Crash & Performance Fixes

ZeroSpace entered Steam Early Access on July 20, 2026. Starlance has since shipped the Day One Patch, the July 24 Weekend Update, and the July 26 Minor Update (loading-screen crash fix, matchmaking after accept, selection QoL). If you still hit hard exits or black screens after all three, work through the checklist below before assuming unsupported hardware.

Read Day One notes, the Weekend Update guide, and Minor Update July 26, then verify specs on system requirements. A rare bug can make hero hotkeys stop working permanently — Starlance’s current workaround is a reinstall; report details via the in-client bug tool.

1. Fully update the game — Outdated clients show a popup if you queue. Verify Steam files after every patch, including July 26.
2. Re-apply resolution — July 24 fixed settings not applying / delayed apply. Change resolution once, confirm it sticks, then restart once.
3. Update GPU drivers cleanly — Vendor package (NVIDIA / AMD / Intel). Disable overlays on first boot after driver changes.
4. Repair Visual C++ redistributables from Microsoft if the game exits immediately with no window.
5. Disable overlays — Steam overlay, Discord overlay, GeForce Experience, Xbox Game Bar, and RGB software are common launch killers for RTS titles.
6. Install on an SSD — HDD installs amplify shader-compile stalls and loading-screen timeouts during Early Access.

If the client still fails, switch the Steam launch option between DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 (when available in Properties → Launch Options / in-game video settings), then retest once. Report remaining crash dumps through Steam and the official Discord so Starlance can prioritize hardware-specific follow-ups.

A recurring Early Access report is a black screen after faction selection while audio or mouse cursor still respond. Try these steps in order:

• Press Alt + Enter immediately to force a windowed/borderless toggle.
• Set display mode to Borderless Window instead of exclusive fullscreen, then restart the client.
• Clear the local shader cache (delete cached shader folders under the ZeroSpace userdata path after closing the game), then let shaders rebuild on the next boot.
• Disable fullscreen optimizations on ZeroSpace.exe via Windows Compatibility settings.
• Verify game files again after any GPU driver change.

Once you can reach the main menu, lock camera and QoL settings from the QoL guide before queuing ranked or Galactic War —re-opening the video menu mid-match can retrigger display bugs on some machines.

Late-game army clusters are the heaviest scenes in ZeroSpace. If frame time spikes only when fights escalate:

• Lower shadows, effects density, and cosmetic VFX first — RTS readability beats ambient fidelity.
• Cap FPS near your monitor refresh rate to reduce thermal throttling on laptops.
• Close browser hardware acceleration and other GPU-heavy apps while playing Season Zero co-op.

UI errors that survived the day-one hotfix (misaligned menus, overlay text, profile view crashes) should be reproduced once with overlays off, then reported with a screenshot and match ID. Keep following Steam news —Starlance framed Early Access as a continuous patch cycle toward 1.0, not a frozen launch build.

When the client is stable, return to the launch week checklist so troubleshooting time does not eat your Season Zero influence window ending August 2, 2026.