PC Game Pass games crash at launch with Exception code: 0xc0000005. Latest in line - Starfield.

Legendaddy · Sep 7, 2023

Old posts on the exact same issue -

Redfall

Atomic Heart

Scorn and Plague Tale: Requiem too had same issue.

PC Configuration

Lenovo Legion Y740, Model: 81UJ0001US, Intel Core i7-9750H, RTX 2080-MQ, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD, Windows 11 Pro 22H2.

GeForce Game Ready Driver 537.13

Xbox app version 2309.1001.3.0

Gaming Services 13.80.25001.0

Game Install Detail

Installed to D: drive, at D:\Games\XboxGames\Starfield.

~74 GB left in D: drive after installation.

~52 GB left in C: drive after installation.

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__{alphanumeric} is a junction to D:\WindowsApps\BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__{alphanumeric} and that itself is a junction to D:\Games\XBoxGames\Starfield\Content. (These junctions are created automatically by MS Store / Xbox app, and not done manually by me.)

Issue

I installed the game Starfield from PC Game Pass to my D: drive (~74 GB left in drive after installation). Now whenever I try to launch the game in any way (from desktop shortcut OR clicking play button in xbox app OR by going to the installation folder and clicking the app exe), this happens -

Starfield title splash-screen appears

At the bottom right of that splash-screen, text appears - "signing in", "syncing data", "launching game".

And then an error message appears saying "Error code: (0xc0000005)

This issue is not specific to Starfield. As I mentioned at the top, I have had this same exact issue in other games downloaded from the Xbox PC app before. RedFall, Atomic Heart, Scorn, Plague Tale: Requiem etc. all had same crash. So, I am absolutely sure this is an issue with the Xbox PC app. If you see the thread for RedFall, I had predicted in June 2023 that this will happen in Starfield too; and lo n behold, it did!!

Troubleshooting

Made sure that OS, BIOS and graphics drivers are up-to-date.

Tried running the game as Admin

Tried running after disabling antivirus (Windows Security) and Firewall.

Added D:\Games\XBoxGames\Starfield\Content folder to the Windows Security antivirus exclusion lis

Tried verify and repair option available within Xbox app.

Clicked "Repair", and "Reset" option in Windows settings page of MS Store, Xbox app and Starfield app.

Fully uninstalled Xbox app, MS Store app and then reinstalled them.

Cleared the store cache using “wsreset”.

Removed and reinstalled Gaming Services. Rebooted device and then reinstalled Starfield from xbox app.

Did a clean reboot by disabling all non-MS services in msconfig and startup.

Did DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth and SFC /scannow

Create a brand new local (non-MS) user in Windows, logged in as that user, logged into MS Store as the same same user that has XGPU subscription.

I've carried all the troubleshooting steps listed above and that were mentioned in the RedFall thread. None of these have any effect on the game. At each step, the game still crashes in same way. So please don't suggest me same useless steps to make me run around.

Log from Event Viewer

I checked event viewer, and that shows this in the logs when the game crashes -

Faulting application name: Starfield.exe, version: 1.7.23.0, time stamp: 0x64e3d492
Click to expand...

Faulting module name: Starfield.exe, version: 1.7.23.0, time stamp: 0x64e3d492
Click to expand...

Exception code: 0xc0000005
Click to expand...

Fault offset: 0x00000000015b94c7
Click to expand...

Faulting process id: 0x0x3AF8
Click to expand...

Faulting application start time: 0x0x1D9E0F17A887F8D
Click to expand...

Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__alphaNumeric\Starfield.exe
Click to expand...

Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__alphaNumeric\Starfield.exe
Click to expand...

Report Id: Redacting
Click to expand...

Faulting package full name: BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__alphaNumeric
Click to expand...

Faulting package-relative application ID: Game
Click to expand...

Cause Speculation / Educated diagnosis from experience

I am 1000% sure that this issue is caused by the game being installed on D: drive, i.e. a drive which is not windows drive (C

My speculation is - xbox / MS Store / Windows expects the games to be present in C: drive. That's why it creates a junction link from C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\{game's folder} to D:\WindowsApps\{game's folder}. But since the game is 100+ GB, and that amount of space is not actually available in C: drive, some storage or memory access miscalculation / error occurs when I try to run the game.

