These are the most common fixes for when borderlands 2 is crashing consistently , the order is from most common or easiest to test solution to least common or more troublesome to test.

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These are things you will usually be told to try first , you have probably heard these already but take a look to make sure you haven't missed anything.

• Verify integrity of game files
  
• Restart PC
  
• Make sure you don't have the Ultra HD texture pack installed (it was a free DLC so check your borderlands DLC section it might have installed without you knowing)
  
• Run borderlands2.exe as administrator / run in compatibility mode

To verify integrity right click borderlands 2 in your steam library , Properties , Installed files , Verify integrity.

To check your DLC Right click borderlands 2 in your steam library , Properties , DLC , look thru the list for a DLC named Ultra HD texture pack.

To run Borderlands 2 as administrator right click the game in library , hover over Manage and then click Browse local files. This will open the borderlands 2 steam folder , inside go to the Binaries folder , Win32 folder then scroll down and look for borderlands2.exe , Right click it , properties , compatibility tab , then click the run this program as an administrator check box at the bottom.

On this same page you can also try clicking the "run this program in compatibility mode" option at the top and try different modes like windows 7 or 8 but personally I haven't had this be the solution.

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Crashing at launch is the most common crash and the most common cause is a corrupt file , this file is located in the documents folder so it isn't fixed by verifying the integrity of your game files which only checks the steam folder , so this is something you need to fix manually.

The steps are listed below.

• First go to C:\Users\YOURNAME\Documents\My Games\Borderlands 2\WillowGame\config
  
  
• Look for the files named WillowGame.ini and WillowEngine.ini delete or move them to the desktop
  
  
• Start the game like usual from steam
  
  
• The game will detect the missing files and create new files with default settings (your resolution will most likely look wrong but wait and see if the game works now.)
  
  
• If the game works normally then the ini file was corrupt.
  
  
• If deleting WillowGame.ini and WillowEngine.ini didn't work there is one more option, go back to the folder named Config and rename it to Backup , this time when you start the game it will detect the entire folder as missing and recreate all of the files, it is less common but it is possible for other INI files to be corrupt, doing this will test that , if it still doesn't work you can delete the new Config folder the game just made and rename the Backup folder back to Config to restore your old settings

This is the most common fix because the INI files can become corrupted easily when the game closes improperly.

I recommend starting with just the WillowGame.ini and WillowEngine,inibecause it will save you time redoing your in game settings but don't hesitate to test the entire folder by renaming it if the first option doesn't work, it's easy to reverse and it will let you know for sure that they aren't the problem.

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If your Windows profile name uses non english characters (For instance Ô ä Б) it can cause problems with the Bifrost.dll accessing your C:\Users\YOURNAME\Documents\My Games\Borderlands 2 folders , so check that "YOURNAME" part and see if they are all basic english characters.

This Bifrost.dll was added in 2020 so if your crashes started after that time and your user name is non english this might be the cause.

Here are a few possible fixes for this crash

• First is to run the game as administrator (see section 1 "The basics" for how to do this) , it's simple but it doesn't work for everone.
  
  
• The official gearbox advice is to delete the offending file and redownload it the easy way to do this it to go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Borderlands 2\Binaries\Win32 find the bifrost.dll and delete it, then verify integrity of game files again to redownload it easily and try launching the game, windows user account control "UAC" should ask for your permission to let the game run , say yes.
  
  
• If deleting and verifying doesn't work you can try disabling the UAC itself , right click the Windows button , click Search and search for UAC then click the "Change user account control settings" and slide the slider to the bottom. Try launching the game.
  
  
• If the options above don't work another way is to Find the scrambled folder that bifrost makes incorrectly and transfer the files to the proper location manually.
  
  Go to C:\Users and look for a username that is scrambled or similar to your username but with wrong letters , click on it , go to app data (folder may be hidden so show hidden files) , then click Local folder , then find the bifrost folder C:\Users\ScrambledName\AppData\Local\bifrost Copy this bifrost folder and go back to C:\Users\ and find your normal account name , click on it , app data , local and now paste the bifrost folder in local , if it asks to overwrite another folder named bifrost , say yes. Now with the Bifrost folder in the correct place try running borderlands again.

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Sometimes when you try to launch the game it will crash and give you a message that a file is missing , sometimes you won't see a message at all if it crashes and you can't click it.

In either case it is easy to check to make sure you have all the redistributables installed.

First right click on borderlands 2 in steam , hover over manage and click browse local files , this will open the game folder

Click the Binaries folder , then the Redist folder and find the file named BorderlandsInstaller.exe (don't confuse this with your game exe borderlands2.exe the correct file is in the Redist folder specifically) and click it , it will ask permission to let the vredist , dotnetfix , and other redistributables run , say yes and wait , they will check to see if they are properly installed but each one may ask permission so you may need to say yes multiple times. This may take a few minutes to complete. After they finish try running borderlands 2 again.

Courtesy of 0SilverCloud0 running BorderlandsInstaller.exe didn't work but manually running vcredist_x86_vs2010sp1.exe directly worked.

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Usually the problem isn't that you don't have enough memory (especially on modern pc's) , it's that this game is 32bit and it can't use more than 4gb of ram.

The main culprit to this crash is Physx , you can fix this by setting it to Low in game. Physx also causes some items to clip thru the ground and low FPS so turning it off / low is better all around.

Another common cause is the Ultra HD textures DLC , Right click borderlands 2 in the steam library , click properties and then DLC , check the list and make sure you do not have the Ultra HD texture pack installed , if you do you should remove it.

If you are playing as Gaige and using the skill Interspersed outburst this can also cause some out of memory crashes / random crashes , it is more likely to occur if you use Nvidia cards and the UCP mod which boosts the slag chance.

If you are using Nvidia, open the Nvidia control panel, go to borderlands 2 settings and disable Threaded Optimization and change Virtual reality Pre-rendered frames to use 3D application option.

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It's pretty bad when the game crashes before the game even starts , if your game launcher itself is crashing there are a few things you can do to fix it.

First check your C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Borderlands 2\Binaries\Win32 folder for a file named steam_appid.txt if it exists open it and make sure it has the number 49520 , if this file doesn't exist you can simple make a new text file , name it steam_appid.txt open it and put the number 49520 right at the start. then put this file in the borderlands 2 win32 folder.

Another option is to skip the launcher itself , you can right click borderlands 2 in your steam library , click properties and on the first "general" tab should be the "'launch options" text box , cop and paste
-NoLauncher
And try starting the game again.

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A few things can cause this , like the corrupt INI files mentioned previously but if you have Dolby DAX (Dolby Atmos) it can also cause this error.

You can get around this by disabling dolby DAX

Dainank has a great guide for this so if you think this might be your problem check it out https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2399172454