🌻Solarpunk | Fatal Error Help Guide

Solarpunk – Fatal Error on Windows PC

Some players on Windows PC may experience a Fatal Error when starting or playing Solarpunk.

In many cases we have seen so far, the issue is not caused by the PC being too weak. Instead, it is often related to Windows updates, graphics drivers, Windows graphics components, DirectX, overlays, or specific driver components.

We have seen different issue patterns so far:

  • On some newer Intel Core Ultra systems, the crash can be related to Intel AI Boost / Intel NPU.
  • On some AMD graphics systems, the crash can be related to the AMD graphics driver, fullscreen display mode, overlays, or a GPU timeout.

Please start with the general steps below. If you are using an Intel Core Ultra system, also check the Intel section. If you are using an AMD graphics card, also check the AMD section.

Step 1: General steps for all systems

Please first make sure your system is fully up to date.

1. Complete Windows Update

Open Windows Settings and install all available Windows updates.

Also check optional driver updates:

  1. Open Windows Settings
  2. Go to Windows Update
  3. Open Advanced options
  4. Open Optional updates
  5. Install available driver updates, especially graphics, chipset, display, Intel, NVIDIA, AMD, or system updates
  6. Restart your PC, even if Windows does not explicitly ask you to
  7. After the restart, check Windows Update again to make sure no updates are still pending

This is important because unfinished or stuck Windows updates can leave DirectX, display driver, or system components in an unstable state.

2. Verify the game files on Steam

Right-click Solarpunk in your Steam Library → Properties → Installed Files → Verify integrity of game files.

3. Update your graphics driver

Please install the latest graphics driver for your graphics card.

If you are already using the latest driver and the issue started recently, please also try a clean reinstall of the graphics driver or test the previous stable driver version.

4. Disable overlays and background tools temporarily

Please temporarily disable overlays and tools such as:

  • Steam Overlay
  • Discord Overlay
  • NVIDIA Overlay
  • AMD Overlay
  • AMD Metrics Overlay
  • MSI Afterburner / RivaTuner
  • OBS or other recording tools
  • Parsec or other remote-play / virtual display tools

Then restart your PC and try launching Solarpunk again.

5. Lower graphics settings

If you can reach the options menu, please lower the general graphics quality preset by one or two steps and restart the game.

If you are using a high refresh rate, please also try limiting the game to 60 FPS for testing.

Step 2: Intel Core Ultra / Intel AI Boost / Intel NPU

On some newer Intel Core Ultra PCs, the crash can be related to Intel AI Boost / Intel NPU.

Solarpunk does not require Intel AI Boost to run, but on some systems the related driver can cause a crash during startup.

1. Update Intel drivers

Please update your Intel drivers, especially if you are using a newer Intel Core Ultra system.

This includes:

  • Intel Graphics Driver
  • Intel Chipset Driver
  • Intel NPU Driver / Intel AI Boost Driver
  • Other system drivers provided by your PC or motherboard manufacturer

You can find the Intel NPU Driver here:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/794734/intel-npu-driver-windows.html

After updating your drivers, please restart your PC and try launching Solarpunk again.

2. Try disabling Intel AI Boost / Intel NPU

If the Fatal Error still happens after updating your drivers, please try disabling Intel AI Boost / Intel NPU as a temporary workaround.

This mainly applies to newer Intel Core Ultra systems.

Please follow these steps:

  1. Right-click the Windows Start button
  2. Select Device Manager
  3. Look for a category called Neural processors, Intel AI Boost, System devices, or similar
  4. Open that category and look for Intel AI Boost, Intel NPU, or Intel Neural Processing Unit
  5. Right-click the Intel NPU / Intel AI Boost device
  6. Select Disable device
  7. Confirm the warning message
  8. Restart your PC
  9. Start Solarpunk again

Please note: This is only a temporary workaround. You can enable the device again later in Device Manager by right-clicking it and selecting Enable device.

Disabling Intel AI Boost should not affect normal gaming performance in Solarpunk, because the game does not require this device to run.

Step 3: AMD graphics systems

On some AMD graphics systems, we have seen Fatal Error crashes that look like a GPU timeout or graphics driver reset.

This can happen when Windows or the graphics driver stops receiving a response from the graphics card. It does not necessarily mean that your graphics card is broken.

1. Clean reinstall your AMD graphics driver

Please reinstall the latest AMD Adrenalin graphics driver for your AMD Radeon graphics card.

If possible, use AMD’s cleanup option or a clean / factory reset installation.

If you are already using the latest driver and the issue continues, please also try the previous stable AMD driver version.

2. Try Borderless Windowed mode

If Solarpunk crashes after a few minutes in fullscreen mode, please try switching the Display Mode to Borderless Windowed.

Some players reported that the game becomes stable in Borderless Windowed mode.

If you cannot reach the options menu, please tell us in your support message.

3. Reduce display and GPU load for testing

Please also try the following:

  • Limit the frame rate to 60 FPS
  • Disable AMD FreeSync temporarily
  • Disable AMD Enhanced Sync temporarily
  • Disable AMD Anti-Lag temporarily
  • Disable AMD Overlay and Metrics Overlay temporarily
  • If you use more than one monitor, test with only one monitor active
  • If your monitor is set to 144 Hz or higher, test 60 Hz temporarily
  • If HDR is enabled, disable HDR temporarily

4. Avoid fullscreen mode for now

If Borderless Windowed mode solves the crash for you, please keep using Borderless Windowed mode for now and avoid exclusive Fullscreen mode.

This helps us narrow down the issue and suggests that the crash may be related to how fullscreen mode interacts with the graphics driver or Windows display handling.

Step 4: Send us your crash files

If the Fatal Error still happens, please send us your crash files so we can investigate further.

The easiest way is to zip this whole folder and send it to us:

C:\Users<USER>\AppData\Local\Solarpunk\Saved

Please replace with your Windows user name.

Crash reports and dump files are usually here:

C:\Users<USER>\AppData\Local\Solarpunk\Saved\Crashes

Logs are usually here:

C:\Users<USER>\AppData\Local\Solarpunk\Saved\Logs

Please also include a short description of when the Fatal Error happens, for example:

  • On startup
  • While loading a save
  • During gameplay
  • After pressing a key or moving the mouse
  • After a few minutes of gameplay
  • Only in fullscreen mode
  • Every time or only sometimes

Please send everything to:

support@rokaplay.com

Thank you for your help. We are sorry that some players are experiencing this issue, and we are working on a fix.

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