Fix Genshin Impact Crashing at Startup, Won’t Launch, or Lags with FPS drops

Developer and Publisher miHoYo developed a new free-to-play RPG called Genshin Impact in September 2020. The game is available for Android & iOS mobile operating systems, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo Switch. If you’re one of the victims of the Genshin Impact Crashing issue at Startup, Won’t Launch, or Lags with FPS drops, then follow this troubleshooting guide below.

With every day, the game becomes more popular, and the ratings are quite positive as well. However, we can’t deny that the game has some bugs or errors that most of the PC players are experiencing either during startup or during the gameplay. It’s needless to say that almost every video game does come with multiple errors or bugs that plenty of players can experience.

Even after the patch fix update, some games become more buggy or unstable as new bugs, or errors replace the older ones, which feels unbearable. Most importantly, if you’re a Windows user, the chances of getting video game bugs or errors become more vibrant than on other gaming platforms. Luckily, we’ve mentioned a couple of possible workarounds that should help you.

Why Does Genshin Impact Keep Crashing?

In most cases, there can be some reasons behind the startup crashing issue of the Genshin Impact video game on the PC. So, check out the possible reasons below to find out what you need to check or consider:

Recommended System Requirements:

Operating System: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64bit versions only)
CPU: Intel Core i7 (equivalent) or higher
RAM: 16 GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB and higher
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 30 GB of available space

2. Update Graphics Drivers

Remember that both the Nvidia and AMD graphics drivers are well-optimized for the Genshin Impact game. So, if in case, you haven’t updated your graphics driver yet, do this first.

Press Windows + X keys to open the Quick Link Menu.
Now, click on Device Manager from the list > Double-click on Display adapters.
Right-click on the dedicated graphics card that’s active.

Next, select Update driver > Choose to Search automatically for drivers.
If an update is available, the system will automatically download & install it.
Once done, restart the computer to apply changes.

If you’re using the Nvidia graphics card, update the GeForce Experience app on your PC from the official site here. But if you’re using your system’s AMD graphics card, update the latest AMD Drivers from here.

3. Run the game as an Administrator

Sometimes running the program without having administrator access on your PC may occur several issues with the program launching or crashing. It’s always recommended to give the administrator access If you’re not running your video game using an administrator privilege, it may cause issues with the game launching or startup crashing or even the game not loading, etc. So, running the game exe file as an administrator on your Windows computer is better to check whether that fixes the problem. To do so:

Right-click on the Genshin Impact exe shortcut file on your PC.
Now, select Properties > Click on the Compatibility tab.

Make sure to click on the Run this program as an administrator checkbox to checkmark it.
Click on Apply and select OK to save changes.

4. Disable Steam Overlay

Open Steam on your Windows.
Head over to the Settings> Click on the In-Game
Click on the checkbox to disable “Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game“.
Once the checkbox mark is removed, click on OK.

5. Adjust Discord Settings

Launch Discord > Click on User Settings.
Select Voice & Video from the left sidebar.
Scroll down a bit and click on Advanced.
Next, disable OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco System, Inc.
Then disable Enable Quality of Service High Packet Priority.
Now, go to Overlay.
You can also turn off the in-game overlay.
Next, head over to Appearance.
Go to Advanced.
Disable Hardware Acceleration.
Once done, restart the system.

6. Adjust Nvidia Control Panel Settings

Click on Adjust image settings with preview under 3D settings.
Select Use the advanced 3D image settings.
Next, launch the Nvidia Control Panel.
Click on Manage 3D settings> Go to Global Settings.
Additionally, you can also adjust some of the other options:
- Disable Image Sharpening
- Enable Threaded Optimization
- Use Maximum Performance for Power Management
- Turn off Low Latency Mode
- Set Texture Filtering Quality to Performance mode

7. Change AMD Control Panel Settings

Go to Global Graphics.
- Turn off Radeon Anti-Lag
- Turn off Radeon Boost
- Use Application settings for Anti-Aliasing Mode
- Set Anti-aliasing Methodto Multi-sampling
- Turn off Morphological Filtering
- Disable Image Sharpening
- Turn off Anisotropic Filtering
- Use Performance mode for Texture Filtering Quality
- You can also enable Surface Format Optimization
- AMD Optimization for the Tesselation Mode
- Wait for V-sync– Turn it off
- Use AMD optimization for the Shader Cache
- Disable OpenGL Triple Buffering
- Turn off Maximum Tesselation Level
- Set Graphics for the GPU Workload
- Turn off the Radeon Chill
- Disable Frame Rate Target Control

8. Verify Game Files

It’s always a better idea to verify and repair the Genshin Impact game files on the launcher by following the steps below:

For Steam Client:

Open the Steam Library by logging into the account
You can find the Genshin Impact game there
Right-click on the game and click on Properties
Select the Local Files tab
Then click on Verify Integrity of game files
Wait for the process and then restart the game to check whether the issue has been fixed or not

For Epic Games Launcher:

Open the Epic Games Launcher > Now, click on the ‘Library’ tab.
Find the Genshin Impact game and click on the 3 dots icon menu.
Click on ‘Verify’ and wait for the launcher to start verifying the game files.
Once it’s done, make sure to launch the game and check if the problem has been fixed or not.

