5 Ways to Fix the D3D Device Lost Gaming Error on Windows PCs

Many players report the D3D device lost error that crashes Windows PC games regularly. This error message says, “Unreal Engine is exiting due to D3D device being lost.” Some players report this crashing occurs every 10-20 minutes or so when playing certain games. It’s a widely reported issue affecting games like Dead by Daylight, Tekken 7, Palworld, Train Simulator 2, and The Ascent. This is how you can fix the D3D device lost error for any affected game on Windows PCs.

Set a DX12 Launch Option

Many players confirm setting a DX12 launch option remedies the D3D device lost error. This launch parameter forces a game to start with Direct X 12. This is how you can set that launch option in Steam.

1. Open your Steam gaming client software.
2. Click Library to view installed games.
3. Right-click a game for which you need to fix the D3D device lost error and select Properties.
4. Input -dx12 into Launch Options.
   
   

   The Launch Options box

5. If the -dx12 launch parameter doesn’t work, try entering a -dx11 one instead.

Install a New Graphics Driver for Your GPU

A corrupted or outmoded graphics driver might be causing the D3D device lost error on your PC. This is a more likely potential cause because the error message mentions the Unreal graphics engine. Try clean installing the latest NVIDIA or AMD driver on your PC as follows.

1. To check graphics card details, press the Windows logo + R key combination, enter dxdiag inside Run, and click OK. Click Display within the DirectX Diagnostic Tool that opens to see what graphics card your PC has.
2. Start your browser software and go to the NVIDIA or AMD pages for downloading GPU drivers.
3. Select your graphics card model shown within the Display tab and Windows platform.
   
   

   The NVIDIA driver download page

4. Click Submit or Search.
5. Select Download to save the compatible graphics driver package for your GPU.
   
   

   The Download option for a NVIDIA driver

6. Next, click the pinned File Explorer taskbar shortcut and browse to the folder containing the NVIDIA or AMD driver package.
7. Double-click the NVIDIA/AMD driver file to access its setup wizard and install from there.

If installing an NVIDIA driver, select the clean installation option. You can do that by clicking the Custom installation option within the NVIDIA Installer window. Select Perform a clean installation and click Next.

Undo Overclocking

Some players confirm undoing CPU or GPU overclocking has resolved the D3D device lost for them. This could be because the Unreal Engine isn’t optimized for overclocking. For example, a player said this on Reddit:

I had that same Unreal Engine issue in Satisfactory. The overlock I used was stable in every game, but Unreal Engine had issues with it. When I set the card to stock speeds, the issue disappeared.

Have you applied any processor or graphics card overclocking on your PC? If so, try undoing that overclocking by restoring default values with whatever software you utilized to apply it. Some players have even gone further than that by slightly underclocking core and memory clock values.

Edit the TdrDelay DWORD

Editing the TdrDelay DWORD is another potential fix for the D3D device lost error that’s worked for some players. If you’re not comfortable editing the registry, you can back it up beforehand by going through the instructions on this Microsoft help page. This is how you edit the TdrDelay DWORD.

1. Right-click the Windows 11/10 Start button to access a shortcuts menu and select Run.
2. Enter the regedit Run command and press the Return keyboard key.
3. Now go to this registry key location: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers.
4. Double-click on the TdrDelay DWORD in the GraphicsDrivers key.
   
   

   The TdrDelay DWORD

5. Input a 10 number in the Value data box.
6. Select OK to set the new TdrDelay DWORD value.
   
   

   The Edit DWORD box

7. Restart your PC after editing the TdrDelay DWORD.

If you can’t see a TdrDelay DWORD in the GraphicsDrivers key, try creating a new one. You can do this by right-clicking the GraphicsDrivers key and selecting New > DWORD. Enter TdrDelay in the text box for the new DWORD.

Disable GeForce Experience’s Battery Boost

Disabling the Battery Boost feature in GeForce Experience has worked for some players who’ve needed to resolve the D3D device lost error. This potential resolution is primarily for NVIDIA laptop users who need to resolve that gaming issue. You can turn off the Battery Boost feature like this.

1. Open GeForce Experience by right-clicking the system tray icon for Nvidia and selecting that software. 
2. Next, click the Settings (cog) button in GeForce Experience.
3. Click the Battery Boost toggle switch to turn off that setting.
   
   

   The Battery Boost option

Other Possible Ways to Fix the D3D Device Lost Error

Don’t give up trying to fix the D3D device lost error if the potential resolutions above don’t work for you. These are some extra potential fixes that might also resolve that issue.

• If your PC has two GPUs, make sure the High-performance graphics option is set in Settings for affected games.
• Disable antivirus utilities and firewalls before playing affected games.
• Verify (repair) the files of affected games with the Steam or Epic Games verification options.
• Update the Unreal Engine from the Unreal Engine tab in Epic Games and by installing Windows and Steam updates.

The Unreal Engine tab

The D3D device lost error is an undeniably annoying Windows gaming issue. Many players have fixed that crashing error by applying the possible solutions covered in this guide. So, one of them could feasibly fix that Unreal Engine error on your PC.