Horizon Zero Dawn — Common Errors & How to Fix Them

What is happening: Shader compilation is memory-hungry and the page file is too small, or the drive is nearly full.

Fix: Free space on the install drive, increase the page file, and let Windows manage its size. Restart the game after compilation finishes so it can release memory still held from the compile pass.

What is happening: The in-game anisotropic filtering setting does not function in the release build; forcing it in the driver requires a shader rebuild.

Fix: Force anisotropic filtering in the driver, then delete PSOCache.bin from LocalCacheDX12 and let shaders recompile.

What is happening: A corrupt shader cache — the classic fix is simply deleting it.

Fix: Delete PSOCache.bin (roughly 1.4 GB) from the game’s LocalCacheDX12 folder and relaunch. The game rebuilds and recompiles it.

What is happening: The game lacks write access to Documents, often due to Controlled folder access, or the Windows user profile contains non-Latin characters.

Fix: Run as administrator, use a profile without non-Latin characters, and toggle Controlled folder access off in Windows Security ransomware protection.

What is happening: The game attempts to write to a nonexistent memory address. PCGamingWiki documents a hex-edit workaround, but results are mixed.

Fix: Be aware the community-reported hex patch is not universally effective and may make crashes more frequent for some users. Try the cache and page file fixes first.

Verify game files, update the GPU driver with a clean install, and close overlays, recorders and RGB utilities. Across every engine, these three resolve the largest share of crashes before you touch anything game-specific.

A crash that happens in the same place every time in Horizon Zero Dawn is usually asset or configuration damage — a cache, a config file or a mod. A crash that happens at random intervals is far more often a driver, an overlay, thermals or unstable memory tuning.

Load the same save, visit the same area and repeat the same action. If you change five settings at once you will never learn which one mattered, and you will end up reinstalling a game that did not need it.

Steam refunds within 14 days of purchase and under 2 hours of playtime, though documented technical faults can sometimes be accepted past that. Microsoft Store and Epic follow similar 14-day or 2-hour rules with their own exception paths.

A denied refund can sometimes be overturned if you attach crash logs, a DxDiag and the steps you already tried. Contact store support with the evidence rather than filing a bare request.

If the failure is a ban from online cheating or a modified client, no store will refund it. That category is separate from a game that simply will not run.