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Glen2594915806ec
Participant
May 5, 2026

Substance Painter v12.0.2 Unable to load - Windows 11

  • May 5, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 16 views

System Info:

  • OS: Windows 11 25H2 (Build 26200.8246) 
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER
  • GPU Driver: Studio driver (clean install via DDU)
  • CPU: Has integrated AMD Radeon graphics (disabled in BIOS)
  • Norton Antivirus: Fully uninstalled

Error from Windows Event Viewer (consistent across every launch attempt):

  • Faulting application: Adobe Substance 3D Painter.exe version 12.0.2.0
  • Faulting module: ucrtbase.dll version 10.0.26100.8246
  • Exception code: 0xc0000409
  • Fault offset: 0x00000000000a4aee
  • No log file is generated in AppData — application crashes before any log is written

Everything tried:

  1. Installed VC_redist.x64 and ran Repair
  2. Updated GPU drivers multiple times including December 2025 Studio driver
  3. Clean GPU driver install using DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) in normal mode
  4. Disabled integrated AMD GPU in BIOS, running on NVIDIA only
  5. Forced NVIDIA GPU for Substance Painter via Windows Graphics Settings
  6. Ran SFC /scannow — no issues found
  7. Ran DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth — no issues found
  8. Ran chkdsk via Windows Recovery Environment — no errors found, 0 bad sectors
  9. Full Adobe clean uninstall using official Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool with "Remove All" option
  10. Manually deleted all Adobe AppData folders (Local and Roaming) across all user profiles before reinstalling
  11. Reinstalled Substance Painter fresh via Adobe Creative Cloud
  12. Added Substance Painter folder to Norton exclusions
  13. Disabled Norton real-time protection completely
  14. Fully uninstalled Norton using Norton Remove and Reinstall tool — crash persists with no antivirus installed
  15. Tried launching with --disable-gpu flag — no difference
  16. Tried launching from admin PowerShell directly — no difference
  17. Attempted to run via local user account and administrator account — same result on both
  18. Checked Windows Task Manager — process appears briefly then vanishes instantly
  19. No files found in Norton quarantine related to Adobe or Substance Painter
  20. Uninstalled recent Windows preview update KB5083631 — Substance Painter issue persisted

Additional notes:

  • Substance Painter has never successfully launched on this Windows installation
  • Fault offset is identical across every single crash — always 0x00000000000a4aee
  • ucrtbase.dll version 10.0.26100.8246 is specific to Windows 11 25H2 preview build
  • Other Adobe apps installed and working correctly
  • Issue began on fresh Windows install with Windows 11 25H2.

    1 reply

    G
    Glen2594915806ecAuthor
    Participant
    May 5, 2026

    After further extensive testing, the issue is confirmed to be environmental rather than version-specific:

    • Tested on Substance Painter 11.1.0, 11.1.3, and 12.0.2 — all crash with identical fault offset 0x00000000000a4aee
    • Fault offset is identical across every version tested, strongly suggesting a deterministic incompatibility in the Windows environment rather than a Substance Painter bug
    • Norton fully uninstalled — crash persists
    • Clean boot performed with all startup items and non-Microsoft services disabled — crash persists
    • Memory Integrity (Core Isolation) disabled — crash persists
    • GPU drivers clean installed via DDU — crash persists
    • Both x64 and x86 Visual C++ Redistributables installed — crash persists
    • No log file generated in AppData for any version — application crashes before log initialisation
    • Error type identified as BEX64 (Buffer Overflow Exception) in Windows Error Reporting
    • Fresh Windows installation being attempted as final resolution

    Conclusion: Something in the Windows 11 25H2 environment is consistently triggering ucrtbase.dll's stack protection at the exact same code path across all Substance Painter versions. A clean Windows reinstall is being performed to resolve.

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