Avowed is the latest RPG game that made its way to the PC gaming scene on February 18, 2025. Published by Xbox Game Studios, the game’s initial reception has been pretty solid, although we expected better numbers. Anyway, while the game is fun and interesting, not all players are able to experience the same level of excitement. This is mainly due to the fact that Avowed has a bunch of bugs and errors. One of the most annoying errors is the LowLevelFatalError that occurs when the game starts compiling shaders. So, if you too are encountering this issue, consider reading this guide as we have shared all the details regarding how to fix it for good. Here’s everything you need to know.
The LowLevelFatalError in games is a pretty common problem that has been plaguing players on the PC platform for decades. For the majority of the cases, the issue occurs when launching the game and then completely crashes it, making accessing the game and its settings virtually impossible. However, since this is a pretty basic issue, there are some effective workarounds that you can try. We have included all the potential fixes for this issue, so make sure to try them out.
Also read: Avowed Save File/ Config File Location: Where is it
Avowed LowLevelFatalError/Crashing When Compiling Shaders Issue: Is there any fix yet
A patch update for the game was released on its day of release that focused on fixing a ton of issues including crashes. Well, there was no mention of fixing this LowLevelFatalError specifically. So, it’s safe to assume that the issue still persists in the game, since many are reporting the same. That said, here are the workarounds you need to try:
Restart PC
Before trying any complex workarounds, we suggest that you first restart your PC and then check whether the issue persists. A PC restart can sometimes be the only thing needed to get rid of any internal issues causing the LowLevelFatalError in the game. While the chances of fixing this issue with a simple restart are quite low, it is still a worthy first try.
Launch Options
This workaround involves running the game using DirectX 11. While the game uses Dx12 by default, switching to Dx11 might be all that’s needed to fix the issue. How to do this? Simple. Launch Steam, go to Library, and right-click on Avowed. Here, select Properties and then access the General tab. In this tab, you will see a textbox under the Launch Options section. Enter the following command “d3d11” or “-dx11” in the Launch Options textbox and then launch the game to check whether the crashing persists.
AMD GPU users
If your system has an AMD GPU and you are encountering this issue, chances are that this is caused by the default upscaling tech used by the game, which is DLSS. Since AMD GPUs can’t take advantage of DLSS, but that’s selected by default by the game, this creates a conflict resulting in the game crashing when launched. To fix this, head over to your C drive and then open the Users folder. Here, open the folder with your username on it. Now, open the AppData>Local>Alabama folder and then open the GameUserSettings.ini file using Notepad. Here, find the upscaling parameter and remove DLSS. Save the changes and then launch the game.
Run as Admin, Disable Full Screen Optimizations, and Run in Compatibility mode
For this workaround, you will need to access the game’s .exe file. How? Open Steam, go to Library, and then right-click on Avowed. Now, select Manage and then the Browse Local Files option. Once you are in the game’s installation directory, find its .exe file and right-click on it. Now, select Properties. In the Properties menu, go to the Compatibility tab and checkmark both the Disable Fullscreen Optimization and Run as Administrator options. Next, what you need to do is checkmark the Run this program in compatibility mode for option and then select Windows 8. After these changes are made, click on OK. Now, launch the game via Steam and then check whether the issue persists.
Update GPU drivers
The next thing to try is to update your GPU drivers. You can visit the official Nvidia or AMD website (based on the GPU you have) and download the latest drivers for your GPU. Once downloaded, install the update and then launch the game. If the issue persists, consider performing a clean reinstallation of the drivers and restarting your PC.
Disable Overclocking
While it is said that overclocking improves the performance of your CPU/GPU, it can sometimes do more harm than good. In case you are encountering the lowlevelfatalerror on a system with an overclocked CPU/GPU, then consider restoring them to their default clock speeds. If you are using overclocking applications like MSI Afterburner, consider disabling them. Once done, check whether the game still crashes when launched.
Enable Debug Mode (Nvidia)
To enable Debug Mode, open the Nvidia Control Panel and then go to the Help section. Here, you will find the Debug Mode option. Select it to enable it and then launch the game to check whether the issue persists.
In-game Settings
If you are encountering crashes after the character creation screen and not when launching, you need to access the game’s settings. Lower all graphics-intensive settings and then check whether the issue persists. It is possible that your system’s hardware is incapable of handling the game at the high settings preset, which is why lowering the settings might do the trick.
Windows Cryptography
Another reason for this error’s occurrence can be the Windows Cryptography setting. Well, this is what a player shared. So, they also mentioned a fix for this problem. For this workaround, you will need to open the Registry Editor. How? Go to Start and then type “regedit”. The Registry Editor will be visible in the search results. Select it. Now, navigate to “Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography” and then double-click on the “MachineGuid” file. Here, change the value to the following: “d1eb246e-6243-4460-a88e-5d4e52b1ef6b”. Next, press Ok and then exit the editor. After this, launch the game to check whether the issue persists.
For now, these are the workarounds we recommend you try to fix the lowlevelfatalerror in Avowed. We hope that you find this guide informative. For more such interesting content on all things, consider visiting DigiStatement daily.
