All Technological Updates and Support: September 2016

Forza Horizon 3 is an open world racing video game developed byPlayground Games and published by Microsoft Studios for Xbox One and Microsoft Windows. The game features cross-platform play between the two platforms. The game was announced to be released on 27 September 2016, although players who have a copy of the "Ultimate Edition" were able to start playing on 23 September. It is the third Forza Horizon and ninth installment in the Forza series. Like many other modern day PC game releases, this game is also suffering from few glitches and bugs at launch. While some issues may specifically require an official patch, here are few workarounds for some common issues that may help you to get started with the game. Before moving on, have a good look at the PC requirements below. They are a bit on the higher side requiring a minimum of 8 GB of RAM.

Minimum Specifications:

CPU: i5 3570 @ 3.4 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB, AMD R7 250X 2GB
VRAM: 2GB
RAM: 8GB
Hard Drive Type: HDD
Available Space: 60GB
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Windows Version: Windows Anniversary Edition 64-bit 14393.101

Recommended Specifications:

CPU: i7 3820 @ 3.6GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 970 or NVIDIA GTX 1060, AMD R9 290X or AMD RX 480
VRAM: 4GB
RAM: 12GB
Hard Drive Type: HDD
Available Space: 60GB
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Windows Version: Windows Anniversary Edition 64-bit 14393.101

Ideal Specifications:

CPU: i7 6700 @ 4.0GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 980Ti or GTX 1080 | AMD R9 Fury X
VRAM: 6GB
RAM: 16GB
Hard Drive Type: SSD
Available Space: 55GB
Resolution: 3840 x 2160
Windows Version: Windows Anniversary Edition 64-bit 14393.101
1. Forza Horizon 3 PC- Crash at startup/ CTD/ Game not responding/ APPCRASH/ Black screen fix:-
- Update your Nvidia and AMD drivers to the latest versions.
- Disable antivirus/firewall or add game to the exception list of the antivirus software.
- Disable all recording softwares like Fraps, MSI AfterBurner, D3DGear etc. They may conflict with your DirectX Direct3D settings resulting in a crash.
- ‘Crash at loading screen’: Disconnect your internet. Go into your Xbox app, signout and restart your PC. Open the game, login into your account and see if it fixes the issue.
- If your game is crashing while going full screen, try playing in windowed mode.
- If your game is crashing while going full screen, try playing in windowed mode.
- Black screen issue- Well this issue can be due to lot of reasons. First of all, you should check that the in-game resolution matches the resolution supported by your display device so that there should not be any conflict. If you are using HDMI, try unplugging the HDMI cable from TV and launch the game. Wait a few mins before replugging the HDMI cable back into the TV.
- Registry clean using CCleaner can also fix some of the crashes. You can download CCleaner from here.
- For any DLL error or APPCRASH issue, it is recommended to do a clean install of Directx. Or, you can download the missing DLLs from here and paste them in the game directory.
2. Forza Horizon 3 PC- Not showing up in Windows Store fix:-

This is probably because you are not having the latest Windows anniversary update installed. Learn how to get it here. You can also manually download the update here. If it still doesn’t work, You may need to refresh and reset the store. You can do this by running WSReset.exe. You can learn more about it here.

3. Forza Horizon 3 PC- Error 0x80073CF9 when preloading or downloading:-

The problem here is the download crashes after running for a while. Try the following steps to fix the issue.
- WINDOWS and X keys together and then click on Command Prompt (Admin).
- Click Yes to the User Account Control message that appears and type the following.
  - net stop wuauserv
  - rename C:\windows\SoftwareDistribution softwaredistribution.old
  - net start wuauserv
- Restart your PC and now, you should be able to download the game from Store.
- If any of the above commands fail, you will need to start your PC in safe mode and run the commands.
4. Forza Horizon 3 PC- Error 0x803f8001 when preloading or downloading:-

This issue should have been resolved on Microsoft’s end by now. If it's still not working though, go to Games > Xbox Live Games > Forza Horizon 3 or Forza Horizon 3 Deluxe/Ultimate Edition > under "In this bundle" click Forza Horizon 3 (not deluxe/anything else) > Download.

5. Forza Horizon 3 PC- Error 0x80070005 fix:-

This error is mostly due to corrupted Windows Store. Check out this linkon how to reinstall Windows Store.

6. Forza Horizon 3 PC- Network issues while connecting online fix:-

Make sure these ports are forwarded in both Windows Firewall and on your router/access point. These are the ports required for Xbox and Windows store games.
- Port 88 (UDP)
- Port 3074 (UDP and TCP)
- Port 53 (UDP and TCP)
- Port 80 (TCP)
- Port 500 (UDP)
- Port 3544 (UDP)
- Port 4500 (UDP)
7. Forza Horizon 3 PC- Low FPS/ Stuttering/ freezes/ lags fixes:-
- Updating your Nvidia and AMD GPU drivers is a must.
- If you are facing optimization issues, severe lags or stutters; you can try turning down shadows and adjust other graphics settings. Updated GPU drivers is mandatory. Also check if your laptop is plugged in.
- For AMD users, disable Raptr from task manager. Disable any other intensive applications that may be running in background. Also try setting ‘Tessellation mode’ to 8x/16x and 'Texture Filtering Quality' to Performance from your latest Crimson edition Radeon software to fix frame rate drops.
- For Nvidia users, go into your control panel 3d settings. Make sure that ‘Power Management Mode’ option should be set to ‘Prefer Maximum Performance’.
- If you are experiencing screen flickering issues, you can also try disabling Crossfire/SLI and run the game using a single GPU.
- Turn off all overlaying softwares and disable any recording softwares like Fraps, D3DGear, MSI Afterburner etc.
- Disable third party background apps and set High Priority for the game in Task Manager. Disable any kind of overclocking.
8. Forza Horizon 3 PC- Controller not working fix:-

A temporary solution to this issue is to use a third party software like Joy2Key or x360ce.
- For x360ce, first you need to download the software from the above mentioned link.
- Next extract the contents from the archive and copy x360ce_x64.exe to the game directory.
- Then launch the software. Make sure your controller is detected by the tool. Then under Controller 1, choose Auto or Manual as per your preference. We recommend to choose Auto as it automatically maps the buttons on your stick and has worked perfectly for most users.
Heads Up: Forza Horizon 3 can be availed at Microsoft Store for $59.99.