Doom Eternal Crashing? Fixes That Work

If Doom Eternal is crashing on your PC, the cause is almost always one of five things: outdated GPU drivers, a corrupted shader cache, an unstable overclock, missing DirectX 12 features, or a conflict with third-party overlay software. This guide walks you through each fix in order of likelihood, so you can get back to ripping and tearing without reinstalling the game or nuking your Windows install.

Why Doom Eternal Crashes More Than Other Games

Doom Eternal uses the id Tech 7 engine, which is built around Vulkan and DirectX 12 with heavy use of asynchronous compute and ray tracing (if enabled). These modern APIs put more direct control in the hands of the game, which means a driver bug that would be hidden in an older game can cause a hard crash here. The game also streams textures aggressively, so a failing SSD or a pagefile that is too small can trigger a crash that looks like a GPU problem.

Another unique factor: the game’s anti-cheat (Denuvo and Bethesda’s own) runs at kernel level. If your antivirus or Windows Defender flags a file mid-session, the game can terminate instantly. This is why you’ll see crashes at launch more often than in the middle of a level.

Quick Checklist Before You Try Anything Else

• Restart your PC – a long uptime can leave GPU memory fragmented.
• Close all background apps – especially RGB software, MSI Afterburner, and Discord’s overlay.
• Check your storage space – Doom Eternal needs about 80 GB free, and it will crash if the drive fills up mid-write.
• Verify the game files – in Steam, right-click the game → Properties → Local Files → Verify integrity. In Battle.net, click the gear icon → Scan and Repair.

Fix 1: Update Your GPU Drivers (and Do a Clean Install)

This is the #1 cause. Both NVIDIA and AMD release game-ready drivers specifically for Doom Eternal. But simply clicking “Update” isn’t enough – you need a clean install to wipe out old driver remnants that conflict with the new one.

1. Download the latest driver from NVIDIA or AMD’s website (not through Windows Update).
2. Run the installer, but choose Custom Installation and check Clean Install (NVIDIA) or Factory Reset (AMD).
3. Reboot after the install, then launch the game.

If you’ve already done this and the crash persists, try rolling back one version. Sometimes a new driver has a regression that only affects certain GPU architectures (e.g., Turing vs. Ampere).

Fix 2: Delete the Shader Cache (Corrupted Cache = Instant Crash)

Doom Eternal compiles shaders on first launch and stores them in a cache. If that cache gets corrupted (often after a driver update or a forced shutdown), the game will crash on the loading screen or within the first minute of gameplay.

1. Open File Explorer and type %LOCALAPPDATA%\id Software\DOOMEternal in the address bar.
2. Look for a folder named renderparms or files ending in .cso or .bin.
3. Delete the entire contents of that folder (the game will rebuild it).
4. Also clear the DirectX shader cache: in Windows Settings → System → Storage → Temporary files → check “DirectX Shader Cache” → Remove files.

This is the fix that works for most players who have already updated drivers. The game will take a few minutes to recompile shaders on the next launch – that’s normal.

Fix 3: Disable Overclocks (GPU and CPU)

Doom Eternal is extremely sensitive to instability. A GPU overclock that passes every benchmark can still crash in this game because of how it loads the GPU in bursts. The same goes for CPU overclocks and XMP profiles on RAM.

• If you use MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision, set the core clock and memory clock to +0 and test.
• If you have an Intel “K” CPU or an AMD Ryzen with PBO, reset BIOS to defaults.
• Disable XMP/DOCP temporarily – unstable RAM is a hidden cause of crashes that look like GPU issues.

If the game stops crashing with overclocks off, you can slowly reapply them, but many players find that Doom Eternal simply won’t tolerate even a +50 MHz offset.

Fix 4: Turn Off Ray Tracing and Set a Frame Cap

Ray tracing in Doom Eternal is demanding and can expose driver bugs. If you have an RTX card and crash frequently, turn ray tracing off in the graphics settings and see if that stabilizes things. Also, the game’s uncapped frame rate can cause power spikes that trip overcurrent protection on some PSUs.

Set a frame cap to your monitor’s refresh rate (e.g., 144) via the in-game settings or the driver control panel. This reduces GPU load and often stops crashes that happen at the menu screen (where the game renders thousands of frames per second).

Fix 5: Disable Overlays and Third-Party Software

Discord overlay, GeForce Experience overlay, Steam overlay, and even some RGB software can inject DLLs into the game process and cause a crash. Disable them one by one:

1. In Discord: Settings → Overlay → disable.
2. In Steam: right-click Doom Eternal → Properties → uncheck “Enable Steam Overlay”.
3. If you use RTSS (RivaTuner), close it completely.

Also, temporarily disable your antivirus real-time protection (not Windows Defender – that’s usually fine). If the game launches and runs, add the game folder to the antivirus exclusions list.

Fix 6: Check Your Pagefile and Virtual Memory

Doom Eternal can use more than 8 GB of RAM, and if your pagefile is too small, the game will crash when it tries to allocate memory. This is more common on systems with 8 GB of RAM or less.

1. Press Win + R, type sysdm.cpl, and go to Advanced → Performance → Settings → Advanced → Virtual memory.
2. Set a custom size of 1.5x your RAM for both initial and maximum (e.g., 16 GB RAM → 24576 MB).
3. Click Set, restart, and test.

If you have 16 GB or more, this is unlikely to be the issue, but it’s worth a try if nothing else works.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Doom Eternal crash on the loading screen?

Almost always a corrupted shader cache or a driver that doesn’t fully support Vulkan. Delete the shader cache folder (see Fix 2) and update your GPU driver. If it still crashes, try running the game in Windowed mode – some users report that fullscreen exclusive triggers the crash.

Doom Eternal crashes with a “DEVICE_LOST” error – what does that mean?

This is a DirectX/Vulkan error that means the GPU driver stopped responding. It’s usually caused by an unstable overclock, a driver bug, or a GPU that’s overheating. Check your GPU temperatures (under 85°C is safe for most cards), remove any overclock, and do a clean driver install.

Can a faulty PSU cause Doom Eternal to crash?

Yes. The game can cause sudden power draw spikes, especially at high frame rates. If your PSU is old or underpowered for your GPU, it can trip overcurrent protection and crash the system. Symptoms include random crashes under load that don’t happen in lighter games. A 650W quality PSU is the recommended minimum for most modern GPUs.

Does Doom Eternal crash on consoles too?

Console versions are generally stable, but the Xbox Series X|S and PS5 versions had some early crashes after major updates. If you’re on console, the fix is usually to restart the console and check for a game update. Hard crashes on consoles are less common than on PC because the hardware is fixed.

Will reinstalling the game fix crashes?

Only if the crash is caused by corrupted game files. Since you can verify files in Steam or Battle.net, a full reinstall is rarely needed. Try that first – it’s faster and doesn’t touch your settings.

My PC meets the requirements, so why does it still crash?

Minimum requirements only guarantee the game runs at low settings. Crashes often come from a bottleneck: a CPU that’s at 100% while the GPU is waiting, or a hard drive that’s too slow to stream textures. Use MSI Afterburner to monitor CPU and GPU usage – if either is pegged at 100%, lower settings or cap the frame rate.

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