Destiny 2 Crashing on PC: Fix BROCCOLI, MARMOT and CTDs

Destiny 2 crashing on PC usually comes down to three things Bungie names itself: a graphics driver crash (error code BROCCOLI), corrupted game files (error code MARMOT), or an overlay or capture tool trying to hook into the game, which Destiny 2 is designed to block. Update Windows and your GPU driver, verify the game files, and turn off overlays — in that order — before trying anything else. Match what you see in the table below and work only that section.

Match the crash to the fix

What you see	Most likely cause	Go to
Error code BROCCOLI	Graphics driver crash; the game lost the GPU	Fix 1
Error code MARMOT	Corrupted game files	Fix 2
Crash or poor performance with Discord, OBS, RTSS or a recording app open	An overlay or capture hook Destiny 2 blocks	Fix 3
Crash on launch after changing settings, or settings that won’t stick	A bad CVARS.xml	Fix 4
Windows Defender flags or quarantines Destiny 2 files	A false positive on old virus definitions	Fix 5
Crash to desktop with no code, other games fine	Driver, files or a setting your PC can’t sustain	Fixes 1, 2 and 4, then Fix 6
Random crashes in every game, not just Destiny 2	Overclock, undervolt, RAM or CPU instability	Fix 6
BattlEye message, kicked to the menu	Anti-cheat, not a crash	Destiny 2 BattlEye error fix

Fix 1 — BROCCOLI: update or clean-install the graphics driver

Destiny 2 error code BROCCOLI means the game had a problem detecting your graphics card, and Bungie says it is commonly caused by a driver crash. Bungie’s only official fix is to keep Windows and your graphics driver current, so start there:

1. Update Windows through Windows Update and install everything offered, including optional driver updates for your chipset.
2. Install the latest GPU driver directly from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel rather than relying on the one Windows Update supplied.
3. If BROCCOLI keeps coming back on a current driver, do a clean install. Remove the old driver with DDU in Safe Mode, then install a fresh one — the full steps are in how to clean install GPU drivers with DDU.
4. Reset GPU tuning to stock. A GPU overclock or undervolt that passes benchmarks can still crash the driver in Destiny 2. Reset MSI Afterburner, AMD Adrenalin tuning or the NVIDIA app’s automatic tuning to defaults and test again.

If Windows also shows the driver recovering (“Display driver stopped responding and has recovered”), the problem is the driver timing out under load; DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG covers that Windows-level cause in depth.

Fix 2 — MARMOT: verify and repair the game files

Destiny 2 error code MARMOT means the game files are corrupted and need to be verified or repaired. Bungie’s steps:

Steam

1. Close Destiny 2.
2. Right-click Destiny 2 in your Steam Library and choose Properties.
3. Open Installed Files (called Local Files in older Steam versions) and click Verify integrity of game files.
4. Restart Destiny 2.

Epic Games Store: right-click Destiny 2 in your library, choose Manage, then Verify, and restart the game.

If MARMOT comes back, Bungie’s advanced step for Steam is to open the same Installed Files tab, click Browse, delete everything in the Destiny 2 folder except the packages folder, then run Verify integrity of game files again so Steam re-downloads the rest. Keeping packages saves you re-downloading most of the game. If the error still returns, run chkdsk on the drive to rule out disk errors, and as a last resort uninstall and reinstall Destiny 2.

Fix 3 — Turn off overlays and switch capture mode

Destiny 2 is built to resist any third-party app that inserts code into the game client, so overlays and hook-based capture can stop it running properly or cut performance. Bungie’s own compatibility list:

App or feature	Works with Destiny 2?
OBS / XSplit Game Capture mode	No — not supported
OBS / XSplit Window Capture or Screen (Display) Capture	Yes, in windowed or borderless fullscreen
NVIDIA ShadowPlay, AMD ReLive	Yes, including exclusive fullscreen
Capture cards (Elgato, AVerMedia) or a second streaming PC	Yes
Discord / Mumble “who’s talking” in-game overlays	No — the apps work, the overlay doesn’t
Hardware-monitoring overlays (FPS/temperature overlays)	Monitoring works, the in-game overlay is restricted
Dxtory, Razer Cortex, Fraps	Same restrictions as OBS

So: turn off Discord’s in-game overlay and any monitoring overlay, and switch OBS to Window or Display Capture. Bungie says it does not ban players for using common apps such as Discord, XSplit, OBS or RTSS — the issue is stability, not your account. For an FPS readout, use Destiny 2’s built-in FPS counter instead of an overlay.

