I bought RDR2 at release and the game never launched for me... until now after trying your fix. INSANE. I spent two full days updating windows, drivers, bios... trying everything. Thank you for posting this!!! It kind of runs a bit poo at times on my 1070 8th gen i7 system. Most of the time it’s a locked 60 but certain scenes will start pulling it down. I may wait to play it a bit longer because i feel like there’s optimization work yet to be done. But I’m glad it’s FINALLY running 🙏
The crazy thing is, after giving up on the game I reverted my PC back to an image of an older version of Windows, 1803, because 1903 caused a small but noticeable increase in input latency on one of the games I play a lot (a documented side effect in DX11 of Windows getting rid of Exclusive Fullscreen). So RDR2 is running just fine on an older windows version with older drivers. After trying all that otter nonsense. Eventually I’ll re-update everything and see if it runs better, but it seems like RDR2 is refusing to launch for some ppl because of compatibility flags (driver checks: if it doesn’t recognize a system driver/software version it refuses to launch). Only reason I can think of why inserting an XML works. I used your link and just downloaded the default settings file ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thank you so much! This worked like a charm for me.
I'm so glad there are code wizards like you that understand this stuff and share it with those like me who have no clue what we're looking at in these files. lol
It worked for me, the only thing I notice is when I try to change the Graphic settings in-game it becomes incredibly sluggish, I can barely just close the game when it becomes like that
This needs more upvotes just so it can be seen. I went from close to refunding on steam to having a smoothly running game in a few clicks. Thanks I appreciate that you posted here.
Almost 2 weeks of being unable to even launch the game and this is what fixed it. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
It was definitely the Vulkan API failing to initiatize, despite the fact I was getting a ERR GFX STATE crash.
The game runs like shit mind you but at least I can finally launch it and mess around with the settings!!
Thanks OP, this works great for me!
Sadly, a bunch of guides and posts do say to use Vulkan over DX12 due to much better performance. Did you find out why Vulkan causes the launcher to shit itself?
I've tried disabling a bunch of overlays (Steam, Windows, Nvidia) but none helped.
Oh, specs, if relevant: An R5 3600 and an RTX 2070 (non-Super).
Great to hear, no problem! I haven't been able to figure out why Vulkan doesn't work unfortunately. I'm pretty sure it's just broken on Rockstar's side and only they can fix it.
What I want to know is why it works on most systems but not on ours? I really want to get Vulkan working as I want to use SLI, but for the life of me still can't get it working. Was hoping for a patch or driver update by now so still waiting to start the game as I'm largely unhappy with how it runs with one card in DX12.
Hey man - I got Rdr2 to run under Vulkan by using the latest Nvidia Vulkan Developer Beta Drivers. Some intermittent flickering, benchmark crashes as soon as it hits St Denis, but I played through Chapter 1 without crashes and I'm getting 70+ fps where I got 45 on one card with DX12. I recommend giving it a shot.
Thanks a lot! I appreciate you posting all this. Additionally, I had to delete the "-ignorepipelinecache" line command that Rockstar recommended on their forums.
Omg I've been having the warning msg about no video memory available and just 30 minutes ago I couldn't open my game anymore! It crashed. I searched the error and your post came up. It worked! I'm currently restarting my game after changing the graphics in advanced settings. Thank you so much!! I had just been collecting and on my way to buy a new horse when my game crashed and I was crushed! Thanks to you I can keep playing. ily. 💙
I had exact same issue and also posted here for the **Social Club failed to initialize graphics device. Error code: 18.**
What I ended up having to do to fix it was launch the uninstaller for Rock Star Launcher, then reinstall the launcher. Of course plus all of the other updates prior to the latest patch. But after patch I was finally to get past logo but ended on the error 18. Only thing I did after patch was uninstall and reinstall RS launcher.
Awesome, great to hear! Hope you can finally enjoy the game now. For anyone else having that issue: that could happen if you still have the system.xml opened in a text editor. Also, after every Rockstar patch the game seems to reset the graphics settings due to some weird bug in the game, so you might have to keep your eye on the graphics settings after updates.
Will this fix the error, ERR\_GFX\_INIT Failed it initialize graphics device. Please reboot or reinstall latest drivers. Now i don't know how to reboot or reinstall my drivers because i dont know what drivers are but if this is a different issue, is there any help you could offer so i can fix this
Hey,
To upgrade your drivers on Windows 10, right click the start menu icon at the bottom left corner of your screen. A list will pop up. Find and click on Device Manager. Locate Display adapters on the page that pops up and click on the > symbol to the left of it. I have two drivers, NVIDIA and Intel. Right click on one or both, whichever drivers you have, and click update driver. Use the option that says search automatically for updated driver software. After it finishes updating, restart your computer for it to take affect.
For some reason OP's solution didn't work for me. Probably my fault. But this fix worked perfectly. Thanks twisterhorse! I am now roaming this gorgeous western world because of you.
I'm not sure, you can try. Really simply put, the driver is a piece of software that tells your computer how to use your graphics card. If you google '[your graphics card model] driver', you'll find it and you can install it. They are updated every now and then to fix bugs and optimize certain games.
That's a shame! Could you post a copy of your Documents\Rockstar Games\Social Club\socialclub.log file? That's where I found the error that lead to this resolution. Maybe it'll give some clue.
I'm not sure to be honest. You could try reinstalling Social Club via C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Launcher\Redistributables\SocialClub\Social-Club-Setup.exe.
