Facing the ‘encountered an error’ message in No Man’s Sky? Unfortunately, this is a commonly reported issue in the popular space survival game. The complete error message reads ‘The game has encountered an error and will now shutdown.’ and asks the player to report the issue via a Hello Games support link. Many players have been unable to launch the game due to this error. This has also caused massive annoyance among fans who wanted to play the game right after they purchased it. If you too are facing the same issue, this article will guide you through a set of workarounds that will definitely help you fix it. Keep reading this article to know more!
A video game crashing upon launch or mid-game isn’t a rare occurrence. Gamers have to endure such annoying experiences all the time. But the developers should acknowledge and fix such issues, at least the recurring crashes which block peeps from playing the game. As it happens, the ‘the game has encountered an error’ issue is very vague. You do get an error code that you can share with the developers. But according to players who sent a report, the developers haven’t been helpful – they didn’t even get back with an answer. You can still, however, send a report – in case, they do reply. Luckily, some users have somehow managed to find a few workarounds to help fix this crash issue in No Man’s Sky.
How to fix ‘the game has encountered an error’ in No Man’s Sky?
Fortunately, some peeps have identified the most probable and common reason behind the game crashing multiple times and throwing the said error message everytime. Apparently, the use of a third-party software in the background is causing the problem. Some peeps were able to solve it by uninstalling ReShade, while others had to uninstall Bandicam. If you are using either of the before-mentioned software programs, try uninstalling them and check whether the error message pops up in the game. Also, if you do use ReShade and uninstalling it is not fixing the error for you, try what we are about to suggest. All you have to do is open the ReShade Installer, click on enable/disable for all vulcan games, and then uncheck the box to disable it. This should most definitely help solve the problem.
Also Read: Is No Man’s Sky CPU or GPU Intensive?
If you aren’t using ReShade or Bandcam, it could be another third-party program causing the issue. You can figure the exact culprit by analyzing the No Man’s Sky dump file on your computer. You can find a dump file at the following location on your PC: C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Temp
Dump File name example: NMS_crash_1471005374.dmp
If the dump file is in a code which you don’t understand, you can choose to submit the same via this link and let the developers get back to you. Or, you can download a debugger tool to interpret the dump file, but that sure is a not of technical work. The dump file contains the exact reason why the game is crashing. Hence, it is a useful source of information to figure the fix. However, there could also be general issues that could cause No Man’s Sky to crash.
General Troubleshooting
To rule out general causes, make sure of the following:
1) Update the game to the latest available version.
2) Make sure Steam is updated.
3) Update your system’s OS and also the graphics drivers. Use the dedicated software program for your graphics card type to update.
That’s all you can do to fix this issue in No Man’s Sky. If nothing fixes your problem, the best bet is to submit a ticket with the dump file attached. Hello Games should get back to you with a solution.
