FFXI Crashing To Desktop With No Error Message

First off, im someone that recently came back to the game 2 months ago after essentially quitting 7 years or so ago, and im encountering a problem that not only i never did before i quit, but a problem that no matter how much research i do, i cant seem to find anyone dealing exactly with what im dealing with. Basically, ill be playing the game, and where im doing something in a congested area (e.i Domain) or just exping solo...honestly anything at this point,) my game will freeze for about a second or 2, and whether im in full screen or not, ill crash back to desktop, with no error message whatsoever...which makes diagnosing the precise issue virtually impossible for me.

System specs

AMD Ryzen 7 3700x
EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti FTW3 ultra gaming
Asrock x570 Gaming Phantom X
RAM 16 GB (2 8 GB 3600 MHz)

As soon you can tell, my rig should have no issues running FFXI, but for some reason, this problem has surfaced and it seems nothing i have done remedies it. I do run Windower, and regardless of whether i have addons or not (I ran it on windower with everything disabled and this issue still showed itself) and while i did update my game with everything NextGames said to do in his YT video "How to make FFXI beautiful in 2022", this problem was present before i even made the changes in that video.

All my graphics drivers are up to date, i did do a file check on POL to make sure nothing is corrupted or whatnot. Everything that needs to be run on Administrator is being done so. I apologize if something that needs to be said i missed but im at my wits end here, hoping someone out there has a viable solution. Sorry for the long post but i wanted to make sure i cover everything needed to be said...and thanks to anyone out there for their input.

I've been trying to navigate random crashes similar to this since returning back in May.

I would recommend checking your Windows Event Viewer (Windows Logs -> Application) and check for Critical Error events (IIRC they should have a red dot icon w/ an X inside). What I found out was POL.exe was crashing due to D3D8.dll errors. This would occasionally cause other nVidia driver related crashes. I too followed Logicals YT video but ended up walking back ReShade and DGVoodoo2, completely removing both. Only running DGVoodoo2 still had me crashing.

After checking the Graphics Guide @ BG-Wiki, I opted to test atom0s' d3d8to9 proxy and have been without a crash for the past two days but that's the longest that I've gone before, so it may be worth checking out. I did have some weird lightning issues (visible near the AH leading to the MH @ Lower Jeuno) that were fixed w/ some of the options in the .ini w/ atom0s' proxy dll.

You could also try running only ReShade with it's proxy also, as noted in the BG-Wiki Graphics guide. I haven't personally tested this yet so YMMV.

When you say you never had this problem 7 years ago, this is most likely a different computer though right?

Firstly, are you using any addons or mods.

It could be a broken or out of date windower addon, it could be a broken mod, it could be a corrupted normal install file, it could be some program starting up in the background like a virus checker (unlikely though).

For me, it was a driver issue. Try using an older driver, for GPU drivers new is not better than old drivers if the game is older than a year. New drivers are mostly better than old for newly released games, where the drivers are updated to work better with this newly released game.

Hard crashes are usually due to outdated addons, but if you're not using any, there are still a few things to check.

- Run a file check on the game files through PlayOnline
- Make sure DirectPlay is enabled in the Legacy Windows Components
- Install dgVoodoo (or disable screen darkening in UAC settings)
- Ensure that pol.exe is pinned to your GPU in Nvidia settings (this is usually more of an issue for laptops than desktops)

I did check the Windows event viewer like you suggested and thankfully there was an error message associated with FFXI, and im going to show you the latest error i got tonight in my last gaming session

looks like it might be a dll error? idk, hopefully someone much more knowledgeable than me either can clarify what that means or where do i go from here.

BTW, i do use both ReShade and DGVoodoo, and although the problem was present before either program was installed, i guess it doesnt hurt to remove em and just try to see if the problem goes away w/o only 1 or neither installed.


Yes, the PC i played this game roughly 7 years ago was a pre-built while my current PC is one i built myself. I dont remember the specs of my old PC unfortunately, the only thing i remember is that the GPU was a GTX 760

I do use addons and im sure they are all up to date. The mods i use are the ones in Logicals/NextGames recently video on how to make FFXI beautiful in 2022 here I can understand how up to date drivers, when it comes to FFXI, might actually be a bad thing than a good thing, but if thats the case, which drivers should i use then? Really not familiar with what i should use if thats the case.


I did do a file check on POL, everything checked out ok. Directplay is enabled already in the legacy settings. DGVoodoo is currently installed. Im sure in the Nvidia control panel thats already been done so.

Install previous drivers, 1-2 versions back.

Also disable all mods via //lua u xipivot

If you're using UI mods are they upto date?

Process of elimination.

I had a problem similar to this and turning off super sampling fixed it for me.

