Hearts of Iron IV (HOI4) keeps crashing on your PC? Don’t worry. After reading this article, you should be able to fix it.

9 simple fixes to try:

You may not have to try them all; just work your way down the list until you find the one that works for you.

  1. Check your computer specs
  2. Restart your computer
  3. Run your game as an administrator
  4. Disable fullscreen optimization
  5. Update your graphics driver
  6. Verify the integrity of your game files
  7. Change your PC power settings
  8. Check for Windows Updates
  9. Reinstall your game and/or Steam

Fix 1: Check your computer specs

Many players are reporting that Hearts of Iron 4 crashes on their PC, and sometimes this problem can be caused by your hardware. Here are the minimum system requirements to run HOI4:

Operating System : Windows 7 64-bit or newer 
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 @ 2.66 GHz | AMD Athlon II X4 650 @ 3.20 GHz
RAM: 4 GB
Graphics Card ATI Radeon HD 5850 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX470 with 1GB VRAM
Hard Drive: 2 GB

Now compare. If your PC doesn’t meet the minimum specs, you’ll need to run the game on another PC. If you’re unfamiliar with your computer components, here is how to check:

1) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R at the same time to invoke the Run dialog.

2) Type dxdiag and click OK.

3) Check your Operating System, Processor, Memory and DirectX Version.

4) Click the Display tab, and then check your graphics card’s information.

If your computer meets the minimum requirements to run HOI4, read on and check the fix, below.

Fix 2: Restart your computer

Extraneous software not only takes up your PC resources and affects your gaming performance, it can also conflict with Hearts of Iron IV, causing it to crash.

So if you’re running multiple programs during your gameplay, try restarting your PC to close unnecessary programs completely and refresh your system environment.

If HOI4 still crashes after the reboot, go ahead with the next fix.

Fix 3: Run your game as an Administrator

The Hearts of Irons crashing issue might happen when the game fails to access certain game files or folders under standard user mode.

To fix it, try running Steam as an administrator, then launch your game from Steam. Follow the instructions below:

1) Exit Steam.

2) Right-click the Steam icon on your desktop and select Properties.

3) Click the Compatibility tab and check the box next to Run this program as an administrator. Then, click OK.

4) Relaunch Steam and Hearts of Irons 4.

If your problem still exists, then move on to the fix below.

Fix 4: Disable fullscreen optimization

If you’re on Windows 10, disabling fullscreen optimizations might be able to fix Hearts of Iron IV crashing issue. Here is how to do it:

This fix only apply to Windows 10. If you’re on Windows 7 or 8, check Fix 5 below.

1) Right-click the Hearts of Iron IV icon on your desktop and select Properties.

2) Click the Compatibility tab, then check the box next to Disable fullscreen optimizations and click OK.

Relaunch HOI4 to see if this has resolved your issue. If not, read on and try the fix below.

Fix 5: Update your graphics driver

Hearts of Irons IV crashing issues might occur if you’re using a faulty graphics driver, or it’s outdated. To keep your game running smoothly, it’s essential that you have the latest correct graphics driver at all times.

There are two ways you can get the right graphics driver:

  • Option 1 – Manually– You’ll need some computer skills and patience to update your driver this way, because you need to find exactly the right the driver online, download it and install it step by step.
  • Option 2 – Automatically (Recommended)– This is the quickest and easiest option. It’s all done with just a couple of mouse clicks – easy even if you’re a computer newbie.

Option 1 – Download and install the driver manually

The manufacturer of your graphics card keeps updating the driver. To get the latest graphics driver, you need to go to the manufacturer’s website, find the driver corresponding with your specific flavor of Windows version (for example, Windows 32 bit) and download the driver manually.

Once you’ve downloaded the correct driver for your system, double-click on the downloaded file and follow the on-screen instructions to install the driver.

Option 2 – Automatically update your graphics driver

If you don’t have the time, patience or computer skills to update the graphics driver manually, you can do it automatically with Driver Easy.

Driver Easy will automatically recognize your system and find the correct driver for it. You don’t need to know exactly what system your computer is running, you don’t need to risk downloading and installing the wrong driver, and you don’t need to worry about making a mistake when installing.

You can update your driver automatically with either the FREE or the Pro version of Driver Easy. But with the Pro version it takes just 2 clicks:

1) Download and install Driver Easy.

2) Run Driver Easy and click the Scan Now button. Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers.

3) Click the Update button next to the graphics driver to automatically download the correct version of that driver, then you can manually install it (you can do this with the FREE version).

Or click Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system. (This requires the Pro version which comes with full support and a 30-day money back guarantee. You’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click Update All.) 

You can do it for free if you like, but it’s partly manual.
If you need assistance, please contact Driver Easy’s support team at support@drivereasy.com.

Fix 6: Verify the integrity of your game files

If the crashing issues persist, it’s probable that Hearts of Irons IV is not properly installed on your PC – say, certain game files are missing or damaged.

To fix it, try verifying the integrity of your game files on Steam:

1) Run Steam.

2) Click LIBRARY.

3) Right-click Hearts of Iron IV and select Properties.

4) Click the LOCAL FILES tab, then click VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAME FILES.

Wait for the scans to be complete, then relaunch HOI4 to see if your problem has been resolved. If not, try the next fix.

Fix 7: Change your PC power settings

The power plan on all computers is set to Balanced by default to save more energy. When your CPU’s speed slows down automatically under Balanced mode, it can make Hearts of Iron IV crash. In this case, try changing your PC Power option to High Performance. Here is how:

1) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and type control. Then, click Control panel.

2) Under View by, click Large icons.

3) Select Power Options.

4) Select High Performance.

Restart your computer and your game to see if this worked for you. If your problem persists, try the fix below.

Fix 8: Check for Windows Updates

Always ensure that your computer has all of the latest recommended Windows updates to keep your applications running smoothly. Here is how to do it:

1) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key. Then, type windows update and select Windows Update settings

2) Click Check for updates, and then wait for Windows to download and install the updates automatically.

3) Restart your computer and your game after the update is complete.

You can hopefully play the game without crashes now. If not, check the fix, below.

Fix 9: Reinstall your game and/or Steam

If none of the fixes above worked for you, reinstalling your game and/or Steam is very likely the solution to your problem. Here is how to do it:

Reinstall Hearts of Iron IV

1) Run Steam.

2) Click LIBRARY.

3) Right-click Hearts of Iron IV and select Uninstall.

4) Click DELETE.

5) Relaunch Steam to download and reinstall Hearts of Iron IV.

Relaunch your game to test your issue.


Reinstall Steam

1) Right-click the Steam icon and select Open file location.

2) Right-click the steamapps folder and select Copy. Then, place the copy in another location to back it up.

3) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and type control. Then, click Control Panel.

4) Under View by, select Category. Then, select Uninstall a program.

5) Right-click Steam, and then click Uninstall. Then, wait for the process to be complete.

6) Download and install Steam.

7) Right-click the Steam icon and select Open file location.

8) Move the backup steamapps folder you create before to your current directory location.

9) Restart Hearts of Iron IV to test your problem.

Hopefully, this article helped in resolving your issue! If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment below.

39
39 people found this helpful
guest
4 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments