King trashes using DX 12 and whenever smoke grenades are present nearby
I’ve been playing PUBG since OG launch, and like every other game lately, it crashes. But this new crash happens in a very specific way, so hopefully the PUBG developers see this.
This is not just a normal game crash. When smoke grenades are already deployed — either mine or my teammates’ — and I get close to the smoke, then throw another smoke grenade near it or past it, my game crashes. The sound stays on, including the smoke grenade audio, but my screen goes completely black. My video card stops detecting the monitor, and Win + Ctrl + Shift + B does not reset the display.
The only way to recover is to fully power off or restart the computer, reopen PUBG, and wait for DX12 to load again, which takes a long time. By the time I reconnect, I’m usually already knocked from the circle or killed by enemies.
Troubleshooting already done:
Verified game files through Steam
Updated GPU drivers and tested clean driver installs
Monitored Reliability Monitor and Windows Problem Details with no useful PUBG-specific crash logs
Tested different graphics settings while staying on DX12
Confirmed the issue repeatedly happens specifically around overlapping smoke grenade effects
Noticed audio continues playing after the crash, suggesting the game/system may still be running while display output fails
Attempted Win + Ctrl + Shift + B with no recovery
Observed one instance where internet disconnected during the crash, though the smoke grenade trigger pattern remains consistent
This has happened at least 8 or 9 times in the past week. It feels less like random instability and more like a reproducible DX12/rendering/display crash tied to smoke effects.
I’m using high-end hardware, so switching back to DX11 is not the fix I’m looking for. I’m hoping PUBG can investigate the smoke grenade rendering behavior in DX12 and push a workaround or fix in the next update, because right now I’m worried about using smoke grenades at all.
Update: I also got another crash last night, and this is what I noticed that hadn't happen before. While the smoke grenade sound animation was active, I actually heard my team mate talking just as I shut the pc down. Usually, only the smoke grenade sound is all that I can hear.