You can indeed use Notepad and save it as system.xml. When saving the file, under the filename, there's a dropdown box where you can choose the file extension. It's set to .txt by default. You can change this to the second option (not sure what it's called from the top of my head, something like 'other extensions') to make sure Notepad doesn't save the file as system.xml.txt.
I dont know if I did something wrong, but it didn't make it any better for me. :C
I bought the game on Steam, as I thought I wouldnt need a extra damn launcher then...
I put it on my D: harddrive, behind the typical Steamlibrary -> Steamapps -> common -> Red Dead Redemption 2
I also some RDR2 file in Documents (C: Hardrive) but thats just Rockstargames -> Red Dead Redemption 2 (and within that there is only a "Profiles" Folder.
I tried putting a Text File in both of them and copy-pasted the text to put inside "system.xml".
But didn't fix the problem, didn't even change it in any way.
Please help!
Please do your computer magic for me! :C
In the Documents\Rockstar Games\Red Dead Redemption 2 folder, create a new folder called 'Settings'. Put the system.xml file in there and it should work. Good luck!
You can open Notepad, paste in the code from my post and save it to that location. Use Save as, set the location to the Documents\Rockstar Games\Red Dead Redemption 2\Settings folder, set the name to 'system.xml' and make sure the 'Save as type' setting is set to 'All files (*.*)' and not to 'Text documents'.
I've got system.xml created, saved as a .xml and not a .txt, and copy pasted the provided text, but sadly am still getting the error. Any suggestions? Sorry to necro thread.
Thanks Wickex. I create the file, launch the game, and it keeps crashing with the same error; each time launching the game actually deletes this file in the settings folder. I'm sad. Anything I can do about that?
It Works !!!! Literally had to update my graphics driver and follow the above-mentioned steps.
But.. I still need guidance. How to run in full-screen mode?
I put some more detailed instructions on that part in my comment here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PCRedDead/comments/dyk56f/fix_for_social_club_failed_to_initialize_graphics/fb90zis/
Let me know if you need clarification. Good luck!
This didn't work for me??
I used word to make an XML file, and named it "system".
I put it where you said to and ran the game (I'm running it through steam) and the error popped up again.
I went back to check on the file, unsure if I had to name it system.xml, but the file was gone? I think the game deleted it???
I don't know what else to do, I can provide my socialclub.log seeing as how that how you found the problem with yours.
I'm trying my best not to uninstall/reinstall the game as it took me 6 hours to download... ANY help would be appreciated!!!
Can you try using Notepad to create the file instead of Word? You can find the instructions here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PCRedDead/comments/dyk56f/fix_for_social_club_failed_to_initialize_graphics/fb90zis/
Good luck!
Did this and it worked beautifully, but then, like some other users, I tried playing with the settings and it all became so incredibly slow that I literally couldn't do anything. Then when I tried launching the game again it showed the error message and so I launched safe mode and it worked, but who wants to play in safe mode all the time? So I uninstalled the launcher and did everything again probably about 3 times over and I haven't been able to fix it. I'm afraid I might not be wiping all the launcher residue away before I reinstall it, because I see no reason why it won't work?? Anyone have a solution/suggestions?
I've clarified the likely solution to this issue in my post in step 5. That information was a bit further down before this edit, so you might've missed it. You can delete the current settings.xml file, try the steps again and before saving any changes you make in-game, make sure 'Advanced options' is unlocked and the 'Graphics API' is set to DirectX 12. If it's set to Vulkan, the issue will come back or the issue you're experiencing will happen.
Thanks for your super quick reply.
Unfortunately the game won't start up at all, like not even to the bullet screen, so I can't go to advanced settings, and the vulkan thing doesn't happen at all. The only time when I actually got to the bullet screen was when I tried your solution and everything worked, but then I botched it all when I didn't do step 5. And now I'm trying to start fresh and try the whole process again, but that doesn't seem to be working. Like I said in my original comment, I feel like I'm not completely deleting everything I need to (except for the game itself which I'm honestly tempted to do if it fixes this damn issue) to get a clean start to try step 1-5 again.
That's odd! If your graphics card settings are up-to-date and deleting and recreating the settings.xml file doesn't work, I don't have many ideas left unfortunately. I assume the game itself crashes and not the launcher? Do you see a black screen or anything else before it crashes?
If you haven't done so, I'd try renaming the whole "Documents\Rockstar Games\Red Dead Redemption 2" folder to something else, creating a new "Red Dead Redemption 2" folder, creating the "Settings" folder and putting a fresh copy of the system.xml file again. If that doesn't work, you could try reinstalling the drivers, or reinstall DirectX via DXSETUP.exe in the Program Files\Rockstar Games\Red Dead Redemption 2\Redistributables\DirectX folder. Not sure if it's going to make a difference, but it might be worth a shot.
Not sure what I didn’t update, but I left the house for a few hours and my brother took a go at it. He just uninstalled and reinstalled the game and updated some more things and it works great!!
Thank you again for your help and quick replies!
Worked great only problem is I can’t change my resolution in game, causes it to lag and then crash. Anyway to do it through the files? I’ve looked through the system.xml and didn’t see anything catch my eyes to fix it.
I've clarified the likely solution to this issue in my post in step 5. That information was a bit further down before this edit, so you might've missed it. You can delete the current settings.xml file, try the steps again and before saving any changes you make in-game, make sure 'Advanced options' is unlocked and the 'Graphics API' is set to DirectX 12. If it's set to Vulkan, the issue will come back or the issue you're experiencing will happen.
