protonscr

PaxDeiClient-Win64-Shipping.exe: Vulkan device creation fails (VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED) on RTX 5090 / Blackwell after game update

vkd3dclosed
HansKristian-Work/vkd3d-proton#2823 · opened 2026-02-13 by KayCe75 · updated 2026-03-21 · 4 comments · github
KKayCe75 2026-02-13 github

Description:

After a Pax Dei game update (build 5133.167573 / release_43, 2026-02-11), the game fails to start with D3D12CreateDevice failed with code 0x80004005. The game previously worked fine with the
same driver and VKD3D version.

System:

  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 (DeviceId: 2b85)
  • Driver: 590.48.01
  • Vulkan API: 1.4.325
  • VKD3D-proton: 3.0.0 (build a7e2609b3a25afd, via GE-Proton10-30)
  • OS: NixOS (Linux 6.18.8)

VKD3D log (relevant section):
info: vkd3d_instance_apply_application_workarounds: Program name: "PaxDeiClient-Win64-Shipping.exe" (hash: 2564b05c0b9e8fbf)
info: vkd3d_instance_apply_application_workarounds: Detected game PaxDeiClient-Win64-Shipping.exe, adding config 0x6000000000000, removing masks 0x0.
warn: vkd3d_supports_minimum_coopmat_caps: Missing sufficient features to expose WMMA.
warn: vkd3d_remove_extension: Removing VK_NVX_binary_import extension from the array.
warn: vkd3d_remove_extension: Removing VK_NVX_image_view_handle extension from the array.
warn: vkd3d_create_vk_device: Disabled extensions that can cause Vulkan device creation to fail, retrying.
err: vkd3d_create_vk_device: Failed to create Vulkan device, vr -3.
fixme: hresult_from_vk_result: Unhandled VkResult -3.

Notes:

  • The executable was renamed in this update from PaxDei-Win64-Shipping.exe to PaxDeiClient-Win64-Shipping.exe
  • VKD3D recognizes the new name and applies config 0x6000000000000 — this config combined with Blackwell architecture causes VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
  • Before the update (same driver, same VKD3D), DX12 worked correctly and the adapter was found with Feature Level 12_2 / SM6.7
BBlisto91 2026-02-13 github

Does VKD3D_DISABLE_EXTENSIONS=VK_NV_optical_flow VKD3D_CONFIG=nodxr work around it?

Ddoitsujin maintainer 2026-02-13 github

Seems like a common issue with games that recently updated their DLSS, unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anything we can actually do about that from our end since the failure happens as soon as CUDA libraries are loaded by the driver.

KKayCe75 2026-02-13 github

Does VKD3D_DISABLE_EXTENSIONS=VK_NV_optical_flow VKD3D_CONFIG=nodxr work around it?

YES it WORKS :D THNX

Eesullivan-nvidia 2026-02-23 github

I have attempted to reproduce this with a couple of different configs but have not had any luck. @KayCe75 are you still able to reproduce this issue with the current build of the game? If you can it may help to reproduce the issue and then run the nvidia-bug-report.sh script. Once you have done that you can upload the resulting report to this issue.

Proton versions

Launch options

Error codes