Monster Hunter Wilds crashing or won’t launch? Capcom’s official fixes for PC (Steam) and PS5, and what Ver. 1.042.00.03 changed

Monster Hunter Wilds crashes on your PC, refuses to launch, stutters, shows a black screen or closes on PS5 with error CE-108255-1? Capcom publishes official support pages for Steam and PS5, a pinned troubleshooting thread on Steam and update notes with recommended driver versions. Here are their steps, in a sensible order, as read on November 11, 2026. TricknFix did not test these steps itself: they are Capcom’s instructions, not a guarantee.

1. First: is it a known issue, and are you on the latest version?

• Capcom’s “Currently known issues” page says, as of August 17, 2026: “No major issues have been confirmed at this time.” It lists the frame rate drops on Steam after the previous patch as addressed in Ver. 1.042.00.02 (August 14, 2026).

• The latest update we found is Ver. 1.042.00.03, released October 27, 2026 (UTC). Capcom says it implemented measures against a crash on some AMD graphics cards and against communication errors in certain network environments.

• Capcom says you must install the latest version to play online multiplayer and access downloadable content.

2. PC: use the recommended graphics driver

• The Ver. 1.042.00.03 notes recommend NVIDIA GeForce 581.57 or newer and AMD Radeon 25.9.1 or newer, and say this may change.

• The August 2026 notes (Ver. 1.042.00.00 and 1.042.00.02) also warned of issues with AMD Radeon drivers 25.10.2 and higher on certain PCs with cards such as the RX 5500 XT or RX 7800 XT. That warning is not repeated in the October notes.

• Run Windows Update too. If problems continue, Capcom suggests a clean reinstall of the graphics driver, then the latest DirectX End-User Runtime, and a reboot. Its Steam thread mentions the third-party tool Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) as an option some players use.

3. PC: the game won’t launch

• Check the minimum requirements. On Steam: Windows 10 or 11 64-bit, Intel Core i5-10400, Core i3-12100 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 16 GB of RAM, GeForce GTX 1660 (6 GB) or Radeon RX 5500 XT (8 GB), DirectX 12, 75 GB, and an SSD is required. Capcom does not guarantee integrated graphics (Intel Iris Xe, Intel UHD, AMD Radeon Graphics), and its support page shows how to check your PC with dxdiag.

• Add the game folder and MonsterHunterWilds.exe (default: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MonsterHunterWilds) and Steam.exe to your antivirus and firewall exclusions. Capcom says some security software blocks the game with a false positive; if they were already excluded, remove and re-add them.

• Run Steam.exe as administrator; if that is not enough, run MonsterHunterWilds.exe as administrator too.

• Untick “Run this program in compatibility mode” in the Compatibility tab of MonsterHunterWilds.exe, then of Steam.exe if needed.

• Verify the files: Steam Library > right-click Monster Hunter Wilds > Properties > Installed Files > Verify integrity of game files. A few local configuration files failing to verify is normal. Capcom’s Steam thread also suggests renaming or deleting the game folder before verifying: be aware that this makes Steam download the game again.

4. PC: crashes or stutter during play

• Close recording software, performance overlays and other heavy apps.

• Delete the shader cache: “shader.cache” and “shader.cache2” in the folder containing MonsterHunterWilds.exe (skip if they are not there). For the driver’s own shader cache, Capcom refers you to your GPU maker.

• High Resolution Texture Pack: Capcom says it needs at least 16 GB of graphics memory and can make the game unstable with less, whatever the Texture Quality setting. To disable it: Steam Library > right-click the game > Properties > DLC > untick it in the INSTALL column, then restart Steam.

• Lower the preset: Options > Graphics > Graphics Settings to Low or Medium. Keep the PC well ventilated; limiting the frame rate can reduce heat.

• Laptops and dual-GPU PCs: in Windows Settings > System > Display > Graphics, set the game to “High performance”, keep the charger connected and use the “High performance” power plan.

• Crash about insufficient VRAM during shader warming: Capcom says your CPU may be damaged in this case and recommends contacting Intel or your PC vendor.

