Hi. I've played a version of this game with DRM before and recently got the GOG version. It's awesome, but... there's an issue I don't remember having with the game before. My experience started with 10 game crashes in the first 30 minutes of playing time. The error I get is 0x887A0005: DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED, using Windows 7. I did a brief investigation of the crash dump and found out the error is an unhandled memory exception, code E06D7363, a microsoft C++ exception related to ntdll.dll and I don't think any graphic settings will stop it from causing crashes (a programming/testing issue by the developer that seems was never patched). You can look up the C++ documentation to see that this Microsoft C++ exception is: STATUS_CPP_EH_EXCEPTION, " C++ exception handling exception" = 0xE06D7363

When I went to look up this problem on the Internet, I saw this was something many people had problems with for the original 2016 release. One issue widely discussed on steam and EA websites was that DirectX 12 is just horribly implemented, so the game is unstable on DirectX 12. I wish this was the only issue - it isn't. Many people had reported in 2016 that they had game crashing problems due to two types of DXGI errors (people using Windows 7/8/10):

0x887A0005: DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED
0x887A0006: DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG

In Windows 10, both errors could be seen, and switching the game option to turn off DirectX 12 solves the problem (usually?). Some people still had problems after that in Windows 10. As for those users of Windows 7 or 8, who already use DirectX 11, I see no solution...
List of things that did not work [result/impact]:
1) Using the exact NVIDIA-reccomended settings. [no change - this is what I started with]
2) Resetting the PC. [no change]
3) Forcing the game to use one GPU - or, disable SLI. [no change. except a hot GPU]
3) Setting Affinity for CPU cores in task manager [reducing to 1, 2, 3, or 4 caused no change]
4) Wiping out NVIDIA software and 'Rolling back' to a previous NVIDIA driver [no change]
5) Reinstalling ("clean install" method) the current NVIDIA driver [no change]
6) Turning off the Shader cache (NVIDIA control panel) didn't seem to do anything [no change]
7) Reinstalling the game & verifying files [no change]
8) Setting texture detail to Medium or lowest settings [no effect - does reduce the GPU core loads and memory usage obviously]
9) Set system to manage page file size [no change - this is what I started with]
10) Set PhysX to CPU or dedicate a GPU to PhysX [no change, irrelevant setting]
11) Playing the game with no programs running besides the game, and never using alt-tab [no change]
12) Run SFC to Scan and Repair System Files [no change - no problems]
13) Set game "priority" to high using /high or manually elevating it another way. [no change]

Here is a short list of other changes that I made that seemed to make crashes less frequent on my system:

14) Forcing Power Management Mode to "prefer maximum performance" (in NVIDIA control panel)
15) Forcing the game to run using the Vertical sync option 'On (Smooth)' (in NVIDIA control panel)
16) Forcing the game to run using the Vertical sync option 'Fast' (in NVIDIA control panel)
17) Choosing Double buffering on VSync (game setting)
18) Setting Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization to Off (in NVIDIA control panel)

I'm wondering if using alt-tab also causes instability? I saw crashing in the windowed mode as well as fullscreen and exclusive fullscreen. However, a few times there was a crash at the exact moment I hit alt-tab on the keyboard.

Didn't try (and won't):
I could install the game and run it in Windows 10 Pro with DirectX 11, but that would be the one and only game I play in Windows 10 using DirectX 11.
Also, there's the option to try going further back to an even older NVIDIA driver from late 2016, but would likely cause problems with running many of my other games.

Update: I just went through all the effort of setting up the exact conditions for testing the steam version of the game. No difference in the result. The steam version crashed when I was still on the transport after making my weapon choices. Any ideas, anyone?

Two other suggestions that worked for some people

1) add -nosound to the game shortcut (can be added in addition to the two other command line parameters I tried, -benchmark and/or /high ) [no effect, still crashed]

2) Alter audio device settings and test variations: disable all sound effects and configurations , and toggle the options on exclusive mode (Enhancements and Advanced tabs on the dialogue for the audio playback device properties). [no effect]

I tested the game on the same hardware running Windows 10, unfortunately with the same error. I didn't try all the things I had previously, but I did waste over an hour trying different settings...

I recently started playing DE:MD and also had frequent random crashes back to the desktop, usually without any error message and noticably often times when clicking ESC to get to the menu. I found a forum entry on reddit that states the following:

Verify and or Reinstall until the crashing goes away. Also avoid MSAA and Vsync. Do not use DX12 unless you have a high performance GPU and only use Exclusive Full screen mode. Do not use Borderless.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Deusex/comments/8q4299/mankind_divided_constant_crashing_to_desktop_due/

The second part, disabling MSAA, Vsync and DX12 as well as enabling exclusive fullscreen mode seems to have solved the problem for me. I've played solid 5 hours without any crash now.

