If you have encountered the ERR_GFX_D3D_INIT error during one of your GTA V play sessions and have been unable to resolve it, then you have come to the right place. There are several ways to fix this error, but before you do, it’s just as important to know what’s causing it.

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Why GTA V displays the ERR_GFX_D3D_INIT error

There are various sources of the problem, but ultimately the ERR_GFX_D3D_INIT error appears every time the game starts. The following problems can be mentioned:

  • GPU overclocking
  • Incorrect installation of GTA V
  • Backdating of graphics settings and drivers
  • VSync problem
  • Outdated or missing Visual C++ library
  • Faulty or corrupted DirectX 11

Now that we know what problems might be causing the ERR_GFX_D3D_INIT error code, we can now solve them on a case-by-case basis.

Fix ERR_GFX_D3D_INIT error

Disable GPU overclocking


In order to optimize CPU/GPU performance exceptionally, overclocking can lead to excessive and heavy consumption of resources, which can lead to system heating and malfunctions. For many users, the game crashes after overclocking the CPU/GPU, so the best solution is to disable the overclocking settings.

To disable GPU overclocking settings:

  • Click on the Start menu
  • Open Settings
  • Click on Update & Security
  • Then Recovery
  • In Advanced Startup> Reboot Now> wait for the computer to reboot.
  • On reboot go to Advanced,> Troubleshooting, > Advanced Options> UEFI Firmware Settings.
  • Now click Restart
  • Once the system has rebooted > open BIOS > click on the Advanced tab.
  • Go to Performance > and find Overclocking
  • Disable the overclocking option
  • And press F10 to save the changes to the BIOS > and reboot your system normally.

Updating GPU drivers

If it’s been a while since you’ve updated your GPU drivers, whether it’s Nvidia or ATI Radeon, there’s a good chance that the lack of a driver update is the source of the ERR_GFX_D3D_INIT error. Here’s how you update your GPU drivers:

  • Open the Device Manager in the Start menu (right click)
  • Unroll the display adapter
  • Right click on the graphics card driver
  • Choose the option Update Driver
  • In the window that opens, choose the option “Automatically check for updated driver software” and follow the instructions

You can also download the driver manually, directly from the official Nvidia or ATI website depending on your supplier.


It can happen that the search is unsuccessful, which is why the use of the Driver Easy tool is often highly recommended. This is a tool that in one scan detects and updates entire system drivers.

Download Driver Easy

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Check the integrity of the game

On Windows :

  • Type CMD in the Windows search box and press Enter
  • Type in the path C:³ Program Files³ Rockstar Games³ Grand Theft Auto V and press Enter and the files will be displayed
  • Now type the command exe -verify and press Enter to verify the files

On Steam

  • Right click on the Library tab in GTA V
  • Open the properties
  • Check the Local Files tab
  • Click Check Game Cache Integrity to inspect the files

Delete damaged DLL files

  • Go to the game file manager
  • Open the installation folder and look for dll & d3dcompiler.dll in the main installation folder.
  • Choose these files and delete them
  • Find the _CommonRedist in the main GTA V game folder
  • Try to run the DX installation file and reinstall the missing files
  • Restart your device to check if the problem is solved

Fixed VSync issue

Tesselation and VSync are two important features that enhance the gameplay experience, but they can also lead to the ERR_GFX_D3D_INIT error in GTA V. To resolve :

  • Open the game settings
  • Choose VSync to disable
  • Also, disable tessellation
  • Choose Screen settings to Borderless
  • You can also click ALT + ENTER to enable the above feature

It is clear that in order to fix the VSync, you must be able to access the main game screen. If you don’t have access, you can’t perform this task.

Fixing the DirectX version of the game

Any self-respecting gamer knows what DirectX is for, being responsible for improving the multimedia experience of the game, if it is not working properly, it can lead to the above mentioned error, and to solve it, you have to modify the DirectX version of the game:

  • Click on Settings in the game menu
  • Choose Graphics
  • Then click on DirectX Version and click on it. Usually it would show DirectX 11 by default.
  • Set it to version 10 or even 10.1

However, as with the VSync fix, the above step is only possible if you can launch the game and find the homepage. But you can bypass it:

  • Open the program files
  • Click on Rockstar Games\ Grand Theft Auto V
  • Open the notepad and rename it txt
  • Type-DX10
  • Save the file and exit
  • Restart the game

Change DirectX to 0

  • Open C:\ Documents\ Rockstar Games\ GTA V
  • Open the XML file
  • Open using Notepad
  • Enter Ctrl+F and type dx
  • Identify: <DX_Version value=”1″/>
  • Change the value from 1 to 0
  • Save the file
  • Exit the file and restart the game
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Find and download the missing Microsoft Visual C++ library

Go to the official Microsoft website and install Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Service Pack 1. Then make sure to run the DirectX End-User Runtime web installer. This will prepare your Windows system with the DLL files required to run the DX 11 game.


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