How to Fix the Riven Remake Crash at Launch on PC

Riven is a classic PC game from Cyan Worlds that has been completely remastered for modern systems and VR. It’s easily one of the most immersive VR experiences to date, and will take players new and old on a puzzle adventure like no other. While the Unreal Engine 5 version looks great, players have reported some technical issues. If you’re experiencing crashes when trying to launch Riven Remake, here are some suggestions for resolving those issues.

Fixed a crash when launching Riven Remastered

There are a number of possible reasons why Riven Remake crashes, and we have compiled a number of solutions and potential workarounds for both VR and non-VR versions.

Disable motion compensation layer

If you have an older or custom VR headset with a standalone setup, make sure to disable “Motion Compensation Layer” in the OpenXR backend settings. This happens whether you’re playing in VR or non-VR mode, and is a widespread engine bug in the developer’s version of Unreal.

Enable “ViveVR OpenXR SRWorks” for Vive headsets

If you’re using a Vive VR headset, you’ll need to make sure the ‘ViveVR OpenXR SRWorks’ option is enabled in the Steam VR settings under ‘Install OpenXR API Layer’.

Enable ViveVR OpenXR SRWorks

Update your BIOS: Intel 13900K and 14900K Users

If you have an Intel 13900K and 14900K CPU, you may also experience crashes with other Unreal Engine 5 games. This is a known issue specific to these processors and not related to the game itself. RAD Game Tools has several recommendations for various motherboard manufacturers. First, you can try updating your BIOS to the latest version, as this has helped some users get into the game without crashing.

Mac users: Update to MacOS 14.5

If you are playing the game on a Mac system, you will need MacOS version 14.5, anything below that is not supported.

Update Windows

As with other Unreal Engine 5 games, make sure your Windows is updated, especially if you haven’t updated in a while, to ensure the operating system has the SDKs it needs to run these modern versions.

  • Type “update” in Windows Search and click “Check for updates”
  • Here, make sure you are using the latest version and do not have any pending updates or installations

Verify game files

Some game files may not be sorted, so it is best to scan these files and download the corrupted or missing content.

  • Open Steam, and navigate to your library
  • Here, right-click on Riven and select Properties
  • In the Installed Files tab, click Verify Integrity of Game Files

Apart from that, you can also try the following general solutions which may work:

We hope that these suggestions were helpful and that you were able to resolve crashing issues while playing Riven Remake. Since release, the developers have released multiple patches and are keeping a close eye on any potential technical issues and how to resolve them.

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