Fix Valheim Crashing, Crash at Startup, Won’t Launch, Stuck at Loading

As there are several reason that can cause Valheim crash at startup, won’t launch, and not loading issues, ensure that you follow all the steps one at a time until the issue has been resolved.

Resolution of the game

One of the main reasons you could be having this crashing of the game is when the resolution of the game does not match your screens supported resolution. Either ensure that the game’s resolution is the same as the monitor’s or try to play the game in Windowed mode. If Valheim crashes at startup and you are unable to view the menu, you can try changing the game’s resolution from the config file of the game. It should be located in the Steam folder in C drive.

Other way you can launch the game in Windowed mode is via the commend line on Steam. Here are the steps you need to follow.

Launch the Steam client
Go to Libraries and locate Valheim. Right-click on the game and select Properties
Click on the General tab and click on SET LAUNCH OPTIONS
In the field type or paste

-windowed –noborder

Press Ok and exit

That should hopefully fix the not launching problem with Valheim. If not, try other solutions.

If the above fix does not work to resolve the crash set another Steam launch option and see if that makes a difference.

-screen-width 1920 -screen-height 1080

Once you have done the above, you will need to scale the Scale GUI. It can be done from the Misc tab in the Settings Menu. So, boot the game and go to settings and Scale GUI as per your preference.

Change the GPU Settings from the control panel

At the time of writing, you can try to set the Antialiasing – Mode to Application Controlled from the NVidia Control Panel. But, after a few days we will update the post if there is specific settings of the GPU that could be causing problems launching the game. Follow the path to change the settings – NVIDIA Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings > Select the Game under 1 > Select the preferred GPU to NVidia under 2 > Set Antialiasing – Mode to Application-controlled and Shader Cache to Off.

Play the game on default settings

After you install the game, don’t tweak the settings just yet. And if the crash at startup started after changing the settings of the game, that is probably the cause of the crash. We suggest that you play the game on default settings and meddle with the settings one at a time, so if something goes wrong you know the settings that caused the problem. Also try to play the game at the lower or medium settings if you can make it to the menu.

Update or Disable Mods

Another reason for the game crashing could be outdated mods. If you have not updated the mods in a while Valheim can crash. You can either disable all mods or update them. To test if the problem is due to the mods, browse the local folders fro the game and locate BepInEx folder. You can delete this folder, but for testing, you can rename it to say – BepInEx 1. Now, attempt to launch the game. If the game runs, the issue is with the mods. If you want the mods back simply rename the file back to the original.

Update the graphics card or sound drivers

If the GPU drivers are outdated or corrupt, it can lead to Vahleim crash at startup and crash to desktop. But, we often fail to pay attention to sound card drivers. If you have installed an external or internal sound card that requires additional drivers besides the ones installed with Windows update, you will have to update the sound card drivers as well. Both NVidia and AMD regularly release driver update to provide day-one support for games. Check the respective GPU manufacturer’s website for a recent driver update. For NVidia users, if the game crashes on Game Ready Driver, try the Studio Drivers.

Run Valheim after clean boot

Often games crash due to third-party software either interfering with the game’s process or consuming too many resources on the system. We will start the system in a clean boot environment with only the essential components to run the OS. Here are the steps you can follow:

Press Windows Key + R and type msconfig, hit Enter
Go to the Services tab
Check Hide all Microsoft services
Now, click Disable all
Go to the Startup tab and click on Open Task Manager
Disable one task at a time and restart the system.

Once the PC boots up again, launch the game and check if the crashing problem still occurs. If it does, proceed to the next solution.

Update or reinstall DirectX files

Another reason Valheim crashes on startup or is not launching is the corruption of the DirectX installation. If there is a problem with DirectX, the game won’t launch and as soon as you try to launch it, the game will crash. To fix the issue, you need to update the DirectX to the most recent version. Follow the link to download the latest DirectX.

Disable overclocking or turbo boosting

If you are using third-party software like MSI Afterburner to overclock the CPU or GPU, it will be disabled when we launched the game after a clean boot, but certain overclocking or turbo boosting features need to be disabled from the BIOS. Ensure that the game runs without overclocking as it can cause the Valheim crashing at startup.

Go to the computers BIOS settings and disable the ‘Intel Turbo Booster’ if you have it enabled. To prevent the game from crashing, you should reset the CPU and GPU to chipset manufacturer specifications.

Repair corrupt game files

When the game files are corrupt, the game will crash, either at startup or mid-game. Steam has a feature that can repair corrupt game files. It’s quicker than reinstalling the entire game. Here are the steps you can follow.

Launch the Steam Client > go to Library > right-click Valheim > Properties > Go to Local Files > click on Verify Integrity of Game Files

Wait for the process to complete and check if Valheim crashes at startup, won’t launch, not starting issues still occurs.

Disable Steam Overlay

If the game crashes right after the intro video, the cause of the problem can be the Steam Overlay. This feature has been known to act up with some games. You can resolve the error by disabling the Steam Overlay. Launch Steam client. Click on Library and right-click on Valheim. Select Properties and uncheck Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game.

Reboot Steam and check if the in-game crash or Valheim crash at startup still occurs. If the problem still persists, disable the GeForce Experience and Discord Overlay.

That’s all we have in this guide, we hope that the Valheim crash at startup, won’t launch, not loading issues are resolved. We will update the post when we know about specific settings or devices that are vulnerable to the problem. Meanwhile, you can let us know of other solutions or your problems in the comments.