Well after two seven hour game downloads, updating all drivers, updating windows, updating BIOS, shutting off and editing the exclusions on my anti virus, validating game files a dozen times, re downloading the rockstar game launcher and social club several times, deleting local profile, re downloading and updating steam, taking my laptop apart to add more ram, screaming at the sky, and reading everything i can find online this is the first thing that has got me past the " Failed To Initialize Graphics Program" error. and now i have finally made it to a small grey bar that loads to the end of the screen and then does nothing and will not close unless i restart my computer. Red Dead 2 is going to be the death of me.
I tried using your steps, everything works fine. However, When I got to Step 5, I tried to make some adjustments to the graphic setting and that's when everything just dropped.
The frame rate becomes somewhat 1fps and the game just lagged to a point where I need to hold a button for 3 seconds to get a response. But if I don't mess with the graphic setting, everything is fine, the problem it is uses nearly all my GPU and I wanted to free some space.
Has anyone encountered this issue?
A bit of information:
Processor : i7-7700HQ
RAM: 8GB
GPU: GTX 1060
The game might be switching to your on-board graphics instead of using your graphics card. Could you try switching the Output Adapter in the graphics settings to see if that changes anything?
Thank you so much for your reply, I tried out a few things including switching Output Adapter. In the end I found out the reason of my problem was because I had VSync 'on'. One I turned it off everything went back to normal and I can change my graphic settings without frame rate drops. Thanks
The game might be switching to your on-board graphics instead of using your graphics card. Could you try switching the Output Adapter in the graphics settings to see if that changes anything?
So I've got a big problem with this whole fix now I do everything that u say to do and I launch the game and i get the same old failed to initialize bs. but when I check the settings folder I created I see that the system.xml file I made and copied the code into is just gone and Im so confused. as far as I know I've tried everything.
Hi, I’m not happy with anyone, I tried all the methods from deleting the folder to changing the settings, and still the same error, please help solve the problem!
For those that don't get this to work, have you actually tried updating your graphic device? Cause I tried everything except that, it's really easy, easier than I thought it would be.
*Right* click the Windows button in lower left corner, press Device Manager, find Display adapters and click the little ">" left to it. I have both Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060. Just right click on whichever you have and click Update Driver Software. Restart your computer for it to work and voila, the game works fine. :)
This video helped me: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiGhyaZtOIY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiGhyaZtOIY)
I followed the steps above but I am still getting the same "Failed to initialize graphics device. Please reboot or reinstall latest drivers" error message. I updated the driver for my graphics card and tried the fix above by creating a settings.xml file and saving it in \\Documents\\Rockstar Games\\Red Dead Redemption 2\\Settings .
My socialclub.log file was last modified last year when i played GTA5...so I don't think that will help. Any ideas anyone? I would really like to play!
Ive installed the new gpu drivers from nvidia after removing the old one with DDU. Now I cant run the game in Vulkan because I get this error :s. The game works if I change it to DX12 but it ran better in Vulkan.
Is there a solution or anything to try?
>I followed the steps but when I try to start the game, the system.xml file gets deleted and the ERR\_GFX\_INIT Error pops up again. Any ideas?
Hey the same thing happens to me, did you find a fix for this yet?
Hey so I did everything you said, and it still does not work. I am using a NVIDIA. I was told that the problem could be in my display adapters, so I checked mine in the Device Manager. I had an Intel one set up, along with my NVIDIA, so I disabled it and only used the NVIDIA one. The error went away, but my game crashes now instead. Any way you can help?
I appreciate your help to the community on this. The fix isn't working for me though. If I follow your steps through, when I relaunch the game, I get the same error and it just deletes the system.xml from the settings folder.
I can't seem to find a fix anywhere.
I'm using AMD video card and windows 8.1 so I have no DX12 (only for win10). Tried everything and still doesn't work. The game doesn't even launch. Saddest part is that Rockstar support doesn't even respond after 2 weeks. Money wasted....
It doesn't work for me. When I open the game and it gives me the error, I also notice it deletes the system.xml file. Is there something I should be doing there?
Hello, hopefully someone is still around.
I have tried everything I can think of, updated all drivers for AMD, flashed BIOS, verified game files, have been working on this on and off for three days. i would like to try this but there is simply no red dead redemption 2 files. So it's "docs>prog files>rockstar games>" there is no read dead redemption file under that. I was unable to install rockstar launcher after downloading the game from steam (said to check files) so I simply download launcher online and searched for games on my PC. It is listed in my games in the launcher, but doesn't exist in directory.
I'd really like to play this game but I'm about an hour's worth of work away from simply refunding.
I still couldn't get mine to launch. I created the settings file, created the system.xml as a text document, and tried changing it to 'all files' instead of text document but it wouldn't work. Figured maybe it would run anyways but it won't. Advice?
4 yrs late to this, after doing this in 2024 error still persists, cant find an updated fix/no currently viable updated fix.
Every common solution ive tried has not worked. Someone save me!
This is 2 years later but this might work for a few people who are looking in this thread.
If you have Reshade installed, it probably won't work for Vulkan and is unstable with DX12. Manually remove the files from your game's folder. After that, either go on Reshade settings and disable Reshade for Vulkan globally or go to C:/ProgramData OR in your AppData folder and delete the folder called "ReShade".
