NTE Won’t Launch, Crashes or Black Screen? Full Fix for Startup Failures, UE5 Crashes & Connection Errors

Quick answer: When NTE won’t launch, match the symptom first: launcher does nothing → add it to your antivirus whitelist + run as administrator; crashes → update your GPU driver, close MSI Afterburner, turn off Frame Generation on 40-series cards; black screen → switch to windowed mode; connection error → check your VPN/firewall and run the one-click repair to verify files.

Neverness to Everness (NTE) is an open-world urban RPG built on Unreal Engine 5, with heavy scene streaming and a demanding effects load — so the wall new players hit most often is “I can’t even get into the game.” This article sorts the most common startup failures, crashes, black screens and connection problems by symptom, starting with the quickest fixes and working through them one at a time.

Before you start, make sure your machine meets the bar — a lot of “crashes” are really under-spec hardware or an install on an HDD: check the NTE system requirements. If you haven’t installed it yet or want to reinstall, see the NTE download guide.

Do these 5 universal checks first (try them for any symptom)

Whatever your situation, these are the highest-value steps and the first ones you should do:

1. Restart your PC once — an old trick, but it works; it clears stuck leftover processes and driver states.
2. Update your GPU driver to the latest version — download the newest driver for your exact model from NVIDIA / AMD / Intel’s official site; UE5 games are very sensitive to drivers.
3. Update Windows — install the latest system updates, and make sure you’re on Windows 10 64-bit or newer (Windows 7 / 8 aren’t supported and often won’t run at all).
4. Confirm it’s installed on an SSD with enough free space — an SSD is officially required; a nearly-full drive can cause updates/extraction to fail so the game won’t open.
5. Use the launcher’s “one-click repair” to verify files — open the launcher → Settings (gear) → General settings → find “One-Click Repair”, which fixes incomplete or corrupted game files.

These 5 steps solve a large share of problems. If you’re still stuck, scroll down to your specific symptom.

Sorted by symptom: step-by-step fixes

Launcher does nothing, stuck on “Running”

You click the launcher icon and nothing happens, or it says “Game running” but you see no picture — this is the most reported issue among Taiwan/HK/Macau players, and it’s almost always antivirus blocking the launcher or the game itself.

Step	What to do
① Add to antivirus whitelist	Add the entire NTE install folder to your antivirus / Windows Defender exceptions (exclusions) list; when a block warning pops up, click “Allow” / “Trust”. If needed, temporarily disable your antivirus to test.
② Run as administrator	Right-click the launcher icon → Run as administrator (or tick the box in Properties → Compatibility to apply it permanently).
③ End leftover processes	Open Task Manager, end every process whose name contains NTE / Neverness to Everness, then reopen the launcher.
④ One-click repair	Launcher settings → General settings → One-Click Repair to patch potentially corrupted files.
⑤ Reinstall the launcher	If none of the above works, remove the launcher, delete leftover install files, and reinstall (the large game files can usually be kept — defer to the official instructions).

Crashes, freezes mid-game

You can get into the game but it crashes, or freezes partway through combat or while roaming the map. Work through these known causes in order:

• GPU driver too old or buggy — officials have noted that certain old NVIDIA drivers cause frequent crashes; update to the latest driver and log back in. Conversely, if the crashes started right after an update, consider rolling back to the previous stable version.
• MSI Afterburner / RivaTuner (RTSS) conflict — this overlay/monitoring suite is known to conflict with NTE. Fully close or remove the RivaTuner Statistics Server before launching. It’s also worth closing other overlay tools (the Discord overlay, recording-software OSDs) to test.
• NVIDIA RTX 40-series card + Frame Generation — if your 40-series card crashes frequently with Frame Generation on, enter the game and press ESC → Settings → Display, then turn off “Frame Generation.”
  To use this feature normally, on Windows 10 you must manually enable “Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling” in system settings (it’s on by default on Windows 11).
• Insufficient virtual memory — machines with 16GB of RAM or less tend to crash under UE5 because memory runs tight. Manually set your virtual memory to 1.5–2× your physical RAM (e.g. 16GB → roughly 24–32GB); putting it on an SSD works better.
• Under-spec hardware or installed on an HDD — if you’ve tried all of the above and still crash often, go back and check the system requirements; if it’s on a traditional hard drive (HDD), be sure to move it to an SSD.

