting” under “Control Flow Guard (CFG)”, then turn it off and apply the settings. This will fix The Ascent stuttering issue.
Open Nvidia Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings > select The Ascent from the list and make the following changes.
Anti-aliasing-FXAA – “Off”
Anti-aliasing-Gamma Correction – “Off”
CUDA GPUs – “All”
Low Latency Mode – Ultra.
Set Power Management to “Prefer Maximum Performance”
Shader Cache – “On” only if you are using an HDD. Don’t need to enable it for an SSD.
Set Texture filtering – Quality to “High Performance”
Triple Buffering – “Off”
Set Vertical Sync to “Use the 3D application setting”
Apply these settings and players will see a noticeable improvement in performance and stuttering will also be fixed.
That is all for our The Ascent fixes for errors and issues like the in-game crash, LowLevelFatalError, stuttering, and more. 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.