Fix: Apex Legends Crashing in PC

Apex Legends is a newly released free to play battle royale which has recently taken the gaming community with a storm and acquired over 50 million players in just a span of two months. The game was developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. Apex Legends combines elements from TitanFall and many other class-based shooters.

However, quite recently a lot of reports have been coming in of users experiencing random crashes while playing the game. In this article, we will inform you about some of the reasons due to which these crashes might be triggered and provide you with viable solutions in order to eradicate this problem completely.

What Causes the Apex Legends to Crash?

There is no specific reason behind the crashes but according to our reports some of the most common reasons were:

Now that you have a basic understanding of the nature of the problem we will move on towards the solutions.

Solution 1: Disable Full-Screen Optimization.

Full-Screen Optimization is a new feature that tries to run the game as a borderless window. This feature can often cause issues with games that are not well optimized. It is possible that it might be causing the crashes on Apex Legends. Therefore, we are going to disable it in this step.

1. Right-click on the Apex Legends shortcut and select “Open File Location” or search for it in the Windows search bar if you don’t have a shortcut on the desktop.

   

2. Once inside the game installation folder, right–click on the “r5apex.exe” and select properties.

   

3. Inside the properties, click on compatibility and check the “Disable fullscreen optimizations” box.

   

4. Apply your settings.

   

5. Run the game and check to see if the problem persists.

Solution 2: Granting Administrative Privileges.

There are certain elements of the game that need administrative privileges to function correctly if the game has not been granted administrative privileges it might cause it to crash. Therefore, in this step we are going to be granting the game administrative privileges for that:

1. Right-click the “Apex Legends” shortcut on the desktop and select “Open File Location” or search for it in the Windows search bar.

   

2. Once inside the Installation folder, right-click the “r5apex.exe” and click on “Properties“.
3. Inside the game properties, click on the “Compatibility” tab and check the “Run as Administrator” box.
4. Apply your settings.
5. Run the game and check to see if the problem persists.

Solution 3: Avoiding “Minimizing” the game.

With many users, the crashes occurred only if during the game the user pressed “Alt+Tab” in order to switch the tabs in Windows. This is a bug with the Apex Legends, whenever it is opened after minimizing it by pressing “Alt+Tab” it might crash. Therefore, try to avoid using “Alt +Tab” while playing the game and if you do restart in order to avoid crashing while playing the game.

Solution 4: Verifying Game Files.

It is possible that some important files from the game might be missing. The game needs all the files in order for all of its elements to function correctly. Therefore, in this step, we will be checking to see if all the game files are present. For that:

1. Open the Origin client and sign in to your account
2. Click on “Game Library” option on the left pane.

   

3. Inside the “Game Library” tab, right-click on “Apex Legends” and select “Repair Game”

   

4. The client will begin to verify the game files.
5. Once done, it will automatically download any missing files and replace the corrupted files if any.
6. Run the game and check to see if the problem persists.

Solution 5: Uninstall Visual C++ Redistributable Packages

Since we can often blame Windows update for this problem, it’s quite possible that the version of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable installed alongside the game is simply not valid and you may want to actually install it manually. Also, other programs install Visual C++ Redistributable on their own and it’s possible that these versions don’t get along very well.

1. Click the Start menu button and open Control Panel by searching for right there. Also, you can click on the gear-shaped icon in order to open the Settings app if your OS is Windows 10
2. In Control Panel, switch the View as option to Category at the top right corner and click on Uninstall a Program under the Programs section at the bottom of the Control panel window.

3. If you are using the Settings app on Windows 10, just clicking on Apps should immediately open a list of all installed programs on your PC.
4. Locate Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Package in Control Panel or Settings and click on Uninstall after clicking it once. You might notice that there are several different versions of the utility. You will need to make note of them and repeat the uninstalling process for each one of them.
5. You may need to confirm some dialog boxes and follow the instructions which will appear along with the uninstallation wizard.

6. Click Finish when the uninstaller finishes with the process and repeat the uninstalling process for all versions of the Visual C++ Package.
7. Open Origin by double-clicking its icon and navigate to Game Library menu which should be located at the left pane on the screen.

8. Click on the Apex Legends icon at the Game Library, right-click the gear icon next to the orange Play button and choose Repair option from the context menu. Let it finish with its process and check to see if the problem still appears!

Solution 6: Increasing Virtual Memory

This particular method has helped plenty of users solve their issue almost instantly. No matter how much RAM you have, adding some page file memory might help you solve the problem as the game’s high-quality setting sometimes needs that extra push it might need by reserving some space on your hard drive to be used as additional RAM memory.

1. Right-click on the This PC entry which can usually be found on your Desktop or in your File Explorer. Choose the Properties option.

2. Click on the “Advanced system settings” button at the right of the window and navigate to the Advanced Under the Performance section, click on Settings and navigate to the Advanced tab of this window.

