Fix STALKER : Call Of Pripyat Crashes, Launch Errors, X-Ray Engine Issues & More

The English version of the long awaited S.T.A.L.K.E.R : Call Of Pripyat (CoP) has finally hit the shelves. Russian version of this game was released back in November 2009. Although there were numerous RUS to English translation patches, subtitles, menu fixes, etc around, the NA and EU versions of the game which are targeted specifically at English speaking users are now out. If you’ve played the previous two STALKER games, most of you would agree with me when I say they had great gameplay. But they did also contain a ton of bugs. Thankfully, Call of Pripyat seems to be the most stable & optimized game in the STALKER series so far. English version comes pre-patched to v1.6.02 for improved stability. Anyways here’s our routine troubleshooting article for COP – this post will hopefully address issues you are facing with the game.

Note: This article is a work in progress. It will be expanded as more fixes and issues are discovered.

Possible fixes for X-Ray 1.6 engine has stopped working error 

So far, this is the most common issue I found people reporting with CoP. Apparently the game throws this error upon launch and refuses to start. Below are some possible solutions that may fix this problem for you. Please note that these may not work in all cases – ‘X-ray engine stopped working’ looks like a very generic error and it may be triggered by a number of reasons including certain hardware configurations. Anyways the below fixes are always worth a try:

Note: You may lose your game progress when trying to apply these fixes. Assuming you can’t start the game at all, this probably won’t be an issue :p

  1. Install the game. During the prompt where you have to insert the CD-Key, do not inser a name.
  2. Browse the to folder where the game stored user data. by default this is C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat (if you installed the game for all users, look under C:\Users\Public\Documents\S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat\)
  3. Delete everything inside this folder including subfolders and files (if any)
  4. Now launch the game using Stalker-COP.exe located in the game’s installation directory
    - courtesy KeSeM435 on TL

Cannot open file fsgame.ltx. Check your working folder error

This error (sometimes with different filenames) could be triggered by several different reasons – for example if you are trying to launch the game using a desktop shortcut that has an improper value in the ‘Working Directory’ field. Some fixes you can try:

  • Launch the game directly from the installation dir using Stalker-COP.exe without using a shortcut
  • Launch the game using the launcher
  • Download this batch file, place it in your CoP installation directory and execute the file. (this solution is based on a fix for same issue with STALKER Clear Sky)
  • To the fix mentioned above for X-ray engine issue

Access violation errors, general protection faults, black screens and other issues

If you get random CTD, access violation errors in game. Try disabling dynamic lightning from the options and see if frequency of crashes is reduced. You can also try following the usual best practices including updating directx, updating device drivers, etc.

Note: This article is incomplete. More fixes will be added and existing fixes corrected as more information becomes available.