VRChat keeps crashing or has issues launching properly

Spark
Spark
  • Updated

Are you encountering crashes or problems when launching VRChat? Let's walk through some troubleshooting steps to help you get things running smoothly again.

Follow the steps below carefully to troubleshoot the issue. If the problem persists after you try everything, we will guide you through collecting logs and contacting support at the end of this article.

 

Quest & PC - In-App Method (Preferred)

If you can launch VRChat, you should follow these steps! Of course, if VRChat won't start at all, this won't help. Check out the methods below instead.

Open your menu, and click on the "expando" in the top right.

Click the settings "Gear" tab in the bottom of the Main Menu.

Scroll down to Debug on the left side, then click on it. Click on "Clear Content Cache" and "Clear Local Profile Data".

Restart VRChat.

Skip to Final Steps!

If you cannot access the application's Settings menu, move on.

Meta Quest Troubleshooting Steps

On the Meta Quest, uninstalling and reinstalling the VRChat will fix many issues.

If you still have problems after uninstalling and reinstalling, please contact our Support team using the link at the bottom of the article.

 

PC Troubleshooting Steps

Automatic Method

Only use this method if you cannot complete the "In-App Method" above.

This method only works for Windows 10 or 11. 

  1. Press your Windows key to bring up the Start menu.
  2. Type "cmd".
  3. Right click "Command Prompt" and select "Run as Administrator".
  4. A UAC prompt will appear. Accept it.
  5. A window will appear labeled "Administrator: Command Prompt".
  6. Select the following block of text. Make sure you select ALL of it! Triple-click it with the mouse to select it all. Copy it with Ctrl-C:
    rmdir /S /Q "%AppData%\..\LocalLow\VRChat\vrchat\Cookies" 2>nul & rmdir /S /Q "%AppData%\..\LocalLow\VRChat\vrchat\HTTPCache" 2>nul & rmdir /S /Q "%AppData%\..\LocalLow\VRChat\vrchat\Unity" 2>nul & rmdir /S /Q "%AppData%\..\LocalLow\VRChat\vrchat\VRCHTTPCache" 2>nul & rmdir /S /Q "%AppData%\..\LocalLow\VRChat\vrchat\HTTPCache-WindowsPlayer" 2>nul & rmdir /S /Q "%AppData%\..\LocalLow\VRChat\vrchat\Cache-WindowsPlayer" 2>nul & rmdir /S /Q "%TEMP%\VRChat\VRChat" 2>nul & rmdir /S /Q "%UserProfile%\.cache\yt-dlp" 2>nul & REG DELETE HKCU\Software\VRChat\vrchat /va
  7. Right click in the Command Prompt window. The text will paste in.
  8. Press Enter. It may take a few seconds to run.
  9. The prompt will then ask you if you want to delete all keys under the VRChat key. Press Y for Yes, and then press Enter.
  10. Close the window. Skip to the Final Steps section.

If you got any errors, please continue into the Manual Method section.

If you are using VRChat on Linux/SteamOS via Proton, you will have to clear out these folders yourself. Check out "Manual Method" below to see the directories and registry keys we clear out if you don't want to decode the above command.

 

Manual Method

Please only perform this section if the "Automatic Method" did not work. This section is intended for advanced users. This process involves removing files and registry keys from important parts of your computer, so please be careful. Follow the instructions precisely.

 

First, let's clear your cache. You can clean cache by deleting the folders within C:\Users\[Your Username]\AppData\LocalLow\VRChatAppData is a hidden folder, and you may have to enable visibility of hidden folders in Windows Folder Options. The easiest method to find this folder is by pasting this into your Windows Explorer address bar: 

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\VRChat\vrchat

In that folder, delete all of the folders except for LocalPlayerModerations and LocalAvatarData. Don't delete any of the files!

 

Next, go to this folder:

%USERPROFILE%\.cache

Delete the youtube-dl folder in this directory.

 

Now, let’s clear VRChat settings (PlayerPrefs). On Windows, open the regedit app and delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VRChat\vrchatPlease be careful when editing your registry, this can potentially damage your computer.

 

Finally, paste the following address into your Windows Explorer address bar:

%TEMP%\VRChat

Delete the VRChat folder in that folder by right-clicking and selecting "Delete".

 

Final Steps

PC, Steam - Verify Game Files

Open the Properties for VRChat in Steam and choose "Verify Integrity of Game Files" under the local files tab.

 

Reset Your Avatar

Go to the VRChat Home website, click on the Avatars section, and click "Reset to Default Avatar". 

