Metro Exodus is an immersive first-person shooter set in a post-apocalyptic Russia. However, many PC players have encountered frustrating crashes when trying to launch the game. Let’s explore some effective troubleshooting steps to get Metro Exodus up and running smoothly.
Update Your Graphics Drivers
Outdated graphics drivers are a common cause of game crashes. Updating to the latest version often resolves compatibility issues.
Step 1: Open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start button and selecting “Device Manager”.
Step 2: Expand the “Display adapters” section.
Step 3: Right-click your graphics card and select “Update driver”.
Step 4: Choose “Search automatically for updated driver software” and follow the prompts to install any available updates.
Step 5: Restart your PC after the update completes.
If Windows doesn’t find a new driver, visit your graphics card manufacturer’s website (NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel) to download and install the latest driver manually.
Verify Game File Integrity
Corrupted or missing game files can prevent Metro Exodus from launching properly. Verifying the integrity of game files through Steam can identify and fix these issues.
Step 1: Open Steam and navigate to your game library.
Step 2: Right-click on Metro Exodus and select “Properties”.
Step 3: Go to the “Local Files” tab.
Step 4: Click “Verify integrity of game files”.
Step 5: Wait for the process to complete, which may take several minutes.
Steam will check all game files and download replacements for any that are corrupted or missing.
Disable Overlays
Third-party overlay software can interfere with game launches. Disabling these overlays often resolves crashing issues.
Step 1: Open Steam and go to Settings.
Step 2: Navigate to the “In-Game” tab.
Step 3: Uncheck “Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game”.
Step 4: Click “OK” to save the changes.
Also disable any other overlay software you may have installed, such as Discord, GeForce Experience, or MSI Afterburner.
Run as Administrator
Running Metro Exodus with administrative privileges can bypass certain permissions issues that may cause crashes.
Step 1: Locate the Metro Exodus executable file (usually in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Metro Exodus).
Step 2: Right-click on MetroExodus.exe and select “Properties”.
Step 3: Go to the “Compatibility” tab.
Step 4: Check the box next to “Run this program as an administrator”.
Step 5: Click “Apply” and then “OK”.
Adjust Graphics Settings
Sometimes, Metro Exodus crashes due to graphics settings that are too demanding for your system. Lowering these settings can improve stability.
Step 1: Launch Metro Exodus.
Step 2: Go to Options > Graphics.
Step 3: Lower settings like “Quality” and “Texture Filtering”.
Step 4: Disable advanced options like “Ray Tracing” if your GPU doesn’t support them.
Step 5: Apply the changes and restart the game.
Start with lower settings and gradually increase them until you find a stable configuration that still looks good on your system.
Perform a Clean Boot
A clean boot starts Windows with minimal drivers and startup programs, which can help identify if other software is causing conflicts with Metro Exodus.
Step 1: Press Windows + R, type msconfig, and press Enter.
Step 2: In the System Configuration window, go to the “Services” tab.
Step 3: Check “Hide all Microsoft services” and click “Disable all”.
Step 4: Go to the “Startup” tab and click “Open Task Manager”.
Step 5: Disable all startup items in Task Manager.
Step 6: Close Task Manager, click “OK” in System Configuration, and restart your PC.
After restarting, try launching Metro Exodus. If it works, gradually re-enable services and startup items to identify the conflicting software.
If you’ve tried these steps and Metro Exodus still crashes on startup, consider reaching out to the game’s support team or checking community forums for additional troubleshooting specific to your hardware configuration. Remember to keep your game and Windows up to date, as patches often address known crashing issues.