Persistent "Out of Vulkan Memory" error on Windows 11 - 4 years stable on Win 10

[Lilowitch]

What is the issue you’re having?

Description:
I am reaching out because I am experiencing a persistent and game-breaking crash in Red Dead Redemption 2 / RedM. The error message (when starting RedM) is: “Out of Vulkan Memory. Please try decreasing your graphics settings or restarting the game.” I want to emphasize that I played RDR2/RedM for 4 years on Windows 10 and never encountered this error once. The issue only started after switching to Windows 11. I am not alone: many players are reporting this exact same issue online, searching desperately for fixes with no official solution in sight.

Specific Behavior:
If I delete all cache files in the RedM directory, I can sometimes start the game and play for a while. However, once the game crashes, the “Vulkan Memory” error returns immediately upon trying to restart RedM, forcing me to clear the cache all over again.

Conclusion:
Since the error explicitly mentions “Vulkan” even when the game is forced to “DX12”, this appears to be a critical failure in how the engine or RedM interacts with Windows 11 memory management. Given the sheer number of players affected, we need a technical explanation or a compatibility patch. Maybe you have an idea what else I can do. Never had this problem with windows 10 for years. Also don’t habe problems like that with FiveM/GTA. 10 other people from my RDR Roleplay Server (where I play RP) have the same issue.

What have you tried already to fix the issue?

Troubleshooting steps already taken:
API Switch: Manually changed kSettingAPI_DX12 in system.xml. Searching for “vulkan” in the file yields no results, yet the error still references Vulkan.
Virtual Memory (Pagefile): I have tested both “System Managed” settings and manual values (up to 16GB-32GB). Neither fixed the issue.
Clean Reinstall: Performed a full clean installation of RedM.
RedM Settings: Enabled “NUI In-Process GPU scheduling” and tested all update channels (Release, Beta, and Latest/Unstable).
Overlays: All overlays (Discord, Nvidia, Steam) are completely disabled.
Drivers: Performed a clean install of the latest Nvidia drivers using DDU.

What server did you get this issue on?

Red River Roleplay (German Server)

Error screenshot(s)

Crash-Dump.zip (6.29 MB)

Windows version

Windows 11 Build 26200.7840 (Version 25H2)

System specifications

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
GPU: ASUS GeForce RTX 2070 Super ROG Strix (8GB VRAM)
RAM: 32GB DDR4 (Running at 3200 MT/s, Dual-Channel, 2/4 slots used)
Mainboard: ASUS ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING
OS: Windows 11 (Up to date)

Antivirus software

None, only Microsoft

CitizenFX crash zip file (‘Save information’ on a crash)

Crash-Dump.zip (6.29 MB)

Log files

Logs.zip (133 KB)

[system]

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[Ehbw]

Can you please try an experimental branch aimed at resolving this issue.

You can do this by adding the following line to your CitizenFX.ini (usually located at %localappdata%/RedM/Redm.APP/CitizenFX.ini)

UpdateChannel=specific/feature/rdr3-graphic-improvements

(ensure this is the only UpdateChannel entry inside of CitizenFX.ini)

followed by restarting your RedM client

[Lilowitch]

Thank you, I will try this.
I was able to start RedM since yesterday, but my game still crashes all the time.
I added the line to my CitizenFX.ini - we will see. I will reply here, if it didn’t change anything. Thank you!

[Lilowitch]

CfxCrashDump_2026_02_25_13_07_13.zip (1.9 MB)

Okay now it instantly crashes when I try to start RedM. The change made it worse.

[Ehbw]

Remove the line in UpdateChannel, the branch has a minor issue that i’ve fixed just pending another update. Try forcing RedM to use D3D12 in %appdata%/citizenfx/rdr3_settings/ (RedM doesn’t use the original RDR2 settings files.)

Open system(.xml) and change

<API>kSettingAPI_Vulkan</API>

to

<API>kSettingAPI_DX12</API>

and restart RedM

[Lilowitch]

There is no “kSettingAPI_Vulkan” in that .xml file. Check my screenshot. There is already DX12. That was one of the first things I made clear to change.
And I also removed the line in UpdateChannel and pasted your line there. RedM crashed when I tried to start (check Screenshot in my reply before)

[Lilowitch]

I can start RedM, but RedM doesn’t stop crashing sometimes. Not instantly, but after 30 minutes, after 120 minutes…sometimes after 3 hours. Very random. Check CrashDump File. It is very weird.
CfxCrashDump_2026_02_25_13_07_13.zip (1.9 MB)
CfxCrashDump_2026_02_25_14_56_16.zip (2.4 MB)
CfxCrashDump_2026_02_25_16_29_22.zip (2.4 MB)