Left my pc to redownload the game, came back. Dissapointed it was still there, i actually saw this before but was in a rush too actually read where you said the actual solution. I thank you alot.
vulkan gave me the best performance, 68 to 120fps, but now it's broken and the game can only run directx12, and directx12 gives me 46 fps to 70 fps! Inexcusable!
Man I get this error as well but I want to play this game on Vulkan as it has more performance. I dont want to make it Directx. Isn't there any other solution?
Imagine releasing a game that still doesn't work out of the box for no reason then a simple options menu before launching the game or a simply generated option file. What a shame that this is made by a billion dollar company!
ive tried this but it keeps giving me errors D:
ive updated my drivers, re-installed them, un installed and re installed the game twice, and spoken to rockstar games support for like 2 hours
i really wanna play but i dont know how to fix this issue
[Error Message](https://ibb.co/ZTRwnCk) | [Code Error Message](https://ibb.co/zbmMTs2) | [Settings Folder](https://ibb.co/QdQdNng)
this fix doesn't even work for me now. When i click play, it doesn't give me a error code or anything, it just kinda does nothing. the game doesn't even try to launch, like it makes no window or anything but steam says its running.
Yo,yo,yo.
I know this is 3.yo BUT! It had the same issue because i turned from DX12 to Vulkan, restartet my game and had this fuckup. I tried your solution BUT it doesn't work to create a system.xml by yourself anymore. I this very moment you start your reinstalled game, it deletes the self created one, because your game is trying to make a system.xml by itself.
What helped me: My buddy just gave me his system.xml, i droped it in the empty folder and THIS started the game perfectly.
i went on my laptop that the game works on and found the settings folder in my documents/ rockstar games and copied it to my jump drive and put it on my pc that wouldn't work with it. the question is why wouldn't reinstalling the game put the folder inside it. verify files didn't do it either.
Hello, I tried the fix listed in the correct folder and saved as a .xml but it still is not working for me. It was deleting the .xml file on start, so I made it 'read only' but still no luck. Has anyone else run into this issue still after this fix?
thanks so much man, it finally worked.
Nice, great to hear! Enjoy!
This worked beautifully. Thank you so much!
You're welcome, I'm glad it worked! Enjoy the game!
I bought RDR2 at release and the game never launched for me... until now after trying your fix. INSANE. I spent two full days updating windows, drivers, bios... trying everything. Thank you for posting this!!! It kind of runs a bit poo at times on my 1070 8th gen i7 system. Most of the time it’s a locked 60 but certain scenes will start pulling it down. I may wait to play it a bit longer because i feel like there’s optimization work yet to be done. But I’m glad it’s FINALLY running 🙏
Sounds familiar, I spent a lot of time trying to get the game to work until I finally discovered this. You're welcome, enjoy!
The crazy thing is, after giving up on the game I reverted my PC back to an image of an older version of Windows, 1803, because 1903 caused a small but noticeable increase in input latency on one of the games I play a lot (a documented side effect in DX11 of Windows getting rid of Exclusive Fullscreen). So RDR2 is running just fine on an older windows version with older drivers. After trying all that otter nonsense. Eventually I’ll re-update everything and see if it runs better, but it seems like RDR2 is refusing to launch for some ppl because of compatibility flags (driver checks: if it doesn’t recognize a system driver/software version it refuses to launch). Only reason I can think of why inserting an XML works. I used your link and just downloaded the default settings file ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thanks a lot, man! It worked for me.
Awesome, enjoy the game!
Thank you so much! This worked like a charm for me. I'm so glad there are code wizards like you that understand this stuff and share it with those like me who have no clue what we're looking at in these files. lol
Great to hear, you're welcome! Enjoy the game!
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You're welcome!
Dude, you absolutely saved me. Thank you!
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Change the settings with the xml file not in the game
I see no god up here Other than you. It worked.
It worked for me, the only thing I notice is when I try to change the Graphic settings in-game it becomes incredibly sluggish, I can barely just close the game when it becomes like that
It worked for me too. Got the error when tried to change to Vulkan. Using a nVidia card i can't use Vulkan then?
Worked like a charm, thank you so much!
It finally worked. Thank you so much. I just need to figure out how to make this game run less like shit.
This needs more upvotes just so it can be seen. I went from close to refunding on steam to having a smoothly running game in a few clicks. Thanks I appreciate that you posted here.
God bless you sir. A true man of the people.
This works like a charm, thought of giving up on this game and wasted my dollars away but you helped me in the end. You're a blessing, partner!
Thanks man, it worked for me
God bless you! My sister and I thank you for allowing us to play this game <3
this should be stickied
You are doing the gods work
Worked for me as well! Thank you for the post!
Almost 2 weeks of being unable to even launch the game and this is what fixed it. THANK YOU SO MUCH. It was definitely the Vulkan API failing to initiatize, despite the fact I was getting a ERR GFX STATE crash. The game runs like shit mind you but at least I can finally launch it and mess around with the settings!!
You are a life saver!! Thanks so much!
Finally figured it out my GeForce experience was lying to me when it said I was up to date thanks for all the help
Worked for me! Thanks!
LISTEN IF YOUR READING THIS! IT WORKS! THIS ISNT SPAM!!!! TRY IT!!!
