rilleman

The config files and other files in C:\Users\Eric\AppData\Roaming\Fatshark\Darktide should not be read-only or protected in any way. This is like the scratch-pad the game needs to have read-write access to. I would really suggest that you try deleting that whole folder.-

Did you make your user_settings.config read-only, what I can see from the log, the game is unable to write to it. This should, however not be the reason for the crash but if you can make it not read-only, that will make it easier to locate the problem. You can either do that, or I might even suggest that you completely delete the folder %appdata\Fatshark\Darktide, so we get a fresh start.
I can also see that your CPU is quite old and likely below “min-spec”. I think the game might still run, but it will probably impact your performance.

Logs can be attached to messages by being uploaded.

That is a valid question. Seem strange right?
No, you don’t need the Epic Games Launcher. The problem described above did only occur IF you had it and IF that version was old. We use some libraries that are part of Epic Online Services, but we also found a bug in our code in some instances reference functionality there (given it was installed) that might cause instability problems for our game. This has been fixed in an upcoming release, but until that, updating that Launcher also helps.

This seems to be another problem, but we will also do our best to fix that. Could you look for your logs in the folder: %APPDATA%\Fatshark\Darktide\ and post them here?
Especially the one called darktide_launcher.log and the latest log in the sub-folder console_logs, if any.

If I get those, I will do my best to make a diagnosis and determine the appropriate treatment.

Thanks for your help and patience!

We have been able to determine that many of these startup crashes are related to the user having a old version of Epic Games Launcher installed.
This issue will be resolved in upcoming updates (regardless of your Epic Launcher). In the mean time try updating your Epic Games Launcher, alternatively uninstalling/reinstalling it.