 

PC - Update Windows, Drivers

Ensure that you are running the latest version of Windows, and that your GPU drivers are up to date.

Please note that we only support the current main-line Stable builds of Windows 10 and 11. Windows 7 is not supported.

We support VRChat on Proton in SteamOS when running on a Steam Deck, although you may have success running VRChat in other Linux distributions. We cannot support those setups, though.

 

PC - External Programs

If you're experiencing very low framerates, try uninstalling all virtual audio device software. This is software like VoiceMeeter and MorphVox. The drivers included with this software can cause major performance issues in VRChat.

Please whitelist VRChat.exe in your antivirus program and any firewalls you might have running. If you can't whitelist the application (or if it doesn't appear to work), try temporarily disabling real-time protection on your antivirus and your firewall to see if that's the issue. If it is, you may need to adjust your settings in your security software.

 

Virtual Private Networks (VPN)

A final resort for connection issues can be trying a VPN. VPNs "bounce" your connection off another server, and may skip bad routes that your ISP is forcing on you. Due to abuse, some VPNs may be prevented from connecting to VRChat, but Cloudflare's WARP tool is not affected by this, as it does not use a different IP address to connect.

Please note that using a VPN may or may not have certain legal limitations in your country. Please ensure you know your local regulations.

PC - Computer Specs

Check your computer specs to ensure that your PC can run VRChat.

Generally speaking, any modern computer built within the last 3 years that has a dedicated graphics card should work well with VRChat.

Details

VRChat consists of almost entirely user-generated content. Users that create content for VRChat are talented, but many are not game developers, and may create content that is not optimized for lower-end devices and systems. It is possible for unoptimized user-generated content to crash VRChat!

As such, VRChat can be quite demanding, even for modern gaming PCs. For best results, ensure your specs meet or exceed:

CPU
For Intel, at least 9th or 10th generation i5 or i7 or better.
For AMD, at least 5000-series Ryzen or better.
Notably, AMD's vCache technology (5800X3D, 7800X3D, etc) seems to benefit VRChat and other Unity-based games greatly.

RAM
8GB may work, but you will likely run into issues. 16GB is recommended.

GPU
Brand aside, at least 8GB of VRAM is recommended. More is always better.
For nVidia: RTX 10XX series or newer. XX60 sub-series or better. 
For AMD: RX 5X00 or newer. X700 sub-series or better.
For Intel: We do not currently support Intel's dedicated GPUs.

Please note that gaming laptops are typically less powerful than their desktop counterparts.

Testing

After doing all this, test to see if your issue is still occurring. If it is, you'll need to contact Support.

 

Contacting Support

If you're still having issues, please send our Support team a ticket. You can do this by using this form. Please describe your issue, including what you were doing at the time, what you were attempting to do, and what happened instead. It is very important that you be as detailed as possible. Our Support team may ask you for more details.

If you're using VRChat on PC, you should include your output logs. See the section below.
 

Output Logs - PC Only

If you are using VRChat on PC, you need to send us your output logs. It is best to create a folder on your Desktop, gather the files to send, then compress them.

 

Here's where you will find your logs:

C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\LocalLow\VRChat\vrchat\

You keep all output logs generated in the last 24 hours. They will have a name like this:

output_log_HH-MM-SS_PM.txt

The "HH-MM-SS" indicates at what local time the client was launched for that session.

 

You can also find your logs by copying and pasting this into your Windows Explorer address bar: 

%AppData%/../LocalLow/VRChat/vrchat

However you find them, copy all of these logs into your temporary folder.

 

ZIP up all of the output logs that you have. The easiest way to do this is to select all of them, right click, choose "Send To..." and then click "Compressed (zipped) folder". This will generate a ZIP file that you can send to us.

Please attach the output log ZIP to your ticket. Do not copy and paste the contents into your ticket. You will be asked to ZIP up the output log and resend it.

 

Crash Logs - PC Only

If you have any error folders in your VRChat folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\VRChat) please include those as well. They are typically named in a format like this: 2017-08-01_195906Please do not try to send your VRChat_Data folder!

You may have some more crash dumps in this folder:

%UserProfile%\AppData\Local\CrashDumps

If you have any Dump Files in this folder that say "VRChat.exe" at the beginning of the filename, you may want to attach those as well. They can be very large, so you might not want to do this unless Support asks.

If you do send these crash logs, you must compress them using the method described in the Output Logs section above. Do not send these files without compressing them, as they can be very large.