Honeycomb Crash & Startup Help

Choose the problem you see

• Low FPS while moving or looking around — compare RTXDI settings.
• Colored lights or graphical artifacts — check ray tracing and VRAM.
• Brief freezes during saves — test the autosave connection.
• Steam Play does not open the game — check startup requirements.
• Crash during startup videos or shader compilation — record the stage and error.

These PC checks follow Frozen Way’s pinned September 3 troubleshooting post, written during the demo. Work through the relevant branch; the post does not establish that every issue persists in your build.

Which problems have recent patches addressed?

Hotfix #4 changes shadow rendering to address reported GPU crashes and fixes crafting inputs spread across containers. Start by checking your installed version. Cave and nest fixes were announced separately as coming next.

Older driver, RTXDI and autosave checks remain troubleshooting options if symptoms persist. Record your version and the exact action that causes the failure.

How do I use the Steam compatibility branch?

Frozen Way’s September 10 instructions offer this branch for persistent crashes or hardware compatibility problems:

1. In Steam Library, right-click Honeycomb: The World Beyond and choose Properties.
2. Open Game Versions & Betas.
3. Under Beta Participation, choose compatibility.
4. Close Properties and let Steam finish downloading the branch before launching.

Record your current branch and launch options before comparing. Change one setting at a time so the result is interpretable. This branch is not a promise of higher FPS, and these steps do not apply to console stores.

Stuttering during autosaves

The developer identifies autosave-related hitches and suggests temporarily disabling autosave in gameplay settings.

1. Check whether the hitch coincides with a save, rather than happening continuously.
2. Make a manual save before testing. If you cannot confirm that manual saving works, keep autosave enabled.
3. Temporarily disable autosave and compare ordinary play in the same area. Save manually while it is disabled.
4. If the hitch persists, restore autosave and record when it occurs. If it stops, report that comparison; it does not prove other causes are absent.

Disabling autosave removes automatic protection for new progress. Re-enable it after the test unless you are deliberately continuing with manual saves.

Steam Play does not launch the game

1. Compare your PC with the listed requirements. Check GPU drivers and Windows updates.
2. On a laptop, select the dedicated GPU for the game in Windows graphics settings or your GPU control panel.
3. Check whether security software actually reports blocking the game. Review that specific event; do not disable protection for the whole PC.
4. The developer also asks players to check Microsoft Visual C++ redistributables and DirectX End-User Runtimes. Use Microsoft’s official installers if these components are missing.

If Play still returns without opening the game, include that exact behavior in your report. It is different from a crash after a window appears.

Crash during videos or shader compilation

For crashes after the startup videos, the developer repeats the driver, system-update and dedicated-GPU checks above. Note whether you reach the menu and copy the exact error.

For affected shader-compilation crashes, the post provides -skipshadercompilation as a mitigation to use only when necessary. It is not a general performance setting or a diagnosis of faulty hardware. The post also discusses Intel 13th/14th-generation CPU instability; a startup crash alone does not establish that cause.

See how to test and remove a launch option.

Launch options: try one, then undo if needed

In Steam, right-click the game in your Library and open Properties → General → Launch Options. Record any existing text before changing it.

• -skipshadercompilation: the developer’s targeted mitigation for affected shader-compilation crashes.
• -d3d11: the developer’s last-resort crash workaround. DirectX 11 mode is explicitly unsupported and may give a worse playing experience.

Test only one new option at a time, then launch again and compare the same failure point. If it does not help or creates another problem, remove the option you added and restore your previous text. Do not combine both into a default preset.

Send a report the developer can reproduce

• Demo or full game, version, Windows version, CPU, GPU, VRAM and RAM.
• Where it fails: pressing Play, startup video, shader compilation, loading a save or a specific action.
• The exact error and a screenshot if available.
• The shortest steps to trigger it, and whether it happens every time.
• Settings or launch options tested, and what changed after each one.

Open the official Steam discussions to report the problem ↗. Include the report in your own post; this wiki does not send it for you.