How to Get Stray Running on Windows 7
Stray is an incredibly charming game, following a cat that adventures through an apocalyptic cityscape. What isn’t so charming is certain technical issues that players are running into, especially on older systems.
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What Are the LowLevelFatalError and Rendering Thread Exception Errors on Stray?
Stray runs on Unreal Engine 4, which means that there are many reasons why it may have crashed. A specific error message that mentionsLowLevelFatalErrorandRendering Thread Exceptionis a common reason for Stray to crash, and if you’re experiencing it, you may be trying to run Stray on a system that doesn’t meet the minimum settings.
This error is most commonly encountered by users attempting to run the game on Windows 7 or lower, which is below the minimum requirements for Stray. The error can also occur on certain Linux systems attempting to run the game through a wrapper, or even on modern operating systems running on older hardware.
Can I Run Stray on Windows 7?
Not officially. Stray’s minimum requirements are hard to work around, as the game is already quite taxing on the hardware that it was designed for.
There are some troubleshooting steps you may run through, and we’ve written a guide onwhy games crash at times. However, it’s unlikely that optimizing your system further will allow Stray to run if it’s crashing outright.
A Possible Fix for Running Stray on Windows 7
Some users are having success getting Stray to run on Windows 7 by utilizing DXVK, or DirectX-over-Vulkan. This is a tool usually used by Linux users to run graphics processing through a Vulkan-based translation layer.
To make it easier to understand, this can help a lot of 3D games function on officially unsupported systems.
Using it for our purposes is relatively simple. Head over to thereleases page of the DXVK Github. The download is a GZ file, so you’ll need the right tools to unzip it. Check out our guide onwhat a GZ file isif you need further help.
The download comes with a few files, but you only need two. In thedxvk-x.xx.xfolder, navigate tox64and extractdxgi.dllandd3d11.dll. Put these somewhere you’ll remember them.
Next, navigate to the installation directory for Stray. This can be done quickly byright-clickingon Stray within Steam, hovering your cursor overManage,and clicking onBrowse Local Files.
ensure you have the files you downloaded handy. Navigate throughHk_project,thenBinaries,and finallyWin64.You’ll know you’re in the right place if you seeStray-Win64-Shipping.exe.
Copy both files you extracted into this new location, and that’s it. You can now try running Stray as you normally would, however there’s still no guarantee it will boot. If you encounter further problems, you could try troubleshooting the DXVK files, or consider a system upgrade.
Another thing to note is that even if you get the game running through this method, it may not perform well. You may need to alter system settings to get the game’s performance to an acceptable level.
Running Modern Games on Older Systems
Unfortunately, your options are limited when it comes to running newer games on older systems. If the hardware doesn’t hold you back, older operating systems certainly will. It’s completely unlike the inverse of running older games on newer systems, where your options are plentiful.
Hopefully, this guide has helped you run Stray on Windows 7. If not, it might be time to ask yourself if the adorable cat game will be the one that finally makes you upgrade.
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