Vulkan VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
What is this error?
The Vulkan application ran out of GPU memory (VRAM). The game tried to allocate more video memory than your GPU has available.
Common causes
- texture quality too high for available VRAM
- VRAM leak in game
- background apps consuming VRAM
- GPU memory overclock causing errors
- insufficient VRAM for the game's requirements
How to fix it
- Lower texture quality
- close background apps
- disable ray tracing
- check VRAM usage in Task Manager
Too many steps? Crashless can diagnose this automatically — checks your drivers, temps, VRAM, and 400+ known error patterns.
Get free AI diagnosis Detailed analysis
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY means the game exhausted your GPU's VRAM via Vulkan. This is common in graphically demanding Vulkan games like Baldur's Gate 3 and Red Dead Redemption
2.
How to fix it:
- Lower Texture Quality — this single setting has the biggest VRAM impact. Drop from Ultra to High or Medium
- Check VRAM usage: Task Manager > Performance > GPU > 'Dedicated GPU memory usage'
- Close VRAM-hungry background apps: Chrome tabs, Discord with hardware acceleration, wallpaper engines
- Disable ray tracing — it's extremely VRAM-intensive
- Lower render resolution or use FSR/DLSS upscaling
- Cap your framerate to 60fps — higher framerates increase VRAM buffer usage
- Increase Windows virtual memory: System Properties > Advanced > Performance > Virtual Memory > 16GB+
- If your GPU has 4GB VRAM or less, you'll need to run most modern Vulkan games on Low-Medium settings
When to seek help
If this error keeps happening after trying the fixes above, it may point to a deeper hardware or system issue. Consider professional help if:
- The crash occurs across multiple games or applications
- You see the same error after a clean Windows install
- Your PC is less than a year old (could be a warranty issue)
- You smell burning or hear unusual sounds from your PC
Or let Crashless do the deep analysis for you -- our AI checks drivers, temps, event logs, and 400+ known patterns automatically.
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