Why Is Destiny 2 Crashing My PC?

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Last updated on November 19, 2021

You’ve just loaded up Destiny 2 onto your PC, and you’ve started on your first quest when your PC freezes. By this point, you were already midway into the game, and you’ve started racking up kills, collecting bounties, and picking up loots. Now you’re stuck mid-game, with no way to get out of this mess. What could have possibly gone wrong?

The most common causes for Destiny 2 crashing your PC can be attributed to missing and corrupted installation files. Having insufficient memory on your PC can also be another cause for Destiny 2 crashing. The firewall or antivirus software on your PC can also be causing Destiny 2 to crash.

The gaming rig that you thought would handle any high-resolution graphics is now stuck, and your GPU is beginning to overheat. As frustrating and irritating as this can be for you as a gamer, there are some quick and easy fixes to remedy the issue of Destiny 2 crashing your PC. 

How Do I Fix Destiny 2 Crashing On PC?

Power icon on a computer.

The first thing you can try to do to resolve this issue is to reboot your PC the first time you encounter this problem. By restarting your PC, you are “flushing” out your PC’s memory and freeing up more memory for your game to run. 

If you have restarted your PC and you’ve resumed the game, and it crashes your PC again, then there are other steps that you can follow to remedy this issue. 

You can also disable any firewalls and antivirus programs installed on your PC, as this can block your game from running and prevent it from running optimally. If you have overclocking enabled on your PC, disabling this can also help your game run faster and prevent the game from crashing.

When you have missing or corrupted game installation files, this could also cause Destiny 2 to crash, which can also be very easily remedied. From within the Steam client, open up the “Library” tab, Right-click on your Destiny 2 game, and select Properties. From the “Local Files” tab, click on “Verify Integrity of Game Files.” 

Once you have selected this option, Steam will run a detect and perform a repair on the game’s installation and attempt to fix any corrupted installation files. When this is completed, it is advisable to restart your PC again and then open up Destiny 2 and resume your gameplay.

When this fix does not work, the next thing that you can try is to update your Graphics card software, also known as “device drivers.” To do this, you can browse your graphics card manufacturer’s website and locate the latest software drivers for your Windows Operating System. 

After you have located the correct version of the software drivers you need, you can download the necessary setup files and then run the Setup Wizards that come with the software installation. After the setup completes, you can once again try to run your Destiny 2 game. 

If none of this has worked so far, the other option would be to try to set your game’s execution priority to “High.” And this can be done by accessing Windows Task manager and then navigating to your Task Manager’s “Details” tab. 

In the Details tab, find the appropriate executable file for your Destiny 2 version. When you have the correct file located, you will need to click your Right mouse button, choose “Set Priority,” and select “High” from the menu options. 

This will set your Destiny 2 game to run at a much higher priority than the other applications currently running on your Windows operating system and provide more resources like memory, CPU, and hard disk space for your game to run more smoothly.

When none of the steps I outlined above work, your only option to correct this problem is to uninstall and reinstall your Destiny 2 game. Remember to restart your PC after you have uninstalled the game and once again when you have reinstalled the game. 

This is because some game installation files might still be held within the Windows operating system environment. Restarting your PC will release any files and memory reserved for running your game.

Destiny 2 Crashing On Startup

When your Destiny 2 game is crashing on startup, there are a few steps that you can try to remedy this and prevent it from happening in the future. The first thing that you can try to do is disable your firewalls and any antivirus software currently running. 

Depending on the type and version of antivirus running on your Windows Operating system, this can be done in several ways. It would be advisable to check your Antivirus software website for ways to disable your Antivirus software for your Windows operating system version.

Secondly, there could be other applications running on your PC that are “hogging” your resources and consuming your PC’s memory and CPU/GPU usage. If you have applications like Spotify, Firefox, or Google Chrome browser running while you are gaming, it is advisable to close these down first to free up your PC’s resources.

Setting your Destiny 2 game to a “High” priority can also help your Windows operating system allocate more memory and resources for your game to run more efficiently. It was mentioned in previous sections of this blog on the steps you can follow to prioritize Destiny 2 on your Windows operating system.

Destiny 2 PC Requirements

Sometimes, the laptop or PC you are running Destiny 2 on can be old or outdated, so this can also cause Destiny 2 to crash or run exceptionally slowly. It is advisable to check on the Steam website of Destiny 2 for the minimum and recommended PC requirements. It may be the case that you may need to upgrade your PC’s hardware specifications for you to run your Destiny 2 game smoothly.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Destiny 2 is a very immersive and exciting game to play, with many customizable options to enhance the players’ experience, and thus it requires your PC to be running optimally for the game to run smoothly. Sometimes, fixing a game when it crashes can be as easy as rebooting it once and then re-running it again. 

Drawing of a laptop displaying an error screen.

It could also be more complicated and more involved as tweaking your memory and CPU/GPU settings for it to run optimally again. When none of these steps work, and you have tried everything listed above, you can also check on Steam’s community forums for other possible fixes that you can try. Happy gaming!