While ranking up in a Valorant match, you might get an error “Graphics driver crashed. Make sure your graphics drivers are up to date.” message in the middle of the game. Obviously, the game will boot you out of the Riot Games client if this error message comes up. In that case, don’t worry. You just have to update the graphics card driver to the latest version. You can get busy in Ascent hitting headshots in no time at all!
Workarounds –
Antivirus softwares and Riot Vanguard doesn’t go well. So, if you are using a dedicated antivirus (like Avast) disable it and check. It will be better if you just uninstall it.
Fix 1 – Update the graphics driver
The graphics card manufacturers of NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel send out driver updates once every month. So, you should update the graphics card to the latest version.
There are many ways to do this. We have discussed these two ways with step-by-step instructions.
Way 1 – Use GeForce Experience/AMD Adrenalin
The easiest way to get the graphics driver updates is to use the GeForce Experience or AMD Adrenalin app.
Step 1 – Open the GeForce Experience app.
Step 2 – When it does open up, head on to the “DRIVERS” section.
Step 3 – Wait for the latest version of the driver to load up. Then, click “DOWNLOAD” to download the latest driver package.
As this driver package sizes are over 600 MB, it may take a while to download. So, wait patiently.
Step 4 – Once you have downloaded the driver, you have two choices. If you want a quick installation, click “EXPRESS INSTALLATION“.
Otherwise, you can tap “CUSTOM INSTALLATION” to go ahead.
If you have opted for the express installation process, there’s nothing but waiting for GeForce Experience to install the latest driver update on your computer.
Step 5 – For the users who have chosen a custom process, a separate installer window will open up.
Step 6 – Now, check the “PhysX System Software” and “HD Audio Driver” boxes. Then, tick the “Perform a clean installation” box.
Step 7 – After this, click the “INSTALL” option to install the graphics driver.
Way 2 – Download and install the driver package
You can download the latest driver package directly from the OEM websites and run it to install the latest driver.
[NOTE – We have shown steps of how to download a standalone installer for NVIDIA cards. You can do this for the AMD and Intel cards as well. ]
Step 1 – Reach the NVIDIA Driver download page.
Step 2 – Then, input all the graphics driver specifications in the boxes carefully.
Step 3 – After this, click “Download” to search for the latest driver.
Step 4 – On the next page, tap “Download” to download the latest driver package.
Close or minimize the browser page.
Then, open File Explorer and reach the directory where you have downloaded the driver package.
Step 5 – There, double-tap on the installer to launch it.
Wait for the installer to extract the driver package and set up the wizard on your system.
Step 6 – When you see the NVIDIA Graphics Driver window, choose the “NVIDIA Graphics Driver and GeForce Experience” option.
Step 7 – Finally, tap “AGREE AND CONTINUE” option to proceed.
Step 8 – On the next step, click the “Custom (Advanced)” option.
Step 9 – After this, tap “NEXT“.
Step 10 – Make sure to check all these options one by one.
Graphics Driver HD Audio Driver NVIDIA GeForce Experience PhysX System Software
Step 11- Don’t forget to tick the “Perform a clean installation“.
Step 12 – Finally, tap on “Next” to start the process.
Wait for the NVIDIA installer to install the driver update.
Now, play Valorant on your computer and test.
Fix 2 – Check the minimum requirement to run Valorant
Just like all other games, Valorant also requires a minimum graphics driver that you need to run it. Though it is very less, make sure your system also satisfies the recommended requirement.
Minimum Requirement to run Valorant (30 FPS)
| Operating System: | Windows 7 / 8 / 10 64-bit |
| Processor: | Intel Core 2 DUO E8400, Athlon 200 GE(AMD) |
| Memory: | 4 GB RAM |
| Graphics Card: | Intel HD 4000, AMD Radeon R5 200 |
Recommended Requirements to run Valorant (60 FPS)
| Operating System: | Windows 7 / 8 / 10 64-bit |
| Processor: | Intel i3-4150, AMD Ryzen 3 1200 |
| Memory: | 4 GB RAM |
| Graphics Card: | GeForce GT 730, Radeon R7 240 |
So, if you have an older graphics card or an older CPU, you have to replace it with the latest version.
Fix 3 – Kill power-hungry tasks
If you are playing Valorant while running some resource-intensive power-hungry tasks, kill those to free up resources.
Step 1 – Close the error message. Then, right-click the Windows key and click “Task Manager“.
Step 2 – Wait till Task Manager opens, and look for any app that is eating up too much CPU, and RAM resources. If you can see any such processes, right-click that app and tap “End task“.
This way, end anything resource-intensive processes.
Fix 4 – Clear the temporary files
Clearing the temporary files should help you resolve the issue.
Step 1 – Open the Run panel. So, press the Win key and R keys together.
Step 2 –Then, paste this word there and click “OK“.
%localappdata%
Step 3 – After opening that folder, scroll down until you found the “Valorant” folder.
