Cyberpunk 2077 Crashing on PC: Fix Every Crash Type

Cyberpunk 2077 crashing on PC almost always comes from one of five things: mods that broke after a game patch, damaged files or a corrupted settings file, running out of video memory with ray or path tracing, unstable GPU or CPU clocks, or an Intel Core 13th/14th Gen CPU on an outdated BIOS — and if you use mods, testing without them rules out the most common cause in minutes. Match your symptom in the table below, then work only that section.

Match your crash to the fix

What you see	Most likely cause	Go to
Started crashing the day the game updated, and you use mods	Framework mods out of date for the new version	Fix 1
Crash on launch, at the loading screen or right after changing settings	Damaged files or a corrupted settings file	Fix 2
Crash in busy areas or with ray tracing, path tracing or frame generation on	Out of video memory, or a graphics feature fault	Fix 3
Random crash to desktop after a while, any settings	Overclocks, memory profile, overheating	Fix 4
Intel Core i7/i9 13th or 14th Gen, crashes in many games	Known CPU instability on old BIOS versions	Fix 5

Cyberpunk 2077 has no anti-cheat, so — unlike most crash guides on this site — there’s no anti-cheat service to repair.

Fix 1 — Mods broken by a patch

This is the single most common reason a stable Cyberpunk install starts crashing overnight. The framework mods that most other mods depend on — RED4ext, Cyber Engine Tweaks, Codeware, TweakXL, ArchiveXL and redscript — hook into one specific game version. When the game patches, they break until their authors release an update, and every mod built on them breaks too.

1. Check whether the framework mods have updated for your game version on their Nexus Mods pages. If they have, update all of them together.
2. If they haven’t, test unmodded. Rename (don’t delete) these folders in your game directory by adding an underscore, so you can restore them later:
   • mods (REDmod mods)
   • archive\pc\mod
   • bin\x64\plugins\cyber_engine_tweaks
   • r6\scripts and r6\tweaks
   • red4ext
3. Delete the r6\cache folder — the whole folder — then verify the game files (below). The modding community’s own troubleshooting guide makes this the first step for any script error.
4. If the game is stable unmodded, re-add mods in small batches to find the one that breaks it.

Fix 2 — Crash on startup

1. Verify the game files. Steam: right-click Cyberpunk 2077 → Properties → Installed Files → Verify integrity of game files. GOG Galaxy: Manage installation → Verify / Repair. Epic: Manage → Verify. This replaces damaged or modified files.
2. Reset the settings file. Close the game, press Win+R, open %LOCALAPPDATA%\CD Projekt Red\Cyberpunk 2077 and delete (or move) UserSettings.json. The game rebuilds it with defaults on the next launch and may warn that your settings appeared corrupted — click OK. This clears a graphics option your PC can’t start with.
3. Clean-install the GPU driver. Remove the old one with DDU and install the latest from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel — CD Projekt Red’s own crash guide lists a clean driver install. If crashes started right after a driver update, install the previous version instead.
4. Make sure the game is on an SSD. Since update 2.0 the game lists an SSD in its minimum requirements; a hard drive can cause hangs and crashes while it streams Night City.

Fix 3 — Crashes with ray tracing, path tracing or frame generation

Cyberpunk is one of the heaviest ray-traced games on PC, and path tracing (RT Overdrive) in particular needs a lot of video memory. When the card runs out, the game can crash rather than just stutter — most often on 8 GB GPUs at 1440p or 4K, and in dense areas full of lights and screens.

1. Turn path tracing off, then lower ray tracing one step. If the crashes stop, you found the cause.
2. Lower texture quality and use DLSS or FSR upscaling instead of native resolution — both cut VRAM use. DLSS Quality vs Balanced vs Performance helps you pick a mode.
3. Turn frame generation off as a test. Players widely report crashes tied to DLSS or FSR frame generation after patches. If the game is stable without it, leave it off until the next driver or game update.
4. Don’t swap DLSS files by hand while troubleshooting. Replacing the game’s DLSS DLLs is a popular tweak but adds a variable — and verifying the files (Fix 2) undoes it.

If you get a VRAM or DXGI error message, the deeper fixes are in the out of video memory guide and the DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED guide. The how much VRAM you need explainer covers why ray tracing pushes cards over the edge.

Fix 4 — Random crashes to desktop

A crash that happens at random, on any settings, after 10 minutes or 2 hours, is usually about stability rather than the game.

1. Remove every GPU and CPU overclock and undervolt — MSI Afterburner curves, AMD Software tuning, Precision Boost Overdrive and multicore enhancement. CD Projekt Red’s crash guide explicitly asks you to run stock clocks.
2. Disable XMP/EXPO as a test. An overclocked memory profile can pass everyday use and still crash a heavy open-world game. If that fixes it, re-enable it at a slightly lower speed — see how to enable XMP or EXPO.
3. Close overlays and monitoring tools — Discord, GOG Galaxy and Ubisoft Connect overlays, RTSS and RGB software — as CD Projekt Red recommends. Re-enable them one at a time once the game is stable.
4. Check temperatures. A crash that only arrives after a long session often means heat — watch GPU and CPU temperatures with an FPS and hardware overlay.
5. If the crash names 0xc0000005, see the 0xc0000005 access violation fix.

Fix 5 — Intel 13th and 14th Gen CPUs

CD Projekt Red has a dedicated support article on crashes with Intel Core 13th and 14th Gen desktop processors, linking them to the instability that affects some of those CPUs. The fix is a BIOS update: download the latest BIOS for your motherboard from its manufacturer’s site, which carries Intel’s microcode fix. If you have one of these chips and Cyberpunk is not the only game crashing, do this before anything else on this page.

Check the basics

Since update 2.0 the minimum spec has been roughly a 6th-gen Core i7 or Ryzen 5 1600, 12 GB of RAM, a GTX 1060 6 GB or RX 580 8 GB class GPU and an SSD, on 64-bit Windows 10 or 11. Below that, crashes and freezes are expected rather than a bug. Keep Windows itself up to date too.

Once it stops crashing

Stable but hitching? That’s a different problem — see the Cyberpunk 2077 stuttering fix, then tune with the best Cyberpunk 2077 settings for FPS. For smoother frame pacing underneath, the timer resolution guide covers the Windows scheduling layer.

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