Mortal Kombat on PC: crashes, dll and frame rate

Identify the game first

The Mortal Kombat games on Steam span more than a decade and were built on different technology, so the same symptom points to a different cause depending on which one you are running. Starting with the right diagnosis saves most of the time.

The last row is not a bug and is not fixed by reinstalling anything. That case is covered on the input lag page, and the PC build’s own requirements are on the PC guide.

It will not launch

For a game that closes immediately or never opens a window, the same three checks resolve the majority of cases, and they are worth running in this order because they cost nothing.

1. Verify the game files in Steam. Open the game’s properties, go to Installed Files and verify integrity. A partial or corrupted download is the most common cause of a title that will not start.
2. Check the antivirus and SmartScreen. Add the game folder as an exception and confirm Windows is not holding the executable. Security software quarantining a game file produces exactly the symptoms of a broken install.
3. Update the graphics driver. A driver older than the game is a frequent cause of a black screen on launch, particularly for the newer titles.

If the game launches and then crashes when you alt-tab, switching from full-screen to windowed or borderless mode is the usual fix. That behaviour appears across several of the games in this series and is not specific to one title.

Missing dll errors

The missing-dll error is most associated with Mortal Kombat X, and it has a specific cause worth understanding before you act on it.

• A dll error usually means a dependency is missing rather than a file being deleted from the game. The common culprits are the Microsoft Visual C++ redistributables and the DirectX runtime.
• The correct fix is to install the official redistributables from Microsoft. Steam will often install them on first launch, but an interrupted first run can leave the step unfinished.
• Verifying the game files in Steam also restores any file inside the game folder itself that has gone missing.

If the error persists after the redistributables and a file verification, run the game once as administrator and check that the installation path does not contain unusual characters, which some older titles handle badly.

Frame rate and size

Two of the most-searched questions about Mortal Kombat 11 are about its frame rate and the size of its install.

For a laptop or a low-end desktop, the settings that reliably help in this series are lowering the resolution before lowering the detail settings, and turning off options that render the game twice. Shader compilation stutter on first launch is also normal for the newer titles and usually settles after a few matches.

Language and files

Players occasionally look for a way to change the language by editing game files. That is usually unnecessary, and it is the kind of change worth avoiding when a supported route exists.

• Steam exposes language selection through the game’s properties, which is the supported way to change it and the one that survives updates.
• Mortal Kombat 1 supports thirteen languages, including Simplified and Traditional Chinese, so the language is normally available without file edits.
• Hand-editing configuration or language files can break file verification and cause an update to fail, which turns a cosmetic problem into a launch problem.

For older titles released before language options were standardised, the same rule applies: check the in-game settings and the storefront first, and treat file edits as a last resort.