Can't Launch Call of the Wild: The Angler (PC)

We've created this support guide to assist players who may be experiencing issues with the PC version of Call of the Wild: The Angler not loading on PC. If your issue is that the game freezes, won't load, or crashes at startup, then this is the support guide for you. We've done our best to list the known issues that players may experience.

If you found additional issues preventing you from playing the game or you need additional help after trying all of the steps here, then please share them us.

Table of Contents

1. Ensure that your PC meets the minimum requirements to play Call of the Wild: The Angler.

MINIMUM:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

OS: 64 bit OS - Windows 10

Processor: Intel i5-6400 (4C / 4T) (Q3 ‘15) or AMD Ryzen 5 1600

Memory: 8 GB RAM

Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 780 3 GB or AMD RX 480 4 GB

DirectX: Version 12

Network: Broadband Internet connection

Storage: 25 GB available space

RECOMMENDED:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

OS: 64 bit OS - Windows 10/11

Processor: Intel Core i7-4770 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X

Memory: 16 GB RAM

Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1070 8 GB or AMD Vega 56 8GB

DirectX: Version 12

Network: Broadband Internet connection

Storage: 25 GB available space

2. Verify integrity of your game files.

1. Via Steam open your game Library.
2. Right click on the game title and select "Properties"
3. Select the "LOCAL FILES" tab and click on "VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAME FILES..."
4. Start a game session

3. Make sure your Dedicated Graphics Card is running the game

We've created a support guide for using AMD and Nvidia graphics cards to help resolve this problem.

For Nvidia Graphics Cards

1. Open the Nvidia Control Panel. You can do this by right-clicking on the desktop
2. Select Manage 3D Settings under 3D Settings
3. Click on the "Program Settings" tab and select “cotwTheAngler_Steam.exe”. If you can't find the game in your drop-down menu, then press "Add", locate the folder where the game is installed (usually c:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\call of the wild the angler), and then choose "cotwTheAngler_Steam.exe"
4. From the second option "Select the preferred graphics processor for this program", select High-performance Nvidia processor from the drop down list (you can see what the automatic option is listed as global setting).

For AMD Graphics Card Users

1. Right click your desktop and open the AMD Radeon Software.
2. In Radeon Software, click on the Gear Icon and select Graphics from the sub-menu, then choose advanced.
3. Click on GPU Workload and select the desired setting (default is to set to Graphics).                                    NOTE! In systems with more than one AMD Radeon™ GPU installed, GPU Workload setting will apply to all AMD Radeon™ GPUs
4. Click OK to restart Radeon software for the change to take effect.
5. When finished, you may close Radeon Software.

4. Check if your save file has become corrupted

NOTE: you will also need to disable Steam backups during this process, or steam will keep trying to "restore" your savegame.
You can find a guide to access your save files here.  Simply rename the folder "Saves" to something else, for example, "Saves 1" and see if your game will launch.  If it does, your save file is most likely corrupted and preventing your game from launching correctly.  Next, open the "...CotwTheAngler\Backup" folder (not the one you just made) and copy the "Saves" folder inside.  Now replace the new "Saves" folder that was just created when you launched the game last.  Try launching The Angler and see if your previous save has been restored.

If not, you will likely have to start a new game.

5. Disable Steam Cloud Backups

Your Steam Cloud Backups could be corrupted.  You could try turning them off to see if that is causing your issue.  You can read more about Steam Cloud Backups in this article from Steam.

6. Try removing special characters from your Steam username

If your steam username has special characters or characters that are not used within the English language, attempting to remove them may solve your problem. Please note: it’s recommended to restart steam and the game before checking if this worked for you or not.

7. Update graphics card drivers to latest version.

Check your graphics card software and make sure it's updated. Select NVIDIA GeForce Experience, or AMD Radeon Software. If you are using an older Graphics card, it's probably not supported.

8. Fix Windows related Issues

• Run the game as Administrator.
• Check your Windows is fully up-to-date.
• Make sure you have Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable installed. If you don't, you can install it from here.
• Some of your PC files may have become corrupt. Please attempt to use the System File Checker to see if it can fix them. A full support article from Microsoft can be found here.
• If using multiple monitors, try setting the game to run on your default monitor and in landscape mode.
• Change your screen resolution to one supporting a 16:9 aspect ratio.
• Confirm that your in-game screen resolution and windows screen resolution are matching. 

9. Disable programs that may interfere with Call of the Wild: The Angler

Search for, and disable/troubleshoot programs that could potentially interfere with Steam. Most notably:

1. a) Turn off Steam overlay
2. b) Disable background programs for recording and screen capturing
3. c) Temporarily disable your antivirus software

10. Update your Audio drivers and disable anything modifying your audio

• The first thing to do would be to update your Realtek drivers (or other audio drivers).
• If you are using a headset or external speakers, then try unplugging them temporarily. You can also attempt to uninstall and then reinstall your Realtek drivers.

11. Try disabling USB devices to see if any are interfering with the game.

In rare cases, some USB devices might interfere with Call of the Wild: The Angler. It's recommended to try unplugging your USB devices that may interfere, such as controllers, audio devices, etc., and check if it allows Call of the Wild: The Angler to begin working.

12. Whitelist the game in your Security Suite

If you're having issues with the game running, it's possible that your firewall or security suite is blocking it from running. Try adding an exception to the application "cotwTheAngler_Steam.exe”.

If you are using Windows Defender, you may refer to this article.

13. Reinstall the game.

If none of the above steps helped fix your issue with the game launching, then please try reinstalling your game.   

14. Still having trouble? Contact support with your DxDiag & MsInfo files

If none of the above solutions helped, you may wish to check your Windows installation.  If your issue still persists, then please contact our support.  Before doing so, please prepare the necessary files for us to assist you.  We will need your DxDiag, MSInfo, and save files.  After doing so, click here to submit a new request.