No Man’s Sky Crashing: Why & How To Fix [6 Quick Steps]

How do I fixNo Man's Sky crash? Update the Outdated Graphics Drivers 💥

By Dan Scutaru Last updated Nov 14, 2023

No Man’s Sky was released on Steam and a lot of players are complaining about errors and issues that are making the game unplayable. The game is one of the most popular this year, but it has negative reviews due to game issues.

Players reported that No Man’s Sky crashes randomly through the game or at startup and they are unable to play it for more than 10-20 minutes without a crash.

The most common No Man’s Sky crashing errors occur on these devices: PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox One.

🔥 There are also different situations when this issue happens:

Crashes after 5 minutes
Crashes after update
Crashes on startup
Crashes when loading save
Crashes randomly
Crashes when I tab out
Crashes after selecting game mode

When No Man’s Sky crashes, the game will stop running and you’ll be returned to your desktop or the home screen of your console. Depending on the cause of the crash, you may see an error message or notification explaining the problem.

For example, you may encounter scenarios where No Man’s Sky won’t launch on your PC. To be more specific, the players had errors regarding No Man’s Sky won’t launch on Windows 10 or No Man’s Sky won’t launch on Steam.

If the game crashes and you’re not sure why there are several things you can try to troubleshoot the issue.

Why does No Man’s Sky keep crashing?

There could be several reasons why you’re unable to launch No Man’s Sky on your computer. Some common issues that can prevent the game from crashing include:

Outdated graphics drivers: Make sure you have the latest graphics drivers installed for your graphics card. Outdated drivers can cause compatibility issues with the game.
System requirements: Make sure your computer meets the minimum system requirements to run No Man’s Sky. If your computer doesn’t meet the minimum requirements, the game may not run properly.
Corrupt game files: If the game files are corrupt or missing, it can prevent the game from launching. To fix this issue, you can try verifying the integrity of the game files through the Steam client.
Other programs running in the background: If you have other programs running in the background, they may be conflicting with the game and causing it to crash. Try closing any unnecessary programs before launching the game.
Outdated operating system: Make sure your operating system is up to date. Outdated system software can cause compatibility issues with the game.
Outdated game version: The game may have been designed to work with a specific version of the operating system or hardware, and running it on a different version may cause compatibility issues that can lead to crashing. Additionally, outdated versions of a game may not have the latest bug fixes and stability improvements, which can also cause the game to crash.
Firewall or antivirus blocking the game: If your firewall or antivirus software is blocking the game, it may prevent it from launching. You may need to add an exception for the game in your firewall or antivirus settings.

You can fix all of these errors and play the game by following our workarounds below. First, make sure that you meet the minimum system requirements so that the game can work properly on your computer.

A preliminary check for No Man’s Sky that any player should consider is the compatibility matter. Make sure that your system meets the minimum requirements for running No Man’s Sky, mentioned down below.

If you don’t meet the requirements that may be the cause of your errors, to fix that you need to upgrade your PC.

1. Update your Graphics Drivers

Outdated or corrupt graphics drivers can cause crashing issues. Make sure you have the latest graphics drivers installed for your graphics card.

Update your GPU drivers manually:

Open Device Manager from the Start Search box.
Go to Display adapters and right-click on your graphics driver.
Choose the Update driver option to proceed.
Choose the Search automatically for drivers option.
Wait for the process to complete and get the latest driver version.

Update your GPU drivers automatically:

Sometimes updating your GPU driver manually might be a bit hard or time-consuming, just know that you can update your drivers automatically with a dedicated third-party app, such as Outbyte Driver Updater. You can use it for any driver that you want to update, and it works in just a couple of clicks, here is how you do it:

Download and install Outbyte Driver Updater.
Launch the app and it will start scanning.
Click Activate & Update to fix all errors.

2. Delete the Shader Cache

The Shader cache is a game data file that is stored on your PC when you install the game. If these files are corrupted, you can run into No Man’s Sky crashing issues.

Type File Explorer in the search box and press Enter.
Copy the following location path in the File Explorer search box:
C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\No Man’s Sky\GAMEDATA\SHADERCACHE
In this location, select the files from SHADERCACHE.
Right-click on the selected files list and press Delete.
Check your game to see if it works.

3. Update the game

Make sure you are running the latest version of No Man’s Sky. You can check for updates through the game’s settings menu or by downloading updates from the developer’s website.

4. Verify the game files

If you are experiencing crashing after installing updates or modding the game, you may have corrupted game files. You can try verifying the game files through Steam to fix this issue. This is how you do it:

Open the Steam client and go to Library.
Select your No Man’s Sky and press Properties.
Go to the Local files tab.
Press the Verify the integrity of the game files.
See the results to determine if your game has corrupted files.

5. Reset the game settings

Sometimes resetting the game settings to the default can help fix crashing issues. To do this, go to the game’s settings menu and select the “Reset Settings” option.

6. Try running the game in Safe Mode

Safe Mode allows you to run the game with the minimum settings and can help you identify any issues with graphics settings or mods.

To run the game in Safe Mode, open the Steam client and go to Library.
Right-click on your game and Choose Properties.
In the General tab, go to the Launch options bar.
Enter -safe and Press the X button to close.
Now, you can open the game in Safe Mode.

Other No Man’s Sky Errors:

**#1 No Man’s Sky MSVCR100.dll error**

When you start the game you might get this error saying that MSVCR100.dll is missing from your computer and you are unable to start and play it. Follow the solution below to fix this .dll error.

Solution – This was due to lack of VC++ Redist 2010. This has been resolved in an update.

“Either Steam isn’t running or you don’t have a suitable license” message
Solution – the VC 2013 Redist is required and installed by Steam. It appears yours may be corrupt. Please download here (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40784)

#2 No Man’s Sky OpenGL Error

You might receive this issue because your video card doesn’t meet the 4.5 OpenGl requirement and you should also have the latest software installed for it. If that’s not the problem you should open this file here in notepad and check your OpenGl version Steamapps/common/No Man’s Sky/Binaries/SETTINGS/TKGRAPHICSSETTINGS

#3 No Man’s Sky FPS Drops & Stutter

This is the most commonly encountered error in the game, a lot of players are complaining about performance issues, especially about FPS issues like Low FPS and FPS Drops. To fix the performance issues you need to follow the tutorial below.

#4 No Man’s Sky Sound Bug

If you are facing a sound cracking issue, there is a simple way to fix that. Apparently, a lot of players are complaining about this sound issue but you can fix it with a simple workaround. Just go to windows sound options and lower the audio quality to DVD quality(24 bit, 44100Hz)

#5 No Man’s Sky Not Starting

A lot of players are encountering this error, the game simply won’t start, they press the Play button in Steam and nothing happens or they receive an error and they are unable to play it. You can follow or tutorial below to fix this issue and start the game.

We hope that our guide helped you fix No Man’s Sky crashing errors and other performance issues. If you encounter any other issues in the game or if you don’t know how to apply the patch to your game, comment below or use our contact page and we will help you fix your game. –GamesErrors Team

No Man’s Sky