[PC] Consistent crashes + BSOD caused by ACE Anti-Cheat - Extensive troubleshooting exhausted
TL;DR: Game crashes within seconds of loading. After extensive troubleshooting, discovered ACE Anti-Cheat is causing kernel-level BSOD (0x0000000a IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL). All other games run perfectly.
System Specs
CPU: Intel Core i9-14900KF
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4080 SUPER
RAM: 64GB DDR5 (XMP disabled, running at JEDEC 4800MHz)
Motherboard: ASUS Z790 Gaming WiFi7
OS: Windows 11 Build 26100
Storage: NVMe SSD
The Problem
Game launches fine, shows seizure warning, company logo, cinematic sequence. After skipping cutscene and completing shader pre-processing/compilation, the game either:
Crashes instantly with "Serialization Error - Corrupt data found, please verify your installation"
BSOD with bugcheck 0x0000000a (IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL)
Visual corruption (colored pixel bands/speckles) appears on loading screens before crash. Error in Windows Event Log shows UAGame.exe with exception code c0000005 (memory access violation) in VCRUNTIME140.dll.
Important: NO other games are affected. Monster Hunter Wilds, Fortnite, GTA5, Battlefield 2042 all run flawlessly at max settings 1440p 144fps.
BSOD Analysis
Bugcheck: 0x0000000a (0xffff8b0800088ed8, 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000001, 0xfffff801d035ec2e)
Minidump: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\122225-8843-01.dmp
ACE drivers loaded at time of crash:
ACE-CORE201308.sys fffff80185260000 10/23/2025 ACE-CORE301308.sys fffff80185560000 10/19/2025
ACE-BASE.sys fffff80186d30000 9/16/2025 ace-game-0.sys fffff80186000000 10/9/2025
Windows Event Log shows ACE-CORE201308 loading, throwing warnings about "does not support bypass IO", then system crashes immediately.
Critical Discovery
When I disabled Windows Defender Cloud-Based Protection, I was able to get INTO the game and navigate menus. However, crash still occurred when:
Loading inventory/storage section
Attempting to load into a raid
EVERYTHING I've Tried (All Failed)
Game Installation
Complete uninstall + reinstall (5+ times)
Verified game files through Steam
Tried Steam, Epic Games, AND standalone ABI launcher
Fresh Windows 11 install
Complete nuke script (deleted all game files, ACE files, registry entries, shader caches, AppData)
Installed to different drive
Drivers
DDU clean uninstall of NVIDIA drivers
NVIDIA driver 591.59 (latest)
NVIDIA driver 572.83 (ABI recommended)
Windows/Security
Disabled Windows Defender Real-Time Protection
Disabled Memory Integrity (Core Isolation)
Disabled Hyper-V and Virtual Machine Platform
Added folder exclusions for game directories
Created new Windows user profile and tested
Reinstalled Visual C++ Redistributables (AIO package)
Hardware/BIOS
Disabled XMP (running RAM at JEDEC 4800MHz)
Underclocked CPU from 57x to 55x multiplier
Updated BIOS to 1825 with Intel microcode update
FurMark GPU stress test - passed (70°C core, 82°C hotspot, 0 artifacts)
Windows Memory Diagnostic
Anti-Cheat
Repaired ACE Anti-Cheat
Completely uninstalled ACE (including kernel drivers from System32)
Fresh ACE installation with game reinstall
Uninstalled Valorant/Vanguard (was already uninstalled long ago)
Other
Disabled Steam overlay
Disabled Discord overlay
Cleared all shader caches (NVIDIA DXCache, GLCache, D3DSCache, Steam shader cache)
Launch options: -dx11, -noshadercache, -NOTEXTURESTREAMING
What I Know
ACE Anti-Cheat is the direct cause - BSOD occurs when ACE kernel drivers load
Only ABI is affected - Every other game works perfectly
System is otherwise stable - No BSODs in any other scenario since BIOS microcode update
Nothing changed on my end - Game was working, then suddenly wasn't
Minidump file available (122225-8843-01.dmp) if developers need it for analysis.
Any other solutions I haven't tried?