Empire of the Ants - Most Common Issues


Hi everyone! Here’s a quick update on some of the common questions and issues we’ve addressed. Thanks for all your feedback and support!


For any issues that is not in the list below, we will need some information to investigate it.

Contact us on Discord 


In nearly all cases we will need :
  • Your full DxDiag (we an't help without a full DxDiag)
    To find your DxDiag:
    * Press the Windows Key
    * Type “DxDiag”
    * Go to the bottom right of the window and click on “Save all Information”
    * Save the file as a .txt file in an easy to find location (on your Desktop if it’s not too crowded)
    * Send us that file
  • For you to ensure that your drivers are up to date
For Graphical issues:
  • Give a screenshot of  your in game graphics settings
  • Let us know if you've tried other settings and if which ones exactly
For crashes:
  • Check if your antivirus is blocking the game (if so whitelist it)
  • Tell us if you have played the game before or not
  • Have you closed the game using Alt+F4 or the task manager?
  • Send us your latest dump file (crash logs)

These can be found in %AppData% => AppData > Local > Empire > Saved > Crashes

To find your dump file:
  1. Press the Windows key on your keyboard (between the left Ctrl and the left Alt keys)
  2. Type: %AppData%
  3. You’ll land in the AppData > Roaming folder
  4. Go back to the AppData folder
  5. Then go to the Local folder (not the LocalLow one)
  6. Then go to the Empire folder
  7. Then go to the Saved folder
  8. Then go to the Crashes folder
  9. Select the oldest file and send it to us


For any multiplayer issue:
  • What platform are you playing on?
  • What's your in-game name
  • Could you provide a screenshot/photo of the error message (please include the whole game screen)
  • At what stage did this error message appear? ("Matchmaking in progress", "Authenticating", "looking for other players", "Waiting for server", "Starting game", "Matchmaking failed" ?)
  • Are you using a VPN?
  • Check if your antivirus is blocking the game (if so whitelist it)
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Where can I find my deluxe digital items ?
  • Go to your Steam library,
  • Right-click the game,
  • Choose "properties" and click on "Installed files"
  • Click on the "Browse" button
  • This will open the location of your game's content
  • Open the folder "deluxe content"


Missing / transparent ground




On some AMD video cards, the ground can be "missing".

To fix that you should turn off "Landscape tesselation" in the "Graphics" options.



LowFatalError (...) Shader compilation failure at Fatal


You need to have access to Direct x12 the game is not supported under Direct x11

  • First update the drivers of your GPU
  • Ensure the antivirus is not blocking the game
  • If you have an Intel Core 12th or 13th Gen chip upgrade your Bios (source: bios update[community.intel.com]


If none of these help, please do the following:

  • Go to your steam library
  • Right click on your game
  • Click on properties
  • Go to the general Category then in the "Launch options[cdn.discordapp.com]type "-dx12"
  • Launch the game
  • If this fails, type in "-dx11" instead of "-dx12"
  • Launch the game (be warned graphics might be degraded in dx11)
    Let us know if dx12 did not work but dx11 did work for us to further investigate this issue



Error microsoft Visual C++ runtime


This problem occurs when installing the game. Normally Steam makes you download these files automatically. For some strange reason, this does not seem to be the case.


You can either:

The first method is a little more technical but if done well will be faster and certain to fix your problem. The second is simpler but slower and less certain.



Graphic issue - graphics stretching




It occurs because the Nvidia Frame generation doesn’t work properly.

To Fix it : 

Turn off frame generation in the video options.
You can keep DLSS on but if it doesn’t fix the problem, turn it off by switching to TSR.


Error message on game start :


"E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Empire of the Ants\Binaries\Win64\Empire-Win64-Shipping.exe" EmpireCreateProcess() returned 2.Error message on game start: "E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Empire of the Ants\Binaries\Win64\Empire-Win64-Shipping.exe" EmpireCreateProcess() returned 2.


This error code usually pops up if you have your executable in a different location from your game files.


Could you please try the following in order and stop once the game works again :


1) Check if your antivirus is not blocking the game (put it as an authorized program within your antivrius)


2) Repairing the game installation files:

  • Go to your Steam library
  • Right-click on the game,
  • Go to Properties
  • And then in Installed files
  • Click on "Verify integrity of game files
  • Launch the game to check if this fixed your issue

3) Uninstall and reinstall the game


Delete your game icon on the desktop before reinstalling the game


Fatal Error !

To fix this issue here are the solutions that have worked in all cases up until now :

1- Checking your antivirus and firewall to ensure the game is not blacklisted by either
2- Delete your Metrics file:
Press the Windows key on your keyboard (between the left Ctrl and the left Alt keys)
Type: %AppData%
You’ll land in the AppData > Roaming folder
Go back to the AppData folder
Then go to the Local folder (not the LocalLow one)
Then go to the Empire folder
Then go to the Saved folder
Then go to the SaveGames
Delete the Metrics files metrics.sav et Tempmetrics.save


The game is displayed in letterbox format (black borders surrounding the game)

We are aware of an issue where the game plays in letterbox format (ie. it's surrounded by black borders) with certain configurations when playing in exclusive fullscreen mode in your native (highest) resolution.

If this is your case, while we are working on a fix, you can either play:
* in a lower resolution
* or play in windowed fullscreen mode (windowed mode native resolution works as well)


PC Features and Support
  • DLSS 3: Available right from launch! Enjoy smoother gameplay if your setup supports it.
  • FSR 3: We’re considering adding this after launch, so stay tuned.
  • Ray Tracing & HDR: These are not supported for this game.
  • Wide screen  Ultra-wide support is planned for a patch in November.
How to Reach Us

Have feedback? Drop a note in Discord feedback channel or reach out to our support team at suppot@microids.com for help!