Black screen, stuck on login or loading

The screen is fully black but you have sound, or it’s stuck on the logo / a spinner and won’t go in:

• Black screen (with sound — you can hear the BGM) — usually a fullscreen-compatibility or driver issue. Wait 1–2 minutes to see if it’s compiling shaders (see the next section); if it’s still black, update your driver, switch to windowed / borderless windowed mode, close all overlay software, and turn off your second monitor to test.
• Stuck on the login screen / loading spinner — usually a network or file issue: run the one-click repair to verify files, and check whether a VPN/proxy/firewall is blocking the connection (see connection errors).
• Progress bar stuck, resource download fails — restart the launcher several times, or use the one-click repair; if it’s truly frozen, remove the launcher, delete the install package and reinstall.

UE5 shader compilation: first launch is very slow or crashes

On their first launch or after a driver update, UE5 games often need a few minutes to compile shaders, during which the screen may go black, stutter, or even look like it’s crashed — this is usually normal. Be patient and let it finish; after the first run it’ll be much faster.

• Let it finish once: on your first launch don’t rush to close it; wait for the shader/pipeline compilation to finish and later loads will be much smoother.
• Don’t update your driver before it finishes: updating your GPU driver invalidates the shader cache and forces a full recompile, so wait until it’s done before updating.
• If it recompiles every time you launch, or consistently crashes mid-compile, that’s a game-side issue. Defer to official announcements and updates, and you can screenshot it and report it to official support.

Note: there are DIY guides floating around about “editing Engine.ini to skip shader compilation.” Their effectiveness and stability vary by version and they can also affect visual quality, so we don’t recommend new players manually edit engine settings. Use the official suggestions above first.

Connection error, login failure, constant disconnects

If you see a connection/login failure or frequent disconnects, first rule out that it isn’t on your end, then check each item:

1. Check first whether the servers are under maintenance or having an outage — during patches, maintenance or temporary outages everyone is locked out, so check official announcements and the community first. Defer to official announcements and don’t blindly tweak settings.
2. Check your VPN / proxy / hosts — a VPN or proxy intercepting the launcher’s connection is a common culprit: first disable your VPN/proxy and test a direct connection; make sure your hosts file hasn’t been altered to block the game’s domains.
3. Allow it through the firewall — in Windows Firewall, allow both the NTE launcher and the game itself to connect out.
4. Test a different network — switch to a wired connection, restart your modem/router; mobile players can compare Wi-Fi against mobile data to narrow down whether it’s the device or the line.
5. DNS / re-login — if needed, flush your DNS cache and restart the launcher to log in again.
6. If you still can’t log in (especially anything account / pass-related), please contact official support and have a screenshot of the error screen ready.

Players in Taiwan/HK/Macau who downloaded through the iwplay channel are on the Taiwan/HK/Macau server, so under normal conditions you don’t need — and we don’t recommend — using a VPN to connect to the Taiwan server; for special cases like payments, refer to the official instructions.

Mobile (iOS / Android) crashes and won’t-start

Mobile situations differ from PC; handle them in this priority order:

• Crashes immediately after downloading — uninstall and reinstall, and after reinstalling keep the game in the foreground while it finishes updating its resources; don’t switch to the background or lock the screen, as switching away mid-update easily interrupts it and causes a crash.
• Killed by the system due to low memory — close other background apps and restart your phone to free up memory; on low-RAM models, lower the graphics settings.
• Insufficient storage space — leave enough free space (the resource files aren’t small) and clear room before entering.
• Heat-throttling stutter — for long sessions, lower the graphics quality and avoid playing while charging to prevent overheating.
• To check whether your model meets the bar, see the iOS / Android section of the system requirements.

Still can’t get in? A checklist before you escalate

Work through this checklist top to bottom and most people can resolve it; if it genuinely won’t work, take this information to official support:

Check	Key point
System	Windows 10 64-bit or newer, fully updated
Driver	GPU driver updated to the latest version
Install location	Installed on an SSD with plenty of free space
Antivirus	NTE folder whitelisted, run as administrator
Monitoring software	MSI Afterburner / RivaTuner and other overlays closed
Display settings	Frame Generation off on 40-series cards; windowed mode for black screens
Virtual memory	Increased on 16GB machines (1.5–2×)
Files	”One-Click Repair” verification done
Connection	VPN/proxy off, firewall allowed

When you contact official support, including a screenshot of the error screen/code, your PC specs and your driver version will get the issue handled faster. This article is compiled from the official NTE open-beta FAQ and player community reports; for game-specific menu locations and the latest fixes, always defer to official announcements.

What’s next

Once you’re in the game, don’t rush off and wander — read these first to avoid detours:

• NTE Beginner’s Guide — what to do on day one
• NTE System Requirements — confirm your hardware is up to it
• NTE Download Guide — official downloads and reinstalls for each platform

FAQ