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Starcraft 2 Won’t Launch: Quickest Ways to Fix It

9 min. read

Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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Starcraft 2 is one of the most popular RTS games for PC, but it’s not free of bugs. The gaming experience on Windows 10 is sometimes spoiled by game crashes, black screens, slow menus, screen tearing, and low frame rate.

All these issues can make Starcraft 2 almost unplayable forplayers, but there are few things that you can do to fix these issues onWindows 10.

How do I fix Starcraft 2 launch crash/lag on Windows 10?

1. Run Starcraft 2 in compatibility mode

Although this is a simple solution, it has been confirmed by users that it fixes the crashes for some of them.

2. Turn off EVGA Precision X

EVGA Precision X is a popular overclocking tool for Nvidiagraphic cards. Although this tool can unlock the full power of your graphic card, it has been reported that EVGA Precision X can cause crashes with Starcraft 2.

In order to avoid Starcraft 2 crashes onWindows 10, make sure that you turn off EVGA Precision X before startingthe game.

3. Update your graphic card drivers

It has been reported that some users are getting a fatal error that crashes Starcraft 2 every time they start agame.The gameruns great for 30 seconds and then crashes to the desktop.

This issue has been caused by Nvidia drivers, and in order to fix it, you need to update your Nvidia drivers to the latest version.

Hence, if you need to update your graphic drivers fast and without affecting your PC functionality, it’s advised to use dedicated driver update software asOutbyte Driver Updater.

4. Run Starcraft 2 as administrator

5. Set Affinity for Starcraft 2

Users have reported that setting Affinity for Starcraft 2 fixes menu lag, but unfortunately, you’ll have to repeat this solution every time you start the game.

If you don’t want to repeat this step every time you start Starcraft 2, there’s a way to do that, but it’s a bit advanced, so if you can’t understand it maybe it’s better to skip it.

Once again, if this seems too complicated for you, keep to the first part of our solution and manually set the affinity every time you start Starcraft 2.

6. Disable Windows DVR

7. Check your firewall

Users have reported that thegameis unable to start and that it freezes during the authentication process. Due to this issue, users can’t even access the main menu.

To fix this issue you need to start thegameand wait for thegameto load properly, pressAlt + Tabto switch back to Windows.In thefirewallpopup message allowStarcraft2 to bypass your firewall.

In addition, you might want to check your firewall settings and to make sure that Starcraft 2 isn’t blocked.

If this doesn’t help, you might want to temporarily disable your antivirus and your firewall.

Looking for the best firewall for Windows 10? This guide will help you decide which one to get.

8. Start the game in windowed mode

9. Disable Vsync and reinstall Battle.net desktop app

If you’re having black screen crashes while playing Starcraft 2, try disabling Vsync from Nvidia Control Panel or Catalyst Control Center forStarcraft2.

If that doesn’t help, try reinstalling Battle.net desktop app.

10. Check your ports

If you’re getting BLZBNTAGT00000BB8 error as soon as you launch thegame, you need to make sure that ports TCP: 6112 and UDP:6112 are open.

To do so, you can use many of the free services available online. If these ports are blocked, you should check your firewall settings in order to open them.

11. Delete the Battle.net and Blizzard Entertainment folders

Users have reported BLZBNTAGT0000096A error, and in order to fix it you need to go to C:ProgramData folder and delete Battle.net and Blizzard Entertainment folders from it.

Before deleting these folders you can try disabling the all non-Microsoft services from the Startup.

12. Disable SLI or Crossfire

Owning two graphic cards and using them in SLI or Crossfire mode can give you better performance sometimes, but SLI or Crossfire mode can cause some graphical issues inStarcraft2 such as flickering textures.

If you want to fix these visual glitches inStarcraft2, it’s advised that you disable SLI or Crossfire and try running thegameagain.

13. Use the 32-bit client instead of the 64-bit client

After doing that you’ll startStarcraft2 in 32-bit mode, and according to users, get better performance.

Besides improved performance, using 32-bit client also fixes error 0xc0000142 for someplayers. This error occurs every time user tries to launch thegame, and switching to 32-bit client fixes it.

Although 32-bit client has its advantages, some users report that 32-bit client is causing fatal errors for them.

So if you’re using a 32-bit client and getting fatal errors, maybe you should switch to the 64-bit client instead.

We need to mention that you can’t switch to 64-bit version of Starcraft 2 if you are using 32-bit version ofWindows 10.

14. Update your OS/ game

Installing the latestWindows 10andStarcraft2 updates may fix many issues affecting thegame.

Updating your machine is essential for enjoying a smooth gaming experience as all thegamesthat you run depend on the OS to run properly.

To download and install the latestWindows 10patches on your computer, go to Start > type ‘settings’ and open the Settings page. Navigate to Update & Security > Windows Update and check for updates.

Install the available updates, restart your computer and launch thegameagain to check if the problem persists.

What to do if Windows 10 won’t update? Check out this guide to solve the problem!

15. Renew your IP and flush DNS

16. Disable background apps

We hope that the solutions listed in this article helped you fix the Starcraft 2 bugs that you experienced.

If you have tried other possible solutions to the same problems, hare them with us in the comments.

Starcraft 2 Won’t Launch: Quickest Ways to Fix It#

How do I fix Starcraft 2 launch crash/lag on Windows 10?#

1. Run Starcraft 2 in compatibility mode#

2. Turn off EVGA Precision X#

3. Update your graphic card drivers#

4. Run Starcraft 2 as administrator#

5. Set Affinity for Starcraft 2#

6. Disable Windows DVR#

7. Check your firewall#

8. Start the game in windowed mode#

9. Disable Vsync and reinstall Battle.net desktop app#

10. Check your ports#

11. Delete the Battle.net and Blizzard Entertainment folders#

12. Disable SLI or Crossfire#

13. Use the 32-bit client instead of the 64-bit client#

14. Update your OS/ game#

15. Renew your IP and flush DNS#

16. Disable background apps#