8BitDo Ultimate 2C Wireless Controller
Hall-effect sticks and L4/R4 bumpers with low-latency 2.4G dongle for 60 FPS Sync Attacks and Legion positioning.
Crash, Audio, Shader & Controller Fixes
Most crashes, black textures, or audio drift reports in Astral Chain Recomp trace back to an outdated pre-1.18.0 executable, an edited free_cores or non-16:9 output_res line in astralchain.ini, or GPU-specific Vulkan driver behavior on AMD RDNA 2 and 4-6 GB VRAM cards. Match your symptom against the upstream root-cause ledger below.
1.18.0 Credits FixEliminates pre-credits ending crash (#112/#113)
1.13.0 Audio SyncFixes cutscene & 30 FPS VP9 movie drift
free_cores = 0Required so Horizon's 3-core gate stays intact
Symptom, root cause & verified fix matrix
Cross-referenced against captainj-sparrow/astral-chain-pc-recomp commit history, astralchain.ini.example, and closed GitHub issues.
| Symptom | Root Cause | Verified Fix |
|---|---|---|
Crash right before ending credits roll (#112 / #113) | Unhandled guest state transition at the campaign finale prior to 1.18.0. | Update your installed folder to 1.18.0 using Update my installed game in Astral Chain-Setup. |
| Voices or SFX drift out of sync in cutscenes / movies | Early builds ran pre-rendered 30 FPS VP9 videos at 2x speed or fell behind after frame hitches. | Update to 1.13.0+ (1.18.0 recommended) and keep [frame rate] realtime = 1. |
| Black character models on AMD RX 400 - RX 6000 (RDNA 2 & older) | AMD's Vulkan driver applies alpha-to-coverage even when dynamic pipeline state disables it. | Set [performance] vk_dyn_a2c = 0 in astralchain.ini (auto-disabled on detected AMD RDNA2/older GPUs). |
| Startup hang or immediate Vulkan device lost on AMD Radeon | Multi-threaded command recording or VK_EXT_graphics_pipeline_library driver bugs on RDNA1/RDNA2. | Set vk_recorder = 0 and gpl = 0 under [performance]. |
Immediate crash or freeze at boot after tweaking INI (#212) | Setting free_cores = 1 removes the 3-core gate; guest job workers share lockless per-core state on core 0. | Always keep [performance] free_cores = 0. |
| Black / missing textures mid-mission on 4-6 GB VRAM GPUs | ASTC RGBA8 decompression plus high shadow scales exhaust device-local VRAM. | Update to 1.12.2+ (VRAM panic recovery) and set astc_bc = bc1, tex_mip_skip = 1024, tex_cache_mb = 512, and shadow_scale = 1. |
| File 02 footprint scan crash or random 4K combat crash | Vanilla 143 MiB GRAPHIC BUFFER heap and 310 MiB render-target pool overflowed above 1440p. | Resolved in 1.14.2+ (expands render targets to 1100 MiB at 4K and grows GRAPHIC BUFFER dynamically). |
output_res = 3440x1440 or 1280x800 drops to 1080p or loses GPU | Internal render targets must be exact 16:9 multiples of 32x18. | Set output_res = 2560x1440 (or 1280x720 on Deck), set window_size to your native panel, and leave aspect = wide. |
Chapter 10 Fusion (L3 + R3) opens the FPS counter instead | Releases before 1.5.0 bound the performance overlay to L3 + R3. | Update to 1.5.0+: overlay moved to F10 or holding L + R then pressing Minus + Plus. |
| Swapped A/B & X/Y buttons or keyboard character always sprinting | Switch-mode controllers reporting X-Input IDs; digital WASD sending full 32767 stick tilt. | Set pad_layout = xbox or nintendo in F1 -> Controls; hold Left Shift (walk_key = lshift, walk_scale = 0.51) to walk. |
Exit Code 70 vs 71
Exit codes & log files
astralchain.exe returns three standard exit codes defined in recomplauncher.json: 0 (clean exit), 70 (handled runtime stop, usually Vulkan VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST or exhausted VRAM/RAM), and 71 (unhandled exception). Inspect logs/astralchain.log inside your game folder before filing an upstream issue.
Setup Shader Retries
Driver crashes in setup (#30)
Certain bleeding-edge drivers (such as NVIDIA 615.78.08 on RTX 5080) crashed while compiling complex geometry/compute shaders during setup. prepare_shaders.py automatically retries up to 3 times, records any skipped variant in shader-prepare-skip.txt, and finishes installation cleanly. After updating your GPU driver, run astralchain.exe --warm-shaders.
