Retroarch keeps crashing on windows 7 upon startup

RetroArch Windows devices
#5

I reinstalled DX but that didn’t help unfortunately. Still crashes on startup.

Is there any log I can read? Can’t find one in the RA folders.

#6

launch from a command line with --verbose --menu and it will print everything to the console window.

#7

Well I do have an Intel integrated graphic but i guess that it should work anyway?

Here’s the output

http://pastebin.com/qhDN91dc

#8

Managed to get it working by changing menu_driver = to “glui”.

:slight_smile:

Regards

#9

Weird. Whatever works :slight_smile:

Thanks for posting your solution.

#10

Sorry I’m new to this forum and I just got across this topic I’m having same problem too. Where do you change this so I can give it a try. Thanks in advance

#11

You would change it in your retroarch.cfg, but this is a super-old problem/solution, so it’s not really all that likely that this will correct your problem.

Are you also using Win7? Can you pastebin a log for us?

#12

Yes I’m using win 7 64 bit I try installing direx and Microsoft visual C++ and no luck. As soon I get off from work I’ll post it. Thanks for the fast reply!

#13

I just got home what file are you talking about to post?

#14

You’ll have to generate a log: https://docs.libretro.com/guides/generating-retroarch-logs/#generating-logs-in-windows

#15

Once I open the log file it crashes just like if I’m opening retroarch any ideas?

#16

here is what i got. https://pastebin.com/bcCkALhw

#17

In my case, it was easy to find the reason. Retroarch, by default (because I didn’t change it,) is trying to start in using D3D12 as the video driver. Considering I’m using the 64-bit version of Windows 7, this ain’t working.

The problem in my case is that Retroarch seems to have crashed before it generated a retroarch.cfg file. I’ve check in AppData and the retroarch program folder and subfolders, and there is not one. Is there a way to create one, or a default one that can be downloaded and edited?

#18

Oops. Forgot to include the log file.

https://pastebin.com/wfuvNN12

#19

The default should be GL.

If it’s crashing before it can make a retroarch.cfg, something else is probably causing it because the video driver init happens later on in the launch process, AFAIK.

#20

Is there a way to force the generation of a .cfg file? I imagine that I could just edit that to use another renderer and the problem would go away… unless, of course, something else pops up (knock on wood.) hehehe

#21

That’s just it: the cfg file should be created by the time the video init happens, so if it’s not getting that far, it’s probably not the video driver that’s causing the issue. Nevertheless, you can make a text file named “retroarch.cfg” and put this line in:

video_driver = "whatever"

Try replacing whatever with gdi, d3d9 or d3d11.

1 Like
#22

Worked like a charm! I did exactly what you said. I created a new text file in the Retroarch directory, renamed it to “retroarch.cfg” and entered the following line:

video_driver = “D3D11”

Saved it and it started up. It also immediately wrote a new retroarch.cfg that contains all the options I’m used to seeing.

1 Like
#23

Continuing the discussion from Retroarch keeps crashing on windows 7 upon startup:

hi guys. i have tried all the options suggested here and still not working. i did have an older version that worked but i cant remember the version since i had to do a re-format if my pc… does anyone know of a stable version that actually works without this problem. i have tried all the available downloads on the liberto site still ng. any suggestions? windows 7 32bit sp1 and dx 11 thanks

#24

I have Windows 7 32-bit service pack 1 also. (Yes, July 2020, still got it, and I finally got it to work yesterday and for the first time got a game running in RetroArch!) Changing the video driver to “gdi” in a new retroarch.cfg text file did work for me. None of the “d3d” options worked for me. I also changed the menu to rgui (menu_driver = “rgui”).

(Side note: To navigate the menu system, if “z” and “x” don’t work reliably, use enter to accept and backspace to go back.)

Later on I found out that the video driver “gl1” works for me also, and with “gl1”, all the four menu driver options work fine. (Since I’m on a low-end machine, the “xmb” menu driver is slow, but it doesn’t crash.) The “gl” video driver makes me crash, however.

So if anything, if you still happen to be on a Windows 7 machine, try either the “gdi” or “gl1” video drivers with the “rgui” menu driver. If you want to experiment with other video drivers after you got it to work the first time, then you’ll have to come back to your config file if it crashes. (That’s just what I learned along the process. :slightly_smiling_face: )