Saints Row 4 Troubleshooting Guide: Fix Crashing, Lagging, Crash, CTD, Poor FPS, Black Screen, Sound and Game Errors

Saints Row is one of my favorite series of games, and has really enjoyed playing all of its three games. Now in 2013, Deep Silver provided us the improved, enhanced and interesting sequel of the same in form of “Saints Row IV”. I was playing the same since last three days and have successfully completed. It was really a fun, Thanks Deep Silver for the same. But before and during the gameplay, I required to spent several hours on troubleshooting the problems and errors of the game. Yeah, sometimes the game started lagging, sometime it crashes, in fact it took me two hours to install the game itself because of several errors though I have a pretty good gaming configuration.

As I faced so many problems, obviously there would be several other users and members who might have faced the same, infact I found some people posted their query here as well. So I thought to share the troubleshooting I did to fix the game issues so that everyone can enjoy the game comfortably. Hence I’m today posting here the Troubleshooting Guide that will cover all the issues and errors you might face with their solutions. Hope you find it useful. So lets start:

The very first thing you need to check in case you are facing problems with any PC video game is its System Requirements. Below the are minimum and recommended official system requirements to run Saints Row 4 comfortably on your computer. Have a look:

Minimum System Requirements:

• Operating System: Windows Vista 32bit
• CPU: Intel Pentium Dual Core E5700 3GHz OR AMD Athlon II X2 245e
• Memory: 4 GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 530 OR AMD Radeon HD 5550 1024MB
• DirectX: DirectX 10
• HDD Space: 10 GB

Recommended System Requirements:

• Operating System: Windows Vista 64bit / Windows 7 64bit
• CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.5GHz OR AMD Phenom 9850 Quad-Core
• Memory: 4 GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 OR AMD Radeon HD 5850 1024MB
• DirectX: DirectX 11
• HDD Space: 10 GB

Remember if your configuration is not even meeting the minimum system requirements, then I cannot guarantee trying out any of these fixes will work because the PC must have atleast the minimum rig provided above. And if you are meeting the recommended requirements, you may fix the problems within minutes. Now lets cover other issues of the games installation and gameplay.

Saints Row 4 Unable to Install:

This is the very first problem I faced (as I said above it took me over two hours to get the game installed) you can face with SR4 (Saints Row 4) or any other high end PC game. Here are few things you can try out to get rid of the problems:

• Most probably there would be the security suite or Antivirus blocking the game’s installation. Hence, in case your game is refusing to install, simply disable your Antivirus directly and then try again.
• Norton Security is the well known security suite blocking the games installation because most of the time (like many other Antivirus programs) it recognize the game’s setup as virus. Hence you get errors or other issues during installation.
• After security suite, other reason of not getting the game installed could be the faulty DVD. No matter it is brand new DVD, few times it use to scratched or Damaged. If this is the case, try cleaning it with soft cotton and try again.
• If you are installing the game with download ISO or setup file, probably the download may have got corrupted for some reason. You may need to download it again. I know the download size is pretty huge but that’s the only option.

Note: Whenever the installation get fails and you are going to start the installation again, make sure you first delete all installation files from “Program File” directory as well as from “My Documents” folder, then restart the PC and then start the installation. Very important.

Saints Row 4 Installation Error and Solutions:

Error: “Cannot Install Saints Row IV PC”

• This is the standard error message we receive with many video games or even with applications. Windows wont provide us the exact reason of the problem. In such case, you just need to make sure that you meet at least minimum system requirements, updated all drivers, and have installed the latest DirectX version. Once done, delete Saints Row installation folder and files, reboot the system and run the setup again. Hopefully it should install this fine. You can download the latest version of DirectX from here.

Error: “The Application failed to initialize properly”

• If you are getting this error during the SR4 installation, then there is a very simple fix. You just need to download and install “Microsoft Visual Runtime Libraries”. It is just about 5Mb in size and can be download from here.

Error: “Saints Row IV PC Install Fails, Cannot Install”

• Even this error appears with many of the games, infact i received it during my SR4 installation as well. This error appears actually because of a bug with Microsoft C++ . What you need to do here is open control panel > Uninstall Programs > Add and Remove Programs > and uninstall C++. Note you may find just one or multiple instances of Microsoft C++ listed in your Add and Remove list. You need to delete all of them. Once done, download and install it back again from the link provided above. Now reboot and start the game’s installation.

If you are getting any other error messages with the game, please post here so that I can provide you solution accordingly.

Saints Row 4 Wont load, Wont Start or Crashes on launch:

So now we have finally installed the game but facing new problems. We have done so many stuffs but not the game refuses to start, really annoying? Don’t panic, it happens with high end graphical games. Here are few fixes that helps to get rid of these problems:

• The very first thing you need to take care here are Drivers. You should always update your Graphic Cards drivers whenever you are ready to install/play new games. If the system has outdated drivers, most probably the games will crash or wont start. Depending on your Video cards, you can download the drivers from these URLs by selecting your card models:
  1. Download Nvidia Card drivers
  2. Download AMD ATI Card drivers
• Another reason that don’t allow the game to launch or to crash it on launch is DirectX. Make sure to download and install the most recent version of DirectX. Sometimes you mat still face the problem after updating, in such cases uninstall DX, restart the system and re-install it again. This fixes the startup problems.
• As the game is not supported on XP, you would be playing it either on Vista or Windows 7. Hence it could be User Account Control (UAC) as well blocking the launch. Personally I feel if I am the Admin or the only user of computer, UAC is of no use. It is completely safe to keep it disabled. In order to disable UAC, follow these simple steps:
  1. Just click on Start, Type UAC, Press Enter.
  2. In the opened window just pull the slider down click OK.
  3. Now restart the system and try launching the game.
• Instead of launching the game from Desktop shortcut icon, go to Saints Row 4 installation folder under C:\Program Files, find Saints Row 4 .exe, right click the same and select properties. Now go to ‘Compatibility Mode’ tab and check mark the box for ‘Disable Desktop Composition.’ Now restart the game again.

