ARC Raiders is another addition to the list of games using Unreal Engine 5. However, the game doesn’t exhibit the usual UE5 errors. However, this doesn’t mean the game is free of them, as PC users are experiencing the D3D11-compatible GPU Required crash at startup. I have compiled a couple of confirmed fixes that will resolve the D3D11 compatible GPU Required startup crash in ARC Raiders on your Windows PC.
Confirmed Fixes for ARC Raiders D3D11 Crash
As per reports from PC users, ARC Raiders keeps crashing at startup and the following error message pops up:
A D3D11-compatible GPU (Feature Level 11.0, Shader Model 5.0) is required to run the engine
This startup crash in ARC Raiders is occuring due to an incompatible GPU driver or the game not using the discrete graphics hardware. The following fixes will resolve the ARC Raiders startup crashes on your Windows PC.
Fix #1 – Roll Back GPU Driver
PC users confirm that ARC Raiders is crashing at startup following the December 2025 GPU driver update. You can fix the D3D11-compatible GPU Required startup crash in the game by rolling back the driver version from November.
Download the GPU driver for your NVIDIA or AMD graphics card and install it. Also, do a clean installation. After that, launch ARC Raiders, and the “D3D11-compatible GPU Required” startup crash is now fixed.
Fix #2 – Ensure ARC Raiders is Running on Discrete Graphics Hardware
If you are playing ARC Raiders on a gaming laptop, then it is crashing at startup with the D3D11-compatible GPU Required error due to it not using the dedicated graphics hardware.
On gaming laptops, Windows OS switches between the integrated GPU (iGPU) and the dedicated NVIDIA or AMD graphics card depending on rendering load. The OS fails to switch to the discrete graphics hardware when you launch ARC Raiders, which crashes the game at startup and displays the “D3D11-compatible GPU Required” error.
You can fix the error by ensuring that ARC Raiders runs on the dedicated graphics hardware, and here is how you can do it:
- Go to Windows 10/11 settings, go to System, click Display, and go to Graphics.
- Select “ARC Raiders” from the apps and programs list. Click on Options.
- Select the “High Performance” option and save the changes.
- Play ARC Raiders, and the startup crashes are now fixed.
There you have it, our ARC Raiders fixes for the A D3D11-compatible GPU Required crash on your PC. If you are facing errors and issues while playing other games on PC and handhelds, head to our hub of commonly occurring PC errors and their fixes.
