Fix: Minecraft keeps Crashing

Minecraft is a sandbox game released in 2011 which allows users to build their world in a 3D environment. This allows players to be extremely creative which is why it became popular for all kinds of age groups. The game quickly gained popularity and is still one of the most played games.

Minecraft game
Minecraft game

Minecraft is heavily dependent on JAVA for its operations since most of its in-game modules are run using the technology. There have also been a series of reports of crashing in Minecraft whenever Java or some other module updated. This is a common issue and nothing to worry about. Check out the solutions listed below.

Why Does Minecraft Crash?

There are several different reasons why Minecraft crashes either on startup or when playing. The game is very diverse and communicates with a lot of processes when running. Furthermore, there can be several hardware reasons as well. Some of the reasons why the game crashes are:

  • Mods installed by third-party vendors might conflict with the mechanics of the game.
  • There can be hardware issues, For example, the video capability set and that which your computer can afford can be a mismatch.
  • Software such as Antivirus might conflict with Minecraft’s running.
  • Doing in-game heavy operations might also crash the game if there isn’t enough processing power.
  • You might have an inefficient memory/RAM to run the game.
  • By pressing F3 + C, you can also manually trigger the crash for debugging. Make sure you are not pressing the key by mistake.

Make sure that you have an active open internet connection and are logged in as an administrator on your computer.

1. Checking Java Runtime Environment

Java not being installed correctly or having errors in its module is one of the leading reasons why Minecraft crashes during the gameplay. Java has a history of malfunctioning or get corrupt whenever a new update releases. We can try reinstalling a fresh version of Java Runtime Environment and see if this does the trick.

  1. Press Windows + R, type “appwiz.cpl” in the dialogue box and press Enter.
    Open Windows Application Manager
  2. Once in the application manager, search for the entry “Java Runtime Environment”, right-click it and select Uninstall.
    Uninstalling Java Runtime on Windows 10
    Uninstalling Java Runtime – Application manager
  1. Now restart your computer and navigate to the official Java website and download the latest version from there. Restart the computer again after the new installation and check if the error message is resolved.

2. Installing the Latest Patches

Minecraft is known to have the problem of crashes for a very long time which is why the development team has officially documented a dedicated page to tackle the issue and provide insights. Patches are released by the software developers to target any major bugs and improve the game.

Latest patch by Minecraft
Latest patch by Minecraft

If you are holding back, it is highly recommended that you install the latest patch of the game from Minecraft’s official website. If you have a 32-bit launcher, you can even try searching for the latest patches from within the launcher.

Also, disable all types of modes installed inside the game. Mods are usually developed by third-party developers and may conflict with the smooth running of Minecraft itself. There are thousands of cases where the game is reported to crash as a result of conflicting mods.

3. Deleting Temporary Data

Every computer application and game has temporary data stored in the computer for the initial set of configurations and user information. This is called temporary because it can be changed by the system whenever you change any setting or user preference. The temporary data of your game may be corrupt or unusable. We can try deleting it and see if this fixes the crashing issue. Make sure that you are logged in as an administrator.

  1. Press Windows + R, type “%appdata%” in the dialogue box and press Enter.
    Open Application Data Folder
  2. Once the folder opens, search for the entry of Minecraft, right-click it and select Delete.
Deleting temporary data
Deleting temporary data
  1. Restart your computer properly, then launch Minecraft and check if the error message has gone away.

4. Change In-Game Settings

Minecraft also has some in-game options to change the style and mechanisms of rendering and running a game. If you have selected modules that place appearance first, your computer might get strained to a point where the game crashes. There are several options that you can change to lower the load on your computer. Check them out.

VBOs (Vertex Buffer Objects) is an OpenGL feature that allows you to upload vertex data to the video device if you don’t want to do the immediate rendering. This feature is known to cause issues in Minecraft. We can try again after disabling these.

