Fix: Stray Crashing/ Freezing/ Lagging/ Black Screen or Not Launching on PC

Stray is a third-person cat adventure game from BlueTwelve Studio, set in a cyberpunk city heavily infested with robots, machines, and viruses. Play the game as you control a stray cat, fend off unexpected threats, solve puzzles and pave the way to return the cat to his family. But unfortunately, a few players who downloaded the game complained that they are unable to run the game due to crashing or non-launching issues.

If you are unable to run the game without getting rid of these issues, then don’t worry; you are in the right place. In this article, we have collected a few solutions to assist you to overcome the Stray crash and freezing problem permanently and allow you to get your cat back to his family. Then let’s have a look.

Some workarounds:

  • Install the latest game patch
  • Disable the Antivirus program temporarily
  • Close Background running unwanted apps
  • Check System Requirement

If these basic tricks do not help you to resolve the said issue in your case, then you can move on to the detailed solutions.

Fix 1: Run as Admin

The prime attempt to resolve the Stray crashing or lagging issue is running the game with administrative access. To do so,

  • Firstly, open the Stray installation folder; from there, right-click on the Stray.exe file and choose its Properties option.
  • On the new screen, click on the Compatibility tab, tick the checkbox beside the Run this program as an administrator and click on OK.
  • Once done, relaunch the game with admin privilege and see the result.

Fix 2: Update Driver

In most similar cases updating the graphics driver helped the players to run the game without any crashing or shuttering issues. You can try the same trick in your case and see if it helps to solve the problem. To do so.

  • Firstly, press Windows + X and open the Device Manager option from the list.Update driver
  • Then expand the section Display adapters and select and right-click on the currently using Graphics driver and choose the Update driver option.
  • Once done, restart the system and launch the game to see its performance.

 Fix 3: Verify Game Files

Sometimes corrupted game files might be causing crashing or shuttering issues. In this case, you must check the integrity of the game files and see the result. To do so,

  • Firstly, open Steam and move towards the Library section.
  • Then choose and right-click on the Stray icon and select the Properties option from the sub-menu.Verify integrity of game files
  • Next, select the Local Files, click on the Verify integrity of game files option and wait to complete the process.
  • Once done, relaunch the game, and your issue might get solved now.

Fix 4: Disable Overlays

Overlays helps to achieve optimal game performance but sometimes lead to crashing or not launching issues. Here you need to disable the overlay features and run the game without any issues.

In GeForce Experience, 

  • Open GeForce Experience and click on its Settings icon from the top right side of the screen.
  • Then disable the toggle beside the In-game overlay option and see the result.

In Discord, 

  • Open Discord and click on its Settings icon from the bottom left side of the window.
  • Then choose the Overlay option, disable the toggle beside the Enable in-game overlay option and see the result.

Fix 5: Update Windows

Another solution to resolve the Stray Crashing or shuttering issue is to check and update your Windows to the latest released updates. To do so

  • Firstly, open the Settings window and click on the Windows update option.
  • Then click on the Check for updates tab, download and install all the updates on your system and see its performance.

Fix 6: Turn Off Overclocking

Overclocking is a handy feature that helps you get better performance in games, but sometimes it affects games badly, causing them to crash or fail to launch. Here you need to disable the overclocking feature and that will help you solve your problems.

Fix 7: Install Visual C++ Redistributable

If your Stray game is suffering a crash or low FPS issue, then it might be due to the missing Visual C++ Redistributable package. In this case, you can install the latest Visual C++ Redistributable package and run the game. To do so,

  • Firstly, open the Visual C++ Redistributable webpage with the help of your web browser.Visual C++ distributable
  • Then click on the x64 and x86 files from the screen, download and install them on your system and launch the game to see its performance.

Fix 8: Install DirectX

Microsoft DirectX is an application programming interface designed to enhance the multimedia experience, such as 3D gaming graphics, network gaming, and more. If you don’t have DirectX software in your system, you may face crashing or a black screen issue while launching the game. The best solution here is to install DirectX on your system and see the result. To do so,

  • Firstly, open the DirectX webpage with the help of your web browser.
  • Then choose the Language, click on the Download button and install the software on your system.
  • Once done, launch the game and see its performance now.

Fix 9: Lower Graphics Settings

Sometimes your games’ high visual effects and graphics are incompatible with your system, which leads to crashing or lagging problems. In this case, you can go to the Graphics Settings menu of the game and lower all the settings in the list and switch to Windowed Mode.

Fix 10: Reinstall the Game

If none of the above solutions does help you to escape from the said issues, then you can uninstall the game from your system. When done, you need to reinstall the game from a relevant source and start the game again.

These are all about the Stray Crashing/ Freezing/ Lagging/ Black Screen or Not Launching issue on PC and its fixes. If you have any queries or concerns regarding this article, you can leave a comment in the comment box below.