One of the most frequently seen issues with the Dead Space series is the Dead Space could not initialize display hardware issue. If you have this issue, when you start the game you’ll likely get an Error popup with the following message:

Could not initialize display hardware. Please restart Dead Space

This issue is often caused by having an unsupported resolution for your system/monitor configuration. There are a few possible solutions to this issue that you can try below (ordered by success rate):

• Manually edit your resolution in settings.txt. The specific properties you want to edit are:
  Window.Height = 1080
Window.Width = 1920
  I would recommend you try a very small resolution to start e.g.
  Window.Height = 480
Window.Width = 640
  Your settings.txt file will be located in:
  C:\Users\<YOUR USER>\AppData\Local\Electronic Arts\<DEAD SPACE TITLE>\settings.txt
  NOTE: AppData is a hidden folder. You’ll have to enable show hidden folders to see it.
  NOTE: If you don’t have this settings file, you can use this one to start.
• Force the game to run in windowed mode. While this is not an ideal solution, it is another option, and can help you at least get the game started so you can try to narrow down the exact settings that will work for you. To force the game to run in windowed mode, in your settings.txt file set the Window.Fullscreen property to false AKA:
  Window.Fullscreen = false
• Reinstall video drivers
• Reinstall DirectX. Steps on how to reinstall DirectX can be found here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/179113
• Try some of the solutions from the Dead Space has stopped working post. While these solutions are not specific to the “could not initialize display hardware” issue, they cover a wide range of potential crash causes and are worth trying if you’ve run out of ideas.

If you’ve followed the above steps and are still experiencing the Dead Space could not initialize display hardware issue, please post in the comments below. To increase your chances of a solution being found include as much detail as possible (which version of the game you’re running, what operating system you have, what video card you have and steps to reproduce the issue). Screenshots are also very useful!

Sources: link 1, link 2

On some machines you may encounter the annoying Dead Space invisible wall issue. This issue usually appears in the room in which you first get the plasma cutter. After the cutscene completes you cannot pass through the door. You can see exactly what this looks like in the video below:

The solution to this issue for most people is the same on that solves the Dead Space mouse lag issue:

1. Turn on VSync in your control panel. Load your NVIDIA Control Panel and under manage 3D settings change your Vertical sync option to “On”. You can do this either in the Global Settings (force on for all programs)  or in the Program Settings under the Dead Space entry.
   
2. Turn off VSync in game. Start Dead Space, go to to options > visuals and toggle VSync off. If you can’t start the game to disable VSync see this post for some potential solutions to startup crashes.

If you’ve followed the above steps and are still experiencing the Dead Space invisible wall issue, please post in the comments below. To increase your chances of a solution being found include as much detail as possible (which version of the game you’re running, what operating system you have, what video card you have and steps to reproduce the issue). Screenshots are also very useful!

Sources: link 1, link 2

If you’re playing the PC port of Dead Space 1 you might run into the Dead Space mouse lag issue. This is usually presents itself as ~1 second or more of delay in response time to mouse movements. The most common steps to get around this problem are:

1. Turn on VSync in your control panel. Load your NVIDIA Control Panel and under manage 3D settings change your Vertical sync option to “On”. You can do this either in the Global Settings (force on for all programs)  or in the Program Settings under the Dead Space entry.
   
2. Turn off VSync in game. Start Dead Space, go to to options > visuals and toggle VSync off. If you can’t start the game to disable VSync see this post for some potential solutions to startup crashes.

If you’ve followed the above steps and are still having issues with Dead Space mouse lag, please post in the comments below. To increase your chances of a solution being found include as much detail as possible (which version of the game you’re running, what operating system you have, what video card you have and steps to reproduce the issue). Screenshots are also very useful!

Sources: link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4

After a clean install, some users have reported that changing the resolution to anything but 640×480 will cause the game to crash to desktop on subsequent startups. It some cases this is a silent crash where the game appears to be starting but the silently aborts startup. You can fix this crash by changing some settings in your settings.txt file. The Dead Space settings.txt file is located in:
C:\Users\<YOU>\AppData\Local\Electronic Arts\Dead Space\settings.txt

Keep in mind AppData is a hidden folder so you’ll have to enable show hidden folders in order to see it. To fix this resolution related crash remove the following lines from the settings file:
Window.Top = 0
Window.Left = 0

If that doesn’t work you can also try deleting this settings.txt file to completely reset all the settings for the game back to their defaults.

If you’ve followed the above steps and are still having issues with the Deadspace resolution change crash, please post in the comments below. To increase your chances of a solution being found include as much detail as possible (which version of the game you’re running, what operating system you have, what video card you have and steps to reproduce the issue). Screenshots are also very useful!

sources: link 1, link 2, link 3