In‑Game DX11 Crashes every 5min-2hr.

Hello,

Over the last month and a half, my partner and I have been pretty much full-time-jobbing trying to resolve this crash with no success.

Now, a new MOBO, Ram, SSD, and a RMA'd GPU later, we still haven't solved the problem.

Currently: FFXIV DX11 loads into game world, plays briefly (5min - 2hr at most), then silently crashes with no Event viewer, or with an "Unexpected error (6e)".

No Windows Event, no Reliability entry, no WER dump—game fast‑fails internally.

WinDbg stacks show uninitialized‑pointer use in ffxiv_dx11.exe (0xBDCCCCCD) and early RaiseException, indicating an engine bug.

Why It’s Not Hardware or Windows
Multiple GPUs (4070 → 3080) on same system/drivers crash the same way.

Completely fresh Windows on new SSD with zero extras still crashes.

Extensive stress tests (MemTest, OCCT, Heaven DX9/OpenGL, DX12 benches) show no electrical or memory faults.

BIOS reset & conservative settings unchanged the behavior.

Request for Help
Has anyone seen FFXIV DX11 silently exit in‑game on a Z790 + DDR5 + 14th‑Gen Intel setup?

Are there any hidden Windows 11 hooks or GPU flags that might still intercept DX11 calls?

Could a specific chipset driver or microcode revision be incompatible? (We already got this CPU fixed in December during the height of the 14th gen issues, and we have no suspected reasons why the current CPU would be failing)

Suggestions for a non‑engine workaround (e.g. specific NVIDIA Profile Inspector tweak)?

Ideas for forcing FFXIV to emit a crash log or text error?

Platform & Hardware

Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX Z790-E Gaming Wifi (Had a ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Hero, crashed here as well) (latest BIOS, cleared CMOS, “Optimized Defaults”)

CPU: Intel 14th‑Gen (RMA‑replaced due to early microvolt issues)

Memory: 2×32 GB DDR5 (tested single‑DIMM in A2 and B2, under‑clocked to 4400 MT/s, XMP off, gear‑down off)

GPU: RTX 4070 (RMA’d) and cross‑tested with known‑good RTX 3080 on same drivers

Storage: Brand‑new SSD (only drive connected), fresh Windows 11 install

Software Environment

OS: Windows 11 build 26100 (no updates beyond NVIDIA driver)

GPU Driver: NVIDIA Studio 32.0.15.7628 (clean‑installed via DDU)

FFXIV Install: Completely new Steam install on new SSD,

Overlays & Services: All overlays (Steam, Discord, GFE) disabled; Memory Integrity (VBS) and Hardware GPU scheduling off; clean‑boot (all non‑Microsoft services disabled)

Power Plan: High‑performance, PCIe LPM off

Any insight would be appreciated.

Good morning! Thank you for posting in the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

I would like to suggest the following methods below to help resolve the issue.
- Uninstall the game and delete the installation folder. Then reinstall the game directly through the Steam Library.
- Delete or rename the "etc" folder that exists within the game's installation folder. Please also check the game folder in "My Games" as well.
Below are the default locations for the installation folder:
- Standard Windows version -C:\Program Files (x86)\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn
- Steam version - C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FINAL FANTASY XIV Online

- Try switching to DirectX 9 by selecting the ‘Config’ button on the launcher.

- Disable Full Screen Optimizations. To disable this, please find the "ffxiv_dx11.exe" and right click it
and select properties. Then under the compatibility tab, there will be a checkbox labeled "Disable
Full Screen Optimizations". Check it and click apply.

- Open the Nvidia Control Panel and going to 'Manage 3D Settings'. From here, select 'Program
Settings' and select Final Fantasy XIV. You should see an option to select the GPU. Make sure it's set
to your dedicated graphics card (it may be set to 'Auto' by default)

- Delete locally saved content ('My Documents' > 'My Games' folder)
When the game is running, open the task manager, click the 'Details Tab' Find the game and right click
it. Select ‘Set Priority’ options to “High”

Could you try clearing the download cache on Steam? Please use the following instructions:
- Open the ‘Settings’ panel and select the ‘Downloads’ Tab.
- Once there, click ‘Clear Download Cache’ at the bottom of the screen and select ‘Okay’.
- After confirming ‘Okay’ you will be prompted to log back onto Steam.

Try verifying the files in the ‘Library’ folder by right-clicking Final Fantasy XIV and then choosing ‘Properties’. From there, click ‘Local Files’ and then ‘Verify integrity of game cache’. Doing so will verify if the game was installed properly.

Thank you for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums. Hope to see you online!

I had similar Issus when I got a new PC for me was it error message and came closing.
Or a sudden blackscreen while the game keeped running so I was forced to reset the pc while the game was still on.

Tried out a lot of things too but what solved my problem was a reinstalation of DirectX afterwards I had no issus ever again.
Hope that helps.

@Theinsomniac; thank you for the suggestion! Unfortunately we've tried this multiple times.

@Qzthlxfpwm - Unfortunately, we've done those methods and have gone so far as to replace the M.2nvme drives with a fresh SSD, full clean install.
We've replaced MOBO, RAM, GPU, SSD, PSU, tried full factory resets, different BIOS / DX / GPU Driver versions; the list is quite extensive, unfortunately.

We're reaching out to Intel to see if there's some sort of degredation being the 14th gen chipset. Though we had it replaced in Dec.