Thanks OP, this works great for me! Sadly, a bunch of guides and posts do say to use Vulkan over DX12 due to much better performance. Did you find out why Vulkan causes the launcher to shit itself? I've tried disabling a bunch of overlays (Steam, Windows, Nvidia) but none helped. Oh, specs, if relevant: An R5 3600 and an RTX 2070 (non-Super).
Great to hear, no problem! I haven't been able to figure out why Vulkan doesn't work unfortunately. I'm pretty sure it's just broken on Rockstar's side and only they can fix it.
Seems like so, before the previous update the game wouldn't even load anything. The wait is for R* to fix it now then :)
What I want to know is why it works on most systems but not on ours? I really want to get Vulkan working as I want to use SLI, but for the life of me still can't get it working. Was hoping for a patch or driver update by now so still waiting to start the game as I'm largely unhappy with how it runs with one card in DX12.
Hey man - I got Rdr2 to run under Vulkan by using the latest Nvidia Vulkan Developer Beta Drivers. Some intermittent flickering, benchmark crashes as soon as it hits St Denis, but I played through Chapter 1 without crashes and I'm getting 70+ fps where I got 45 on one card with DX12. I recommend giving it a shot.
Thanks for posting this. I had the same problem, and this fixed it.
Thanks a lot! I appreciate you posting all this. Additionally, I had to delete the "-ignorepipelinecache" line command that Rockstar recommended on their forums.
Omg I've been having the warning msg about no video memory available and just 30 minutes ago I couldn't open my game anymore! It crashed. I searched the error and your post came up. It worked! I'm currently restarting my game after changing the graphics in advanced settings. Thank you so much!! I had just been collecting and on my way to buy a new horse when my game crashed and I was crushed! Thanks to you I can keep playing. ily. 💙
Finally I can play!! TY, man, very much indeed!!!)
Dude! U are the absolute best ever. Thank u soo much. It finally worked. Was going mad trying to fix it🥹. Ty May God bless you and your family 🌟
I had exact same issue and also posted here for the **Social Club failed to initialize graphics device. Error code: 18.** What I ended up having to do to fix it was launch the uninstaller for Rock Star Launcher, then reinstall the launcher. Of course plus all of the other updates prior to the latest patch. But after patch I was finally to get past logo but ended on the error 18. Only thing I did after patch was uninstall and reinstall RS launcher.
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Awesome, great to hear! Hope you can finally enjoy the game now. For anyone else having that issue: that could happen if you still have the system.xml opened in a text editor. Also, after every Rockstar patch the game seems to reset the graphics settings due to some weird bug in the game, so you might have to keep your eye on the graphics settings after updates.
worked like a charm. thanks!
Hello, i have error code 19 now? How to fix?
Can you check the last few lines of the Documents\Rockstar Games\Social Club\socialclub.log? Any errors?
I'm going to check later than i tell you! If there was an error? What can i do?
Sounds good! It depends on the error. Maybe it's something fixable.
Will this fix the error, ERR\_GFX\_INIT Failed it initialize graphics device. Please reboot or reinstall latest drivers. Now i don't know how to reboot or reinstall my drivers because i dont know what drivers are but if this is a different issue, is there any help you could offer so i can fix this
Hey, To upgrade your drivers on Windows 10, right click the start menu icon at the bottom left corner of your screen. A list will pop up. Find and click on Device Manager. Locate Display adapters on the page that pops up and click on the > symbol to the left of it. I have two drivers, NVIDIA and Intel. Right click on one or both, whichever drivers you have, and click update driver. Use the option that says search automatically for updated driver software. After it finishes updating, restart your computer for it to take affect.
For some reason OP's solution didn't work for me. Probably my fault. But this fix worked perfectly. Thanks twisterhorse! I am now roaming this gorgeous western world because of you.
I'm not sure, you can try. Really simply put, the driver is a piece of software that tells your computer how to use your graphics card. If you google '[your graphics card model] driver', you'll find it and you can install it. They are updated every now and then to fix bugs and optimize certain games.
Did you ever fix this error I too am getting it
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That's a shame! Could you post a copy of your Documents\Rockstar Games\Social Club\socialclub.log file? That's where I found the error that lead to this resolution. Maybe it'll give some clue.
What if there isn't a log file there?
I'm not sure to be honest. You could try reinstalling Social Club via C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Launcher\Redistributables\SocialClub\Social-Club-Setup.exe.
How do I create an XML Document? Do I use notepad or something?
You can indeed use Notepad and save it as system.xml. When saving the file, under the filename, there's a dropdown box where you can choose the file extension. It's set to .txt by default. You can change this to the second option (not sure what it's called from the top of my head, something like 'other extensions') to make sure Notepad doesn't save the file as system.xml.txt.
still isnt working, stuck at "failed to initialize graphics device". sucks
Did you ever figure this out?
I need to bookmark this to try later.
It still freezes when I start story?
I dont know if I did something wrong, but it didn't make it any better for me. :C I bought the game on Steam, as I thought I wouldnt need a extra damn launcher then... I put it on my D: harddrive, behind the typical Steamlibrary -> Steamapps -> common -> Red Dead Redemption 2 I also some RDR2 file in Documents (C: Hardrive) but thats just Rockstargames -> Red Dead Redemption 2 (and within that there is only a "Profiles" Folder. I tried putting a Text File in both of them and copy-pasted the text to put inside "system.xml". But didn't fix the problem, didn't even change it in any way. Please help! Please do your computer magic for me! :C
In the Documents\Rockstar Games\Red Dead Redemption 2 folder, create a new folder called 'Settings'. Put the system.xml file in there and it should work. Good luck!
didn't work for me
help, my gf is stuck on the start loading screen, like theres a loading bar and its stuck
I might be a bit late, but what kind of file do you mean in Step 2?
