How to Fix Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Fatal Error Crashes on PC

Despite the competition from Oblivion Remastered, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 released with rave reviews and has sold 2 million units, at the time of writing. The game runs on Unreal Engine 5, which is known for its technical prowess and issues on PC and consoles. Despite that, Expedition 33 is a well-optimized game and runs well across all platforms. However, PC users are still experiencing errors and issues with the game, like the Fatal Error crashes. Here are the best fixes for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Fatal error crash on PC.

Working Fixes for Expedition 33 UE-Sandfall Crashed Error

PC users report that Expedition 33 keeps crashing at startup or randomly during gameplay or when they load their save file, and a Fatal Error pops up with the following error messages:

Or

There are multiple reasons why you are experiencing these Fatal errors in Expedition 33, like an overclocked GPU, Windows Cryptography not working properly, unlocked frame rate, issues with Intel 13th and 14th generation CPUs, and more. The following fixes will resolve the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 fatal error crashes on your Windows PC.

Fix #1 – Make A New Save

As mentioned, some PC users are experiencing the Fatal Error crash when they load their Expedition 33 save file. Steam community members have noted that creating a new save fixes this issue. Here is how you have to do it:

• Create a new save in the game.
• Play a little bit and then quit to the main menu.
• Load your main or old save file.
• The game will load without any Fatal Error.

Fix #2 – Lower Performance Core Ratio for Your Intel 13th and 14th Gen CPU

Intel 13th and 14th generation CPUs have well-documented technical issues, and they are crashing Expedition 33 with a Fatal error. Updating the BIOS should fix the error; however, for most players, simply updating the BIOS doesn’t work.

To fix the Fatal error in the game, you need to lower the Performance Core ratio for your Intel 13th or 14th gen CPU. Here is how it can be done:

• Download and install Intel Extreme Tuning Utility.
• Open the application and set the Performance Core ratio to 50x.
• Play Expedition 33, and the Fatal error crashes are now fixed.

Note: You can increase the Performance Core ratio by one and play the game to check at what value the game remains stable. Meaning, increase the core ratio to 51x and play Expedition 33. If it is stable, then increase the ratio to 52x and so on. This way, you’ll find the Performance core ratio that doesn’t crash the game with the Fatal Error.

Fix #3 – Tweak Windows Cryptography

If Expedition 33 is crashing during shader compilation or you are experiencing the “Fatal Error: DecompressShaderWithOodleAndExtraLogging(): Could not decompress shader group with Oodle” error, then Windows Cryptography is the reason for it. Change its settings in the Windows Registry, and the Fatal Error issue will be fixed. Here is how you can do it:

• Type “regedit” in Windows search and open Windows Registry.
• Navigate to “Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography”.
• Double-click the “MachineGuid” file.
• Change the value to “d1eb246e-6243-4460-a88e-5d4e52b1ef6b” and press OK.
• Play Expedition 33, and the Fatal error issue is now fixed.

Fix #4 – Switch API

Some PC users report that forcing the game to use DirectX 11 fixes the fatal error crashes. Expedition 33 requires DirectX 12 to run, and there is no toggle in the game’s menu to switch to DX11. You have to force DirectX 11 through Steam launch options to fix the Fatal error. Here is how it can be done:

• Right-click Expedition 33 in your Steam library and select the “properties” option.
• A small window will pop up.
• In the General tab, type -dx11 under “Launch options” and close the window.
• Launch the game, and it will run with DX11.

Note: DLSS, DLAA, and other upscaling options in Expedition 33 or any game require DirectX 12. Switching to DX11 will turn off all these features.

Fix #5 – Limit Expedition 33’s Max Framerate

Being a game with turn-based combat, Expedition 33 doesn’t require an unlocked or high FPS to be enjoyed. But, reduced input latency can certainly help to parry enemies during combat encounters. However, playing the game with vsync disabled or at a very high framerate puts the CPU and GPU under a lot of stress, which results in games crashing.

If you are playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 at an unlocked framerate, it is crashing it to the desktop with the Fatal Error message popping up. You can fix the error by limiting the game’s max FPS, which can be done by enabling vertical synchronization (vsync), in-game FPS limiter, using Nvidia App or Nvidia Control Panel.

