Valorant is one of the best free first-person hero shooters on the Windows platform. However, like any other game, Valorant faces quite a few technical issues.
Many users have reported that Valorant is facing crashes on their Windows computers. So, if you’re having the same problem, consider trying the solutions below.
Why does Valorant always crash on Windows?
If Valorant always crashes on your Windows computer, here are some possible causes:
1. If the system doesn’t fulfill the minimum requirement to run Valorant, there’s a good chance that it won’t run very well.
2. An outdated graphics driver is another primary reason behind Valorant crashes.
3. If you cranked the settings higher than what your PC can handle, the game can struggle to render properly and crash.
Fortunately, fixing the crash issue on Windows PC is very simple. Just try the following solutions to eliminate the problem.
1. Make sure the system is able to run the game
While Valorant’s system requirements aren’t too demanding, it’s still a good idea to at least meet the minimum specifications. If your system does not meet all the minimum requirements to run the game, you will face crashes and errors.
So, before you try any technical solution, make sure your system has all of the following requirements to run Valorant:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 o AMD Athlon 200GE
RAM: 4 GB
OS: Windows 7/8/10 64-bit
GPU: Intel HD 4000 or Radeon R5 200
Pixel Shader: 3.0
Vertex Shader: 3.0
2. Close non-essential background apps
The game needs as many CPUs as possible to run smoothly. If other backgrounders consume CPU memory, Valorant’s resources are throttled, which can cause problems.
As a solution, try closing all unnecessary applications running in the background. Here’s how to do it:
1. Open Task Manager with Ctrl+Shift+Esc.
2. On the Processes tab, right-click all unnecessary applications and select Uninstall from the context menu.
Relaunch the game and check for the problem.
3. Run Valorant with administrative privileges
Sometimes, the lack of administrative privileges can be the main reason why the game crashes on your system. You can run the game with administrative privileges by following these steps:
1. Right-click on the Valorant icon present on the desktop.
2. Choose Properties.
3. Switch to the Compatibility tab.
4. Checkmark Run this program as an administrator option.
5. Click on Apply > OK to save the made changes.
Launch the game and check for the problem.
4. Update Windows
Running games on outdated versions of Windows can cause problems. You can try to download the latest Windows update to fix this problem. Here’s how:
1. Open Settings using Win + I.
2. Choose Windows Update.
3. Click on Check for Updates.
Windows will now check for and download all pending updates.
5. Download the Latest Graphics Driver
In order to run modern games like Valorant, you need to have the latest graphics driver installed on the system. If you’re running older drivers, there’s a good chance they’re why Valorant keeps crashing.
Here are the steps to update your graphics driver：
1. Press Win + X and choose Device Manager.
2. Double-click on Display adapters and right-click on the installed driver.
3. Choose the Update driver option from the context menu.
4. Click on Search automatically for drivers.
Windows will now look for and download the best graphics driver update available on the system.
6. Assign a High Priority to Valorant
You can fix valorant crashes by allocating more processor power to the game. You can do this by changing the game priority in Task Manager.
Here are the specific steps you need to follow:
1. Open the Task Manager.
2. Switch to the Details tab.
3. Right-click on Valorant.exe, hover the cursor to Set priority, and choose High from the context menu.
That’s it. Launch the game and check if the problem continues. If yes, try the next solution on the list.
7. Disable any overclocking features
Overclocking is a technique by which you can increase the speed of the computer components, including the motherboard, graphics card, and CPU. But like anything else, overclocking also has its own downsides.
An overclocked system will heat up very fast, which may lead to the crashing problem of different applications. So, undo any overclocking you’ve applied by restoring the system to its default settings.
8. Lower the in-game settings
Valorant lets you choose the graphic settings as per the system specification. But if you’re using high settings on a system that barely eclipse the game’s minimum requirement, you’re most likely to deal with the crashing issue.
As a solution, you’ll have to lower the graphic settings. Here’s how to do it：
1. Open Valorant, and go to Settings.
2. Switch to the Video tab.
3. Select Graphics Quality.
4. Make the following changes.
Material Quality – Low
Texture Quality – Low
Detail Quality – Low
UI Quality – Low
Vignette – Off
VSync – Off
Bloom – Off
Distortion – Off
Cast Shadow – Off
Next, reboot the game and check for the problem.
9. Update DirectX
DirectX is a set of APIs in Windows that takes care of the graphic elements of games and different applications. Valorant requires DirectX 11 to run smoothly. But if the system is in the old DirectX version, Valorant may experience a crash.
You can download the latest DirectX from Microsoft’s Download Center. The DirectX end-user runtime network installer will install several runtime libraries from the traditional DirectX SDK for games that use DirectX 11.
10. Troubleshoot the Problem With a Clean Boot
The next thing you can consider is to perform a clean boot. In the clean boot state, the system will start with a minimal set of drivers and applications. This will help you eliminate the program causing the problem in the discussion.
You can perform a clean boot by following the below steps：
1. Open the Run dialogue box.
2. Type msconfig and press Enter.
3. Click on the Services tab.
4. Checkmark Hide all Microsoft services options.
5. Click on Disable all.
6. Click on the Startup tab, and tap on Open Task Manager.
7. Right-click on all unnecessary startup applications and choose Disable.
Next, reboot the system and it will start in a “clean” state. If Valorant does not crash after the clean startup, it means that the application that previously caused the problem was disabled at the time of the clean startup.
Use this knowledge to reduce the causes of crashes; If it doesn’t matter, disable it or turn it off before playing. If it’s important, you can try updating the app or service to see if it works.
Play Valorant without any distractions
Facing the problem of crashing is really frustrating, especially when you’re in an important game. Most crash issues are mostly caused by outdated graphics drivers, so you update them to fix all the issues. But if it continues, try the above solutions to fix this forever.
