How annoying, just bought this game and got it installed and ready. First it crashes directly on startup. I verify/repair the game and seems like some files are missing since it downloads them. Second, then when I boot it up it crashes after less than 1 minute in the start menu.

I like to support GOG, but this is the second time a game isn't working properly. I also can add I use Galaxy when I play my games but maybe GOG is more for people just to have pure DRM free games instead of a launcher? I am now reinstalling we will see how it goes...

EDIT: Still crashes. In the intro sequence on menu it crashes when the crane comes into the picture and the thing is falling... So I guess if the Realtek device is causing the issue this might help you

How I solved it:

Rollback Windows update from build 1903 to build 1803

Same problem here, but I will not rollback my Win10. Wait and see...

same problem for me , a proper fix would be nice as rolling back windows just to play a game is not for me, lets hope there is a solution

Had the same problem, solved it going to the properties of the tropico5.exe and having it run in Windows 8 compatibility mode.

Same issue here...not even with W8 compatibility mode...this is annoying. Is there any way to elevate this topic?

Yup, I have the same problem, I can't play, after one minute on the menu, the game just crash. My configuration: Windows 10 64x build 1903, Laptop Dell i15-5567-D40B.

Same issue here. Crashes - quits just after the first intro videos. And if I bypass them with ESCape, it'll crash after a few seconds in the menu. Crashes before any game can be started. Whatever the screen definition, or graphics card properties (crashes both in performance or in quality mode) ... Windows 8 compatibility trick doesn't fix it. Repairing the game doesn't fix it. Uninstalling/reinstalling the game (incl. removing registry keys) doesn't fix it. I've got Win10 64x last built, desktop, graphics card : nvidia rtx 2060. BTW, I got +20 AAA games installed, and Tropico 5 is the only one in my configuration that crashes like that at start.

Hi from Italy!
I have the same problem but....
Probably is a problem of compatubilty with regard to audio system in Windows 10 1903.
If you stopped the service audio of Windows, (in italian version “Audio di Windows”) the program Tropico 5 will not crash! Tropico 5 is running but without audio!
In alternative you may stop driver Realtek Audio (not the service) but there isn't audio! Tropico is running without audio!
In general if you stop audio in Windows the Tropico 5 is running but without audio.
Some idea?

Hey thanx for the italian tip. Maybe it's abit RADical ;) to unactivate this Audio Service... or even remove the realtek driver.. since the whole system audio won't work anymore.

We can see that in the Windows Event Observer, the game crashes because of something happening in the XAudio2_7 DLL located in SYSWOW64 subfolder of C:\Windows. I'd rather move this DLL file on the desktop, before starting the game, then I start the game (that works perfectly without crashing - and without any sound), then once the game is over, I copy it back to it's original place.

I have the same problem.

I uninstalled old codexes I don't need and updated Audacity to the latest version.
I use Audacity, so I need it and its codexes for ffmpeg, LAME, and LADSPA. Otherwise my system is pretty clean.

Using Windows 10 (latest version), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, and no dedicated sound card.
I'm hearing this is an audio issue, but I have no issues with other programs and I'm not willing to run with all audio disabled just to play Tropico 5.

Please GOG - create a fix for this.


Update: I tried running in compatibility mode for Windows 8 and then Windows 7. This did not fix the problem.

Does anyone know if there is a fix coming for this yet?

Thanks for the update about the audio. Is there a game switch for the command line to just not run audio?

this is working for me.
steam/steamapps/commen/tropico 5/local
There you have your voices map and a English.hpk file.
Delete the hpk file in the local map ( not the one in the voices map)
and normaly the game will run fine now

I got a message from Kalypso...

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We are currently investigating what causes this crash as most reports had the error "XAudio2_7.dll_unloaded" or "ddraw.dll_unloaded" in their DxDiag and as you already mentioned, this issue started for many players after the latest Windows update.
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It is happening with build 1903 of Windows 10. This is also an issue with Tropico 6 as well, same exact thing.