>Decided I wanted to play Witcher 3 expansions again
>Download and install Galaxy and W3
>Start HoS, no mods, only an .ini tweak to enable console
>Game hitches, black screen, CTD, display driver failed
>Does this within 10-30 minutes every time I start the game
>Maybe it's something to do with GOTY version?
>Uninstall, install normal version off disc
>Same issue
>Rolling back drivers does nothing
>Clean installs do nothing
>Driver starts failing while idle with Galaxy and nothing else running

So, what do? Reckon it's worth pissing Galaxy off and just installing the game via backup downloads? I've played through W3's base game 4 times, the expansions once each, and it all ran perfectly on my old 970 a few years ago.

1080 ti 11 GB
16 GB RAM
i5-4690k (I'm aware this could be bottlenecking with the 1080, but this machine runs every other game I own, besides BF1 which is a mess anyway, perfectly fine. Even Arma runs like butter.)

If the latest nVidia drivers had an issue with Witcher 3 it would be well known, so it's something on your system. Maybe use CCleaner or something like that to check the registry and clean the drivers out completely? Maybe see if it loads with the mobo's GPU? Maybe make sure Ansel and other in-game interfaces are all off? Best suggestions I have.

And yeah that processor is really gonna limit you in some newer games like Hitman 2 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but it should be okay for TW3.

Drivers have been cleaned out completely 3 times now, I don't install Geforce experience so things like Ansel, shadowplay, and all of that bloatware should have no presence at all. Galaxy's ingame overlay is off, cloud sync is off, and I've tested with drivers from up to 4 years ago with no change.

The following is an excerpt crash log:


Red Engine Crash Log
--------------------------------------
Build: Not Set [ Compiled Nov 4 2018 ]

User: Admin

Crash reason: EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (3221225477), Error reading location 0x63fb15ac

Crashed Thread:

Thread ID: 4144

Have you overclocked anything?

Everything's standard clock and nothing's overheating.

You don't need Galaxy running even if you used it to install the game. Close Galaxy and run TW from its exe in the folder.

Tried that several times now, even uninstalled Galaxy, no dice.

Try older drivers, like something from 3 to 16 months older. Sometimes, previous generations of GPUs are not working that well with the latest drivers. Use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to uninstall them.

Keep the drivers' installers and when you find a version that's working well, back up its installer somewhere safe. When updating the drivers, get them from Nvidia's site and not through Windows update.

I agree about Nvidia's bloatware. Just install the Graphics Driver and PhysX System Software, and tick that "Perform a clean installation" checkbox. Good luck!

UPDATE:

The issue still stands. I've now tested drivers from every month of 2015-2017 with no end to this issue in sight. I've reinstalled the game and still can't play for more than 40 minutes max.

Sorry that didn't work for you. Take a look on the PCGamingWiki page, maybe you'll find something there. If all fail, then play it without Galaxy.

And nothing in your case is getting hot? I'd make sure your power supply is up to par then. Sounds like it's either dropping off or you're getting hot spots in your case.

I'd run diagnostics on your card and your drive.

I had a Win update about 3 days ago that killed my steam games so that's something to consider, too.

By googling exception_access_violation (3221225477) you'll see a lot of people that had this kind of crash since game launch. And the most common solution I could find was to download MSI Afterburner and downclock your GPU just a bit even if you never overclocked. You can try that and see if it works for you.