[BUG] "Apex Badware Detected" 0x8000002 is a crash inside r5apex_dx12runtime.dll
Apex Legends will not launch. Every attempt ends with "Apex Badware
Detected - Integrity error 0x8000002". This reproduces 100% of the time,
including after a completely clean reinstall.
After analysing the minidumps, I can confirm this is NOT an Easy Anti-Cheat
detection. EAC initialises successfully every single time. The actual failure
is a crash inside r5apex_dx12runtime.dll, and bin\crashmsg.exe is merely
interpreting that crash as "badware".
SYSTEM
- Windows 11 Home 25H2, build 26200.8655
- Ryzen 7 5700X / RTX 3060 / GeForce driver 591.86 (32.0.15.9186) / 32 GB RAM
- Apex build 2026-08-06, r5apex_dx12.exe timestamp 0x6a73f38a, Steam version
EAC IS NOT BLOCKING THE GAME
The EAC bootstrapper log shows a clean success on all 11 launch attempts:
Launcher finished with: 301, 'Easy Anti-Cheat loaded into the game successfully'
Successfully initialized the Easy Anti-Cheat module, waiting for game window to become visible
The game window has become visible
Terminating with: 0
The EAC module was also force-refreshed and re-downloaded (Response Code: 200,
not a cached 304). EAC hands control to the game, and the game then crashes
7-45 seconds after the window appears.
CRASH ANALYSIS
Variant A - produces the "Badware Detected" dialog:
ExceptionCode : 0xC0000005
ExceptionInformation[0] : 8 (DEP / attempted execute)
WER EventType : BEX64
ExceptionAddress : r5apex_dx12runtime.dll ImageBase + 0x1
Concrete examples across reboots:
base 0x00007FFE97400000 -> fault 0x00007FFE97400001
base 0x00007FFB9BE00000 -> fault 0x00007FFB9BE00001
base 0x00007FFA05C00000 -> fault 0x00007FFA05C00001
base 0x00007FF877C00000 -> fault 0x00007FF877C00001
The base changes per boot (ASLR), but the offset is always exactly +1. A
function pointer is being called that contains only the module's image base
with no resolved offset. base+1 lands inside the PE header, which is
non-executable, so DEP triggers.
Variant B - produces the EA Crash Report Handler dialog:
ExceptionCode : 0xC0000005
ExceptionInformation[0] : 1 (write)
Write target : 0x0000000000000000 (NULL)
Faulting location : ntdll.dll +0x96C5F
Both variants point to the same root cause: r5apex_dx12runtime.dll
initialisation does not complete, leaving pointers uninitialised.
POSSIBLY RELEVANT: THE RUNTIME DLL IS MAPPED TWICE
0x00000000FFC30000 - 0x000000010329B000 r5apex_dx12runtime.dll (fixed base, identical in every dump)
0x00007FFE97400000 - 0x00007FFE9AA6B000 r5apex_dx12runtime.dll (ASLR'd)
The low mapping sits at a fixed address and straddles the 4 GB boundary
(0x100000000). The crash always occurs at the ASLR'd mapping's base + 1. I
don't know whether this double mapping is normal, but it seemed worth
reporting.
TROUBLESHOOTING ALREADY PERFORMED - NONE CHANGED THE BEHAVIOUR
- Full clean reinstall. Uninstalled, manually removed all leftovers (game
folder, Saved Games\Respawn, appmanifest, download cache), reinstalled from
scratch. Verified r5apex_dx12.exe, r5apex_dx12runtime.dll and
r5apex_dx12preloader.dll SHA-256 match what Steam ships - this is NOT file
corruption.
- Forced EAC module re-download; verified game file integrity; deleted all
settings/profile data; cleared all launch options.
- Disabled Steam, NVIDIA and Discord overlays.
- Disabled every third-party kernel-mode driver on the system and rebooted.
Uninstalled ViGEmBus (virtual gamepad) entirely, and disabled Npcap,
VirtualBox, BlueStacks, MSI NTIOLib (x2) and AMD Ryzen Master. Verified all
showed State=Stopped before testing.
- Confirmed IFEO, Application Verifier, AppInit_DLLs, Exploit Protection
mitigations, environment variables and DLL redirection are all at defaults
or empty.
- Enumerated all 143 modules loaded in the process at crash time. The only
non-Microsoft, non-EA modules present are the Steam overlay, NVIDIA display
components and the Windows Defender AMSI provider. Nothing is injected.
- On the same PC, with the same GPU driver and the same overlays active,
another DX12 Steam title runs perfectly.
REQUEST
Please escalate to engineering. I have three full crash dumps (~220 MB each)
available on request. Dumps have also already been uploaded automatically via
the in-game Crash Report Handler .
Happy to run any additional diagnostics or provide the raw EAC / WER logs.
