Apex Legends Keep Crashing? Try these Fixes

You can’t get a first-place trophy on Apex if the game crashes before you complete a match. The glory of the victor’s circle can only come after you troubleshoot problems with the game. Don’t worry if you’re experiencing crashes – they’re a common issue in Apex and are fixable with a little bit of troubleshooting.

What Causes Apex Legends to Crash?

It’s not simple to narrow down the problem with Apex; however, that just means there are lots of potential fixes. 

How to Fix Apex Legends Keeps Crashing

Start by making sure your drivers and Operating system are updated. Once you’re certain things are good to go, you can work on issues with the game, periphery software, and your operating system.

Check the Game Status

Some people have difficulties with Apex due to the game servers themselves. Check online to see whether Apex has issues before you start trying to fix your system. You might just need to wait a few hours before looking for another match. 

Update Your Drivers and Operating System

There are multiple drivers to consider, but the most important are your GPU drivers. If these aren’t updated, many games can experience problems – including Apex. 

Updating NVIDIA Drivers

1. Open the GeForce experience app.
2. Click the Drivers option.
3. Click Check for updates if a driver update is available.
   
4. Click Express Installation once the download is complete.
   
5. Click Yes to allow the installation to continue.
6. Wait for the driver to download and install. Your screen might go black or flicker out, but it’s a normal part of the installation. Don’t attempt to do anything else when updating the drivers.

Updating Drivers Through Device Manager

1. Press Windows key + X.
2. Select Device Manager.
3. Click Display Adapters to see your GPU.
4. Right-click your GPU.
5. Choose Update Driver.
   
6. Choose Search Automatically for Drivers.
7. Follow the prompts to install any new drivers the process finds.

You should also use Device Manager to ensure your other drivers are up-to-date. Windows should also be updated if you haven’t lately. Sometimes not updating your machine can create errors that prevent games from functioning. 

Rolling Drivers Back

If you installed a new driver just before the crashes started, it’s possible that you installed an unstable driver. Sometimes companies push driver updates to clients without realizing that it will create instabilities in their system. If this is the case for you, try rolling back your GPU driver instead of updating it.

1. Press Windows key + X.
2. Choose Device Manager.
3. Expand the Display Adapters category.
4. Right-click on your GPU.
5. Choose Properties.
6. Click the Driver tab. 
7. Click Roll Back Driver, if available.
   
8. Follow the prompts to complete the process.

You can always update it again like you initially did if it doesn’t make Apex stop crashing.

Run Apex as an Administrator

Running Apex as an administrator ensures it has all the access it needs to perform as it should. You can avoid launching it as an administrator every time by changing the setting on the executable file.

1. Navigate to your Apex executable file.
2. Right-click the EXE file.
3. Choose Properties.
4. Click the Compatibility tab.
5. Check the box by “Run this Program as an Administrator.”
   
6. Click Apply and then click OK.

From now on, it will run as an administrator whenever it launches. 

Change Launch Options

You can change your launch options so that your computer only uses four threads to run Apex. Limiting your FPS might also help.

Steam

1. Launch Steam
2. Right-click Apex and choose Properties.
3. Click General.
   
4. Type “-numworkerthreads 4” without quotes
5. Type a space.
6. Type “+fps_max 144” without quotes.
7. Close the window and try Apex again.

Origin

1. Launch Origin.
2. Right-click Apex.
3. Choose Game Properties.
4. Click Advanced Launch Options.
    
5. Type “-numworkerthreads 4” without quotes.
6. Type a space.
7. Type “+fps_max 144” without quotes.
8. Save your changes and try Apex again. 

Adjust Your Settings

Sometimes lowering your texture streaming budget and texture filtering can impact how the game runs. You might have better luck playing without crashes. 

Graphics settings that are too high for your PC can lead to overheating or hardware issues that crash the game. 

Disable Overlays

You should disable to overlay from the store where you bought the game, in addition to a Discord overlay that many people use when Apex isn’t working. For an unknown reason, overlays sometimes contribute to crashes.

