5 Ways To Fix FFFF Error In Red Dead Online

The five ways you can potentially resolve the error 'FFFF' in Red Dead Online

Red Dead Online is the multiplayer counterpart of the critically acclaimed Red Dead Redemption 2. It is developed and published by Rockstar Games known for their current record-breaking, Grand Theft Auto 5. Red Dead Online functions similarly to GTA Online. There is a wide variety of missions and sandbox Open World Activities that you can tackle with your friends and other players. However, there are some minor inconveniences such as the error code ‘ffff’ in Red Dead Online which completely negates you from entering the game.

However, there is no need to worry too much as we have prepared together a list of potential solutions that you can implement to fix the error as quickly as possible. Some of these are workarounds discovered all thanks to the dedicated community of Red Dead Redemption Online.

Key Highlights
  • You will most likely encounter the error FFFF in the middle of your game or when you try to launch it.
  • This error crashes Red Dead Online when it appears. There are several things that can cause this error, like outdated graphic drivers, corrupted game files, or shader not compiling properly.
  • You should first try to restart your PC. Additionally, you can try to power cycle your PC as well.
  • If you have outdated graphic drivers, you should download the latest update for them.
  • Try to verify the integrity of your game files using Steam. You can also try enabling the Vulkan API.
  • Ultimately, in case you have any unnecessary audio devices, you should go ahead and disable them.

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What Is The Error FFFF In Red Dead Online

red dead online error ffff
The error ffff prompt in Red Dead Online

When it comes down to unsolvable errors, they usually stem from the game’s side. It is an issue that most users will not know about and will instead assume they are at fault for their hardware. These days especially, many recent hit games like Multiversus and Valorant have errors that players deal with almost on a daily basis.

The error FFFF in RDO corresponds whenever you try to launch the game or are amidst a session. It is a random and unknown error that crashes the game and doesn’t follow up with any sort of indication as to why it occurred.

Even after all these years of the game, Rockstar is unable to properly address the reasons behind the issue and what might be causing it. Not to mention the customer support is highly lacking as there is zero communication from the support agents on viable fixes for this annoying problem.

Thankfully, the fanbase of the game across the many Discord and Reddit servers have managed to find some logical explanations behind the error FFFF in Red Dead Online. They are presumed to be malfunctions arising from your outdated graphics card drivers, shader not compiling properly to the game’s files being corrupted.

However, these are not any severe setbacks from which you won’t be able to recover as they are pretty much harmless. Any hardcore gamer might know how to exactly fix the issue but for users who remain out of the loop, we are here to help you out as we are going to entail five different fixes to get rid of the ‘ffff’ error in RDO.

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How To Fix The Error FFFF In RDO

Most of the solutions that we are going to discuss are pretty self-explanatory to a certain extent. Preferably, most players should follow each of the mentioned fixes in step-by-step order to hopefully resolve the error ffff issue.

Most importantly, it is worth keeping in mind that these are not guaranteed to work, At the end of the day, these kinds of problems are entirely the game’s fault. So do not feel disappointed if all hope is lost.

We can only hope using these solutions will help you ease the headache of the error in RDO because while these methods have worked miraculously for some, For others, however, it hasn’t had the same effect as you’d expect.

Restarting The Game & PC

It goes without saying that the first possible solution every player should try is to restart their system. It is quite easily one of the oldest tricks in the book to quickly fix any stuck or frozen games. Often at times, heavily loaded video games like Red Dead Online will naturally perform irrationally and cause issues like the FFFF error.

It honestly should be your first and foremost priority to reboot your PC from the Windows taskbar. Once it does, you should check if every hardware component is detected accordingly in the Control Panel of Windows 10. This is because games like RDO may sometimes produce game-breaking problems because of an undetected device.

Furthermore, players can choose to “Power cycle” their entire PC too. It is a straightforward process that involves completely shutting off your console and removing the power cable from the main output. Give it a few minutes or so, and then boot up the system from scratch, it will ensure the operating system has a fresh startup sequence.

It is almost an essential process for games like RDO because they tend to have many problems since they are entirely multiplayer-based in design. This means that these games are known to carry various bugs and glitches.

