Why does a DirectX error about feature level 10.0 crash my game on load?

[Ronald_S]

I just started getting a persistent DirectX error that crashes my game to desktop every time I try to load a specific save. The error message mentions something about a feature level 10.0 device being required, but my graphics card should support way more than that.

[Aubrey.S]

That exact error popped up for me, like a DirectX thing about a feature level 10.0 device. My card can do more than that, DXDiag showed the GPU and drivers looked fine, and the crash only happened with that one save. I backed up that file and tried other saves, but the problem stuck to that particular save even after relaunches.

[PenelopeR]

Could be save data corruption. I had a save that loaded into the menu and then crashed on load, and it turned out that file had some corrupted asset data. I created a fresh save folder, started from a clean slate, and the game stopped crashing on startup—though of course I couldn't replay that exact run.

[Mia.T]

I went through a driver clean install route and reinstalled the GPU drivers with a clean tool, turned off overlays, and tried a couple of other saves. The crash still showed up on that one save, which made me suspect the save data more than the hardware.

[LarryEM]

Are you using mods or patches with that save? I wonder if something in a mod could trip on that file when it loads. I even started tidying the desk while waiting for the load, and then came back to recheck the file paths and integrity.