If you are trying to run GoW.exe and encountering errors, here are the most common fixes:
A. "Missing DLL" or "VCRUNTIME140_1.dll not found" This is the most common error for the 2018 version. It indicates missing Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables.
B. The game crashes on startup
If GoW.exe opens a black screen and then closes immediately: GoW.exe
C. Low FPS or Stuttering (God of War 2018) This version is demanding. If the process is bottlenecking your CPU:
Windows detects that the process is hung or has crashed due to memory access violation. Usually caused by driver issues or overclocking. If you are trying to run GoW
Even if GoW.exe doesn't crash, it might run poorly. Here are advanced tweaks for the .exe itself.
Ask any IT admin what they think of GoW.exe, and they’ll shudder. Because “GoW” sounds like a random gibberish acronym, many heuristic antivirus engines flag new versions of the file as a trojan. The reason? Kratos’ axe-spinning logic and the Locust Horde’s AI routines use obfuscated code to prevent cheating. This same obfuscation looks exactly like malware. GoW.exe
There is a quiet ritual in gaming forums every time a patch drops: a user posts, “Help, my AV deleted GoW.exe.” And the reply is always the same: “Restore it from quarantine. That’s just the texture streaming.”