If you’re trying to launch your game on Windows but it fails, and you’re seeing this error saying The program can’t start because physxloader.dll is missing from your computer, you’re not alone. Many users are reporting it. But the good news is you can fix it easily by yourself.
What is physxloader.dll?
The physxloader.dll file is associated with Physxloader Dynamic Link Library, which is built in NVIDIA PhysX. NVIDIA PhysX is is a powerful physics engine enabling real-time physics in leading edge PC games. That’s to say NVIDIA PhysX aims to improve your gaming experience via your graphics card.
How do I fix it?
Here are 2 solutions you can try to fix this problem. You might not have to try them all; just work your way down the list until you find the one that works.
- Install a new NVIDIA PhysX
- Run the PhysX software in this paticular way
- Copy the physxloader.dll file from your friend’s PC
- Pro Tip: Update your video driver
Solution 1: Install a new NVIDIA PhysX
This problem is probably caused by a corrupted or missing NVIDIA PhysX. Download a new PhysX software from official NVIDIA website and install it on your computer.
Run PhysX and launch your game again to see if it works.
Note: If your problem is still exists with the latest version of NVIDIA PhysX, you can download the legacy one in the same download page:
Solution 2: Run the PhysX software in this particularway
1) On your Windows, go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Dragon Age Ultimate Edition\redist
2) Double-click on your PhysX software .exe file.
3) Start your game again to see if it works.
Solution 3: Copy the physxloader.dll file from your friend’s PC
If unfortunately, all the previous methods fails to help, you can copy the physxloader.dll file from a PC that runs the same Windows system as yours.
Part 1: Check your Windows system type and find a computer that runs the same system with yours.
Here’s how you can check Windows type of a computer:
- On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key to bring up the Search box.
- Type system information and then select System Information from the result.
- You should then see the system type of the computer.
Part 2: Copy the physxloader.dll file from the working computer and then paste it to the problem computer.
Here’s how you can find the dll file:
- On the keyboard of the working computer, press the Windows logo key and E at the same time to bring up the File Explorer.
- Go to C:\Windows\System32, then type physxloader.dll and press Enter. If it shows no results, go to C:\Windows\SysWOW64 instead and search physxloader.dll again.
- Copy the physxloader.dll file if found and paste it into the same location as where you copy the file in your problem computer.
Note: Keep in mid that not every computer with the same system type has the dll file you want to restore, so this method is not always successful either.
Pro Tip: Update your video driver
An old, missing or corrupted driver might not cause this problem to occur, but it’ll cause problems to your video games, especially a wrong video driver. So we highly recommend keeping your drivers up-to-date for the best gaming experience.
You can download the latest video driver from official NVIDIA website .
Or
If you’re not confident playing around with drivers manually, you can do it automatically with Driver Easy.
Driver Easy will automatically recognize your system and find the correct drivers for it. You don’t need to know exactly what system your computer is running, you don’t need to risk downloading and installing the wrong driver, and you don’t need to worry about making a mistake when installing.
You can update your drivers automatically with either the FREE or the Pro version of Driver Easy. But with the Pro version it takes just 2 clicks (and you get full support and a 30-day money back guarantee):
1) Download and install Driver Easy.
2) Run Driver Easy and click the Scan Now button. Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers.
3) Click the Update button next to a flagged NVIDIA driver to automatically download the correct version of the driver, then you can manually install it (you can do this with the FREE version).
Or click Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system (this requires the Pro version – you’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click Update All).
Reboot your Windows and launch your game to see if it works.