[diagnostics]
Flight recorder & trace keys
Chasing a repeatable frame-time spike or mid-battle device loss? Add [diagnostics] to astralchain.ini with trace = gfx,perf and flight = 1 (flight_spike_ms = 50). The runtime writes ring-buffer snapshots only when a frame exceeds 50 ms or crashes, keeping disk overhead near zero.
Generate a conservative AMD or low-VRAM INI
Pre-selected below with the AMD Radeon RX 6000-9000 profile (vk_dyn_a2c = 0, vk_recorder = 0, gpl = 0) or switch to 4-6 GB VRAM Budget GPU (BC1) for low-memory stability.
Generated astralchain.ini
# astralchain.ini - place next to astralchain.exe (or astralchain on Linux)
[frame rate]
fps = 60
realtime = 1
cloth_realtime = 1
highfps_fix = 1
[performance]
async_preempt = 1
free_cores = 0
timer_1ms = 1
astc_bc = auto
tex_mip_skip = 0
gpl = 1
vk_recorder = 1
vk_dyn_a2c = 1
[display]
device_profile = desktop
fullscreen = 1
window_size = 2560x1440
output_res = 2560x1440
aspect = wide
upscaling = dlss
upscaling_quality = quality
anti_aliasing = smaa
ao = gi
aniso = auto
shadow_scale = 2
draw_distance = 150
hdr = 0
[language]
operation_mode = docked
menu_lang = en
[input]
pad_layout = auto
prompts = auto
motion = 1
rumble = 1
rumble_strength = 130
rumble_triggers = 0
stick_deadzone = 8
AC_* overrides & shader warm
# Place NVIDIA DLSS SDK nvngx_dlss.dll next to astralchain.exe:
copy nvngx_dlss.dll "Astral Chain
vngx_dlss.dll"
# Optional AC_* environment overrides (override astralchain.ini for one run):
AC_FPS=60 AC_UPSCALING=dlss AC_AO=gi ./astralchain
# Rebuild driver shader cache after a GPU driver update:
astralchain.exe --warm-shaders
# In-game shortcuts:
# F1: Settings menu | F10 (or L+R then -/+): Perf overlay | F11: Fullscreen | F12: No-HUDKeep output_res on a 16:9 32n x 18n grid (1280x720, 1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160); aspect = wide expands the camera to 16:10, 21:9, or 32:9 without losing the Vulkan device.
Controllers for dual-stick Legion combat
Astral Chain Recomp uses SDL3 for low-latency gamepad input, rumble curves, gyro aiming, back paddles, and automatic Xbox or PlayStation prompt detection.
View on Amazon
GameSir Super Nova Hall-Effect Gamepad
Drift-free Hall sticks, physically swappable ABXY faceplates (pad_layout = xbox or nintendo), and motion gyro via SDL3.
8BitDo Pro 2 Bluetooth Gamepad
Symmetrical dual-stick layout with Switch/X-Input modes, motion aiming for Bow Legion, and rear paddles (`lpaddle1`/`rpaddle1`).
GuliKit KK3 Max Wireless Controller
TMR electromagnetic sticks and 1000 Hz polling for tight 360-spin and Perfect Dodge input windows on Windows and Linux.
Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, astralchainrecomp.wiki earns from qualifying purchases at no added cost to you.
Troubleshooting & recovery questions
Prompt glyphs, INI resets, 4-core audio tuning, and upstream bug reporting.
Why do some tutorial banners still show Nintendo symbols when PlayStation prompts are enabled?
Astral Chain Recomp embeds a PlayStation glyph mod covering the base and US UI archives (prompts = auto or playstation). A handful of pre-baked tutorial graphics or non-US regional textures fall back to standard icons if no regional override exists in mods/.
How do I reset astralchain.ini back to clean defaults without reinstalling?
Delete or rename astralchain.ini (for example to astralchain.ini.bak) and launch astralchain.exe once, or copy fresh commented defaults from our INI generator above. Your saves in profile/save/ are completely separate.
Why does audio crackle when CPU usage hits 100% on a 4-core processor?
Ensure timer_1ms = 1 (Windows) or cpu_boost = auto (Linux) is active, keep async_preempt = 1, and drop shadow_scale = 1 plus draw_distance = 100 so render submission leaves headroom for the 48 kHz Opus mixer thread.
Where do I report a reproducible bug if 1.18.0 still crashes?
Open an issue on github.com/captainj-sparrow/astral-chain-pc-recomp/issues and attach logs/astralchain.log, your astralchain.ini, GPU model, driver version, and operating system.