9. Uninstall Recent Windows 10 Update

A couple of days ago, Microsoft has released a new update for Windows 10 with KB4535996. So, this particular cumulative update for Windows 10 is quite buggy and causes so many errors or problems.

Go to Start menu > Click on Settings
Next, go to Update and Security
Click on View update history
Now, if you can see that there is an update having KB4535996 has been already installed. Make sure to uninstall it.
Here you will see the Uninstall updates option on the top of the page.
Click on it and select the mentioned cumulative update version.
Right-click on it > Select Uninstall.
It may take some time to delete that update and your system may restart automatically.
Have some patience and you can also manually reboot your Windows PC (if required).

10. Remove Temporary Files

Press Windows key + R on your keyboard to open the RUN program.
Now, type %temp% and press enter.
You will get a bunch of temporary files on a page.
Select all files by pressing Ctrl + A on the keyboard.
Next, press Shift + Delete on the keyboard to remove all the files.
Sometimes some of the temporary files can’t be deleted. So, leave them as it is and close it.

11. Set Default CPU and Graphics Speed

Most of the users always want to use ultra-high performance from the CPU and GPU from the very first day. So, most of the users either buy an overclocked version or manually increase the overclocking speed. So, if you’ve also overclocked your GPU speed and after doing that you’re experiencing bottleneck or lagging or crashing-related issues, just set it to default mode.

You can also use the MSI Afterburner tool or Zotac firestorm application in order to lower the clocking speed. Once done, you can run the Genshin Impact game to check whether it’s crashing at startup or not.

12. Install All Pending Windows Updates

It may possible that somehow any of the Windows bugs or system files conflict with the game to run it properly. Sometimes an incompatibility issue can also take place when you didn’t update the software for a while. So, make sure to install all the pending Windows updates one by one and keep it to the latest OS build whatsoever. To do that:

Press Windows + I keys to open up the Windows Settings menu.
Next, click on Update & Security > Select Check for updates under the Windows Update section.

If there is a feature update available, select Download and install.
Wait for some time until the update gets completed.
Finally, reboot your PC to apply changes immediately.

13. Disable Antivirus and Firewall Program

Click on the Start menu > Type Control Panel and click on it.
Now, type firewall in the search box > Click on Windows Firewall.
From the left pane, click on Turn Windows Firewall on or off.
Make sure to select Turn off Windows Firewall for the Private, Domain, and Public Network Settings.
Finally, reboot the PC to apply changes, and try checking the issue.

Now, you’ll have to disable the anti-virus protection (Windows Defender) as well by following the steps below:

Head over to the Windows Settings > Privacy and Security.
Now, go to Windows Security > Virus & threat protection.
Click on Manage settings >Then turn off the Real-time Protection option.
Once done, make sure to reboot your PC to apply changes.

If in case, you’re using any third-party antivirus program then make sure to turn it off manually.

14. Update DirectX

Sometimes issues with the DirectX version on your Windows computer can trigger startup crashing or not launching the program issues whatsoever. If you’re not sure which DirectX version has been installed on your PC then follow the steps below to easily update it. Even if DirectX isn’t installed, this process will install DirectX easily.

First of all, head over to the official Microsoft website to download the DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer on your PC.
Next, open up the DXSETUP in the directory the game is already installed.
Check whether the DXSETUP file is present there or not.
If present, double-click on the DXSETUP.exe file and install the DirectX properly.
Once done, restart your computer and relaunch the Genshin Impact game to check for the white screen issue.

15. Perform a Clean Boot

Press Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Now, type msconfig and hit Enter to open the System Configuration window.
Go to the Services tab > Enable the Hide all Microsoft services checkbox.

Click on Disable all.
Click on Apply and then OK to save changes.
Now, click on the Startup tab > Click on Open Task Manager.
Under the Startup tab from the Task Manager interface, click on the particular tasks which are enabled for startup boot > Click on Disable.
Make sure to select the high-impact startup programs and disable them one by one.
Once all is done, restart your PC to apply changes.
Finally, check whether the Genshin Impact crashing or Won’t Launch on PC issue has been fixed or not.

16. Close Background Processes

Press the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys to open Task Manager.
Click on the Processes tab > Select the task that you want to close.

Once selected, click on End Task. Make sure to do the steps for each task individually.
Once done, just restart your computer to change effects immediately.

That’s it. We hope this guide was useful to you. You can comment below for any queries.

Fix Genshin Impact Crashing at Startup, Won’t Launch, or Lags with FPS drops

Why Does Genshin Impact Keep Crashing?