Crash On Launch because Audio settings

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Technical Support
1

Issue Type:

Crash - on Launch

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Open steam and click play on darktide
  2. Click play now on darktide launcher
  3. The screen will become blank/black screen, then it crashes

Issue Description:

The game always crashes on launch because the audio device was removed. I’m playing on a laptop (Speaker Realtek HD Audio) with an external monitor that has a built-in audio device (PG27FF1A Sound Device). In the in-game settings, I always use the PG27FF1A as the main audio device. When I unplug it, the game starts to crash on launch. When I plug it back in, it works normally.

The problem began when I changed the in-game audio settings (Darktide in-game settings → Audio → Speaker settings) to Speaker Realtek instead of PG27FF1A. After closing the game, it started crashing on launch, even though the PG27FF1A is plugged in. Unplugging the PG27FF1A and launching the game still results in the same crash on launch. Now, I can’t open the game because I changed the audio in-game settings.

I’ve tried several fixes, but none of them worked. Here’s what I’ve done:

  1. Changed the audio output from ‘volume mixer’ and ‘App volume and device preferences’. The game didn’t appear on both because it’s not making any sound, so I can’t change the audio output from either.
  2. Renamed and deleted the ‘Darktide’ folder from ‘AppData\Roaming\Fatshark’, but it didn’t work.
  3. Verify integrity of the game files via Steam and Darktide Launcher, still not working.
  4. Plugged the PG27FF1A back into the laptop, then turned off the laptop. After that, started the game, but it still crashed on launch.
  5. Tried the solution from this thread (because it’s a similar problem, but the solution didn’t work for me) ‘Crash at startup related to bluetooth headphones’

Im thinking of uninstalling the game and downloading it again but i save that as the last solution.
How can I solve this? Is there a way to change the in-game audio/speaker settings without entering the game? I know there is a ‘user_settings.config’ file, but I can’t find the speaker settings in it.

[PC] Do You Use Mods?:

Yes, and I’ve tried disabling them

Reproduction Rate:

Constant (100%)

Platform:

Steam (PC)

Player ID:

[PC] Crash Report:

GUID: 564b54f4-58de-440a-bd6d-6df344249708
Log File:
Info Type:
[Crash Link]:
crashify://564b54f4-58de-440a-bd6d-6df344249708

[PC] Upload Console Log & darktide_launcher.log:

console-2024-07-18-03.50.15-564b54f4-58de-440a-bd6d-6df344249708.log (14.9 KB)
crash_dump-2024-07-18-03.50.15-564b54f4-58de-440a-bd6d-6df344249708.dmp (1.08 MB)
darktide_launcher.log (43.4 KB)

2

Firstly, try disabling Steam Cloud Saving for Darktide:

  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’

Then proceed to delete the ‘Darktide’ directory in your AppData once more.

I suspect Steam Cloud Saving has been automatically restoring the AppData when deleted, which I suspect is the issue here.