  1. Open Settings of your Minecraft and navigate to Video Settings.
Video settings - Minecraft
Video settings – Minecraft
  1. Make sure that the option USE VBOs is set as OFF. Save changes and exit.
Turning VBO Off - Minecraft settings
Turning VBOs Off – Minecraft settings
  1. Restart the game and observe if the issue got resolved. You can also try turning on Vsync from within the settings.

If you are unable to Minecraft even for changing the option as done above, we can manually change the VBO option by editing the configuration file. Follow the steps below:

  1. Navigate to the temporary folder we just delete above in the solution. Open it and search for the txt file options.txt.
  2. Once you have opened the file in a text editor, change the line
useVbo: true

to

useVbo: false.
Turning VBOs off using config file
Turning VBOs off using the config file
  1. Save changes and exit. Restart your computer and check if the issue got resolved.

If your game keeps crashing in the middle when playing, we can try changing the JVM arguments passed. These are enabled by default in some cases but have a mistake of a single letter. This enables users having less capable graphics cards that have the most out of Minecraft.

  1. Open your Minecraft and click on Edit profile present at the bottom left side of the screen.
  2. Now make sure that JVM Arguments is checked. Now at the beginning of the argument, change the first parameter from ‘-Xmx1G’ to ‘-Xmx2G’. Save changes and exit.
Changing JVM arguments
Changing JVM arguments
  1. Now try launching Minecraft and see if this fixes the issue.

5. Reinstalling Minecraft

If all the above methods don’t work, you can proceed and reinstall the entire game. Do note that this might erase your User data unless it is saved against your profile or you have backed it up. You can also copy the user data folder from the game’s directory to another location.

Downloading latest Minecraft
Downloading latest Minecraft

Uninstall Minecraft using the application like we uninstalled Java and restart your computer properly before proceeding to download and install a fresh copy. Make sure that you have your credentials available as they will be needed for the download at the site.

6. Update Graphics Card Driver:

Like any other video game, Minecraft uses GPU to show the video output. If you are using an outdated version of the Graphics card driver, then it can result in the crashing of Minecraft. In that case, updating your Graphics card driver to the latest built can solve the problem.

  1. Right-click on the Start menu, in the resulting menu, click on Device Manager.
    Open Device Manager
  2. Expand Display adapters.
  3. Right-click on the video card and then click on Update driver.
    Update Graphics Driver
  4. Then, choose Search automatically for updated driver software.
    Search Automatically for Software Update
  5. Now restart your system and check if Minecraft is functioning normally. You can also visit your video/graphics card manufacturer’s website for an updated version of the drivers. You can also try to update Windows to the latest build to check if that helps.

7. Disabling Game Mode & Game Bar

The game mode can also be an issue in this scenario as there are multiple users who reported that, disabling Game Mode fixed the Crashing issue for them. Keep in mind that this has more chances to work with the Java edition of Minecraft, you will have to disable Game mode from the game bar as well if you are using Microsoft Store edition. Follow these steps, to disable the Game Bar Properly:-

  1. Press and hold the Windows key then press the I key to open the Windows Settings app.
  2. Now head over to the “Gaming” section.
    Windows’s settings game section
  3. Now in the tab named “Game Mode” & the tab named “Game Bar” disable both of the options.
    Disabling Xbox Game Bar
    Disabling Game Mode

If none of these methods have worked for you so far and you are using Windows 10 Store Edition of Minecraft, it’s highly recommended to download the Java edition of the game as a lot of users reported it’s more stable and better performance-wise instead over Windows 10 edition because Windows 10 APPX Packages don’t utilize the resources as efficiently as the executable version such as Java edition of Minecraft.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kevin Arrows


Kevin Arrows is a highly experienced and knowledgeable technology specialist with over a decade of industry experience. He holds a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certification and has a deep passion for staying up-to-date on the latest tech developments. Kevin has written extensively on a wide range of tech-related topics, showcasing his expertise and knowledge in areas such as software development, cybersecurity, and cloud computing. His contributions to the tech field have been widely recognized and respected by his peers, and he is highly regarded for his ability to explain complex technical concepts in a clear and concise manner.