I can't install these gigantic games on C: as that has only 50 GB free. When MS Store and Xbox both allow installing apps and games to any user-selected drive, it then should not have an issue with that. But looks like it does have an issue with that. This is 1000% built-in bug in Xbox PC app that the team needs to fix. Nothing I do at my end is gooing to fix it. I've reported this numerous times, and the apathy from the xbox team is mind boggling. Why am I paying for the subscription if I can't play the star games?

Screenshot

:)

Legendaddy

FINALLY found a workaround solution for this. See this reddit thread.

Basically you need three files from Steam version of the game. The three files are

starfield.exe,
steam_api64.dll,
steam_emu.ini

Workaround for Version 1.7.33.0

If you are currently at version 1.7.33.0, simply extract those three files in your game installation directory. In my case, it was D:\Games\XBoxGames\Starfield\Content

This will replace the gamepass version of starfield.exe with the Steam version of the starfield.exe

The game launches fine after that.

NOTE: Please note that the game becomes kinda orphan at this point. Neither Xbox app nor the Steam app tracks progresses made in the game afterwards. So, no achievements, no cloud saves etc. You should manually backup the new saves, if you don't wanna lose them.

Also, if you've already made some progress in the game via xcloud, that won't show up in this "workaround fix". You'll have to find the xgp save files, convert them to steam saves and then you can load them. Check that reddit thread for details.

Workaround for Version 1.7.36.0

But if you've updated the game to 1.7.36.0, then just replacing the gamepass version of starfield.exe with the Steam version of the starfield.exe from that reddit thread doesn't work; I guess because that reddit thread has 1.7.33.0 version of the exe.

After doing that replacement, go to Xbox app -> Starfield -> Manage -> Verify & Repair. This upgrades the exe to 1.7.36.0 and incorporates whatever "magic" is present in the steam version of the exe.

NOTE: Simply doing the Verify & Repair after Xbox updating the game to 1.7.36.0 doesn't work. You first have to replace the exe with the Steam version of the exe and then do the Verify & Repair.

At this point, the game becomes associated with Xbox PC app and all data gets tracked there. i.e. you WILL get achievments, cloud saves etc.

Closing Remarks

So..... this proves that there's something wrong with the Xbox PC version of the game's exe, wrong that Steam version doesn't have. Will Microsoft look into this and fix it? I don't think so.

Legendaddy

I can confirm, any game installed on my Erive: This is where i keep my games, If the game size is larger then space available in crive I get a whole bunch of errors, As soon as i clean up space every game works fine,

There you go.... another person confirming my speculation. But MS keeps denying / ignoring this.

Lavenia A.

Hi Legendaddy,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community. We're sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you.

I am aware of the issue you're experiencing with launching Starfield and other games from the Xbox PC app. You appear to have attempted a number of troubleshooting techniques to fix the problem, based on the information you've supplied.

Regarding your speculation that the issue is caused by the game being installed on the D: drive, I can confirm that it is possible to install games on a non-Windows drive and run them without any issues. However, it's still possible that there may be some compatibility issues with your specific hardware configuration. Allow me to ask some questions to help us further isolate the issue.

Do you have any third-party anti-virus software, firewall, or VPN installed?
How about game accelerator?
Did you add mod or addons to your game?

In order to provide you an appropriate response, I might require the answers to these questions.

I hope to hear back from you.

Kind regards,

Lavenia

Legendaddy

Every bloody game has started crashing with this error now!!

Lies of P - which launched fine before, has started crashing now.

Hell, Solar Ash - a 3 GB game, is also crashing with same error.

What A grade incompetent people are in charge of developing the xbox app?? This absolutely needs a class action lawsuit, or else MS will keep ignoring this.

Johnny Douglas

I too have the issue. I have a 250GB SSD and 2TB HDD and Starfield simply will not launch from D drive. Ive also attempted your troubleshooting attempts, as well as had MS give me the run around over the issue, even telling me to wipe my PC and start over which I agree is a totally absurd request. I guess the answer to this is to just go and buy a new SSD with more space to avoid this issue... As if the games arent expensive enough from the start (Paid for Starfield Premium Edition only to find that its totally unplayable for me)...

Maybe we should start a petition to get MS to look into this issue as if it were relevant? Im out of ideas personally.

For now Starfield via xbox.com is just the way its going to be, the question is how long will that go on for?

PC Game Pass games crash at launch with Exception code: 0xc0000005. Latest in line - Starfield.