Troubleshooting Launching Issues

Minimum Specs

Make sure your PC meets the minimum required specifications to run Spectre. If your PC is below the minimum requirements, then you may experience issues launching the game. Review the minimum specifications here.

Basic Troubleshooting Steps

Restart Your Computer

When in doubt, restarting your computer can help fix a bunch of one-off technical issues. Make sure to completely restart your computer by doing the following:

    1. Open the Windows start menu
    2. Right-click the Windows icon and hover over Shut down or sign out
    3. Click Restart
Verify Game Files

Verifying local game files can help resolve file corruption issues that may cause crashing.

    1. Right click Spectre in your Steam library and click "Properties"
    2. Click "Installed Files" on the left hand side
    3. Click "Verify integrity of game files"
    4. Try launching the game after this is complete
Update Windows
Windows updates can help fix bugs, compatibility issues, and many other issues that may cause trouble in-game. Make sure your Windows is completely up-to-date by following this Windows Update Guide.
Update DirectX
Missing DirectX runtime versions may cause crashing on launch. You can update your DirectX runtime version from the Microsoft website.
Reinstall Game

Sometimes corrupt files can cause game crashes. Reinstall Spectre to give yourself a fresh start:

  1. Open Steam and go to your game library
  2. Right click Spectre and hover over "Manage"
  3. Click "Uninstall" and click "Uninstall" again when prompted
  4. Go back to your Steam library and click "Install" and go through the prompts to reinstall
Disable Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) & Core Isolation

Check if Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) is running:

  1. Open the Windows start menu and type msinfo32 and press ENTER - This will open a System Information page
  2. Scroll down on the right and find Virtualization-based Security. If it's Running, then VBS is enabled.

If VBS is enabled then you'll want to disable it by doing the following:

Disable Virtualization-Based Security (VBS):

  1. Open the Windows start menu and type cmd - right-click command prompt and click Run as Administrator
  2. Copy and paste this command: bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off
  3. Restart your computer
  4. Open msinfo32 again and make sure VBS isn't running. If it is running, then we'll also need to disable Core Isolation:
    1. Open the Windows start menu and search for Core Isolation and press ENTER
    2. This will open your Device security settings. From here you can toggle the Memory integrity setting off and restart your computer.
  5. Once that's all complete you can try running Spectre again and see if the issues persist

Disable Third-Party Applications

Sometimes third-party applications can interfere with the game in unexpected ways. One way that we can test this is to disable third-party applications by doing a Clean Boot in Windows. Microsoft has a great support guide on how to do this on both Windows 10 and 11.

How to perform a clean boot
  1. On the Clean Boot guide click on the tab for your Windows version.
  2. Once you get to step 3 make sure to check Hide all Microsoft Services - Necessary Microsoft services will be disabled if this isn't checked.
    Hide All Microsoft Services.png
  3. Make sure to restart your computer once you've completed all of the steps,
    then open Spectre and test if the issue persists.
  4. If that resolves the issue, then you may consider following the section on the Clean Boot guide titled "How to determine what is causing the problem after you do a clean boot" - This will help you determine what specific application or driver was causing the issue.

Graphics Driver Update

Graphics driver updates provide bug fixes, improved performance, and additional graphics driver features, among other important updates. You can update your graphics drivers from your graphics card manufacturer's website.

AMD Graphics Cards

Nvidia Graphics Cards

Intel Graphics Cards

Anti-Virus Troubleshooting

While Anti-Virus software is there to protect your PC from nefarious software from running rampant on your system, it can also sometimes block safe programs from being launched properly. If you have third-party Anti-Virus software on your PC, then make sure it's completely up-to-date. If that doesn't work, then you may consider temporarily disabling it (at your own risk) and attempting to launch the game again.