I've recently installed Shadow Tactics on my Windows 10 laptop (with Nvidia 960m card). I had problems with crashing at startup so I changed the game shortcut and exe to run as administrator which worked initially, but the game is now crashing again during launch (i.e. black screen only and then Windows error message).

I can't find any workarounds to solve this. Have tried verifying game files through Galaxy Client as well as allocating integrated and Nvidia graphics for the game - none of these work.

Here are some known workarounds that have helped some people with similiar or exact issue. I'd say that remember to backup your save file but if you haven't got playing yet, it's not something to be concerned.

If you don't want to click unknown links, here are the main parts that you could try out:

Install VC++ Redist 2010 (x86) =takes you directly to Microsoft's page where you can download the required file from.

Update your Windows (this might fix some DirectX related problems)

Delete gameState.save from the savegame folder located at "C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\Daedalic Entertainment GmbH\Shadow Tactics Blades of the Shogun\user\gameState_00\" (replace USER with your user account in Windows)

You can try by running compatibility mode with windows 8 as admin

There are some other stuff when following the first link, but it's either telling to verify the game files or something like running the game directly from the game folder itself.

Hopefully some of those will help you.

Thank you. I've tried all of these except Windows 8 compatibility. I'll try that next and report back.

Windows 8 compatibility mode worked perfectly for a time (thank you!), but today I tried to launch the game and it doesn't crash, but it never loads. The icon appears on the task bar, and I can switch to the app, but nothing ever shows on the screen. Any ideas of what to do?

So basically the game icon just being unresponsive on the taskbar?

I'm kinda at a loss with that issue as I've had it happen only once with a different game, but it was because of the incorrect screen resolution. It worked out after forcing the game to launch in Windowed mode for the first time and changing the resolution after. Unfortunately I have no idea how to force this game to start in Windowed without accessing the game screen first.


One thing you could try to do is to verify/repair the game via Galaxy, if you use it.

Library -> Shadow Tactics -> More -> Manage Installation -> Verify / Repair


If it doesn't help, you could try other compatibility modes to see if the game runs better with something else (Windows 7, Vista, XP). If those won't help, untick the thing completely so it won't use any compatibility mode at all.


If everything else fails and someone else won't come here giving the answer that will help you, I'd suggest asking from GOG support. They should be able to figure it out for you as I'm completely out of ideas myself.

Thanks for the reply! I tried repairing the install with no luck. Didn't think to try the windowed mode (I think you can force this through the Windows compatibility settings). I ended up uninstalling and re-installing and it worked. A long, slow process though so I hope it doesn't happen again!

Thanks again for your thoughts / potential solutions

The most important thing is that it works, even if the solution were less ideal due to the re-install process.
Happy gaming!

What the f* is with this game.. First time I have issue. After runnin as administrator it runs.. Now I want to play again but getting crash again immediatelly also when running as administrator... it is year after this topic was disscussed there and nothing changes? It is awesome game but how to play it

I had a windows update yesterday and ever since none of my downloaded games from gog will run. help???