I had random crashes on my PC related to screen re-sizing that was fixed when I installed the ReShade d3d8to9 proxy.
https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Graphics_Enhancement_Guide#ReShade_d3d8to9

Also, I encountered problems multiboxing when I upgraded to ReShade 5.1.0, that I posted here but no responses.
https://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/56686/reshade-51-windower-crash-on-multi-boxing

After that, I reverted to ReShade 4.9 and was able to run the game without any crashes.

So after playing for about an hour today, got the same crash as always and once again i checked the event viewer got what appears to be the same message i posted on my 2nd post in this thread




Can anyone tell me exactly what this means and how to go about fixing it? Looks like a dll error but im not sure...

Possible it's your CPU, if you have a different one to try. I had other things crashing too, on occasion, but XI was a particular offender and that was the issue. LS mate had basically the same problem, and it took RMA'ing the CPU (he'd swapped most everything else).

I know for me, vanilla/Windower/Ashita and multiple DX proxies all had the same problem, and it went away when I swapped the CPU (3700X in my case too, but I think it's a potential issue with that gen Ryzen in general).

I wish i had a different CPU to try (or a different PC altogether tbh) but i dont...my previous PC had an intel chip...so yeah.

re-install, don't add mods and use minimal addons

There's no reason to believe that this would be a CPU issue. I know you said before that you tried it without any mods or addons but honestly I suspect you had something enabled without realizing it, as this is class of failure is almost always caused by those (especially mods). If I were in your situation I'd try reinstalling the game, then enabling things one at a time, giving it a few hours between each one until you experience the crash again and find your culprit.

Specifically, error code 0xc0000005 is generally thrown on memory access violation, which basically means Windows killed the application because it tried to read memory it is not allowed to. I'd bet real money this is caused by a mod or addon trying to read a memory address (for example, for a texture, icon, or font) that was changed by a game update since the time said mod or addon was written. Memory addresses for assets change every few months, generally whenever new areas, NPCs, or status effects are added to the game. Any third party code that hasn't been updated since the game itself was runs the risk of causing this type of crash.

The errors have 2 different faulting modules throwing the same error(first ntdll, then ffximain.dll). You can also get a memory access violation if you try to read a null pointer, which will be handed back when you try to allocate more memory than you are able. Perhaps these errors are occuring because your client is running into the 2GB RAM limit, you could try patching pol to be largeaddressaware with this:

https://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/56318/possible-blackscreen-fix-when-using-config-plugin

Are you using dgvoodoo? I used to use these mods and tools back in the day, until my game literally would crash without any warning or message abruptly, most notably, during Gaol Bosses (disconnecting at 1% V20 Arebati on RNG was my most infamous crash). I had to go back and revert every dat mod and dgvoodoo step and do some of them over. I think it had to do with all of the monster models on my screen (the Gaol bosses are huge) and all of their animations.

The only thing I use now is reshader and dgvoodoo with windower (no dat mods or graphics packs or any of that, that seemed to be the problem for me), but your issue sounds exactly like the problems I used to have. I would try uninstalling literally everything you did, turn off your antivirus software temporarily, then run windower and see if you experience any abrupt crashes.

If you can find some time to leave your computer running for a while, you might try deleting a .dat entirely and then doing file check, which should cause FFXI to basically redownload all of the .dats from scratch. Sometimes file check misses damaged .dats, and doing this will 100% ensure that .dats aren't the issue.

I guess it should be said, i allowed myself to essentially afk bazaar overnight in Port Jeuno the other night and after coming home from work, my toon as still there...so even though i said in my OP that this issue first showed itself in congested areas like Domain, i think its safe to say that isnt the issue.

Looks to be battle related, as 99% of the crashes ive seen are when i am engaged in battle...so it either something that either im using or my trust use that initiates this problem, or an area texture that my PC is unable to load properly or something? But yeah, im going to allow my game to run overnight in port jeuno to see if its still running in the morning...which i anticipate it will be. If thats the case, does that narrow things for anyone knowledgeable in these matters?

yes im currently using DGVoodoo, but yes, like most on here have already suggested, either tomorrow or the day after when i have the time i am going to completely uninstall everything related to FFXI and just do the entire process all over from scratch (i did this already but when i reinstalled FFXI, i did it including NextGames mods and such) to see if that helps at all.

When you reinstall do not install mods, until you're happy it's working correctly and leave it a few days or week to be sure. After that, only install mods with XIpivot windower addon.

This way you can turn them on and off with a text command.

Yeah im at a total loss here...just reinstalled the game with no mods whatsoever, did open with widower (with no addons/plugins on) and within 10 minutes of solo'ing in reisenjima...the same crash just happened. Once again, no mods whatsoever, essentially the vanilla game opened with Windower with no addons/plugins on. Unless someone can come up with a solution my time with this game will come to an end, nevertheless i appreciate all you guys that took their time to post in this thread to begin with. I hope someone out there has a last resort solution to speak of.

