Here is the detailed story of how I hunted down the problem and fixed it.

In the window that appears, look for DirectX Version at the bottom of the System tab. 2. Updating DirectX on Windows 10 and 11

The Methodology and Implications of Updating DirectX in the Windows Environment

The intro cinematic played beautifully. But the moment the gameplay started, disaster struck. The screen froze for a split second, the audio looped a terrifying mechanical buzz, and then—black screen. A pop-up appeared:

The lesson? Windows tells you the version number, but it doesn't always tell you the health of the component files. By running the End-User Runtime installer, I bridged the gap between the modern OS and the specific code the game needed. The stutter was gone, and the night was saved.