Enable Vsync

Some gamers like to play games with vsync disabled. This creates screen tearing but allows the game to render as many frames as it can. If you are playing Expedition 33 with vsync disabled, then enable it from the game’s Grraphics menu. This will lock the game’s FPS to match your display’s refresh rate, and will fix the Fatal error crashes.

Alternatively, you can also force vsync through the NVIDIA Control Panel. Here is how you can enable it:

• Open the Nvidia Control Panel.
• Click the “Manage 3D settings” option from the left menu.
• Open the “Program settings” tab, and select “Expedition 33” from the drop-down menu.
• Scroll through the options and find the “Vertical Synchronization” option. Select “On”.
• Apply the changes, play the game, and the crashes are now fixed.

Use In-game Max FPS Setting

If you are using a Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) monitor, which is a Gsync or Freesync supported display, or don’t want to use vsync, then use the in-game FPS limiter to fix the fatal error crash. Go to the game’s graphics menu and use the “Max FPS” option to limit Expedition 33’s max framerate, which will fix the Fatal Error crashes.

Limit FPS Using the Nvidia App or Nvidia Control Panel

Nvidia App and Nvidia Control Panel give you better control over the game’s framerate. You can use either to limit Expedition 33’s max FPS and fix the fatal error crashes. Here is how you can do it using the Nvidia App:

• Open the Nvidia App and select the “Graphics” tab.
• Select “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” from the list of games.
• Scroll down the options and click on “Max Frame Rate”.
• Turn it on and set a value for it.
• Play the game, and the Fatal Error issue is now fixed.

If you don’t have the Nvidia App, you can use the Nvidia Control Panel to limit the game’s FPS, and here is how it can be done:

• Open the Nvidia Control Panel.
• Click the “Manage 3D Settings” option from the left menu.
• Click the “Program settings” tab.
• Select “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” from the list.
• Scroll through the options and find the “Max Frame Rate” option.
• Enable it and set a value for it.
• Play the game, and the Fatal error is now fixed.

Useful Tip: Unless you are playing the game on a Gsync or Freesync supported display, the frame rate value should be 1/2, 1/3, or 1/4th of your display refresh rate. For example, if your display is 120 Hz, the FPS value should be 60, 40, or 30 respectively.

On a display with a static refresh rate, if the FPS and refresh rate don’t match or the refresh rate isn’t equally divisible by the FPS value, the game will feel jittery.

Fix #6 – Disable Graphics Card Overclock

If you overclocked your graphics hardware, it is crashing the game with the Fatal Error. You can fix it by reverting the graphics card to its default GPU and Memory clocks.

Fix #7 – Use the Debug Mode (NVIDIA)

NVIDIA and AMD have AIB partners, like Zotac, ASUS, or GIGABYTE, that release graphics cards that are either factory overclocked or use higher GPU and Memory clocks than the reference models. These higher clocks are the reason Expedition 33 is crashing with the Fatal Error. NVIDIA graphics card owners can fix the issue by enabling the Debug Mode, and here is how to enable it:

• Open the NVIDIA Control Panel.
• Click the “Help” button in the top menu.
• Select the “Debug Mode” option.

Helpful Note: The Debug Mode forces the graphics card to use NVIDIA’s recommended GPU and Memory clocks for the particular model. This reduces the GPU load a bit and fixes Fatal error crashes.

Fix #8 – Underclock Your Graphics Hardware (AMD)

AMD Adrenalin Software doesn’t have a setting or option that does the same thing as the Debug Mode for NVIDIA graphics cards. You fix the Fatal Error by manually underclocking the AMD graphics card, and here is how you safely do it:

• Open AMD Adrenalin Software.
• Go to the “Performance” tab.
• Click the “Tuning” tab.
• Click on “Custom” under “Manual Tuning”.
• Enable “GPU Tuning” and also enable “Advanced control”.
• Three sliders will appear: Minimum Frequency, Maximum Frequency, and Voltage.
• You only need to adjust the “Maximum Frequency” slider.
• Slide it a little bit to the left to lower it, and click the “Apply Changes” button at the top right. (Finding a stable value requires trial and error.)
• Play Expedition 33, and the Fatal error issue is now fixed.

These are the fixes for the gameplay crashes and crashes at startup with Fatal Error popping. If you are experiencing errors and crashes in games, also see our fixes hub for commonly occurring errors for PC and handhelds.