ERR_GFX_INIT error when launching Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC

Last Updated: June 12, 2024

Question: Whenever I launch Red Dead Redemption 2, I receive the following error message: 

  • ERR_GFX_INIT: Failed to initialize graphics device. Please reboot or reinstall latest drivers. 

How do I fix this? 

Answer: To resolve this issue, you can make sure you have the latest graphics drivers installed, delete your Red Dead Redemption 2 settings files to reset your game settings, or change your Advanced Graphics settings in the system.xml file. 

Update your Graphics Drivers

Make sure you have the latest graphics drivers installed 

The latest drivers for NVIDIA cards are available here: 

The latest drivers for AMD cards are available here: 

Delete your Red Dead Redemption 2 Settings files 

  1. Close Red Dead Redemption 2 and the Rockstar Games Launcher 

    1. Navigate to the Red Dead Redemption 2 settings folder 

    2. Default: C:\Users\[USERNAME]\Documents\Rockstar Games\Red Dead Redemption 2\Settings 

    3. Delete all files except the system.xml file 

    4. Relaunch the Rockstar Games Launcher 

    5. Attempt to relaunch Red Dead Redemption 2 

 Change your Advanced Graphics Settings 

  1. You can change your graphics API from Vulkan to DirectX 12 (or vice versa) in the game’s advanced graphics settings of the system.xml file. You can change this setting by performing these steps: 

  2. Navigate to Documents/Rockstar Games/Red Dead Redemption 2/Settings 

  3. Open the file system.xml in Notepad and scroll down until you find this section:  

  4. In the line kSettingAPI_Vulkan, change Vulkan to DX12 as follows 

  5. kSettingAPI_DX12 

  6. Save the file changes 

  7. In the folder Documents\Rockstar Games\Red Dead Redemption 2\Settings, delete every file that starts with “sga_” if they are present 

  8. Examples include: ‘sga_vulkan_final_init.vkPipelineCacheHeaderWindows’ ‘sga_vulkan_final_init.vkWarmupCacheWindows’ 

  9. Launch Red Dead Redemption 2

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