Saints Row 4 Crash To Desktop (CTD) during Gameplay:

Now we have finally fixed the startup problem, but the game crashes sometimes suddenly in between the gameplay. Are you facing this? Here is the fix:

• Usually there use to be several unwanted processes running in the background. Any one of few of them are cause of this issue. Hence before starting the game (no matter you playing on local PC or online) you should kill all unwanted processes. You can do this by going to Task Manager > Processes Tab.
• Also disable the unwanted startup programs by going to System Configuration. To do this type ‘MSCONFIG’ in Run Box (Win+R keys) followed by Enter. Go to Startup Tab and either select one by one if you have knowledge about which apps are not required or simply click Disable All button and Apply. Now restart the game or better restart the PC and then play.
• If you have not disabled your Antivirus before launching the game, disable it now because they play major role in providing such kind of issues.
• Last but not least, if still SR4 is crashing to desktop during gameplay, then exit the game, open up your Graphic Card Control Panel and disable any one of the 2 GPUs. Yes, running on one GPU works smooth most of the time.
• If you are using nVidia Card then click Manage 3d settings and enable ‘Threaded Optimization’ from the nVidia Control Panel.
• If you are having ATI or AMD Card then you will need to uninstall Catalyst Control Center (CCC) and start the game again.

Saints Row 4 Black Screen Problem:

Black Screen usually appears because of outdated graphic drivers or if any of its file is getting blocked by Antivirus or if some another program is conflicting with the game. If you don’t understood what to do, check the below fixes:

• First thing you need to do is update graphic cards driver (if you haven’t not updated yet) as well as Motherboard drivers.
• Go to game’s settings and disable VSync, anti-aliasing and filtering as well as multi-sampling to make it at lower settings. Probably your system is not enough to run the game on High or Ultimate settings.
• As I mentioned above, make sure your Antivirus or any other security suite is disabled. Yes, they can as well create the Black Screen issue.
• In case you are playing Saints Row 4 on Steam and getting Black Screen, make sure you also disable Firewall or allow SR4 through it.
• To free up the resource and to make sure no other applications is conflicting with the game, open Task manager > Process Tab and kill all unwanted process running in the background
• The black screen should be fixed as of now, in case it is still appearing then you will need to do clean re-install of SR4. By Clean install I mean you uninstall the game, delete its installation as well as Save Game Directory, restart the PC and then install the game again. It works.

Saints Row 4 Lagging, Freezing and Low FPS Problems:

The higher the Graphics is, higher the chances of getting low FPS or Freezing or Lagging issues with the game unless and until you have decent gaming rig. My personal rig is nearly the recommended requirements but still I faced lagging and FPS problems few times, just few times. So if anyone is playing Saints Row 4 with even lower RIG, may surely face these problems. But don’t worry, we have the solution for the same.

• Lag, Freeze or FPS issue occurs when the game is not getting sufficient resources to run the game comfortably. Hence the first thing you need to do is free up the resources by killing out unwanted processes. Open task Manager and kill all process except those required by the game, graphic card and Windows.
• If still you getting the problem then open up your Graphic Card Control Panel and lower the settings by disabling Vsync and Antialiasing.
• Another important stuff you can do in Card’s control panel is running the game on triple buffering and V-sync using the D3DOverrider software. This really boosts up the FPS but I recommended not to do it unless and until you know what you are doing and how to do it.
• By doing all these things I am sure you might have noticed improvement in the game play but if still there is some amount of problem left, then without exiting the game press Alt+Tab or Ctrl+Alt+Tab to bring up the Task Manager, click Processes Tab, find and right click respective process for Saints Row 4, click Select Priority and set it to High or RealTime. Now continue your game. My problem got solved by doing all these things, it must fix yours as well.
• In case you are playing the on Steam and facing Lag or Low FPS, then apart from all these workarounds you also need to make sure your internet connection is working fine. It requires a good bandwith. If your system is on Wireless Router, connect it through Ethernet port and make sure no other system is leeching up the bandwidth.

Saints Row 4 No Sound or Sound Stuttering:

This is a very rare problems. In my gaming life I faced this issue just twice or thrice. Didn’t faced with Saints Row 4 but still providing the fix so that if anyone of you come across, then get rid of it easily.

• The very first and obvious solution for No Sound or Stuttering sound is updating your sound/audio drivers. Visit the manufacturer’s site and download the most recent driver.
• Make sure your system is running latest DirectX. If you want you can download the same from above provided download url.
• Probably your sound issues should be fixed so far but in case not, then you need top decrease Sound Acceleration. If you don’t know how to do the same, then press Win+R key to bring up the Run Box. Type ‘dxdiag’ and press Enter. In the opened dialog box go to Sound Tab and Reduce Sound Acceleration.
• If the problem persists still then go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sounds > Sound > Communications Tab. Here click ‘Do Nothing’ and Apply > Ok. That’s it, you are done. There wont be the sound problem anymore.

Saints Row 4 Unable to Save Game on Steam:

This is yet another problem reported by many Steam gamers playing Saints Row 4. If you are the one with this issue, here is the fix:

• First of all Exit the game.
• Restart your computer.
• Now run steam and validate your Game files.
• You can do this by login to your account
• Click on Library section.
• Now select Saints Row 4
• Right click and select Properties.
• Go to Local Files tab and click ‘Verify Integrity of game cache’ button.

That’s it. Now start the game and try saving your progress. It should save the files without any problem. If you guys are playing on local PC and looking for Saints Row 4 save game, then you can download it from here.