Guides & Cheats
Dark Souls 3 has finally been launched and I am sure that there will be millions of new ways that the game will brutally destroy us and drive us crazy, but at least one of them is not part of the plan. Dark Souls 3 crashes and freezes are driving many people crazy right now – especially a crash that happens right at the beginning of the game at the Bonfire. The developers are aware of that particular crash and are working hard to quickly release a fix, but until then we have fix for the Bonfire Crash, as well as more fixes for Dark Souls 3 crashes and freezes that might prevent you from getting the entire experience.
So let’s not waste a single second and let’s see how to fix Dark Souls 3 crashes, freezes and other problems – make sure to read all the fixes and try them even if they are not listed for a problem you are having as they might work for multiple problems.
The Bonfire Crash Fix
Right now, this seems to be the most popular crash that people are getting and even though it will be fixed in the future, right now it’s killing us. However, there are some temporary fixes that work and you should try any or all of them to get past this stage in the game and experience a crash-free DS3. One of the least invasive ways to fix this crash is to unequip any shield you might have and go to the bonfire – this strangely works in many cases! If it doesn’t, setting Lighting Quality to Low. Finally, some players believe that the crash might be fixed if you pick a specific class, which is the Knight. It might be a coincidence, but those playing or switching to Knight have not experienced the Bonfire crash or other crashes, so it’s worth trying if the others don’t work.
How to fix Dark Souls 3 Crashes
For other non-specific crashes, try the following fixes:
– Download and install the latest graphics card drivers. Apparently most crashes are related to the graphics cards, so having the latest drivers will do the trick
– Try the Lightning Quality – Low setting for other crashes as well. This does fix a lot of problems!
– Turn the graphics quality to lower settings overall to improve the game’s performance and to reduce the number of crashes.
– If you already have the latest drivers installed for your video card and the game is crashing or stuttering, try reverting to the old version of your driver – as strange as this might sound, this was a fix for many players.
If you want to play the game with a controller, there might be a problem, especially if you are trying to use your PlayStation’s Dualshock controller – many people report that they can’t play with a DS either, because the game apparently doesn’t recognize it. The fix for this is to go to the DS4 Window settings. Tick the first option, “Hide DS4 Controller” and it should now work.
If you are using an nVidia 500 Series card (or other older cards), there is a strange fix that improves the game’s performance A LOT: download the the 314.22 Nvidia driver here and install it. For some reason, it works like a charm and you should see a massive frame rate increase, even with newer models, so try it even if you have a newer model and you want better performance.
For now, these are our suggested fixes to Dark Souls 3 crashes and performance issues. If we manage to find more useful tips and fixes, we’ll make sure to update this article. If you managed to find any, don’t hesitate to let us know by commenting below.
