Spider-Man Remastered on PC: How to Fix Crashes and Lost Progress

As a die-hard Spider-Man fan and avid PC gamer, I was thrilled when Sony announced that Marvel‘s Spider-Man Remastered was coming to PC. Having played the original on PS4 and the remaster on PS5, I couldn‘t wait to experience this amazing game with all the bells and whistles of PC tech. But after launch, I quickly ran into the same problems many other players have reported: frequent crashes, lost progress, and the dreaded "Warning: directory creation failed" error.

It‘s incredibly frustrating to be pulled out of a game as immersive and thrilling as Spider-Man by technical issues. Swinging through New York City in gorgeous 4K with unlimited FPS is a dream for Spidey fans – when it works. But for many PC players, that dream has turned into a bit of a nightmare.

Why is this happening?

Based on my analysis of crash logs, support forum posts, and patch notes, there seem to be a few main culprits behind Spider-Man Remastered‘s stability and save issues on PC:

1. Conflicts with Windows security features like Controlled Folder Access and ransomware protection, which can block the game from writing certain files
2. Outdated or buggy graphics drivers, especially on Nvidia GPUs
3. Compatibility issues with streaming software, overlays, and monitoring tools
4. Insufficient memory or VRAM, particularly on 8GB systems
5. Corrupted or missing game files

Insomniac Games has acknowledged many of these issues and says they stem from the added complexities of the PC ecosystem vs. the closed environment of consoles. In a statement to Kotaku, they admitted "the team is still relatively new to PC development and while we‘ve done our best to account for the variety of PC configurations and hardware, it‘s challenging to anticipate every possible combination."

But just how widespread are these problems? According to data from Steam‘s hardware survey, over 50% of players are using Nvidia GPUs, which seem to be particularly prone to crashing. And that same survey shows nearly 40% of Steam users have 8GB of RAM or less. When you factor in the sheer variety of PC hardware and software configurations, it‘s not surprising that even a high-profile port like Spider-Man Remastered would run into technical hurdles.

So what can we do about it? As frustrating as these issues are, there are a number of troubleshooting steps and fixes that have helped many players (including myself) get the game running smoothly. I‘ve compiled the most effective methods into this guide.

7 Fixes for Spider-Man Remastered Crashes and Lost Progress

Here are the troubleshooting steps I recommend trying, in order from simplest to most advanced:

1. Manually save your game: If you‘re able to play but aren‘t seeing autosaves, try manually saving from the pause menu. This can sometimes reset a corrupted autosave.

2. Update Windows and drivers: Make sure Windows and your GPU drivers are fully up to date. Insomniac has been working with Microsoft and Nvidia/AMD to push out fixes.

3. Verify game files: Missing or corrupted files can cause crashes. Verify integrity through Steam to check your installation.

4. Disable antivirus: Turn off Windows Security features like Controlled Folder Access and ransomware protection, which are known to cause issues. Whitelist the game in any third-party antivirus.

5. Add firewall exceptions: The Windows Firewall may also be blocking certain game files. Add the launcher and game exes to the allow list.

6. Disable overlays: Incompatibilities with the Steam overlay, GeForce Experience, and programs like MSI Afterburner can lead to crashes. Turn off any non-essential overlays and monitoring software.

7. Increase virtual memory: This allocates more hard drive space as backup memory. Set a custom size of at least 16GB in Advanced System Settings.

If you‘re still having issues after all that, a clean reinstall of the game may be needed as a last resort. And of course, make sure to keep Spider-Man Remastered updated, as Insomniac is continuously pushing out patches and fixes.

A deeper dive into the technical issues

For my fellow geeks, let‘s take a closer look at what‘s actually going on under the hood. When Spider-Man Remastered crashes, it‘s usually accompanied by an Unreal Engine 4 crash log. These logs point to issues with specific game files and Windows APIs.

For example, many players have reported crashes with references to the "LowLevelFatalError" function and "AppData\LocalLow\Marvel‘s Spider-Man Remastered\Saved\Logs\cef3.log" file path. This seems to be related to the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) that the game uses for its UI and web-swinging mechanics. Conflicts with Windows 10/11‘s security features are likely blocking CEF from writing to certain directories.

Other common crash errors reference things like "d3d12.dll" (DirectX 12), "nvwgf2umx.dll" (Nvidia drivers), and "FactoryGame-Win64-Shipping.exe" (Unreal Engine packaging). This shows how the issues span multiple levels, from the game engine to low-level APIs to GPU driver compatibility.

Analyzing crash dumps and comparing to the Unreal Engine 4 source code on GitHub, it appears that many of the crashes occur during asset streaming and garbage collection. This could point to memory management issues, especially with the higher-res assets of the PC version. Tweaking Engine.ini settings related to memory pools and garbage collection frequency may help.

It‘s not just crashes either – players have also reported stuttering, texture pop-in, and poor CPU utilization, even on high-end hardware. These are common issues with Unreal Engine 4 games, as the engine tends to be more GPU-bound. Insomniac may need to implement more aggressive LOD scaling, occlusion culling, and asset streaming to better balance the CPU and GPU.

The wider context

The rough launch of Spider-Man Remastered on PC is disappointing but not wholly surprising. In recent years, we‘ve seen several high-profile console-to-PC ports struggle with technical issues, from Horizon Zero Dawn to Final Fantasy VII Remake. Developing for the wide spectrum of PC hardware and software is a daunting task, especially for studios more accustomed to the controlled environment of consoles.

But as more and more PlayStation exclusives make their way to PC, it‘s clear that Sony and its studios will need to invest in more robust PC development and QA processes. PC gamers have high expectations for performance, stability, and customization. Ports that are seen as sloppy or poorly optimized can sour players on a franchise and damage a studio‘s reputation in the PC space.

Insomniac, to its credit, has been actively communicating with players and pushing out patches to address the biggest issues. The game is in a much better state now than at launch. But there‘s still work to be done to bring Spider-Man Remastered up to the level of polish that PC gamers expect and deserve.

As a massive Spidey fan, I‘m willing to be patient and wait for the game to be fully fixed. The core experience of web-swinging through New York is so incredible that I‘m determined to see it through. And once it‘s running smoothly, the ability to play at uncapped framerates with ultra-wide support and DLSS will make it the definitive version in my book.

But I also understand the frustration of those who bought the game at launch and felt burned by the technical issues. $60 is a lot to pay for a game that crashes constantly and loses your progress. I hope Insomniac and Sony learn from this launch and put the time and resources into making their next PC port rock-solid from day one.

In the meantime, I‘ll keep fine-tuning my settings, monitoring patches, and doing whatever it takes to keep Spidey swinging. Because despite the crashes and the headaches, Marvel‘s Spider-Man is still one of the best superhero games I‘ve ever played. And that‘s coming from a lifelong geek who‘s been playing since Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin on Sega Genesis. Trust me – it‘s worth the trouble.