Fix Dragon Age 2 Crashes, Errors, Improve Performance, Best Drivers & More

Dragon Age 2, the true sequel to 2009’s hit video game Dragon Age : Origins is finally here. This is no doubt a highly anticipated title, especially given the fact that its predecessor was one of the most addictive role playing games to be released on this decade. However, a certain segment of PC gamers (me included) were worried by BioWare’s comments during the game’s development stage –according to them, DA2 was to be made more streamlined and accessible compared to its predecessor. The worrying factor was that these were words devs usually used in place of of ‘dumbing it down for the consoles’. Anyways I’ve had the chance to play the game for a couple of hours and I’ve got to say, the changes are not so bad. The game feels more responsive, less frustrating and retains the same Dragon Age feel. Before this article turns into a DA2 review, let me tell you that this is our routine troubleshooting post for Dragon Age 2. Solutions to some of the most commonly reported problems with the game as well as tips to improve performance can be found below.

Fix crashes at launch, random crash to desktop (CTD) and Dragon Age II has stopped working errors.

Given below are some tips to minimize crashes and other errors you might encounter with Dragon Age 2.

• Start the game in DirectX9 mode. Most people have reported getting rid of random CTD after switching to DX9 from DX11. This also helps prevent startup and black screen errors if you have DX11 renderer selected on a non DX11 compliant video card.
• Turn of high resolution textures (if enabled)
• If you are a NVIDIA GPU user, please install the new 267.24 beta drivers. These drivers have compatibility improvements specifically targeted at DA2. Latest beta drivers can be found here.
• Update to the latest DirectX monthly runtime – highlighy recommended. You can download the latest DX monthly runtime from here.

How to improve Dragon Age 2 performance

Given below are several steps you can take to improve performance in Dragon Age 2.

• If you are a NVIDIA GPU user, please install the new 267.24 beta drivers. These drivers have compatibility improvements specifically targeted at DA2. Latest beta drivers can be found here.
• Launch the game and open the in game menu. Go to ‘Account’ under options and disable both upload options.
• Use a screen resolution which is fully supported by both your monitor and video card.
• If you are a NVIDIA GPU user, try the following after installing latest beta drivers. Open NVIDIA control panel and change Antialiasing trans. to multisample  and Max prerendered frames to 8. Additionally, change PhysX processing to CPU instead of GPU. Save, close and launch the game.
• Run the game using DirectX9 renderer.
• Disable the high resolution texture pack (if enabled) from in game menu.

I can’t play the game in high or very high settings. Why?

These two graphics details options are only available for DirectX 11 mode. You have to select DX11 renderer in order to enable these options.

What is the high resolution texture pack, how to enable it and where do I download it?

Please refer to this post for a step by step guide on downloading and installing the high resolution textures pack.

Why can’t I beat the game on nightmare difficulty?

I don’t know if it’s just me (judging by what people have posted on gaming forums, it isn’t just me) but Nightmare difficulty sometimes seems unbeatable. You never seem to be able to win some fights and I haven’t figured a way to counter the constant enemy re-spawning. BioWare will probably release a patch for this.

Please note that this article is a work in progress – more issues, fixes will be added as they are discovered. Keep checking back.

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