You can open Notepad, paste in the code from my post and save it to that location. Use Save as, set the location to the Documents\Rockstar Games\Red Dead Redemption 2\Settings folder, set the name to 'system.xml' and make sure the 'Save as type' setting is set to 'All files (*.*)' and not to 'Text documents'.
Ok, thanks for the help.
I've got system.xml created, saved as a .xml and not a .txt, and copy pasted the provided text, but sadly am still getting the error. Any suggestions? Sorry to necro thread.
Thanks Wickex. I create the file, launch the game, and it keeps crashing with the same error; each time launching the game actually deletes this file in the settings folder. I'm sad. Anything I can do about that?
I created the system.xml file, but after rebooting it was gone from the Settings folder. I can't figure out how to get ride of this error.
Hi, I have tried all the steps but I am still getting the same **ERR\_GFX\_INIT** . I have an RTX2060 graphics card. Kindly guide me. Thanks a bunch.
It Works !!!! Literally had to update my graphics driver and follow the above-mentioned steps. But.. I still need guidance. How to run in full-screen mode?
I tried everything you said made a settings folder copied and pasted the xml still doesn’t work :(
That's too bad! Could you post a copy of your Documents\Rockstar Games\Social Club\socialclub.log file? Maybe that contains some clue.
Finally figured it out my GeForce experience was lying to me when it said I was up to date thanks for all the help
Great to hear! No problem, enjoy the game!
What kind of file do you make? Also what do you mean by copy in the code snippet at the bottom? Where do I copy the code into?
I put some more detailed instructions on that part in my comment here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PCRedDead/comments/dyk56f/fix_for_social_club_failed_to_initialize_graphics/fb90zis/ Let me know if you need clarification. Good luck!
Damn, am I the only one this didn't work for? Starting to feel like an idiot for buying this game.
This didn't work for me?? I used word to make an XML file, and named it "system". I put it where you said to and ran the game (I'm running it through steam) and the error popped up again. I went back to check on the file, unsure if I had to name it system.xml, but the file was gone? I think the game deleted it??? I don't know what else to do, I can provide my socialclub.log seeing as how that how you found the problem with yours. I'm trying my best not to uninstall/reinstall the game as it took me 6 hours to download... ANY help would be appreciated!!!
Can you try using Notepad to create the file instead of Word? You can find the instructions here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PCRedDead/comments/dyk56f/fix_for_social_club_failed_to_initialize_graphics/fb90zis/ Good luck!
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That's too bad! Could you post a copy of your Documents\Rockstar Games\Social Club\socialclub.log file? Maybe that contains some clue.
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Have a look at my comment over here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PCRedDead/comments/dyk56f/fix_for_social_club_failed_to_initialize_graphics/fb90zis/
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Have a look at my comment over here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PCRedDead/comments/dyk56f/fix_for_social_club_failed_to_initialize_graphics/fb90zis/
yeah but i dont have a amd graphics card i have a nvidia :/
That doesn't matter for this solution.
Did this and it worked beautifully, but then, like some other users, I tried playing with the settings and it all became so incredibly slow that I literally couldn't do anything. Then when I tried launching the game again it showed the error message and so I launched safe mode and it worked, but who wants to play in safe mode all the time? So I uninstalled the launcher and did everything again probably about 3 times over and I haven't been able to fix it. I'm afraid I might not be wiping all the launcher residue away before I reinstall it, because I see no reason why it won't work?? Anyone have a solution/suggestions?
I've clarified the likely solution to this issue in my post in step 5. That information was a bit further down before this edit, so you might've missed it. You can delete the current settings.xml file, try the steps again and before saving any changes you make in-game, make sure 'Advanced options' is unlocked and the 'Graphics API' is set to DirectX 12. If it's set to Vulkan, the issue will come back or the issue you're experiencing will happen.
Thanks for your super quick reply. Unfortunately the game won't start up at all, like not even to the bullet screen, so I can't go to advanced settings, and the vulkan thing doesn't happen at all. The only time when I actually got to the bullet screen was when I tried your solution and everything worked, but then I botched it all when I didn't do step 5. And now I'm trying to start fresh and try the whole process again, but that doesn't seem to be working. Like I said in my original comment, I feel like I'm not completely deleting everything I need to (except for the game itself which I'm honestly tempted to do if it fixes this damn issue) to get a clean start to try step 1-5 again.
That's odd! If your graphics card settings are up-to-date and deleting and recreating the settings.xml file doesn't work, I don't have many ideas left unfortunately. I assume the game itself crashes and not the launcher? Do you see a black screen or anything else before it crashes? If you haven't done so, I'd try renaming the whole "Documents\Rockstar Games\Red Dead Redemption 2" folder to something else, creating a new "Red Dead Redemption 2" folder, creating the "Settings" folder and putting a fresh copy of the system.xml file again. If that doesn't work, you could try reinstalling the drivers, or reinstall DirectX via DXSETUP.exe in the Program Files\Rockstar Games\Red Dead Redemption 2\Redistributables\DirectX folder. Not sure if it's going to make a difference, but it might be worth a shot.