Thanks for the suggestion. I did try manually disabling all forms of AA, including SMAA and FXAA. I may have tested having the option Vsync set to OFF, maybe not. I'll try.

I am able to run this game finally. I'll update with a post soon with info, in case someone else might benefit from this. I tried different refresh rates and in-game settings in combination with NVIDIA control panel settings. So far I've kept it running for over an hour at 144Hz, Vsync is on, and in NVIDIA control panel the Vsync setting is "Use the 3D application setting".

It seems to me that re-installing until the game stops crashing is possibly what solved this.

Maybe the Vsync settings I have were important, but I can't make it crash by changing them now though.

First, I tried and crashed 6 times with Vsync Off.

Since the person on Reddit seemed to be saying a fresh install may get rid of a crashing game problem, I tried it. I have performed a game re-install (with manually deleting files and olders afterward) of DX:MD at least 4 times before, so I didn't expect this to work... and I always verify file integrity before install (same files used to install every time, too). I uninstalled and reinstalled the game and my video card drivers. After that, the game seems stable.

No crash after I've played through the Dubai mission 4 more times trying to reproduce the error (and repeatedly using alt-Tab). I played another hour without trouble. The way I have my graphic settings configured hasn't really changed much:

NVIDIA control panel settings:

Off = Image Sharpening, Anisotropic filgering, Antialiasing, Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization.
FXAA: On
Preferred refresh rate: Highest available
Texture Filtering - Quality: High Performance
Triple Buffering: On
Vertical Sync: Use the 3D application setting

IN-GAME OPTIONS:

Display Options

DirectX 12: Off (not selectable)
Fullscreen: Yes
Exclusive Fullscreen: Yes
Display: Display 1
Resolution: 2560 x 1440
MSAA: Off
Refresh Rate: 144 Hz
VSync: Triple Buffering (On)
Field of View: 90

Graphics Options

Texture Quality: High
Texture Detail: High
Shadow Quality: Medium
-> Everything else set to Off

Windows settings (Windows 7):

My desktop is set to run at 144Hz - set to match the game.
The game was NOT run in compatibility mode.
The game was NOT run as an administrator.
The following command-line arguments were used: -benchmark /High

I've experinced DEVICE_REMOVED errors in multiple games that I eventually traced to an insufficiently stable RAM overclock. That might be the cause for some people who have these type of errors.

Yo, i feel you man, i just wrote a bit of an angry review.

I don't know how i finished it back when it came out (i also have it on steam), but it's fucking hell to do it now, after mission 13 evrything went to shit!

I got some crashes befor, but now i literally cant walk 10 seconds or so it just freezes up.

Tried changing all kinds of settings, not better at all.

Searched all the same forums as you, probably, noting came of it.

I'm stuck!

Literally can not play it anymore...

I fixed this on my PC, resolved for me by repeated trial reinstalls. It wasn't cached files or video settings, or anything to do with drivers or other software/settings.

For anyone having crashes that seem endless, here's what worked for me:

1) removed all traces of this game from the PC
2) redownloaded the offline installer for this game
3) reinstalled the game and set it up with default settings

Reinstall did not work the first time. I do not think I needed to redownload the files to install, because I used the same download to repeat 1 & 3. So repeating 1 & 3 led me to eventually get a stable game.

FYI: I always had disabled all antivirus software during game installation, even before this problem was noticed.

The cause of this seemingly unfixable problem appears to be (IMO) that some of the game files get corrupted during installation. My game had this problem starting from the first installation. After struggling with 100 other possible fix ideas, including reinstallation... I reinstalled the game a few more times. The third time reinstalling was the trick, and I played the entire game without a single crash.

Just adding my two cents here.

I also had the same problem with the Steam version (didn't realise that that might be the issue) that it was randomly crashing.

After various attempts, what worked for me was turning "Depth of field" off. I also had DX12 off and started the game with Windows 7 compatibility mode, but I think what helped with DOF off.

Hope this helps.

Edit: The game started crashing again. So I found this video on youtube with 3 suggestions. I did them all that I have played for over 2 hours without crashing.
1) Change Virtual Memory settings to custom and 8192 Mb
2) Switch off MSAA
3) Switch off Vsync.