Start Here: The Fastest Safe Order
If the Valor Mortis game is crashing, hanging on a loading screen, or showing a broken interface, community reports and developer posts point to one reliable sequence. Work through it in order — the earlier items fix the majority of problems, so don’t skip ahead.
- Update the demo to the newest Steam build.
- Install the current stable GPU driver (older Nvidia drivers are explicitly called out for poor performance).
- Fully restart the game — not just a level reload.
- Avoid FSR on an affected Nvidia GPU; use TSR or DLSS instead.
- If loading still fails, confirm Valor Mortis is running on the discrete GPU, not integrated graphics.
- If the interface is missing, toggle HDR off and back on.
The rest of this guide expands each fix, lists every community-reported issue, and separates official developer workarounds from safe-but-unofficial fallbacks.
Do These Four Things First
Most players who report a fix succeeded with one of these four actions. The categories below are directly tied to developer posts, so they are the highest-confidence steps.
1. Install the latest Steam update. Demo builds 1.01–1.03 addressed crashes, stuck states, progression limits, and a specific Witch Hunt loading crash. If you are running an older build, you may be troubleshooting a bug that no longer exists.
2. Install the current stable GPU driver. The developer specifically warns that older Nvidia drivers caused poor performance in Valor Mortis.
3. Restart after changing Frame Generation. Version 1.02 notes that an Unreal Engine limitation requires a game restart after enabling Frame Generation — changing the setting alone is not enough.
4. Change one setting at a time. Keep a written record of the upscaler, Frame Generation, HDR, preset, and display mode that triggered the problem. This makes it far easier to undo a bad combination.
Crashes and Loading Problems
Nvidia GPU crash with FSR selected
Status: known issue (official). Official workaround: use TSR or DLSS until the issue is resolved.
Some Nvidia users may crash during level loading when FSR is selected. If your crash happens right as a level loads and your upscaler is FSR, this is almost certainly the cause. Switch the upscaler to TSR or DLSS and retry.
D3D12 / D2DX12 crash or wrong-GPU launch
Status: known issue. Official workaround: make sure the game runs on the main/discrete GPU rather than integrated graphics.
Nvidia users can set the preferred GPU in the Nvidia Control Panel. The developer also suggests disabling Intel(R) AI Boost through Device Manager. Because disabling a device affects your whole system, try explicit high-performance GPU selection first, and change only the item the developer named.
AMD crash mentioning amdxc64.dll
Status: known issue. Official workaround: perform a clean driver reinstall.
The pinned thread notes that this file may be missing or corrupted for affected AMD users, which is why a clean reinstall — rather than a standard update — is recommended.
DLSS freezes while loading
Status: unclear / still listed. Fallback: switch to TSR, restart the game, and submit a report.
This is the one issue where the developer’s own messages conflict. The pinned list from June 11 still warns that enabling DLSS may freeze loading, while the June 10 version 1.02 post says “DLSS is Back” and makes DLSS 4.5 available. Because of this, the freeze cannot be labeled universally fixed.
If DLSS freezes on your system, switch to TSR, restart, and report it. Do not keep force-closing repeated loads with the same setting — that changes nothing and hides the pattern.
Black or endless loading screen
Status: rare black/loading-screen lock is acknowledged, but the pinned thread gives no dedicated fix.
The following is a safe fallback, not an official guarantee: fully restart the game, update the demo and driver, turn off the upscaler/Frame Generation combination that preceded the lock, and retry with TSR. If the Witch Hunt chapter alone fails to load, confirm version 1.03 is installed, because that patch fixed a Witch Hunt loading crash.
Display, UI, and Graphics Issues
Cursor or UI buttons missing with HDR
Status: known issue. Official workaround: turn HDR off and on.
This is the quickest fix in the list — no restart required. Toggling HDR refreshes the interface layer so the cursor and UI buttons reappear.
Game moves to another monitor after Fullscreen
Status: known issue (community-reported). When switching to Fullscreen, the game can jump to a different display. The source material does not provide a dedicated official workaround, so the practical approach is to set your display mode to Windowed or Borderless before re-selecting Fullscreen, and to change only that setting at a time so you can track the behavior.
Tips for Reporting and Avoiding Repeat Problems
- One variable at a time. Swap the upscaler, then restart, then observe. Testing several changes at once makes it impossible to know which one mattered.
- Record your exact configuration. Upscaler, Frame Generation state, HDR state, graphics preset, and display mode — this is the list the developer wants when you file a report.
- Match the fix to the symptom. FSR + Nvidia crash → switch upscaler. Wrong GPU launch → force discrete GPU. Missing UI + HDR → toggle HDR. DLSS load freeze → use TSR.
- Confirm your version first. Several “unfixable” bugs were resolved in demo builds 1.01 through 1.03.
Platform and Availability Notes
Every issue documented above is reported for the Valor Mortis demo on PC via Steam — that is the build the developer’s pinned threads and workarounds refer to. These community reports do not include confirmed workarounds specific to Valor Mortis on PS5, and they do not establish an official release date. Treat any release-date or PS5 availability information you see elsewhere as unconfirmed unless it comes from an official channel.