Starfield Crashing on PC: How to Fix It (Bethesda's Steps)

Starfield crashes on PC are usually fixed by Bethesda’s own five-step checklist: confirm your PC meets the minimum specs and the game is on an SSD, close background apps and lower settings, update your GPU driver and make sure Starfield uses the right GPU, repair the game files, and remove Creations (mods). If none of those work, Bethesda’s advanced steps are a launcher reinstall, a new Windows user profile, a clean GPU driver install, and never running Steam and the Xbox app together.

Every step below comes from Bethesda’s support articles for Starfield on PC, in the order Bethesda gives them. Where we add something, we say so.

Which Starfield crash do you have?

Symptom	Most likely cause	Start with
Crashes on one long-played save, new games are fine	Bethesda’s known issue with long-running saves	Known save-loading crash
Crashes to desktop in busy areas or after a while	Performance overload, outdated driver, wrong GPU	Fixes 1–3
Crashes after installing mods or Creations	Mods or Creations	Fixes 4–5
Crashes at launch or randomly with no pattern	Damaged files, permissions, antivirus, a conflicting program	Fixes 4, 6, then the advanced steps
The whole PC freezes, blue-screens or restarts	Hardware, drivers, heat or power, not the game	Driver-level crashes

The known save-loading crash

Bethesda’s Starfield crash article opens with a known issue: some players crash when loading save files that have been played for a long time, and Bethesda says a future update will fix it. If Starfield only crashes when you load one long-running save and a new game or an older save loads fine, that known issue is the most likely cause, not your PC. Keep the game updated, and subscribe to the article on Bethesda’s help site to be told when the fix ships.

Fix 1 — Check the minimum specs and that Starfield is on an SSD

Bethesda’s first instruction is to confirm your PC meets the minimum requirements and that Starfield is installed on a solid-state drive (SSD), not a hard disk drive. The SSD isn’t optional: Bethesda lists “SSD Required” under both the minimum and recommended specs.

Starfield PC spec	Minimum	Recommended
OS	Windows 10 version 21H1 (10.0.19043)	Windows 10/11 with updates
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X / Intel Core i7-6800K	AMD Ryzen 5 3600X / Intel i5-10600K
RAM	16 GB	16 GB
GPU	AMD Radeon RX 5700 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti	AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080
DirectX	12	12
Storage	125 GB, SSD required	125 GB, SSD required

To check what kind of drive Starfield is on, open Task Manager → Performance and click the drive: the type shows as SSD or HDD. If it’s a hard drive, move the game. In Steam that’s Properties → Installed Files → Move install folder. An NVMe SSD also cuts the loading hitches covered in the Starfield stuttering fix.

Fix 2 — Close background apps and lower graphics settings

If Starfield crashes because the PC is overloaded, Bethesda’s step is to close the apps you aren’t using (chat programs, web browsers, music streaming) and lower graphics quality in Settings → Display in-game. Bethesda also recommends disabling the Steam Overlay and the Xbox Game Bar as part of this step.

• Steam Overlay: Steam → right-click Starfield → Properties → General → turn off Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game.
• Xbox Game Bar: Windows Settings → Gaming → Game Bar. Our Game Bar and Game DVR guide covers the switches.

For settings that cut GPU and CPU load without wrecking the image, use the best Starfield settings for FPS.

Fix 3 — Update your GPU driver and make sure Starfield uses the right GPU

Bethesda’s second step has three parts:

1. Install the latest GPU driver from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel.
2. Set the primary GPU on laptops and multi-GPU PCs. A laptop can launch Starfield on its integrated graphics, which sits below the minimum spec. In Windows, open Settings → System → Display → Graphics, add or select Starfield, choose Options and set it to High performance (your dedicated GPU). Bethesda’s step also covers the power settings, so plug the laptop in and use a performance power mode.
3. Reinstall the DirectX runtime libraries if files are missing. Bethesda says reinstalling them can resolve the crash.

Fix 4 — Repair the game files (and remove mods)

Damaged or missing files are the next suspect. Bethesda says to verify, or repair, the files on whichever platform you bought Starfield on:

• Steam: right-click Starfield → Properties → Installed Files → Verify integrity of game files.
• Xbox app / PC Game Pass: right-click Starfield → Manage → Files → Verify and repair.

If you’ve installed mods, Bethesda’s instruction is stricter: remove them, reinstall Starfield, and then repair the files again. A repair alone doesn’t remove files a mod manager added.

Fix 5 — Remove Creations

Bethesda says Creations (Starfield’s official mods) can cause in-game issues. If Starfield crashes often, disable or remove every installed Creation and test again. There are two ways to do it:

• Unsubscribe from them in the Creations menu in-game (Bethesda’s article also links your subscription list).
• Remove them all at once: go to C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Starfield and delete ContentCatalog.txt.

If the crashes stop, add Creations back a few at a time to find the one that breaks your game.

Fix 6 — Run Starfield as administrator and add an antivirus exclusion

Bethesda’s last basic step is permissions and security software:

• Run as administrator: right-click the Starfield executable (in the game’s install folder) → Properties → Compatibility → tick Run this program as an administrator.
• Antivirus exclusion: add the Starfield folder to your security software’s exclusion list. Bethesda notes each antivirus does this differently, so use your vendor’s instructions. In Windows Security it’s Virus & threat protection → Manage settings → Exclusions.

Advanced steps if Starfield still crashes

If you’ve done Fixes 1–6, Bethesda’s advanced crash troubleshooting adds four more steps:

1. Reset or reinstall your launcher. Do a complete reinstall of Steam or the Xbox app for PC. A damaged launcher can crash the games it starts.
2. Test a new Windows user profile. Create a second local account and launch Starfield from it. If it runs cleanly there, something on your main profile conflicts with it. Bethesda’s next step is to start your main profile in Selective Startup (a clean boot: msconfig → hide Microsoft services → disable the rest, then turn off startup apps) and re-enable programs in groups until the crash returns.
3. Clean-install your GPU driver. Bethesda calls this a “clean” or “factory reset” of the driver for NVIDIA, AMD and Intel. The thorough version is a full removal with DDU and then a fresh install. Our DDU clean-install guide has the exact steps.
4. Don’t run Steam and the Xbox app at the same time. If you play on Steam, close the Xbox app, and the other way round. Bethesda says they can interfere when both are running.

If the crash names a DirectX error or the PC restarts

Bethesda’s articles don’t cover these, so this part is our own guidance. A crash that names a DirectX device error, or a crash where the screen goes black and the driver resets, usually means the GPU driver timed out or ran out of video memory. Those have their own pages: DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG, DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED and out of video memory. If the whole PC blue-screens or restarts, the game isn’t the cause. Undo any CPU or GPU overclock, test with XMP or EXPO off, check temperatures, and look up the stop code. A memory-access stop code is covered in the 0xc0000005 access violation fix.

Once Starfield is stable, the free Tier1Suite checks the Windows-side causes of hitching (power plan, timer resolution, background latency) in one place.

Related guides

• Starfield stuttering fix
• Best Starfield settings for FPS
• How to clean-install GPU drivers with DDU
• DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG fix
• Out of video memory error fix