CS2 Crashes on Startup: 7 Fixes
If CS2 opens and then dies — a window flashes, you reach the menu and it closes, or Windows reports "cs2.exe has stopped working" — this guide is for you. (If nothing at all happens when you press Play, see CS2 not launching instead; a permanently black window is covered in the black screen fix.) The fixes below are ordered by success rate, starting with Valve's official repair steps.
Verify game files first (Steam → CS2 → Properties → Installed Files → Verify), then remove all custom launch options and clear the shader cache. If it still crashes, delete cs2_video.txt to reset video settings, clean-install your GPU driver, and disable Discord/GeForce/RivaTuner overlays.
Fix 1: Verify Integrity of Game Files
A crashed download or disk error leaves CS2 with corrupted files, and the engine dies loading them. Right-click CS2 → Properties → Installed Files → Verify integrity of game files. Steam re-downloads anything that fails the check. This is the safest first step and fixes a large share of post-update startup crashes.
Fix 2: Remove Custom Launch Options
Old CS:GO launch options and forum-copied strings are a frequent crash source — Source 2 doesn't support many legacy flags. Right-click CS2 → Properties → Launch Options and clear the box entirely. If the game starts clean, re-add options one at a time from our launch options optimizer, which only includes flags that are valid in CS2.
Fix 3: Clear the Shader Cache
A corrupted shader cache crashes CS2 during the loading screen. Two layers to clear:
- Steam's cache: Steam → Settings → Downloads → toggle "Enable Shader Pre-Caching" off and on, or delete the
steamapps/shadercache/730folder inside your Steam library. - Driver cache: NVIDIA — delete the contents of
%LOCALAPPDATA%\NVIDIA\DXCache; AMD — use the "Reset shader cache" button in Adrenalin's graphics settings.
Expect brief shader-compilation stutter on the next launch while the cache rebuilds — that's normal.
Fix 4: Reset Video Settings (Delete cs2_video.txt)
If the crash started after changing monitors, resolutions, or display modes, your saved video config is pointing at a mode your system can't set. Navigate to Steam\userdata\<your-steam-id>\730\local\cfg\ and rename cs2_video.txt to cs2_video.bak. CS2 regenerates safe defaults on next launch. You can also force a known-good mode via launch options: -windowed -w 1280 -h 720.
Fix 5: Clean-Install Your GPU Driver
Startup crashes spike after game updates that assume newer driver features. Update to the latest NVIDIA or AMD driver with the clean-install option checked. If you recently updated and the crashes began then, roll back one version — driver regressions happen, and the previous release is a valid fix until the next one.
Fix 6: Disable Overlays and Injectors
Everything that injects code into cs2.exe is a potential crash: Discord overlay, GeForce Experience/NVIDIA App overlay, MSI Afterburner/RivaTuner, Overwolf apps, and even the Steam overlay itself (Steam → Settings → In Game). Disable all of them and test. RivaTuner Statistics Server in particular has a long history of crashing new game builds until it's updated.
Fix 7: Test Without Overclocks, Then Reinstall
Disable GPU overclocks and RAM XMP/EXPO profiles in BIOS — Source 2 is stricter about memory stability than most games. If the game only crashes overclocked, walk your settings back. As the true last resort, uninstall CS2, delete the leftover steamapps/common/Counter-Strike Global Offensive folder, and reinstall fresh.
Crashing on every launch after all seven fixes usually means a system-level problem. Check Windows Event Viewer (Windows Logs → Application) for the crash module — a faulting module like nvwgf2umx.dll points back at the GPU driver, ntdll.dll at Windows itself. Attach that detail to a ticket at Steam Support.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why does CS2 crash immediately after launching?
- The most common causes are corrupted game files after an update, a stale shader cache, broken video settings from a monitor or driver change, an outdated GPU driver, or a third-party overlay injecting into the game. Verifying game files and clearing the shader cache fixes the majority of cases.
- Where are CS2 video settings stored so I can reset them?
- CS2 stores video settings in cs2_video.txt under Steam/userdata/<your-steam-id>/730/local/cfg/. Rename or delete that file and CS2 regenerates default video settings on the next launch — the standard fix for crashes caused by a bad resolution or display mode.
- Can overclocking make CS2 crash on startup?
- Yes. Unstable CPU, RAM (XMP/EXPO), or GPU overclocks cause crashes in Source 2 that other games tolerate. If you crash randomly at launch or during map load, test with all overclocks and XMP disabled before deeper troubleshooting.