Recurring Hard Crashes (EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION) During Live Matches

Steps to Reproduce

1. Get into any type of game of dbd through Epic Games or Microsoft Store
2. Play anyway you want
3. Game freezes for a second randomly(could be 1st match in could be 50th its not predictable)
4. Instead of continuing to play after the split second freeze you crash and get a crash log(or not)
5. Try anything to fix it, but nothing works.
6. Buy it on steam and live happily ever after

Explanation

I'm experiencing a recurring, hard crash (EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION) that occurs exclusively during live matches. It has happened at least 20 times over several weeks, across two different residences with two different ISPs, after a full game reinstall, after multiple driver updates, and after a full reconfiguration of my laptop's power delivery settings. None of these changes affected the crash. Two of the most recent occurrences share identical deep stack frames despite happening on different days, suggesting one consistent underlying code path rather than several unrelated issues. These crashes are being logged as disconnects and are triggering matchmaking penalties/bans, despite being entirely unrelated to my connection or anything I've done.

System / Environment
Platform: PC, Epic Games Store (EGS build)
Laptop: Lenovo Legion LOQ
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 5050 (laptop)
GPU drivers: fully updated at time of testing (updated more than once during troubleshooting)
Chapter/patch context: first noticed around the 10.1.0 "Chorus of Sin" release (Aug 25, 2026), continued through 10.1.1 and at least one further hotfix (~Sept 9–10, 2026)

Only happens mid-match, during real-time gameplay never at loading screens, lobby, or menus
Every occurrence is preceded by a brief, consistent freeze/stutter immediately before the crash
Happens specifically during movement (chases, running between objectives, grabbing/using items, even just camera movement)
Not tied to a specific survivor, it occurs across multiple characters
Not tied to any specific perk, add-on, or offering, reproduced with a fully stripped/empty loadout
Not tied to a specific killer, though first noticed against The Judgment (Chorus of Sin killer)
Occurred at two different physical residences on two different ISPs (ruling out my connection as the cause)
Occurred before and after a complete uninstall/reinstall of the game
Occurred before and after a full laptop power-delivery reconfiguration (static power limits, Dynamic Boost disabled, fan curve set to full speed)

This exact pattern is consistent with other currently open reports on this tracker. Specifically if you use Epic Games or Microsoft Store versions of the game.

Troubleshooting Already Performed (all ruled out)

Installation / files

Verified game files (both Steam-style and Epic-specific verify)
Fully uninstalled and reinstalled the game, including deleting the local Saved/Config folder
Reset GameUserSettings.ini to a fresh default

Anti-cheat / platform

Reinstalled EasyAntiCheat from the Epic install path
Resolved Windows Security blocking CrashReportClient.exe (this had suppressed detailed crash reports on at least one occurrence; unrelated to the underlying crash cause itself)

Graphics / drivers

Updated GPU drivers multiple times over the course of troubleshooting (all drivers, not just GPU)
Forced DX11 via launch options
Disabled all overlays (Nvidia/GeForce Experience, Discord, Epic)
Set every graphics setting to minimum, including resolution and resolution scale; crash persisted identically even at unplayably low settings, ruling out rendering load
Confirmed G-Sync already disabled
Checked GPU driver TDR timeout (TdrDelay) was already set to 10 seconds, ruling out an aggressive timeout given the observed freeze is only a fraction of a second

Content / loadout

Reproduced with no perks, no add-ons, no offering equipped
Reproduced across multiple survivors
Reproduced against multiple killers

Network

Reproduced at two different residences on two different ISPs, including one with confirmed good connection quality (ruling out packet loss/jitter, despite a separate, unrelated poor-connection issue at the first residence)

Hardware / system

Ran Windows Memory Diagnostic to no fault reported
Fully reconfigured laptop power delivery: disabled Lenovo AI Engine+ automatic scenario-detection tuning, set GPU↔CPU Dynamic Boost to 0W in both directions, capped GPU cTGP to 65W (down from 85W), set fan curve to full/static speed; crash persisted identically under this fully static configuration

TLDR; If you are using Epic Games or Microsoft Store to play DBD and are experiencing a crash that looks similar to
'Unhandled Exception: EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0xffffffffffffffff'
There seems to be nothing we as players can do to fix this.

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