Sifu is the latest game from Sloclap developed on the Unreal Engine for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation. As you would have imagined by the name, Sifu is the story of revenge of a martial arts master. The game appears to be very promising. On PC, the game is an Epic Games Store exclusive and players have started playing. However, users on PS4 and PS5 did not have a great start with the game as many could not download the game during the early access period. This has since been addressed by the devs, but some users on PC have issues of their own such as Sifu crashing at startup, black screen, won’t start, and not launching issue on Epic Games Store.
If you have encountered this issue, there may be certain things you can do to fix the not launching problem with the game. Here are the things we suggest that you try.
Sifu Crashing, Not Starting, and Black Screen at Start Fix
Before you go ahead with the guide, ensure that you meet the minimum requirements to play the game. If you meet the requirements and the game still crashes, here are some things you can do.
Run Sifu after a clean boot
Often games crash due to third-party software either interfering with the game’s process or consuming too many resources on the system. We will start the system in a clean boot environment with only the essential components to run the OS. Here are the steps you can follow:
- Press Windows Key + R and type msconfig, hit Enter
- Go to the Services tab
- Check Hide all Microsoft services
- Now, click Disable all
- Go to the Startup tab and click on Open Task Manager
- Disable one task at a time and restart the system.
Once the PC boots up again, launch the game and check if the crashing problem still occurs. If it does, proceed to the next solution.
Update the graphics card or sound drivers
If the GPU drivers are outdated or corrupt, it can lead to Sifu crash at startup. But, we often fail to pay attention to sound card drivers. If you have installed an external or internal sound card that requires additional drivers besides the ones installed with Windows update, you will have to update the sound card drivers as well. Both NVidia and AMD regularly release driver update to provide day-one support for games. Check the respective GPU manufacturer’s website for a recent driver update. For NVidia users, if the game crashes on Game Ready Driver, try the Studio Drivers.
Update or reinstall DirectX files
Another reason Sifu crashes on startup or is not launching is the corruption of the DirectX installation. If there is a problem with DirectX, the game won’t launch and as soon as you try to launch it, the game will crash. To fix the issue, you need to update the DirectX to the most recent version. Follow the link to download the latest DirectX.
Disable overclocking or turbo boosting
If you are using third-party software like MSI Afterburner to overclock the CPU or GPU, it will be disabled when we launched the game after a clean boot, but certain overclocking or turbo boosting features need to be disabled from the BIOS. Ensure that the game runs without overclocking as it can cause the Sifu crashing at startup.
Go to the computers BIOS settings and disable the ‘Intel Turbo Booster’ if you have it enabled. To prevent the game from crashing, you should reset the CPU and GPU to chipset manufacturer specifications.
Repair corrupt game files
When the game files are corrupt, the game will crash, either at startup or mid-game. Epic Games Store has a feature that can repair corrupt game files. It’s quicker than reinstalling the entire game. Here are the steps you can follow.
Launch the Epic Games Store > go to Library > Sifu > click on 3 dots near the title and select Verify.
Wait for the process to complete the check if Sifu crashes at startup, won’t launch, not starting issues still occur.
Tune down the game settings
Not all of us have a super-powered gaming rig. Even when your system might meet the specifications to play the game, it may stutter and crash if you play it on high settings. Crash at startup usually does not occur due to game settings if you meet the minimum requirements, but can lead to the Sifu missions not loading. If you can make it to the settings screen, then, from the Options Menu, reduce the settings to the lowest. This should fix the missions not loading issues with the game.
Play Sifu on default settings
If you change the settings of the game, either using launch options in Epic Games Store or from the in-game settings, the game can crash. As such, play the game on default settings.
That’s all we have in this guide, but we will update the post as we know more about the issue. If none of the above solutions have worked to resolve the Sifu crash at startup, won’t launcher, and not launching issue, check back or you can raise a ticket at the Sloclap website.