I'm trying to improve performance in Elite Dangerous and enabled Smooth Motion through the Nvidia app. Since then, the game closes immediately when I launch it. I've seen reports that this issue was fixed, and someone else says it works for them on the same driver version, so I'm trying to figure out what is causing the crash. Is there a Windows, Nvidia, or game log I can check for more details?
System details:
- Nvidia driver: 610.88
- Windows 11 25H2, build 26200.8875
- CPU: Ryzen 5 5600X
- GPU: RTX 4090
- RAM: 32 GB
- Motherboard: MSI B550-A PRO
2 Answers
Also check the game’s installation or configuration folders for a Logs, CrashReports, or similar directory. If neither the game folder nor Event Viewer contains anything, temporarily turn Smooth Motion off and launch the game again. That will help confirm whether the feature itself is causing the immediate exit before you spend time hunting for a crash report.
Check Windows Event Viewer under Windows Logs > Application. You can filter the entries around the exact time of the crash and look for an application error involving the game or a graphics-related module. It may not always produce a useful entry, though, especially if the Nvidia feature is terminating the game before it fully starts.
I checked the Application log and filtered around the launch time, but I didn’t see an entry for the game. I may be filtering it incorrectly, so I’ll keep looking.
I couldn’t find an obvious log folder in the game directory either, and Event Viewer didn’t show anything useful. Disabling Smooth Motion seems like the next sensible test.