Crash on first load from launcher

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Technical Support
1

Issue Type (Required):

Launcher

Issue Description (Required):

Fail to load game on first clicking play from launcher. Game hangs and goes black. Need to kill from windows and it works fine second time.
Been happening for ~a week.

Steps to Reproduce (Required):

Open launcher. Click PLAY.

[PC] Do You Use Mods? (Optional):

No, I don’t use mods

Reproduction Rate (Required):

Constant (100%)

Platform (Required):

PC - Steam

2

Could you share your most recent console logs, and darktide_launcher.log with us please? :slight_smile:

3

GUID: 6c12020f-50c7-4061-9ca8-ee12cd07e1a0
Log File:
Info Type:

4

console-2025-04-21-09.55.35-de6be212-83c0-4e95-9a24-75f2aaf62aa8.log (38.1 KB)

5

darktide_launcher.log (1.2 KB)

6

One more observation - it looks like a successful session starts with a brief flash of “building shader cache”

7

The logs are cut short, unfortunately! Could you try this, please?:

Step 1: Disable Steam Cloud Saving

If Steam Cloud saving is enabled for Darktide, this may automatically restore the AppData and consequently cause the issue to resurface.

  1. Navigate to your Steam library
  2. Right-click Darktide
  3. Select ‘Properties’
  4. On the ‘General’ tab, scroll down to ‘Steam Cloud’
  5. Disable ‘Keep game saves in the Steam Cloud for Warhammer 40,000: Darktide’

Step 2: Delete AppData

NOTE: By deleting your AppData, custom keybindings will be reset. You may wish to make a back-up of the directory in the event deleting your AppData does not work to resolve the issue.

  1. Press the Windows key + R
  2. Enter %appdata% within the search input and select ‘OK’
  3. Navigate to: AppData\Roaming\Fatshark
  4. Delete the entire ‘Darktide’ directory

Step 3: Verify Integrity of Game Files

You will then need to use the ‘Verify Integrity of Game Files’ option, which is accessible via the Steam client and will ensure the installation is complete.

  1. Right-click Darktide in your Steam library sidebar
  2. Select ‘Properties’
  3. Select the ‘Local Files’ tab
  4. Select the ‘Verify Integrity of Game Files’ button
  5. When complete, close and reopen Steam