Apex Legends Crashes: How to fix crashes on PC, PS4 & Xbox One

Apex Legends - the team-based battle royale shooter from Respawn Entertainment - has been the surprise hit of the year (so far, anyway), and for good reason. It has a level of polish you don't see on many, if any, free-to-play shooters - at least, ones called Fortnite, anyway. It looks and plays like the multiplayer mode of a full-priced AAA game. It's really quite impressive.

However - and of course there was going to be a "however" - as few and far between as they may be, the game isn't without its share of problems. One of those has been an issue with the game crashing - a problem that, while not an epidemic by any means, has been seen on all platforms the game is on.

To their credit, Respawn has been pretty transparent in regards to this and has made efforts to fix the problem. While we wait for a all-in-one fix to the problem, here are some things you can do to handle it on your end, based on the platform you're using. (h/t to Dexerto for the tips).

Xbox One users:

Let's start with the consoles to begin with, since the PC solutions are kind of.. extensive.

If you're using an Xbox One and you're experiencing a lot of crashing, give these solutions a try:

*First off, putting your console through a power cycle. If you don't know how to do that, you can get the instructions here.

*Try clearing the MAC address on your console (also, don't ask me what a MAC address is, because... nope... no idea). Go to your dashboard, then: Settings>All Settings>Network>Network Settings>Advanced Settings>Alternate MAC address>Clear. Restart the Xbox following that.

*Delete the local save data. From My Games & Apps>Highlight Apex Legends>Press Start>Manage Game>Deleted Saved Data.

*Got any devices in the USB slot? Disconnect 'em.

*Finally, try reinstalling the game. If you had the game saved to an external drive, try reinstalling it on the internal drive.

PS4 users:

*First of all, make sure your PS4 has the latest software update.

*Turn the power off on the PS4 by holding down the power button for at least seven seconds - your PS4 will beep twice. Wait one minute, then turn it back on.

*The game has an option to turn any incoming voice chat to text. Turn that off.

*Restore the license for the game.

*Like before, try reinstalling the game - onto the system's internal hard drive if it wasn't already.

PC users:

OK, hold on, because there's a lot here.

• Try lowering the graphical settings within your in-game settings menu
• Right-click on desktop shortcut icon and run "troubleshoot compatibility" before launching.
• Repair the game in Origin. Within the Origin client right-click on Apex Legends and select "repair."
• Switch from Full Screen to Windowed mode or Borderless from in the in-game settings
• Close programs and overlays running in the background like Discord overlay, TeamSpeak, Origin in-game and FPS counter, Asus GPU Tweak II, MSI afterburner, EVGA Precision, Shadowplay, Aura for ASUS, RivaTuner OSD, RivaTuner statistics, GeForce Experience, Radeon ReLive, Voicemeeter, FRAPS, OBS studio.
• There might be some type of program running in the background or installed on your PC that is causing a conflict with Origin. By performing a clean boot, you close down all unnecessary programs needed to boot up your PC. Once you boot it up launch the game immediately.
• Roll back your GPU drivers. We know updating them to the latest version is ideal, but we're seeing drivers 417.71 & 417.35 stop crashing for players. Use the Advanced and then 'Clean Installation' options.
• Limit FPS via the games' command line: Gear/settings icon, Game Properties, Advanced Launch Options, add +fps_max 90 (or monitor max), Save.
• Turn off G-Sync (NVIDIA) or Freesync (AMD)
• Adjust Ambient Occlusion in NVIDIA control panel (Manage 3D Settings)
• Adjust or disable all forms of Vsync for your monitor
• Downclock GPU to default settings
• Try uninstalling GeForce Experience (NVIDIA)
• Increase your GPU and Windows power setting to Max. Open up "NVIDIA Control Panel" -> from the NVIDIA Control Panel, select the "Manage3D settings" from the left column -> click on the Power management mode drop down box and select "Prefer Maximum Performance".
• Try reducing Texture Streaming from the in-game settings
• Reducing VRAM usage from 8GB to 6GB (streaming texture option)
• Reinstall the game to the internal hard drive (C:\) and unplug external hard drives that aren't being used
• Add Windows Defender Firewall exceptions: (Control Panel\System and Security\Windows Defender Firewall\Allowed Apps). Make sure to add and check both boxes for Origin's Launcher program. How programs and anti-virus programs can conflict with Origin.
• Right-click the speaker Icon in your system tray (bottom left of Windows) then choose Sound > Playback and disable any output device not in use (don't forget to right click show all disconnected / deactivated devices).
• If you are encountering the "illegal instruction" error message, please report the issue to Easy Anti-cheat using the form here: https://www.easy.ac/en-us/support/apexlegends/contact/tech/
• Toggling your language may help. Right-click the game panel in Origin, choose Game Properties, then Advanced Launch Options. Change the game language ("Polish" helps some folks), save the game and update. Once this completes try swapping back to your language and check again?
• Allow Windows to manage your PageFile size
• Ensure that Origin, the game and your PageFile are all on C:\
• Disable fullscreen optimisations
• Allow the EasyAntiCheat Service to restart if it fails
• Go to origin->game library->right click on apex ->Game properties->advanced->and put in Command line arguments: +fps_max 100
• You can try setting it lower too (90, 80, etc.)

If those don't work, try and updating to the latest Nvidia drivers.