5. PC: black screen, flicker, cutscenes or Frame Generation

• Flickering or blank screen: in Options > Graphics, adjust the 120 Hz output, V-sync and HDR Output settings, and check your monitor settings.

• Cutscenes or sound not playing: some cutscenes use the Windows Media Player codec. Windows N and KN editions may lack it; Capcom points to Microsoft’s Media Feature Pack.

• Frame Generation greyed out: turn on hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling in Windows Settings > System > Display > Graphics, then update your driver.

6. PS5: the game won’t start, crashes or shows CE-108255-1

• Turn the console fully off (PS button > Power > Turn Off PS5), then update the game (Options button on the game icon > Check for Update) and the system software.

• Restore licenses: Settings > Users and Accounts > Other > Restore Licenses.

• Rebuild the database from Safe Mode (hold the power button until the second beep, connect the controller with a USB cable), then Clear Cache and Rebuild Database.

• Delete and reinstall the game, and check that the Download Status shows Completed. With a disc, try another console if you can.

• For CE-108255-1, Capcom says it is an application error that may come from software or hardware: follow these steps and PlayStation Support’s page for the code, send the error report to Sony, then contact Capcom support with the date and time of that report.

7. Still crashing? What Capcom asks for

• PC: your specs (a DxDiag.txt file), GPU driver version, security software, monitor and cable, region, a copy of config.ini from the game folder, and the latest .zip file in the CrashReport folder with its report ID (screenshot the crash report tool). The Prologue Demo is not covered by user support.

What is not known

• Capcom does not list which AMD cards or drivers were affected by the crash fixed in Ver. 1.042.00.03.

• We found no official Xbox troubleshooting page for Wilds; Capcom’s known issues page covers all platforms but listed no open issue as of August 17, 2026.

• Several menu names in the French version of the game may differ from the English labels quoted here.

Monster Hunter Wilds on Switch 2: our article (https://tricknfix.com/articles/monster-hunter-wilds-nintendo-switch-2-december-4-2026-prologue-demo-editions-crossplay/). More PC game fixes on Windows 11: #windows-11 (https://tricknfix.com/tags/windows-11/).

Sources

• Capcom, Monster Hunter Wilds support, “The game does not run properly, for example, the game is crashing or cannot be launched, or the sound/cutscenes are not playing. (Steam)”, read November 11, 2026 (https://www.monsterhunter.com/support/wilds/en/faq/detail/047).

• Capcom, Monster Hunter Wilds support, “Currently known issues” (known issues as of August 17, 2026), read November 11, 2026 (https://www.monsterhunter.com/support/wilds/en/faq/detail/060).

• Capcom Customer Service Center, “Official Monster Hunter Wilds Troubleshooting & Issue Reporting Thread”, Steam, posted February 25, 2025 (last edited August 3 according to Steam), read November 11, 2026 (https://steamcommunity.com/app/2246340/discussions/0/596267902352499612/).

• Capcom, “Update Summary (Ver.1.042.00.03)”, Steam, release date October 27, 2026 (UTC), read November 11, 2026 (https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2246340/view/1847920302230509).

• Capcom, “Update Summary (Ver.1.042.00.02)”, Steam, August 14, 2026, read November 11, 2026 (https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2246340/view/1840944183778483).

• Capcom, Monster Hunter Wilds support, PS5 troubleshooting (https://www.monsterhunter.com/support/wilds/en/faq/detail/045) and error CE-108255-1 (https://www.monsterhunter.com/support/wilds/en/faq/detail/066), read November 11, 2026.

• Capcom, Monster Hunter Wilds support, “How can I check the specs of my computer?”, read November 11, 2026 (https://www.monsterhunter.com/support/wilds/en/faq/detail/053).

• Steam store page, Monster Hunter Wilds system requirements, read November 11, 2026 (https://store.steampowered.com/app/2246340/Monster_Hunter_Wilds/).

• Video “Monster Hunter Wilds - Launch Trailer”, Monster Hunter channel (Capcom), February 12, 2025 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_wNFT4j6qI).

• Image: official Monster Hunter Wilds screenshot on Steam (https://store.steampowered.com/app/2246340/Monster_Hunter_Wilds/), ©CAPCOM.