Stop Palworld Crashing Now: RAM Config Fix + All PC and PS5 Error Solutions Tested for 2026

Palworld crashing on PC or PS5 is frustrating because the cause isn’t always obvious. The “A process has crashed: UE-Pal” error, out-of-video-memory shutdowns, PS5 rest mode corruption, and dedicated server RAM leaks each need completely different fixes — and most crash guides lump them together under generic advice like “update your drivers.”

This guide separates every crash type, gives you a diagnosis table to identify yours fast, and includes the dedicated server RAM configuration fix that most troubleshooting pages skip — one config line that stabilises RAM usage and prevents the crash cycle that repeats on a predictable 2-6 hour timer.

Verified on Palworld v0.7.3 (April 2026). Values may change with future updates.

Quick Start: 5 Fixes to Try Before Anything Else

If you’re actively crashing and want results in the next five minutes, run these before anything else:

1. Steam → Right-click Palworld → Properties → Local Files → Verify Integrity of Game Files
2. Steam → Right-click Palworld → Properties → General → Launch Options → add -dx12
3. In-game → Settings → Graphics → Anti-Aliasing → change from TSAA to FXAA (or None)
4. World Settings → set Multiplayer to Off before loading your save
5. Close Discord overlay, Steam overlay, and any recording software before launching

PS5 players: Settings → Screen and Video → Video Output → switch from Performance Mode to Resolution Mode. This disables 120FPS mode and is the single highest-impact PS5 fix. If crashes happen after waking from Rest Mode, jump directly to the PS5 section below.

What’s Causing Palworld to Crash — Diagnose Your Type First

Applying the wrong fix wastes time. Palworld crash reports fall into distinct categories, each with a different root cause. Match your symptom below.

The most important distinction is between one-time crashes and the repeating cycle. If your game runs fine for a few hours then crashes at roughly the same interval — and starting a fresh session resets the clock — that is the RAM leak pattern. File verification and driver updates will not fix it. Jump to Fix 5.

PC Crash Fixes

Fix 1 — Clear the UE-Pal Cache

The error “A process has crashed: UE-Pal” means the game’s cache contains a corrupted entry. Steam’s file verification catches the majority of cases. When it doesn’t, two specific folders need to be cleared manually.

Step 1 — Verify game files: Steam → Right-click Palworld → Properties → Local Files → Verify Integrity of Game Files. This takes 2-5 minutes. Relaunch and test.

Step 2 — If the error persists, open your Steam library folder and delete the contents (not the folders themselves) of these two directories:

• \steamapps\common\Palworld\Pal\Content\Paks
• \steamapps\common\Palworld\Pal\Binaries\Win64

Step 3 — Run Verify Integrity again. Steam re-downloads clean versions of the cleared files.

The game recreates valid cache files on the next launch. This resolves the UE-Pal error in most cases where standard file verification doesn’t.

Fix 2 — Switch Your DirectX Version

Palworld defaults to DirectX 11 but supports DirectX 12. On RTX 3000 series GPUs and newer, DX12 is generally more stable. On older hardware, DX11 can be the better choice. Testing the other version takes 30 seconds.

Steam → Right-click Palworld → Properties → General → Launch Options → type -dx12 and relaunch.

If crashes continue, swap the launch option to -dx11 instead. If neither helps, delete the launch option entirely — the DirectX version isn’t the cause in your case.

Fix 3 — Disable TSAA Anti-Aliasing

TSAA is a documented crash trigger for Palworld on many mid-range GPU configurations. Changing it takes 30 seconds and doesn’t require a game restart.

Settings → Graphics → Anti-Aliasing → switch from TSAA to FXAA. If crashing continues, set Anti-Aliasing to None.

The visual difference between TSAA and FXAA is minor at 1080p and above. The stability difference can be significant, especially on systems where the GPU is already running near its limit. For a tested configuration that balances visual quality against stability on your GPU tier, see our Palworld best PC settings 2026 guide.

Fix 4 — Clean Reinstall Your GPU Drivers

A standard driver update preserves existing settings files and can carry forward corrupted configuration that an update alone can’t clear. A clean reinstall — using DDU — starts from a blank slate.

For NVIDIA:

1. Download DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) from Wagnardsoft
2. Boot Windows into Safe Mode: Settings → Recovery → Advanced Startup
3. Run DDU → Display Devices → Clean and restart
4. Download the latest NVIDIA driver and install with the clean install option checked

For AMD: Use AMD’s Cleanup Utility (available from AMD support) in Safe Mode — same process and effect as DDU.

After reinstalling, launch Palworld without enabling overlays or adjusting driver settings first. Test for crashes in a clean state before adding anything back.

Fix 5 — The Dedicated Server RAM Config Fix

This is the fix that most crash guides skip, and it covers the crash pattern most players describe as “the game runs fine for a few hours then dies.”

Palworld dedicated servers have a documented memory leak tied to the invader enemy system — random enemy raids on player bases. These raids spawn persistent AI entities in memory that aren’t cleanly released after the event ends. RAM usage climbs from around 2GB at session start to 8GB or more over 2-6 hours of play, at which point the server process runs out of headroom and crashes.

We cover this in more depth in save file location.

