Nothing kills a chicken dinner run faster than PUBG crashing on PC mid-firefight. Whether the game refuses to launch, freezes in the plane, or hard-crashes during a phase four rotation, the fix is almost always a handful of specific settings, drivers, or file checks. We built this guide from the official PUBG Support crashing and performance guide and hundreds of hours of community troubleshooting so you can get back into the lobby fast.
Why PUBG Keeps Crashing on Your PC
Most PUBG PC crashes trace back to one of five things: outdated GPU drivers, corrupted game files, aggressive Steam launch options, background software conflicting with BattlEye, or hardware sitting below spec. The good news is that Krafton’s own support docs point to the same short list of fixes, and they work for the majority of cases.
Before you rebuild your PC or reinstall Windows, work through the steps below in order. Skipping ahead is how most players waste an afternoon.
Step 1: Check You Meet the Minimum Requirements
If your rig sits under spec, no amount of tweaking will keep PUBG stable. Krafton publishes the current minimum and recommended specs on the official system requirements page. Confirm your CPU, RAM, GPU, and free disk space before troubleshooting further.
Key checks:
- At least 8 GB of RAM (16 GB strongly recommended)
- A 64-bit version of Windows 10 or newer
- Enough free space on the drive PUBG is installed to (the install has grown significantly since launch)
- A dedicated GPU, not integrated graphics
If you are borderline on RAM or running a mechanical hard drive, expect stutters and crashes on map load no matter what else you fix.
Step 2: Restart Your PC and Router
It sounds like a joke, but PUBG Support lists this as the first real step for a reason. A cold restart clears memory leaks from previous sessions, resets network sockets, and forces Windows to reload drivers cleanly.
Power-cycle your router too. A flaky connection during matchmaking can present as a client crash, especially at the “connecting to server” screen.
Step 3: Remove Steam Launch Options
This is the single most common fix we see ignored. Back in early access, community guides recommended launch commands like -USEALLAVAILABLECORES, -malloc=system, -sm4, and various VRAM flags. None of these are supported anymore, and several now cause crashes on modern builds.
To clear them:
- Open Steam and go to your Library
- Right-click PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS
- Select Properties
- Under the General tab, find Launch Options
- Delete everything in the field and close the window
Launch PUBG with a clean slate. If the crashes stop here, you are done.## Step 4: Verify Integrity of Game Files
Corrupted or missing files from a bad patch download will crash PUBG in unpredictable ways: black screens on launch, freezes when loading the training map, or crashes to desktop the moment you spawn.
Run Steam’s built-in check:
- Right-click PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS in your Library
- Click Properties
- Open the Installed Files tab
- Click Verify integrity of game files
Steam will scan the install and re-download anything broken. On a slow drive this can take 20 minutes, so let it finish.
Step 5: Update Your GPU Drivers
Old drivers are the second most common cause of PUBG crashing on PC. Krafton ships engine updates that expect current driver features, and stale drivers cause DirectX errors, GPU hangs, and the classic “Out of video memory” crash.
| GPU Brand | Where to Get Drivers |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA | GeForce Experience or nvidia.com/drivers |
| AMD | AMD Adrenalin or amd.com/support |
| Intel Arc | Intel Arc Control or intel.com |
Do a clean install when the option is offered. That wipes leftover files from older versions that often survive normal updates.
Step 6: Close Background Software That Fights BattlEye
PUBG runs BattlEye anti-cheat, and BattlEye is aggressive about programs that inject overlays or hook into the game process. If PUBG crashes seconds after entering a match, one of these is usually the culprit.
Common offenders to close before launching PUBG:
- MSI Afterburner and RivaTuner Statistics Server
- Discord overlay (disable in-game overlay per app)
- NVIDIA GeForce Experience overlay and ShadowPlay
- Razer Synapse and Corsair iCUE overlays
- Third-party FPS counters and screen recorders
- Any RGB software that hooks into DirectX
Close them from the system tray, not just the window. Test PUBG. If it stabilises, re-enable them one at a time to find the guilty program.
Step 7: Set the Right In-Game Settings
Running PUBG on ultra settings with a mid-range GPU is a recipe for VRAM crashes. Drop settings that hammer the GPU hardest, then dial back up.
Settings to lower first:
- Anti-Aliasing: Medium is fine, Ultra is expensive for little visual gain
- Post-Processing: Very Low or Low, competitive players run this low anyway
- Shadows: Very Low
- Textures: Match your VRAM. 4 GB cards should run Medium, not Ultra
- View Distance: Ultra is fine, this is CPU-bound
Cap your frame rate 5-10 FPS below what your monitor can display. A GPU pegged at 100% for long stretches will overheat and crash. For a full breakdown of competitive display and input tuning, our best PUBG settings guide walks through every menu.
Step 8: Fix Lag That Looks Like Crashing
Sometimes what feels like a crash is actually a network stall so long that the client disconnects. If PUBG “crashes” only during hot drops on Erangel or when you loot rich compounds on Miramar, treat it as a lag problem first. Our pubg lag fix guide covers ping, packet loss, and server region selection in detail.
Step 9: Windows and DirectX Housekeeping
A few Windows-level fixes clear up crashes the game-level steps miss.
Do these in order:
- Run Windows Update until nothing new appears
- Install the latest Visual C++ Redistributables (all x64 versions)
- Update DirectX via the DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer
- Set PUBG to High priority in Task Manager after launch, not Realtime
- Disable Windows Game Mode if you see stutters (it hurts more than it helps on some builds)
If PUBG throws a specific error code on crash, note the exact string and check PUBG Support’s article list. Codes like “TslGame.exe has stopped working” are generic, but codes with numbers usually map to a known fix.## Step 10: Check Your Temps
Thermal throttling and thermal crashes look identical from the player’s chair: the game freezes for a second, then closes. Open HWMonitor or MSI Afterburner and watch your CPU and GPU temperatures during a match.
Warning thresholds:
- CPU sustained above 90°C
- GPU sustained above 83°C
- GPU hotspot above 100°C
If you are hitting those, the fix is physical: clean dust from intake filters, reseat your GPU, repaste the CPU if it is more than three years old. No software fix beats a clogged heatsink.
Step 11: Reinstall as a Last Resort
If nothing above works, uninstall PUBG through Steam, delete the leftover folder in Steam\steamapps\common\PUBG, and reinstall from scratch. Also clear the local config folder at %LOCALAPPDATA%\TslGame so a corrupt user setting does not carry over.
This is a last resort because it takes hours on most connections, but it fixes edge-case installs that verify-integrity misses.
The Bottom Line
Most PUBG crashing on PC comes down to launch options, drivers, BattlEye conflicts, or overheating. Work through the steps in order and you will resolve the vast majority of cases without reinstalling. If you have hit every step and PUBG still crashes on a specific map or during a specific action, that is worth reporting to PUBG Support with your DxDiag and crash logs attached.
We update this page as Krafton ships new engine and anti-cheat changes. For more PC-side tuning, browse our pubg tips and tricks collection or start fresh with the pubg beginner guide. If you are still building your PC habits, our rundown of pubg vehicles will make sure the rest of your session runs as smooth as the client.