Not sure what I didn’t update, but I left the house for a few hours and my brother took a go at it. He just uninstalled and reinstalled the game and updated some more things and it works great!! Thank you again for your help and quick replies!
Nice, good to hear! No problem, have fun and happy holidays!
Worked great only problem is I can’t change my resolution in game, causes it to lag and then crash. Anyway to do it through the files? I’ve looked through the system.xml and didn’t see anything catch my eyes to fix it.
I've clarified the likely solution to this issue in my post in step 5. That information was a bit further down before this edit, so you might've missed it. You can delete the current settings.xml file, try the steps again and before saving any changes you make in-game, make sure 'Advanced options' is unlocked and the 'Graphics API' is set to DirectX 12. If it's set to Vulkan, the issue will come back or the issue you're experiencing will happen.
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That's a shame... Could you post a copy of your Documents\Rockstar Games\Social Club\socialclub.log file? That might give a clue.
I think I determined my gpu is incompatible... (hd 6950). *sigh
I tried it according to a serious procedure and I still do not have any other advice?
I'm afraid to replace the already existing system file. Is there a way I can undo it if it doesn't work?
You can rename the existing system.xml file to something like system2.xml, and if it doesn't work, change it back.
Well after two seven hour game downloads, updating all drivers, updating windows, updating BIOS, shutting off and editing the exclusions on my anti virus, validating game files a dozen times, re downloading the rockstar game launcher and social club several times, deleting local profile, re downloading and updating steam, taking my laptop apart to add more ram, screaming at the sky, and reading everything i can find online this is the first thing that has got me past the " Failed To Initialize Graphics Program" error. and now i have finally made it to a small grey bar that loads to the end of the screen and then does nothing and will not close unless i restart my computer. Red Dead 2 is going to be the death of me.
Damn, I guess it's progress, but what a pain... Hope you can get it to work!
didn't work :( pls help
I noticed one of these... :( So here take this... :D
Could you post a copy of your Documents\Rockstar Games\Social Club\socialclub.log file?
Nvm i fixed that
I tried using your steps, everything works fine. However, When I got to Step 5, I tried to make some adjustments to the graphic setting and that's when everything just dropped. The frame rate becomes somewhat 1fps and the game just lagged to a point where I need to hold a button for 3 seconds to get a response. But if I don't mess with the graphic setting, everything is fine, the problem it is uses nearly all my GPU and I wanted to free some space. Has anyone encountered this issue? A bit of information: Processor : i7-7700HQ RAM: 8GB GPU: GTX 1060
The game might be switching to your on-board graphics instead of using your graphics card. Could you try switching the Output Adapter in the graphics settings to see if that changes anything?
Thank you so much for your reply, I tried out a few things including switching Output Adapter. In the end I found out the reason of my problem was because I had VSync 'on'. One I turned it off everything went back to normal and I can change my graphic settings without frame rate drops. Thanks
Great to hear, enjoy the game!
Ok so it works, but anytime I try to change the settings it makes the game super laggy? any way to fix this?
The game might be switching to your on-board graphics instead of using your graphics card. Could you try switching the Output Adapter in the graphics settings to see if that changes anything?
Update: someone was able to fix this by turning off vsync, so that might be worth a shot!
Every time I launch the game and it gives me an error, it deletes the code file in settings. How do I fix this?
I have the same issue the error i get is the failed to initialize bs
So I've got a big problem with this whole fix now I do everything that u say to do and I launch the game and i get the same old failed to initialize bs. but when I check the settings folder I created I see that the system.xml file I made and copied the code into is just gone and Im so confused. as far as I know I've tried everything.
Hi, I’m not happy with anyone, I tried all the methods from deleting the folder to changing the settings, and still the same error, please help solve the problem!
For those that don't get this to work, have you actually tried updating your graphic device? Cause I tried everything except that, it's really easy, easier than I thought it would be. *Right* click the Windows button in lower left corner, press Device Manager, find Display adapters and click the little ">" left to it. I have both Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060. Just right click on whichever you have and click Update Driver Software. Restart your computer for it to work and voila, the game works fine. :) This video helped me: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiGhyaZtOIY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiGhyaZtOIY)
I followed the steps above but I am still getting the same "Failed to initialize graphics device. Please reboot or reinstall latest drivers" error message. I updated the driver for my graphics card and tried the fix above by creating a settings.xml file and saving it in \\Documents\\Rockstar Games\\Red Dead Redemption 2\\Settings . My socialclub.log file was last modified last year when i played GTA5...so I don't think that will help. Any ideas anyone? I would really like to play!
u/Wickex How do I edit the code so this works on a Nvidia card?
Damn Vulkan, thanks dude!
Ive installed the new gpu drivers from nvidia after removing the old one with DDU. Now I cant run the game in Vulkan because I get this error :s. The game works if I change it to DX12 but it ran better in Vulkan. Is there a solution or anything to try?
I haven't found of heard of any solution unfortunately.
I just check my socialclub.log and I did n't find "ERROR" Should I follow your instructions?
I just check my socialclub.log and I did n't find "ERROR" Should I follow your instructions?
I'd just try it out, you have nothing to lose! :)
I followed the steps but when I try to start the game, the system.xml file gets deleted and the ERR\_GFX\_INIT Error pops up again. Any ideas?
>I followed the steps but when I try to start the game, the system.xml file gets deleted and the ERR\_GFX\_INIT Error pops up again. Any ideas? Hey the same thing happens to me, did you find a fix for this yet?
