Fix: Grand Theft Auto V Crashes on Startup

Grand Theft Auto V is an action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released in September 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in November 2014 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and in April 2015 for Microsoft Windows.

However, quite recently a lot of reports have been coming in of the game crashing at startup. This error persists whether you try to launch the game directly or even through the launcher. In this article, we will tell you some of the reasons due to which this error can be triggered and provide you with viable solutions to solve the problem.

What Causes the GTA V to Crash At Startup?

Unfortunately, the cause of the error cannot be specified but according to our reports some of the most common causes were:

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

Solution 1: Verifying Game Files.

It is possible that the game might be missing certain files or some files might have been corrupted. The game does not launch properly if certain files of the game are missing. Therefore, in this step, we are going to be verifying the game files and make certain that the game files are complete.

This process differs for the Steam Versions and the non-Steam versions of the game

For Non-Steam Versions:

1. Press  “Windows+R” buttons on your keyboard.

   

2. Type “cmd” in the Run and press enter
3. Now Type “cd c:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto V” and press Enter
   Note: If you have installed the game to a different directory type the address of the game installation folder.

   

4. Now type ” GTAVLauncher.exe-verify” and press Enter
5. The game launcher will now open and begin to verify the game files.
6. After the files are verified try to run the game

For Steam Versions: 

1. Launch Steam and sign in to your account
2. Go into the library section and Right–Click on the game

   

3. Select Properties
4. After that Click on the Local Files option and click on the “Verify the integrity of Game Cache” option

   

5. This will take some time to verify after it is done try to run the game

Solution 2: Updating Graphics Drivers.

Sometimes, if the graphics card drivers are not up to date it can cause issues with certain elements of the game thus resulting in frequent crashes and even causing issues with the startup. Therefore, we will be updating the graphics drivers to the latest ones in order to eradicate this issue.

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. Now try to Run the game

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

   

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 3: Increasing Virtual memory

There is a virtual memory on every hard disk partition. This virtual memory acts as a temporary RAM and processes the information before sending it to the RAM. If this memory is low it can cause frequent crashes or even cause issues with the startup. Therefore, in this step, we will be increasing the virtual memory for which

1. Press the “Windows+R” buttons to open up the Run Prompt
2. Type “systempropertiesadvanced” in the Run Prompt.

   

3. Under the Performance heading, click on “Settings”

   

4. Now in the Performance Options, click on the “Change” option under the “Advanced” Tab

   

5. Uncheck the “Automatically Manage Page Filing for All Drives” option

   

6. Check the “Set Manually” box and type in “4096” in the “Initial Size” option and “8192” in the “Final size” option.

   

7. Click on “OK” and Apply your Settings
8. Restart your computer for the settings to take effect and try to run the game