[2022] Stellaris crashes on splash screen with error C0000005 (EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION)

That system.log does not look right. If you delete it and try this game again, does it make a new one? If so please attach that here.

What happens if you run stellaris.exe directly from File Explorer? Any error show up?

And please install and run the free utility Speccy. Send its output to a text file and attach that here, thanks.  

You should not run stellaris.exe as Windows Admin, that causes issues of its own.

That system.log is still wrong! It should list all usable resolutions at the end. So I guess your issue is to do with the video system somehow. Let's try a clean reinstall:

- uninstall the nVidia driver and all other nVidia software
- reboot
- install May 2022 https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
- reboot again



Probably not related but I see you have malwarebytes installed but disabled. If you aren't using it I'd suggest a complete uninstall of it; use Ccleaner or revo Uninstaller to make sure it's 100% gone.


And if you search for Not Installed in that speccy output, you'll see numerous failed or "In Progress" Windows updates going back to 2020. If you run the Windows Update utility does it find anything to install? If so please do that and reboot.  

I fear this one is beyond me, I am sorry. Like you I see nothing to do except a Windows Reset, or even clean wipe and reinstall.

Sorry about that!