Dota 2 - Performance Issues, Crashes, or Failures When Launching

If you are encountering performance issues, game crashes, or Dota 2 is failing to launch with or without an error message, proceed through this article from top to bottom and complete all applicable steps to troubleshoot the issue.

Crashes or failures to launch with specific error messges

Check to see if there is an article related to the error message that you are seeing in the Specific Error Messages category.

If there is no article related to the message that you are seeing, continue through this article to troubleshoot the issue.

Troubleshooting performance issues and crashes

Please read and complete all applicable troubleshooting steps in the Common Dota 2 Technical Issues and Solutions guide provided by the Dota 2 developers.

Refer to our articles regarding Hardware and Software based performance issues. Complete all steps exactly as they are presented.

• Troubleshooting Game Performance Issues - Hardware
• Troubleshooting Game Performance Issues - Software

Updating your drivers

If you are encountering any issues with your Steam games, ensure that your drivers are completely up to date.

Blue Screen issues in Windows

If you encounter a Blue Screen error with Dota 2 or your computer is restarting when launching or playing Dota 2, make sure that your BIOS and Chipset Drivers are fully up to date.

Verifying your game files

If you think some files of your game installation may be corrupt or have been deleted as a false positive by antivirus or security software, try Verifying Your Game Files (GCF).

Launching with -autoconfig or -safe mode 

If Dota 2 is failing to start after preparing to launch, we recommend that you attempt to launch with either the -autoconfg or -safe launch option in that order. 

Using the -autoconfig launch option 

1. Open Steam
2. Go to the "Library"
3. Right-click the game which needs to be reconfigured
4. Select "Properties" from the menu
5. Click the "Set launch options..." button
6. Remove any launch options currently shown. 
7. Type -autoconfig in the box and select OK.
8. Launch the game and test the issue again

Using the -safe launch option 

1. Open Steam
2. Go to the "Library"
3. Right-click the game which needs to be reconfigured
4. Select "Properties" from the menu
5. Click the "Set launch options..." button
6. Remove any launch options currently shown. 
7. Type -safe in the box and select OK.
8. Launch the game and test the issue again.

Reacquiring all Dota 2 files

This should be done if you think some of the game's files may be corrupt, or if you have overwritten any game files with custom assets or mods and you wish to restore the game to its original state. If your game was working previously but is now crashing or freezing and you have completed the above instructions under the "Verifying Game Cache" section with no results, try this next.

For Windows computers:

1. Exit Steam entirely.
2. Browse to your Steam installation (Usually C:\Program Files(x86)\Steam\)
3. Rename the "steamapps" folder to "old_steamapps"
4. Re-launch Steam and re-install the game.
5. Once the installation is complete, test the issue.
6. If this resolves the issue, you may copy the new files into the "old_steamapps" folder and rename it to "steamapps" to restore your other games without re-downloading.
7. If the issue is not resolved, you can rename the folder back to avoid having to re-install other games.

For Linux computers:

1. Exit Steam and go to your Home folder.
2. Press CTRL+H to reveal any hidden folders.
3. Click on .local > share > Steam and do the following:
4. Rename the "steamapps" folder to "old_steamapps"
5. Re-launch Steam and re-install the game.
6. Once the installation is complete, test the issue again.

For Mac computers:

1. Exit Steam entirely.
2. Open Finder and navigate to the folder containing your SteamApps folder (/Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/Steam/)
3. Rename the "SteamApps" folder to "SteamApps_old".
4. Re-launch Steam and re-install the game.
5. Once the installation is complete, test the issue.

To locate your Steam installation folder when using Lion or any newer Mac OSX version, do the following:

1. Open Terminal
2. Type chflags nohidden ~/Library
3. Close Terminal

You should see the Library folder available through the Go menu on the menu bar while holding the option key.

Reporting a bug, crash, or other issue

If you are still encountering this issue within Dota 2, please create or join an existing thread regarding that issue on the Dota 2 Development Forums.

Widespread crashes or other issues will often be fixed by the Dota 2 development team within days of the issue appearing.