Goto config> effects

Turn all of these to on except the "all effects during battle" at the top, leave that off. Now go do what you normally do. It will look crap but just see if it fixes the issue.

found a new reason... old gearswap luas.. i aint sure what it was but when i unloaded gearswap and entered omen i didnt crash, once i was in i reloaded gearswap... changing em up now.. old luas.. built in.. "stuff"

EDIT: multiboxing, new characters never crash, gearswap luas was the only difference because i use new updated ***on them so i was able to isolate the difference for my crashing

sorry for the necrobump, but recently i once again tried to come back to the game...and while i always knew to run FFXI on steam deck was always possible, i was very surprised to learn that you could actually run Windower on Steam Deck as well (as well as it could run anyways) so i figured, what the hell, let me try once again to see if i can actually play the gd game since i already owned a SD, it was worth a shot in the dark.

To make a long story short...i encountered the EXACT same issue i did with my current PC, (as in, the game would crash to the steam desktop, with no error message given) now im seriously concerened, am i even installing the game properly??? btw, if you are wondering, the ONLY common denominator between running this on PC and steam deck is that on both platform i use my old scripts from when i played a lot cerca 2015 or so (i was never able to comprehend spellcast scrips so i imported them and was going to use those notepad.txt macros while i hopefully transitioned into spellcast sooner or later)

TL;DR, can notepad scrip macros really be the cause of this, b/c i refuse to believe that would be the culprit, since the Steam Deck and the rig i use atm (specs are in my OP at the top of this thread) are completely different yet im seeing the exact same kind of hard crash, i really wanna know what else am i missing here???

First thing to troubleshoot is to try to reproduce the error in a controlled environment.

Try running the game without any third party.

Faulty addon/plugin can drop the entire game if they end running wildly

I get that, when i used to play FFXI on my non defunct PC, if the the game did crash (which it hardly ever did btw) at least my PC/Windower would display some sort of error message, not only indicating something went wrong, but also allowing you to point, or at the very least, have a ballpark guess as to what is causing it and how to remedy it as a result...with my current dilemma, its impossible to do that.

The only thing i can do is try to run on a PC in my home that is quite literally a PC i used for work a few years ago (its a barebones PC i built 5 years ago with a Intel Core i3-9100 that has integrated graphics, so while technically it can run FFXI, its not a PC i would play on it) run it there...and see if the issue still pops up, but before i do that, i honestly wanna know if there are any reports out there if .txt scrips cause this problem im encountering.

Error messages only happen when the error is expected at certain degree.

But when its totally unexpected, its the OS itself that kick everything without any warning.

Those crash without any warning point to some memory issue though. Either something is creating many threads, or accessing memory it shouldnt

It may be a steam issue. I recall some ppl complaining about the same thing when using Steam. Have you done the LargeAddressAwarePatcher? changes the pol.exe to allow up to 4GB of memory use instead of the default 2GB. That may help.
I still have the occasional hang up on the game to this day. If i click on my other character game screen or browser or away, the game "catches back up" from the hang up and doesn't end up disconnecting me/crashing slowly. These solutions helped me from getting insta-crashes to recoverable slow freezes. It's not a solution of course but better/tolerable situation.

Problem is, this exact issue happens on my current rig which should have no problem running FFXI. The steam deck, while nowhere near as problem as my PC, should also have no issues running FFXI, the main issue of running FFXI on a steam deck is you have to jump a few ropes since the OS isnt Windows.

I really am baffled as to why i encounter this on my PC (i still do btw) and on my Steam Deck, and there isnt a rhyme or reason on how to fix it either

For the record, i dont wanna play FFXI on my steam deck lol, i would much rather play this on my gaming PC... i just figured it could hold me off until i build my next PC which i was planning to end of this year/start of the next. But right now, either im doing something really ****ing stupid and messing up the game install in the process and i just cant run FFXi on any system, period...or the problem is right in front of me and i just need someone to point me in the right direction.

Heres a youtube short showing the issue

Heres a 30 second video of showing what happens btw, i made this almost 2 years ago but its the exact same thing today, jump to the last 6 seconds or so, no need to watch the entire thing...and dont mind my yapping, i was explaing this to a friend ingame and was hoping he could help but even he was stumped.

Do the 4gb memory allocation patch that thorny made... I don't have a link but I had similar crashes as this and haven't had one since using thorny's patch

Yeah i did that, that was part of NextGames "How to make FFXI beautiful in 2022" video, among other things, and the issue still arised. With and w/o it i might add.