Fix Humankind Crashing at Startup and Won’t Start

Harsh Clif
Harsh Clif

Humankind is a historical strategy game that holds a lot of potential for the genre. The main plot of the game revolves around six decisions you make, but some players are unable to experience the game. The reason being the game just won’t launch. They are faced with the Humankind crashing, won’t start, and crash at startup issues. These problems are common with most games and unless there is a big you should be able to fix the problem. But, the sheer volume of causes that can make a game crash makes the process tedious. Stick with the post and we will help you resolve the problem with your game.

How to Fix Humankind Crashing, Won’t Start, and Crash at Startup

Before you start with the solutions, ensure that you meet the minimum specifications to play the game. If the PC does not meet the requirements to play the game, it’s likely to crash. Here are the solutions you can try to fix Humankind crash at startup and not launching issues.

Before you start with the game and if the Humkind crashes when creating a new game, perform a simple restart of the system. Close the game completely and reboot the system.

Delete Beta Files

  • For players who participated in the beta of the game, it’s essential that you delete the beta files for the game to launch. You can find the files in \Users\[username]\Documents\Humankind\ and delete the Humankind folder.

Update the graphics card drivers

  • One of the most common reasons for game crashing at startup is outdated GPU driver software. With some luck, simply updating the GPU driver should resolve the crashing problem for you.

Launch the system in a clean boot environment

  • Boot up the system in a clean boot environment and then, launch the game. A clean boot environment ensures that there is no third-party software interfering with the game and causing the crash. Here are the steps:
  • Press Windows Key + R and type msconfig, hit Enter > Services tab > Check Hide all Microsoft services > click Disable all > Startup tab > click Open Task Manager > Disable one task at a time and reboot the PC.

Verify integrity of game files

  • While installing the game, the files can sometimes get corrupted. A corrupted game is likely to crash. Hence, to fix the Humankind crashing at startup, verify the integrity of game files. Here are the steps you can follow.
  • Launch the Steam Client > go to Library > right-click Madden NFL 22 > Properties > Go to Local Files > click on Verify Integrity of Game Files

Ensure the game starts with the Powerful GPU

  • When I say powerful, I mean the dedicated not the integrated. Users with two GPU or laptop users who have Intel as well as NVIDIA or AMD, ensure that the game uses the NVIDIA GPU. You can control this from the NVIDIA Control Panel. Here are the steps:
  • NVIDIA Control Panel > Manage 2D Settings > Program Settings > Under Select a Porgram to Customize > click Add > Browse and add Humankind > Under the settings 2 ‘Select Preffered Graphics Processor for this program’ set NVIDIA High Powered GPU.

Provide admin permission to the game files

  • Either locate the desktop shortcut or the game executable > right-click on it > Properties > Compatibility tab > Check Run this program as an administrator.
  • The Steam client should have admin permission, if you have not given it already do it.

Reinstall .Net, DirectX, and VCRedist

  • Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Steamworks Shared\_CommonRedist\DotNet\4.5.2 >>> Run NDP452-KB2901907-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe
  • Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Steamworks Shared\_CommonRedist\DirectX >>> Run dxsetup.exe
  • Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Steamworks Shared\_CommonRedist\vcredist >>> Run 2012\vc_redist.x64.exe >>> Run 2013\vc_redist.x64.exe >>> Run 2019\vc_redist.x64.exe
  • Reboot the PC

Uninstall the Epic Client

  • Over the last few hours it has surfaced that the Epic Overlay somehow interferes with the game. Try to disable the overlay and if the issue persists, uninstall the Epic Games Store client.

Some other solutions you can try to fix the Humankind crash after the logo issue.

  • Launch the game from the Executable located in the install folder.
  • Try to install the game in the same directory as the Steam and OS.
  • Start the game in Windowed Mode.
  • Disable the Steam Overlay.

If none of the above solutions have worked, it’s possible the game is bugged. At the time of writing the post, it does appear that the game has some sort of problem that’s causing crashes.

That’s all in this guide. Hope you were able to fix the Humankind Crashing, Won’t Start, and Crash at Startup. This guide is a work-in-progress. As we learn more about the problems we will update this post. Visit a few hours from launch for new and effective solutions.  

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He is caught in a loop between writing about games and playing them. It's a vicious cycle. Although he's biased towards PC, you can occasionally find him on the PS5. He does not own an Xbox Consoles but plans on getting one soon.
2 Comments
  • Hello,

    I found a problem on my friend computer, into the event viewer zf_cef.dll was causing problem loading ZFGameBrowser.exe.

    The fix I found is to go under steamapps\common\Humankind\Humankind_Data\Plugins rename ZFGameBrowser.exe into anything and launch the game again, it works after.

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