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If you’re trying to run Hogwarts Legacy, you may have encountered several problems relating to the game not loading properly. For example, there’s been reports of black screens on launch, crashing, and frame drops. It seemed possible that the latest Nvidia drivers were the source of this issue, though that was soon debunked as a coincidence. It seems as though the problems are, as expected, with the game itself.
In light of that – we’ve theorised that it’s possible that DirectX is also causing problems with Hogwarts Legacy. This is corroborated by claims online that they are encountering a Hogwarts Legacy DirectX runtime error – so let’s get straight into how to fix that.
Hogwarts Legacy DirectX runtime error – how to fix
If you’re experiencing an error when loading up Hogwarts Legacy that states: DirectX runtime error, or something to that nature, don’t fret.
These are the Hogwarts Legacy system requirements, and it clearly states that the minimum DirectX version required is DirectX 12.
DirectX 12 released in 2015, and DirectX 12 Ultimate launched in 2020. The latest iteration of the software has optimised ray-tracing and deep learning modules in it, improving performance on PC and console games dramatically.
You’ve probably already installed DirectX 12 or later, though if you haven’t you can download it from here. Once you’re updated to the latest version, or you’ve freshly installed it, there’s still the chance that you’re encountering an error.
Your next step is to head on over to the following directory:
<path>Steam\steamapps\common\Steamworks Shared\_CommonRedist\DirectX
From here you can install DirectX via Steam, which should hopefully solve the problem with DirectX.
If this still doesn’t work, your next step is to uninstall DirectX and completely purge your PC of DirectX files, and then commit to a fresh install. Similarly, you can update your graphics drivers from Nvidia, AMD, or Intel, as it’s possible their DirectX driver packages are outdated.
