Fix: Left 4 Dead 2 Game Keep Crashing on Startup on PC

Valve Corporation has released a multiplayer horror-based survival video game called Left 4 Dead 2 which is a sequel to Left 4 Dead. The game was initially released back in 2009 only for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 platforms. Later it became available for Macintosh OS, and Linux platforms. However, some Windows users have started reporting for a while that after receiving the latest patch updates, more & more bugs or errors occurring to the Left 4 Dead 2 game. Here we’ve shared the possible steps to fix the Left 4 Dead 2 Game keep crashing issue.

It’s not new for Windows users as most of the games and especially multiplayer games are showing multiple issues or bugs that most PC players can’t expect. Luckily, all of these common issues can be fixed easily by following some of the possible workarounds below by yourself. Just make sure a couple of the easiest and most common things before heading over to the troubleshooting guide.

First of all, ensure that the Windows OS and graphics drivers are updated to the latest version. You can check for the installed game files and turn off the anti-virus program as well. Additionally, make sure to check whether the PC configuration is compatible with the Left 4 Dead 2 game requirements or not.

Why Does Left 4 Dead 2 Keep Crashing?

It seems that there may be a couple of reasons behind the game crashing that you need to know first. Such as:

Windows OS or graphics drivers are outdated.
Windows Firewall or Antivirus program is blocking the game to run.
An outdated game version or the client version.
An outdated DirectX version.
Corrupted or missing game files.
Any overlay app is running in the background.

Minimum System Requirements:

OS: Windows 7 32/64-bit / Vista 32/64 / XP
Processor: Pentium 4 3.0GHz
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: Video card with 128 MB, Shader model 2.0. ATI X800, NVidia 6600 or better
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Storage: 13 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card

Recommended System Requirements:

OS: Windows 7 32/64-bit / Vista 32/64 / XP
Processor: Intel core 2 duo 2.4GHz
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: Video Card Shader model 3.0. NVidia 7600, ATI X1600 or better
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Storage: 13 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card

How to fix Left 4 Dead 2 Game Crashing issue

Now, without wasting any more time, let’s jump into the steps below. Keep in mind that both the Nvidia and AMD graphics drivers are well optimized for the Left 4 Dead 2 game. So, if in case, you haven’t updated your graphics driver yet, do this first.

1. Update Graphics Drivers

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

2. Disable Steam Overlay

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

3. Adjust Discord Settings

Launch Discord > Click on User Settings.
Select Voice & Video from the left sidebar.
Scroll down a bit and click on the 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.

4. 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

5. 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 Method to 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

6. Verify Game Files via Steam Client

The Left 4 Dead 2 gamers on Steam can follow the below steps:

Open the Steam Library by logging into the account.
You can find the Left 4 Dead 2 game here.
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.

8. 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 causing 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 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).

9. 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.
Some times some of the temporary files can’t be deleted. So, leave them as it is and close it.

10. Set Default CPU and Graphics Speed

As 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 increased 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 Left 4 Dead 2 game and check if the problem is fixed or not.

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