What causes Diablo IV to Crash & How to Fix it? (PC)

Diablo IV crashes at random instances in the game with no visible issues or error messages after the crash has occurred. The crash can occur in the main menu or even after a few minutes of playing the game. The game process becomes non-responsive right before the crash which freezes the game and follows it up by taking you to the desktop.

In this article, we are going to take a look at the different causes of Diablo IV crashing and provide you with a number of different solutions that you can employ to resolve the problem in question. 

What causes Diablo IV to crash? 

In most cases, the cause of the crash can be the overclocks that you have applied to your processor. The game is unable to run with an overclocked CPU, or even a GPU for that matter, leading to crashes in different instances. In addition to that, other factors can result in a game crash. Let’s go through the different causes below to better understand the potential reasons for the issue.

How to Stop Diablo IV from Crashing?

Now that we have covered the different causes of game crashes, we can start with the various solutions that you can execute to circumvent the crashes on your PC. 

1. Limit Cutscene FPS: When facing Diablo IV crashes, the first thing you need to do is limit your frame rate during the cutscenes. An unstable frame rate during the cutscene can often cause the game to crash. This can be managed via the Limit Cutscene FPS in the Graphics menu. The option is on by default, however, if you have disabled it, you will need to enable it again.
2. Disable NVIDIA Reflex: NVIDIA Reflex is a new technology that aims to reduce the input lag in your games so that your gameplay can be as responsive as ever. However, an inconsistency with the implementation can cause it to crash the game in various scenarios. As such, you will have to disable NVIDIA Reflex to resolve the issue. 
3. Lower Graphics Settings: The graphics settings that you have applied in your settings directly impact the performance of the game. Many users have reported facing multiple crashes while using high graphics settings in the game. This is caused by an instability with the game itself which needs to be resolved by the developers. 
4. Force Dedicated GPU: If your motherboard comes with an integrated graphics card, the use of incorrect GPU by the game process can lead it to crash. In such an instance, you will have to force the game to use the dedicated graphics card on your computer. 
5. Update Graphics Drivers: Outdated or obsolete graphics drivers can often cause various issues with newer games on your system. In addition, if the graphics drivers are corrupted due to a Windows update or something of the same nature, you will encounter crashes while gaming. To resolve this, you will need to update your graphics drivers.
6. Scan Game Files: The game files on your computer can lead to a game crash if they are corrupted or you are missing important files in your installation directory. In such an instance, you will need to repair the game files by performing a scan via the Battle.net client. 
7. Remove Overclock: Overclocked components can often result in game crashes on your computer due to the instability that comes along. This happens when the games are not properly optimized, causing it to crash when running on overclocked hardware. If this case is applicable, you will need to remove any applied overclocks to overcome the problem.
8. Execute a Clean Boot: Finally, if none of the above methods resolve the issue for you, the problem is likely due to the interference of third-party programs with your game. This can occur when a third-party security program intervenes with the game process or due to the interference of other apps running in the background. In this case, you will need to perform a clean boot. This will start your PC with only the required Windows services running on startup. If the problem disappears in clean boot, you will need to identify the culprit by enabling the services one at a time.

1. Limit Cutscene FPS

1. Open Diablo IV on your computer.
2. From the main menu, choose Options.

   

3. On the Graphics tab, scroll down and locate Limit Cutscene FPS.

   

4. Enable Limit Cutscene FPS via the box provided.

2. Disable NVIDIA Reflex

1. Navigate to the Options screen on Diablo IV.

   

2. There, under the Graphics tab, locate NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency.

   

3. From the drop-down menu, choose Disabled. 

3. Lower Graphics Settings

1. Select the Options menu on the home screen of Diablo IV.

   

2. After that, on the Graphics tab, use the Quality Preset drop-down menu to lower your graphics settings.

   

3. We recommend selecting Low as the Quality Preset until a future patch from the developer team resolves the bug. 

4. Force Dedicated GPU

1. First, open the Settings app with the keyboard shortcut Windows key + I.
2. In the Settings app, navigate to System > Display > Graphics.

   

3. There, select Diablo IV from the list of apps provided.
4. Then, click on the Options button.
5. After that, select the High Performance option that utilizes your dedicated GPU.

   

6. Click Save. 

5. Update Graphics Drivers

1. Start by downloading the Display Driver Uninstaller tool from the official source by clicking here. 
2. After downloading the file, extract it on your computer.
3. Then, double-click the Display Driver Uninstaller.exe executable in the extracted directory. 
4. The General Options screen will appear once DDU launches. Click Continue.

   

5. After that, pick GPU from the Select device type menu.

   

6. Follow this up by selecting your video card brand from the Select device drop-down menu.

   

7. Then, click the Clean and restart option to uninstall your current graphics drivers.

   

8. After your PC boots up, head to your GPU manufacturer’s website and download the latest drivers.
9. Install the latest drivers on your system. 

6. Scan Game Files

1. Open the Battle.net client on your computer.
2. On the Battle.net client, go to the Diablo IV screen.
3. There, click on the settings icon and select Scan and Repair from the menu.

   

4. Wait for the scan to complete. 

7. Remove Overclock

Overclocking your components can result in greater performance in the games that you play since you are removing the official limit applied to the memory clocks of your processor, or GPU. However, overclocking comes with its own side effects that cause the components to become unstable. This behaviour can sometimes result in various games crashing on your computer. 

This occurs when the games are not properly optimized and they are unable to respond to the higher memory clocks. In such a scenario, you will have to remove the overclocks applied on your PC to prevent the game from crashing. 

8. Execute a Clean Boot

1. First, use the Windows key + R shortcut on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box. 
2. Type msconfig and hit Enter in the Run box.

   

3. Then, navigate to the Services tab in the System Configuration window.
4. There, select the Hide all Microsoft services option.

   

5. Then, click on the Disable all option and hit Apply.

   

6. After that, navigate to the Startup tab.
7. There, click the Open Task Manager option.

   

8. Once Task Manager options, select the listed apps one by one and click Disable.

   

9. Finally, restart your PC to perform a clean boot. 

That is it. One of these solutions should resolve the issue in question. Keeping the overclocks that you have applied along with your overclocked components in check can often help you prevent these crashes in future.