Dead Space.exe has stopped working

Tested: ,

If you’re playing on a machine with a lower level/unsupported video card (especially integrated graphics) you might run into the following error:

"Dead Space.exe has stopped working"

This problem first appeared for me in Chapter 1 in the maintenance bay. For some people it appears right away when the game is starting up. Because the causes of this error are so varying, I have listed all possible solutions below. The only two I would recommend everyone do is the following:

  1. Run as administrator and with Windows XP compatibility. Right click on your Dead Space shortcut, select properties. Select the compatibility tab and run the program under Windows XP compatibility and select Run this program as administrator.
  2. Make sure you have a settings.txt file. If your game is always crashing, and/or you installed it from origin it is possible you won’t have a settings.txt file. In this case download this one and place in in the following folder (make sure you create any missing directories):
    C:\Users\<YOUR USER>\AppData\Local\Electronic Arts\Dead Space\settings.txt
    NOTE: AppData is a hidden folder so you’ll have to enable show hidden folders to see it. 

If you’ve tried the above mentioned recommended steps and are still experiencing crashes try combinations of the following suggestions below. Most of you will NOT need to implement all of these solutions:

  • Disable HID compliant devices and game controllers. Open the Start Menu > Control Panel > System and Security > System > Device Manager. Under Human Interface Devices [HID] disable ONLY the devices named:
    + HID-compliant device
    + HID-compliant game controller.
    + HID-compliant consumer control device
    hid-devices-dead-space
    NOTE: It seems HID-compliant devices are responsible for lag and crashes across a wide range of devices. See these threads: link1, link2, link3. You can read more on HID here.
  • Disable V-Sync. To disable V-Sync in the settings.txt file set the Window.VSync key to false:
    Window.VSync = false
    NOTE: On some machines Enabling V-Sync is what you need to do instead. Best to try both.
  • Disable full-screen mode. In some odd cases playing in windowed mode will either remove the crashes or at least make them less frequent, though it can be quite an annoying experience. To set the game to run in windowed mode, open your settings.txt file and set Window.Fullscreen to be false AKA:
    Window.Fullscreen = false
  • Add the resolution fix to your settings.txt file. See the post on the Dead Space changing resolution crash and follow the steps on how to fix it.
  • Disable antivirus and firewall. Do this at your own risk! Some have noted that Dead Space conflicts with certain antivirus software.
  • Disable Jumi controller if you have it. As mentioned here the Jumi controller driver can conflict with Dead Space so disable it when playing if you have it.
  • Delete your latest save file. This suggestion comes from EA. It appears sometimes your savefile can become corrupted and cause startup crashes.
  • Disable additional monitors. Some users reported that switching to a single screen display setting got around their crashes.

If you’ve followed the above steps and are still having issues with the Dead Space.exe has stopped working 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, link 3, link 4, link 5, link 6, link 7

    Rus
    June 9, 2013 at 4:40 am

    NOT Fucking working!!!

      Dead Space.exe has stopped working is a very broad error and these solution are only known to work in some cases. I’ve found a few additional possible solutions to try since initially posting this article. Please also try steps #2 and #4 above corresponding to:

      • Disable HID compliant game controller
      • (Mixed results) Disable V-Sync.
    Vladimir
    July 2, 2013 at 10:30 am

    When I try to launch it from cmd, the screen just goes black. I opened up task manager and it says it is running but I don’t see or hear anything. Help please! I disabled explorer.exe and did all the steps!

      That sounds very much like a display driver issue. Make sure you have the latest drivers for your video card. Also if you happen to be running a dual monitor setup, switch to a single monitor and try again.

      Out of curiosity which video card do you have installed?

    Jolly Rogers
    May 3, 2014 at 2:12 pm

    Is there a way to edit controls in deadspace. Like use the up arrow and down arrow on my keyboard?

    Teo Berroa
    May 12, 2014 at 11:09 am

    Hello,
    So the problem I am having is that whenever I try to run Dead Space 1 it opens but the whole screen remains black. I can’t see anything on it.
    I went through some of the steps and noticed I didn’t have the folder on the AppData so I created it and copied the Settings.txt I found here.
    I’m running Windows 8.1 and downloaded it from Origin.

        Teo Berroa
        May 12, 2014 at 12:01 pm

        C:\Users\MY_USER\AppData\Local\Electronic Arts\Dead Space

        And I tried the Disable Visual Themes and well the game didn’t even appear.
        I check the task manager and it was there, but nothing was happening.
        And I don’t have Jumi controller installed so that isn’t it

          Hmm, one last thing to double-check – is your DeadSpace.exe set to run as Administrator and with WIndows XP compatiblitity?

          Also which video card do you have?

            Teo Berroa
            May 12, 2014 at 12:14 pm

            The Dead Space.exe is set to run as administrator.
            However when I put it to run as XP compatibility, I get a prompt saying Dead Space.exe has stopped working and starts checking for solution but finds nothing.

            I have a nVidia GeForce GT 630

    Dreadmyst
    June 30, 2014 at 3:33 am

    Thank you for the Settings.txt file. My TV does not support the default resolution and the game didnt generate this file so being able to copy that and save as a txt and put in the APP Data folder was the cure. Spent too long searching how to change the resolution to no avail till i found this page. You are awesome!! :)

    Cor
    October 9, 2014 at 1:34 pm

    Thank you so much :)

    Mindless
    April 1, 2015 at 5:57 am

    I did three first fixes and now working.

    Luna
    July 28, 2015 at 1:58 pm

    thank you very much, greetings from Venezuela

      You’re very welcome! I’m glad it worked for you

    Hey guys,

    Pretty late to the party I know, but after I upgraded to windows 10 from windows 7 some games, including Dead Space, stopped working (while others are working better, very weird!).

    Pretty much tried every suggested action here and on many other forums without success. I Still get a black screen at the startup of the game and then Bam: “Deadspace.exe has stopped working” message.

    I have the executable file running in XP comparability mode with admin privileges, my settings.txt in the correct location (tried many variation of settings naturally) and my display driver (Nvidia GTX 970) is up to date. Also disabled the above mentioned HID compliant devices.

    Any ideas would be highly appreciated (love this game so much!).

    Cheers.

    TheSiili
    February 28, 2017 at 5:03 pm

    Im trying to run the game as administrator in Windows XP compatibility mode, but if i dont start the game through origin nothing happens. I get a screen asking if i want to run Dead Space as admin but after clicking yes nothing happen. The game doesnt show up in task manager either.

    None of steps above works for me. Windows 10 x64, nVidia Geforce gtx960m 4gb, Game from Origin.

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