Elden Ring Crash on Character Customization

Currently having a problem with Elden Ring (appid 1245620). Crashes every time I get to the character creation screen, right after I pick a race. The game starts up fine and I can be in the main menu, no issues there.
Here's a dumb video:

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/62080f8d-6f61-4ac6-bc1b-a7ee3286dfb0

Setup is arch with an nvidia gtx 970 (version 570.144 driver).

I looked at the game log. It shows a bunch of errors about "Invalid format" from vkd3d-proton just before the crash. The log also says there's a crash in the game itself, like a memory error, that seems to be related to something called Scaleform when it's loading stuff.

I also tried turning on Vulkan validation layers to see if that would show more. But when I use the launch options for that, the game won't even start at all (dunno if it's relevant).

Software information

• Game: Elden Ring
• Settings: Tried a variety of settings within the game start menu, don't seem to make a diff, the settings present during the logging are shown in the recording attached.
• Possibly irrelevant launch options I tried: PROTON_LOG=1 WINEDEBUG=+seh,+unwind,+stacktrace %command%

System information

• GPU: nvidia GeForce gtx 970
• Driver: nvidia 570.144 (Proprietary Driver)
• Proton version: 1743507318 GE-Proton9-27
• Wine version: wine-staging 9.0 (got this from logs below)
• VKD3D-Proton version: 2.14.1
• OS: arch
• Kernel: 6.14.5-arch1-1
• Desktop/WM: Hyperland (Wayland). Also tried i3 (X11) and gnome (Wayland/Xorg), same crash.
• Steam Version: 1745876290
• Vulkan Version: 1.4.303

[procoperr@arch ~]$ inxi -Fxzc0
System:
  Kernel: 6.14.5-arch1-1 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.1.1
  Desktop: Hyprland v: 0.48.1 Distro: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: H170M-PLUS v: Rev X.0x
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 0407
    date: 09/07/2015
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-6700K bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Skylake-S rev: 3 cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB L3: 8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1200 min/max: 800/4200 cores: 1: 1200 2: 1200 3: 1200
    4: 1200 5: 1200 6: 1200 7: 1200 8: 1200 bogomips: 63999
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GM204 [GeForce GTX 970] vendor: Gigabyte driver: nvidia
    v: 570.144 arch: Maxwell bus-ID: 01:00.0
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6
    compositor: Hyprland v: 0.48.1 driver: X: loaded: nvidia
    unloaded: modesetting gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch
    resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.313 drivers: nvidia surfaces: N/A devices: 1
  API: EGL Message: EGL data requires eglinfo. Check --recommends.
  Info: Tools: api: vulkaninfo gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi
    wl: nwg-displays x11: xprop,xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 100 Series/C230 Series Family HD Audio
    vendor: ASUSTeK H110I-PLUS driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
  Device-2: NVIDIA GM204 High Definition Audio vendor: Gigabyte
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.1
  Device-3: HP HyperX Cloud III driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
    type: USB bus-ID: 1-6:2
  API: ALSA v: k6.14.5-arch1-1 status: kernel-api
  Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.4.2 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: ASUSTeK driver: e1000e v: kernel
    port: N/A bus-ID: 00:1f.6
  IF: enp0s31f6 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: TP-Link 802.11ac NIC driver: rtw_8822bu type: USB bus-ID: 2-7:3
  IF: wlp0s20f0u7 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: br-f34d12af544f state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-2: docker0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 232.89 GiB used: 187.09 GiB (80.3%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Crucial model: CT250MX500SSD1 size: 232.89 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 227.17 GiB used: 186.72 GiB (82.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0
    mapped: root
  ID-2: /boot size: 1022 MiB used: 373.3 MiB (36.5%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 4 GiB used: 1.83 GiB (45.7%) dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 36.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Memory: total: 16 GiB available: 15.51 GiB used: 6.86 GiB (44.3%)
  Processes: 314 Uptime: 6h 27m Init: systemd
  Packages: 1156 Compilers: clang: 19.1.7 gcc: 15.1.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.2.37
    inxi: 3.3.38
[procoperr@arch ~]$ pacman -Q | grep nvidia
lib32-nvidia-utils 570.144-1
nvidia 570.144-4
nvidia-settings 570.144-1
nvidia-utils 570.144-3
[procoperr@arch ~]$ pacman -Q | grep vulkan
lib32-vulkan-icd-loader 1.4.313.0-1
lib32-vulkan-validation-layers 1.4.313.0-1
vulkan-headers 1:1.4.313.0-1
vulkan-icd-loader 1.4.313.0-1
vulkan-tools 1.4.313.0-1
vulkan-validation-layers 1.4.313.0-1

Log files

steam-1245620.log

What I've already tried:

• Tried a variety of different Proton versions, current is GE (no diff eitherway, same shit).

• Cleared game shader cache, nuh'in.

• Increased file limit on my system. Here's what it's at:

  [procoperr@arch ~]$ ulimit -Hn
  1048576
  

• Tried the different desktop setups mentioned above.

• Tried turning on Vulkan validation, but the game wouldn't start.

• Verified game files in Steam, cause why not? btw EAC not da problem in any case, no diff.

pls don't tell me it's a hardware compatibility issue