Step 4 – Then, reach this place –
Valorant>Saved>Config
Step 5 – Here, find the “CrashReportClient” folder and click “Delete” to remove it from your system.
Step 6 – Come back to the “Saved” folder. Then, open the “webcache” folder.
Step 7 – Once you get there, select all the files and folders. Press the “Delete” key once to empty this folder completely.
After this, close File Explorer. Don’t forget to restart your machine.
Play Valorant and check whether the graphics driver is still crashing or not.
Fix 4 – Lower the Valorant graphics
Try lowering the Valorant graphics a bit and then check.
Step 1 – Launch Valorant.
Step 2 – Then, tap on the gear-shaped icon in the top-right corner.
Step 3 – After that, click on “Settings“.
Step 4 – Then, select “VIDEO” from the menu bar.
Step 5 – After this, go to the “GRAPHICS QUALITY” point.
Step 6 – Now, set all these settings to “Low“.
Material Quality Texture Quality Detail Quality UI Quality Vignette
Step 7 – Now, if you scroll down you will find several advanced graphic settings tools. So, set the “Anti-Aliasing” factor to “None” mode.
Step 8 – Then, switch the “Anisotropic Filtering” to “2x” [Or, you can set this to “Off” as well.]
Step 9 – Finally, tweak these settings to “Off“.
Improve Clarity
Bloom
Distortion
Cast Shadows
Now, try to play a death match or an Escalation match. The graphic driver won’t crash this time.
Fix 5 – Disable and enable the graphics card
If lowering the graphics quality settings in Valorant doesn’t work, you should disable and re-enable the graphics card.
Step 1 – At first, press the Win key and the X keys together.
Step 2 – Then, tap “Device Manager” to open it.
Step 3 – Then, expand the “Display adapters“. Now, you can view all the display drivers you have.
Step 4 – Now, right-click the display adapter you are using and click “Disable device“.
A warning message will appear.
Step 5 – So, tap “Yes” to disable the device.
Your screen will go black and blank for a while. But, in a while, everything should become normal and responsive.
Step 6 – After this, right-click the disabled display adapter and click “Enable device” to re-enable the display adapter.
Close Device Manager. After this, launch Valorant and check it yourself.
Fix 6 – Uninstall Valorant and reinstall
Uninstall Valorant and reinstall it if everything else works.
Steps to uninstall Valorant
Whether you have installed Valorant from Epic Stores or directly, you can follow these steps.
1. Right-click the Windows icon and tap “Run“.
2. In the Run panel, paste this down and hit Enter.
appwiz.cpl
3. Next, locate “VALORANT” game in the list of apps. Right-click that and tap “Uninstall” to uninstall it from the system.
Just wait until the Riot Client uninstalls all the Valorant component from your computer.
Steps to reinstall Valorant
You can reinstall Valorant from Epic Store or directly.
Step 1 – Head on to the Valorant .
Step 2 – Then, click “Play Free” to download Valorant installer on your system.
Step 3 – Now open the File Explorer on your computer.
Step 4 – There, double-tap the “PlayValorant” to install Valorant on your system.
Now, play Valorant and test this out.
Fix 7 – Don’t overclock CPUs
If you have overclocked your system CPUs, Valorant may crash and throw up a graphics driver message. Even if you have overclocking softwares like MSI AfterBurner or Asus GPU Tweak installed in the system, it may create problems.
[If you have overclocked the CPUs from BIOS or any other app, turn it off from there and then proceed to uninstall the app.]
Step 1 – You have to open a Run box using the Win key and the R keys together.
Step 2 – Finally, type this and tap “OK“.
appwiz.cpl
Here, you can find all the apps that you have installed on your system.
Step 3 – Find out the overclocking app you are using.
Step 4 – Once you have found it out, right-click the overclocking app and tap “Uninstall“.
Go through the steps by step instructions of the wizard to uninstall the app from your device.
Once you do that, it will prompt to restart your device. Even if it doesn’t prompt, you should reboot it once.
After restarting the device, you can enjoy Valorant.
Fix 8 – Install all the Windows Updates
If you are using Integrated graphics card, you should always install all the Windows Updates on your system.
Step 1 – Open Windows Settings. You can do that using the Win key and the I keys at once.
Step 2 – Then, head on to “Windows Update“.
Now, wait for a while. Check if Windows is already downloading any updates or not.
Step 3 – You can also perform a check manually with a tap “Check for updates“.
View those listed updates carefully and check whether you can see any thing related to display driver.
If you can’t find any regular display driver, you can take a look at a different location.
Step 1 – Make sure that you have selected “Windows Update” from the left pane.
Step 2 – Then, choose the “Advanced options” to open that.
Step 3 – Click on the “Optional updates” to open that.
You will see all the optional updates in the Windows Updates page.
Step 4 – Here, check the display driver on the list of drivers and tap “Download & install“.
Allow Windows to download and install the updates on your system.
Hope this solves the graphics driver crash issue on your computer.