Updating GPU Drivers

GPU drivers error ffff
How to check and update GPU drivers in Nvidia and AMD

The Drivers in your Graphics Card play a vital role in maintaining its ecosystem. The various driver updates that companies release every now and then provide proper stability settings and the required performance-tuning peripherals for each modern video game.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is quite a texture-heavy game to run on most systems. It was technical excellence from Rockstar at the time of its release a few years ago. Combined with the fact that the multiplayer mode, RDO, is susceptible to bizarre issues and unsolvable errors, makes it compulsory to run it on up-to-date drivers.

Most Graphic Card companies like Nvidia and AMD periodically provide new firmware releases for the drivers. Users can easily access them and install them with relative ease through the main overlays of each GPU. You can easily scan for new driver updates by “Checking for Updates” on the driver menu which should be simple enough to locate for most users.

Verify Files Integrity On Steam

Rarely if given a chance, the core files of the video game you are trying to play will go missing or become corrupted. It will mess up the stability and proper functioning of the game. It is especially crucial that you restore these files, especially for powerhouse games such as Red Dead Online.

These improper misbehaviors from the game will result in various codes popping up without you even knowing that the game files are at fault. Thankfully, Red Dead Online exists on the Steam launcher, It has an excellent and helpful feature that allows users to verify and scan games for any missing files. You can do it in the following step-by-step procedure:

steam red dead online error ffff
Red Redemption 2 Steam
  • Locate the Red Dead Redemption 2 in your Library section on Steam.
  • Right-click on it to open a small pop-up menu with various options.
  • Click on the last option to open up the Properties section of the game.
Local Files Steam
The Local files menu on Steam
  • Here navigate to the “Local Files” tab.
  • You should be able to spot the function called “Verify Integrity of Game Files”.
  • Select it, it will run a status check on the game files; the time to complete will depend on the game size.
  • Nonetheless, when the verification progress is complete, Steam will notify you of any missing files and download them back.
  • Hop back into the game and confirm if the error code FFFF in Red Dead Online is resolved or not.

Enabling Vulkan API

There is n doubt that when Red Dead Redemption 2 first launched on PC, the port was performing significantly much better on AMD cards as compared to the Nvidia graphic cards. It is because the game supports Vulkan. It is essentially like DX11/12, a shader rendering API that compiles the assets and textures of games.

It is said that Vulkan is the preferred API for AMD graphics cards while DX is primarily used for Nvidia. Hence why it brings us to say that we highly recommend turning it on in Steam so it can run for the games that support it. In the case of Red Dead Online, it counts as a potential fix that might resolve the ‘FFFF’ error code. You can enable the Vulkan API with relative ease in the main settings of the launcher right after launching it:

steam shader cache
How to enable Vulkan API
  • Simply launch Steam as normal.
  • In the top-left corner, click on Settings
  • You should now see a variety of options to pick from
  • Click on the last one called the “Shader Pre-Caching” option.
  • If you haven’t, check the box to “Allow Background processing of Vulkan Shaders”

Disabling Additional Audio Devices

Lastly, you can also try eliminating any other interferences to your gameplay in RDO such as disabling extra audio devices in your operating system. It has been said that this may be a weird workaround that has managed to help a few players succeed in playing the game smoothly.

Heavy multiplayer games are known to have some issues when it comes to working under background overlays or any Third-Party Applications such as Anti-Viruses too, so it is fairly understandable that the device components of the PC can be causing problems. You can easily disable these audio devices by following the short & easy steps:

Windows 10 Device manager
Device Manager
  • First of all, press the Windows Key+X
  • This will open up the Device manager menu on your Desktop
  • Here, navigate towards the Sound, Video, and Game Controllers option.
Windows 10 Audio devices
Audio Devices
  • Now simply Right-Click on the audio device that you want to stop and disable.
  • Head back into the game and verify if the error is still persisting or not.

Takeaways

Red Dead Online had the extreme potential to be the next best Open World Multiplayer game. It is disappointing to know that as of now, Rockstar has seemingly abandoned support for the game for the immediate future. Despite the huge adoration and support from its fans, there are no plans for more major content for the game.

It had left fans disgraced since the game was already on its last legs with barely anything new or innovative. There are a few hiccups to the game including the error codes and glitches. But hopefully, with the fixes, we have listed, you can go back to safely trailing around the Wild West of the game in peace,

If all else may fail, we highly suggest checking out the Official Support Forums as the community of the game is pretty active there to help players out in any way possible. Let us know if the issue resolves on your end!

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Haider Khan


PC gaming geek with three years of content writing experience - covering Video Game Settings, and errors across all devices.

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