3. Under the Virtual memory section, click on Change. If the checkbox next to the “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives” option is chosen, uncheck it and choose the partition or drive where you wish to store the paging file memory.
4. After you have selected the correct disc, click on the radio button next to custom size and choose the Initial and Maximum The rule of thumb to solve the problem with this error is to allocate two gigabytes extra than you already used.

5. Make sure you set the initial and maximum size to the same value to avoid major changes. Check to see if Apex Legends keeps crashing!

Solution 7: Disable GameDVR Using the Registry

GameDVR is a feature built into Windows and it can definitely have its impact on your gaming performance. It’s possible to disable it using the Registry Editor but note that you will have to be careful to follow the instructions carefully in order not to make your system unstable. Follow the instructions below!

1. Since you are going to delete a registry key, we recommend you check out this article we have published for you to safely backup your registry to prevent other problems. Still, nothing wrong will occur if you follow the steps carefully and correctly.
2. Open the Registry Editor window by typing “regedit” in either the search bar, the Start menu, or the Run dialog box which can be accessed with the Windows Key + R key combination. Navigate to the following key in your registry by navigating at the left pane:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\GameConfigStore

3. Click on this key and try to locate an entry named GameDVR_Enabled. Right-click on it, and choose the Modify option from the context menu.

4. In the Edit window, under the Value data section change the value to 0 and apply the changes you have made. Confirm any security dialogs which may appear during this process. Next, you will need to navigate to this location in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

5. Once you get there, right-click on the Windows key at the navigation bar and choose New >> Key. Name it GameDVR. Navigate to it and create a new DWORD Value entry called AllowGameDVR by right-clicking at the right side of the window and choosing New >> DWORD (32-bit) Value. Right-click on it, and choose the Modify option from the context menu.
6. In the Edit window, under the Value data section change the value to 0 and apply the changes you have made.

   

7. You can now manually restart your computer by clicking Start menu >> Power button >> Restart and check to see if the problem is gone. This will effectively disable GameDVR so check to see if Apex Legends keeps crashing!

Solution 8: Updating Graphics Drivers.

In some cases, the graphics card drivers on the system are old and outdated. As Apex Legends is a newly released game it might malfunction if you are using drivers that don’t support it. Therefore, in this step, we are going to update the graphics card drivers and for that:

For Nvidia Users:

1. Click on the Search bar on the left-hand side of the taskbar
   

   

2. Type in Geforce Experience and press enter
3. Click on the first icon to open the application
   

   

4. After signing in, Click on the “Drivers” option on the top left.
5. In that Tab, Click on the “Check for Updates” option on the top right
6. After that, the application will check if new updates are available

   

7. If the updates are available a “Download” button will appear
   

   

8. Once you click on that the driver will begin to download
9. After the Driver is downloaded the application will give you the option for “Express” or “Custom” installation.
10. Click on the “Express” installation option and the Driver will automatically be installed
11. After the installation is completed, run the game and check to see if the problem persists.

Note: If this issue still persists, it is recommended that you try to roll-back your graphics drivers.

For AMD Users:

1. Right–Click on the Desktop and select AMD Radeon Settings
   

   

2. In the Settings, click on Updates in the lower right corner
   

   

3. Click on “Check For Updates”
   

   

4. If a new update is available a new option will appear
5. Click on the option and select Update
   

   

6. The AMD installer will start, click on Upgrade when the installer prompts you to
   

7. The installer will now get the package ready, check all the boxes and click on Install
   

8. This will now download the new driver and install it automatically
9. Restart your computer and try to run the game.

Solution 9: Disable Origin Overlay

In some cases, the Origin Overlay can trigger a bug with the game and cause it to crash in the middle of the match. Therefore, in this step, we will be disabling this overlay. For that:

1. Launch Origin and login to your account.
2. Select the “My Game Properties” option from the left tab.
3. Right-click on “Apex Legends” and select “Game Properties”.

   

4. In the general tab, uncheck the “Enable Origin In-game for Apex Legends” option.

   

5. Select “Save” and close out of origin completely.
6. Restart Origin and login to your account.
7. Run the game and check to see if the issue persists.

Note: It is also recommended to completely disable your Antivirus for a while and check to see if the game runs fine. Also, try closing Discord and check if the issue goes away since Discord is causing crashes for some people.

Solution 10: Settings Max FPS

Some users have reported that setting the game’s max fps to 60 has helped them overcome the frequent crashes and now their game runs more stable. Therefore, in this step, we will be setting the game’s max fps to 60. For that:

1. Launch Origin and sign in to your account.
2. Click on the “My Game Library” option and then right-click on “Apex Legends”.
3. Select “Game Properties” and then click on the “Advanced Launch Options”.

   

4. Type in the following command and press “Save” to set the max fps.

   +fps_max 60

5. Check to see if the issue persists.