Disable Steam Overlay

1. Open Steam.
2. Click the Steam menu button.
3. Choose Setting.
4. Click In-Game from the side menu.
5. Ensure “Enable the Steam Overlay While In-Game” isn’t checked.
   
6. Click OK.
7. Restart Steam.

Disable Origin Overlay 

1. Open Origin.
2. Click the Origin menu button.
3. Choose Application Settings.
4. Select Origin In Game.
   
5. Uncheck the overlay option.

Disable Discord Overlay

1. Open Discord.
2. Click the gear icon to open Settings.
3. Click Game Overlay under Activity Status.
4. Toggle “Enable In-Game Overlay” to Off.
   
5. Click X to close the settings.

Once you have all your overlays disabled, restart your computer and run Apex again to see if you can make it work without crashes.

Repair Your Game Files

Steam and Origin both include ways to fix your game files when they’re damaged or corrupted. The process checks the files you have installed and looks for problems. If it finds them, it will try to repair or replace the damaged files so that you can continue playing without having to do a complete reinstallation.

Repairing Files on Steam

1. Launch Steam.
2. Click on the Library tab.
3. Right-click Apex in the menu.
4. Choose Properties.
5. Choose Local Files from the menu on the left.
6. Click Verify Integrity of Game Files.
   
7. Wait for the process to finish. It may take some time. It will tell you whether there were errors and whether they were fixed when it’s done.
8. Restart your computer and try to launch Apex again.

Repairing Files on Origin

1. Launch Origin.
2. Choose My Game Library.
3. Right-click on Apex.
4. Click Repair.
   
5. Wait for the process to complete. 

While repairing your files should fix many problems with Apex itself, it’s not a cure-all. Sometimes you will still have to delete and uninstall the games. However, it’s the best first step for finding and fixing errors with the game files themselves. 

Add an Apex Exception to Your Firewall

Sometimes the firewall protecting your computer can prevent access by programs you want to use. You can add exceptions for any program that you run, including Apex. An exception in the firewall should enable the game to communicate freely and perform correctly if that was the problem leading to the crashes.

1. Press Windows key + X.
2. Choose Settings.
3. Click Update and Security.
4. Click Windows Security in the left pane.
5. Click Firewall and Network Protection.
   
6. Click Allow an App Through Firewall.
7. Scroll down the list and look for Apex Legends.
8. Click the checkboxes under both Private and Public.
   
9. Click OK.
10. Restart your computer and try to launch Apex again.

You can always remove the firewall exceptions if you choose, but adding one shouldn’t increase your risk of computer issues.

You should also add an exception for Easy Anti-Cheat.

Run a CHKDSK Scan

This isn’t an exclusive fix to Apex but can solve many crashing and freezing problems in games. I just fixed a new installation of Elden Ring the day after launch by allowing a CHKDSK scan to run overnight. In the morning, it launched and ran without issues.

CHKDSK is a Windows utility that checks your hard drives for errors and repairs them. 

1. Press Windows key + X.
2. Choose Windows PowerShell (Admin).
3. Click Yes to allow the program to run.
4. Type “chkdsk C: /r” without quotes.
   
5. Press Enter.
6. Type “Y” if it asks if you want to dismount the disk. Make sure you aren’t downloading or using any programs on it at the time.
7. Press Enter.
8. Wait for the scan to run. It can take hours. Running mine on a half-full eight terabyte disk took more than eight hours. You can’t stop the scan or use anything on the disk during this time, so it’s best to run it overnight. 

If there were errors, CHKDSK should report those to you. You’ll see a list of the files it found that needed repair and whether those were corrected.

Troubleshoot the Anti-cheat Software

A few issues with the anti-cheat software can cause Apex to crash. One of the best ways to fix it – even if it sounds a little strange – is to open Epic Games and let it update if it’s installed on your system. 

Epic owns Easy Anti-Cheat. Sometimes people who are having trouble with games that use it find opening Epic and updating the software lets the anti-cheat program work better.

Turn Off Your Overclock

Some users reported that getting rid of an overclock helped make Apex more stable. If you have easy overclocking software, try just switching it off and restarting your computer to see whether Apex works.