The fix is a single config line. Open the server settings file at:

/Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini

Find: bEnableInvaderEnemy=True
Change to: bEnableInvaderEnemy=False

Save the file and restart the server. RAM usage holds at 2-3GB instead of climbing. The 2-6 hour crash cycle stops.

Trade-off: This setting disables enemy raid events on player bases. If raids are content you want on your server, schedule automated server restarts instead — every 2 hours for servers with 8-16GB RAM, every 4-6 hours for larger allocations. Planned restarts interrupt play briefly. Unplanned crashes don’t give players any warning at all.

PS5 Crash Fixes

Fix 1 — Switch to Resolution Mode (Disable 120FPS)

Performance Mode forces 120FPS output, which pushes Palworld’s GPU load above what some PS5 units sustain consistently. Resolution Mode at 60FPS is significantly more stable for this game specifically.

Settings → Screen and Video → Video Output → Performance Mode → switch to Resolution Mode.

This is the single highest-impact PS5 fix. If your crashes started after enabling Performance Mode, this is almost certainly the cause.

Fix 2 — Fix Rest Mode Crashes

Palworld and PS5 Rest Mode conflict. The game doesn’t fully suspend when the console sleeps, and the network sync that runs in Rest Mode interferes with Palworld’s session state — causing crashes on wake and occasionally corrupting saves.

The cleanest fix is disabling Rest Mode for gaming sessions:

Settings → System → Power Saving → Set Time Until PS5 Enters Rest Mode → Don’t Put in Rest Mode

If you need Rest Mode for other reasons, keep it enabled but cut the network activity:

Settings → System → Power Saving → Features Available in Rest Mode → uncheck Stay Connected to the Internet

Fix 3 — Rebuild the PS5 Database

If Palworld crashes on every launch or after every session — especially if no other fix has worked — the PS5’s internal database is likely corrupted. A rebuild takes 30-60 minutes but resolves most persistent crash loops without touching your saved data.

1. Fully power off PS5 — hold the power button until it shuts down completely (not Rest Mode)
2. Hold the power button again until you hear two beeps — this enters Safe Mode
3. Connect a controller via USB and select option 5: Rebuild Database
4. Do not interrupt the process
5. Restart normally once complete

Games and saves are not affected. The rebuild reconstructs the PS5’s content index without touching game data.

If Nothing Has Worked Yet: Three Overlooked Causes

Antivirus blocking Palworld mid-session. Avast, AVG, and Windows Defender with aggressive cloud scanning are known to flag Palworld’s file access patterns as suspicious and terminate file handles mid-session, causing a crash with no error message. Add the entire Palworld install folder to your antivirus exclusion list. This is especially common on machines where Palworld crashes but other games don’t.

RAM below minimum spec. Palworld requires a minimum of 16GB RAM. Systems with 8GB that ran the game at launch have faced increasing instability with each update as the game’s memory footprint grows. If your crashes increase over a session rather than happening at launch, RAM headroom is likely the limiting factor. Task Manager → Performance → Memory shows live usage. For settings that reduce memory load on underpowered hardware, see our Palworld low-end PC settings guide.

Missing administrator rights. On some Windows configurations, Palworld can’t write to its config directories without admin rights — causing crashes specifically at autosave points. Right-click PalWorld-Win64-Shipping.exe → Properties → Compatibility → check Run this program as an administrator.

FAQ

Why does Palworld crash every time I try to load a specific save?

The most likely culprits are corrupt save data or an outdated mod. Disable all mods first, then verify game files via Steam. If the crash only happens in multiplayer but not single-player, the session handler is the issue — try Fix 2 (switch DirectX) and disable multiplayer in World Settings before loading. On PS5, a Rebuild Database (PS5 Fix 3) resolves most persistent load crashes without losing data.

Palworld ran fine for months — why is it crashing now after an update?

Two 2026 updates changed stability behaviour. The v0.7.1 patch (January 2026) fixed combat freeze bugs during raids — if you’re crashing mid-raid on an older version, updating through Steam or PS Store is the first step. The v0.7.3 patch (April 2026) addressed construction stability. If crashes started immediately after an update rather than before it, a clean GPU driver reinstall (Fix 4) often resolves update-triggered driver conflicts.

Can a low-spec PC cause outright crashes rather than just low FPS?

Yes. Below the 16GB RAM minimum, Palworld doesn’t slow down gracefully — it crashes when memory runs out. The game’s footprint grows throughout a session, so systems at the edge run fine for 20-30 minutes then crash as RAM fills. Lowering graphics settings reduces load, but RAM is a hard ceiling that graphics settings can’t override. Our Palworld beginner’s guide covers base setup priorities that also help reduce early memory pressure.

Is a 10-minute black screen on launch a crash?

No — this is normal on Palworld’s first launch of a session. The game goes idle during initial load, which Windows reads as unresponsive. Only treat it as a crash if the process disappears from Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc → Details tab) or you see an error dialog. If the black screen runs past 15 minutes with the process still active, verify game files and clear the Win64 cache folder (Fix 1, Step 2).

Sources

1. Driver Easy — How to fix Palworld crashing on PC
2. eXputer — Palworld crash fixes: error codes and solutions
3. RocketNode — Prevent memory leak and server crashes: Palworld server settings
4. Keen Gamer — Fix the “A process has crashed: UE-Pal” error
5. The CPU Guide — Palworld crashing on PS5

Michael R.

I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.