The unreal engine out of video memory error can appear when launching a UE5 game, opening a demanding project, loading a large level, or switching to graphics-heavy editor modes. Despite the message, the problem is not always caused by completely exhausted VRAM. Unreal Engine notes that GPU crashes can also result from driver issues, hardware problems, GPU timeouts, or rendering resources that fail to allocate correctly.
If you’re facing an out of memory error gaming PC users commonly encounter with demanding UE5 titles, try the following fixes in order.
Check Your GPU Memory Usage
Start by checking whether your graphics card is actually running out of available video memory.
Open Windows Task Manager > Performance > GPU and monitor dedicated GPU memory while launching the game or Unreal Engine project. Epic recommends checking GPU memory consumption when investigating an out-of-memory crash. If usage approaches your available VRAM, the GPU may not have enough memory for the workload.
Close browsers, recording software, overlays, other games, and GPU-intensive applications before launching the affected game or project.
Lower Texture and Graphics Settings
High-resolution textures, large meshes, high screen resolutions, and other rendering features can significantly increase GPU memory requirements.
For games, reduce Texture Quality, Shadow Quality, Effects Quality, and Resolution first. If the game offers a VRAM or texture-memory setting, keep it within your GPU’s available capacity.
For Unreal Engine projects, Epic recommends using lower-resolution textures and meshes, reducing the number of visible objects through culling, lowering viewport resolution, and closing unnecessary editor viewports.
Update Your GPU Drivers
Outdated or problematic graphics drivers can contribute to Unreal Engine GPU crashes. Epic recommends using the latest stable driver available directly from the GPU manufacturer rather than relying solely on Windows Update.
Download the latest compatible driver for your NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel GPU and restart the PC after installation.
Close GPU-Heavy Background Applications
A game or editor does not have exclusive access to your graphics memory. Other applications can consume VRAM while Unreal Engine is running.
Close applications such as browsers with many tabs, video editors, screen recorders, GPU monitoring tools, and other 3D applications. This is especially important on GPUs with limited VRAM.
Try Windows Graphics Settings
Windows allows users with multiple GPUs to select which graphics processor an application should use.
Go to Settings > System > Display > Graphics, select the affected game or application, choose Options, and select High performance when appropriate. Microsoft also provides per-app controls for Windows’ windowed-game optimizations and Auto HDR.
Check Whether the Problem Is a UE5 or DX12 Issue
If the crash started after upgrading Unreal Engine or moving a project to a newer version, the engine version itself may be relevant. Recent Epic developer reports document “Out of video memory” crashes in UE 5.8 under specific D3D12 configurations, including cases where free VRAM and system RAM were still available.
Similarly, recent reports describe large UE5.8 projects crashing while loading high-resolution landscapes even after graphics settings were lowered.
If the problem appeared immediately after an engine upgrade, test the project on the previous working engine version or check current Epic issue reports before making major system changes.
Clear Unreal Engine Cache Files
For project-specific crashes, stale generated data can sometimes complicate troubleshooting after an engine migration. Back up the project first, then consider clearing the project’s Saved, Intermediate, and DerivedDataCache folders and allowing Unreal Engine to regenerate them. This has also been suggested in recent Epic developer-community troubleshooting discussions for UE5.8 migration-related crashes.
Avoid Registry Tweaks as Your First Fix
Unreal Engine documents increasing Windows GPU timeout values using TdrDelay and TdrDdiDelay, but these changes are intended for GPU timeout situations rather than straightforward VRAM exhaustion. Epic also warns that registry modifications can have unexpected consequences.
Therefore, update drivers, reduce GPU memory usage, close background applications, and identify whether the crash is genuinely VRAM-related before modifying the Windows registry.
Conclusion
An unreal engine out of video memory crash does not automatically mean that your graphics card is defective or that you need a new GPU. Start by monitoring VRAM usage, lowering demanding graphics settings, updating drivers, closing background applications, and checking whether the issue is specific to a particular Unreal Engine version or rendering API. For persistent crashes, Unreal Engine logs can provide useful information about the underlying GPU failure.
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