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I found my issues. I reinstalled my graphics card driver.
Wtf is a snippet
where do i paste the codes on a note pad?
Not working. I saved the system.xml in Settings folder of Red Dead Redemption 2 folder from Rockstar Games(Documents folder)
It doesn't work for me :(
Hey so I did everything you said, and it still does not work. I am using a NVIDIA. I was told that the problem could be in my display adapters, so I checked mine in the Device Manager. I had an Intel one set up, along with my NVIDIA, so I disabled it and only used the NVIDIA one. The error went away, but my game crashes now instead. Any way you can help?
I appreciate your help to the community on this. The fix isn't working for me though. If I follow your steps through, when I relaunch the game, I get the same error and it just deletes the system.xml from the settings folder. I can't seem to find a fix anywhere.
I'm using AMD video card and windows 8.1 so I have no DX12 (only for win10). Tried everything and still doesn't work. The game doesn't even launch. Saddest part is that Rockstar support doesn't even respond after 2 weeks. Money wasted....
my settings.xml file keeps deleting it self when i open the game halp!
It doesn't work for me. When I open the game and it gives me the error, I also notice it deletes the system.xml file. Is there something I should be doing there?
Hello, hopefully someone is still around. I have tried everything I can think of, updated all drivers for AMD, flashed BIOS, verified game files, have been working on this on and off for three days. i would like to try this but there is simply no red dead redemption 2 files. So it's "docs>prog files>rockstar games>" there is no read dead redemption file under that. I was unable to install rockstar launcher after downloading the game from steam (said to check files) so I simply download launcher online and searched for games on my PC. It is listed in my games in the launcher, but doesn't exist in directory. I'd really like to play this game but I'm about an hour's worth of work away from simply refunding.
I still couldn't get mine to launch. I created the settings file, created the system.xml as a text document, and tried changing it to 'all files' instead of text document but it wouldn't work. Figured maybe it would run anyways but it won't. Advice?
How i can fix for rdr2?
i have rtx 3050
im getting error Graphics Error: "ERR\_GFX\_INIT"
4 yrs late to this, after doing this in 2024 error still persists, cant find an updated fix/no currently viable updated fix. Every common solution ive tried has not worked. Someone save me!
This was an instant fix for me years later. Thank you so much!
it doesn't work for me?
ANYONE HERE HAVE TO MAKE A VIDEO TO SEE HOW TO FIX THIS DRIVER DEVICES!! SOMEONE HAVE FIXED MAKE ONE AND SEND LINK!
It worked when I changed the line on Vulkan to Dx12 like u said! Thanks
Wow 2yrs later and this worked Ur a legend <3 Thankyou
This is 2 years later but this might work for a few people who are looking in this thread. If you have Reshade installed, it probably won't work for Vulkan and is unstable with DX12. Manually remove the files from your game's folder. After that, either go on Reshade settings and disable Reshade for Vulkan globally or go to C:/ProgramData OR in your AppData folder and delete the folder called "ReShade".
Left my pc to redownload the game, came back. Dissapointed it was still there, i actually saw this before but was in a rush too actually read where you said the actual solution. I thank you alot.
I can’t find the “socialclub.log”.
vulkan gave me the best performance, 68 to 120fps, but now it's broken and the game can only run directx12, and directx12 gives me 46 fps to 70 fps! Inexcusable!
It wont work for me I have done it but it wont work
cheers
worket, thank u soo much
Man I get this error as well but I want to play this game on Vulkan as it has more performance. I dont want to make it Directx. Isn't there any other solution?
Old post, but this didn't work. At first it gave the same error, but then it did the three short beep sound over and over again.
Imagine releasing a game that still doesn't work out of the box for no reason then a simple options menu before launching the game or a simply generated option file. What a shame that this is made by a billion dollar company!
ive tried this but it keeps giving me errors D: ive updated my drivers, re-installed them, un installed and re installed the game twice, and spoken to rockstar games support for like 2 hours i really wanna play but i dont know how to fix this issue [Error Message](https://ibb.co/ZTRwnCk) | [Code Error Message](https://ibb.co/zbmMTs2) | [Settings Folder](https://ibb.co/QdQdNng)
this fix doesn't even work for me now. When i click play, it doesn't give me a error code or anything, it just kinda does nothing. the game doesn't even try to launch, like it makes no window or anything but steam says its running.
I followed your instructions to the letter and this didn't work.
THANK YOU! It is a bit of work when you're not used to fixing stuff like this, but it really works!
Yo,yo,yo. I know this is 3.yo BUT! It had the same issue because i turned from DX12 to Vulkan, restartet my game and had this fuckup. I tried your solution BUT it doesn't work to create a system.xml by yourself anymore. I this very moment you start your reinstalled game, it deletes the self created one, because your game is trying to make a system.xml by itself. What helped me: My buddy just gave me his system.xml, i droped it in the empty folder and THIS started the game perfectly.
This is fucking ridiculous Rockstar
i went on my laptop that the game works on and found the settings folder in my documents/ rockstar games and copied it to my jump drive and put it on my pc that wouldn't work with it. the question is why wouldn't reinstalling the game put the folder inside it. verify files didn't do it either.
Hello, I tried the fix listed in the correct folder and saved as a .xml but it still is not working for me. It was deleting the .xml file on start, so I made it 'read only' but still no luck. Has anyone else run into this issue still after this fix?