ARC RAIDERS CRASH FIX: HOW TO SOLVE THE 'EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION' NIGHTMARE

Guide
Written By NLM Team

There is nothing quite as soul-crushing as successfully looting a fully kited-out venator IV only to have your game hard crash to the desktop before you can extract.

I have been seeing this specific error pop up everywhere for ARC Raiders players recently. The dreaded Unhandled Exception: EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION. It is vague, it is annoying, and it usually happens at the worst possible time. It basically means the game tried to access memory it was not supposed to, and Windows shut it down for bad behavior. The frustration is real, and while some players are suggesting extreme measures to fix it, we need to look at the safe options first. Before you go rewriting your PC's genetic code, let's go through the standard checklist to get you back in the game.

The Low-Hanging Fruit

We start with the basics because they work more often than you would think. Your first step should always be to verify the game files. If you are on Steam, right-click the game, go to Properties, Installed Files, and hit "Verify integrity of game files." Steam has a habit of corrupting a single tiny file during a patch, and that one file can cause the entire memory structure to collapse.

If that comes back clean, look at your overlays. I know you want to see who is talking in Discord or check your frame rate with the Steam overlay, but these are notorious for causing access violations. Disable the Discord overlay, the Steam overlay, and anything else like NVIDIA GeForce Experience that might be trying to draw over the game window. It is annoying to lose that functionality, but it is better than crashing.

Graphics and Launch Options

Unreal Engine 5 is beautiful, but it can be temperamental. One of the most common fixes for this specific crash is forcing the game to run in DirectX 11 instead of 12. You can do this by going to your Steam Launch Options (under Properties > General) and typing -d3d11 or -dx11. This forces the game to use the older, often more stable API.

You should also look at your in-game settings. Ray Tracing is a massive resource hog and a frequent cause of instability. Try setting Ray Tracing to "Static" or turning it off entirely. While you are in there, try capping your frame rate or lowering your overall video settings to "Low" just to test stability. If the crashes stop, you know it is likely a VRAM or load-related issue, and you can slowly bump things back up until it breaks again.

The "Nuclear Option" (Proceed with Extreme Caution)

I have seen a lot of chatter online, specifically a thread from a user who tried literally everything, drivers, XMP profiles, reinstalling Windows, and nothing worked. What finally fixed it for them was updating their motherboard BIOS.

Now, I need to be incredibly clear here. Updating your BIOS is not like updating your graphics card driver. It is not something you do just because you are bored on a Tuesday. If you mess up a BIOS update, or if your power goes out during the process, you can brick your motherboard permanently. It is like nuking your house to get rid of a spider.

Does it work? For some people, yes, it seems to resolve deep-level hardware compatibility issues that cause these memory errors. Should you do it? Only if you have tried every other single option on this list and the game is still unplayable. If you decide to go this route, go to your motherboard manufacturer's official website, find your specific model, and follow their instructions to the letter. Do not guess.

The Bottom Line

Most of the time, the EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION is a software conflict that can be resolved by verifying files or forcing DX11. Do not rush to flash your BIOS unless you have absolutely no other choice. Good luck out there, Raiders, and hopefully your next extraction is crash-free.

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NLM Team
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