If you don’t know which background app is hooking the game, a clean boot (disable non-Microsoft startup apps and services, restart, test) isolates it in one go.

Fix 4 — Reset CVARS.xml

Destiny 2 keeps all of its settings in a file called CVARS.xml, and Bungie recommends deleting it when the game has configuration problems. A setting your PC can’t sustain — resolution, frame-rate cap, a display mode your monitor rejects — is enough to crash the game on launch.

1. Close Destiny 2.
2. Press Win + R, paste %APPDATA%\Bungie\DestinyPC\prefs and press Enter. (The full path is C:\Users\<your-name>\AppData\Roaming\Bungie\DestinyPC\prefs.)
3. Rename CVARS.xml to CVARS.old (safer than deleting — you can restore it).
4. Launch Destiny 2. It creates a fresh CVARS.xml with default settings.

Your characters and progress are stored on Bungie’s servers, so they are not affected; only your graphics, audio and control settings reset. CVARS.xml is also where Destiny 2’s frame-rate cap lives — if you edited it by hand, that edit is the first suspect. For capping frame rate the clean way, see how to cap your FPS correctly.

Fix 5 — Windows Defender flags Destiny 2 files

Bungie says Windows Defender can incorrectly detect specific Destiny 2 files as malware, and that files installed directly from Steam or the Microsoft Store pose no threat. If Defender quarantines a game file, Destiny 2 will crash or refuse to start until the file is back.

1. Update Defender’s virus definitions: Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Protection updates → Check for updates.
2. Clear the Steam download cache: Steam → Settings → Downloads → Clear Cache, then sign back in to Steam.
3. Verify the game files (Fix 2) to restore anything Defender removed.

Fix 6 — Check the requirements and your hardware

Bungie’s minimum spec for Destiny 2 on PC is Windows 10 64-bit, 6 GB of RAM and a GTX 660 2GB / GTX 1050 2GB or Radeon HD 7850 2GB. Destiny 2 dropped support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 on 4 June 2024, and Bungie says it does not officially support laptops — they may run it if they meet the minimum spec.

	Minimum	Recommended
CPU (Intel)	Core i3-3250 or Pentium G4560	Core i5-2400 or i5-7400
CPU (AMD)	FX-4350	Ryzen 5 1600X
GPU (NVIDIA)	GTX 660 2GB or GTX 1050 2GB	GTX 970 4GB or GTX 1060 6GB
GPU (AMD)	Radeon HD 7850 2GB	R9 390 8GB
RAM	6 GB	8 GB
OS	Windows 10 64-bit	Windows 10 64-bit

If your PC clears those and other games crash too, the cause is the system, not Destiny 2:

• Remove CPU, GPU and RAM overclocks, including XMP/EXPO if you’ve only just enabled it, and test at stock.
• Intel 13th/14th Gen CPUs with crashes across many games need Intel’s microcode BIOS update — see the 0xc0000005 access violation crash fix.
• Crashes when textures load on a 2–4 GB card often mean you’re out of video memory; lower Texture Quality and see the out of video memory error fix.
• On a laptop, make sure Destiny 2 runs on the dedicated GPU: Settings → System → Display → Graphics, add destiny2.exe, set it to High performance.

If nothing here fixes it, Bungie asks players to report unresolved PC crashes in its #PCSupport forum on Bungie.net, with your error code and hardware.

If it isn’t a crash

• BattlEye messages and anti-cheat kicks have their own causes and steps: Destiny 2 BattlEye error fix.
• Freezes, hitching and frame drops that don’t close the game are a performance problem: start with the Destiny 2 stuttering fix.
• Error codes about the connection (disconnects to orbit, can’t join a fireteam) are network problems, not crashes — BROCCOLI and MARMOT are the two codes that point at your PC itself.

Related guides

• Destiny 2 stuttering fix
• Destiny 2 BattlEye error fix
• Destiny 2 lowest input lag settings
• How to clean install GPU drivers with DDU
• DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG fix
• League of Legends crashing fix
• Dead by Daylight crashing fix

Summary: BROCCOLI is a driver crash — update Windows and clean-install the GPU driver. MARMOT is corrupted files — verify, and if needed delete everything except packages and verify again. For crashes with no code, turn off overlays and Game Capture, reset CVARS.xml, and if every game crashes, go back to stock clocks.