Alexis Kestler
Ready to party with talking guns and blast aliens with Justin Roiland‘s latest comedy shooter? High On Life has proven to be a rowdy good time, but some PC players are having trouble getting the festivities started due to crashes, freezes, and launch errors.
If High On Life keeps crashing before you can even load your save, this expansive troubleshooting guide will help you pinpoint the problem so you can get back to hilarious intergalactic bounty hunting. We‘ll go over all the common fixes that have worked for players based on advice from Squanch Games and extensive player testing.
Getting to Know High On Life
For anyone new to the game, let‘s do a quick flyby overview before we dive into technical troubleshooting. High On Life is a fast-paced FPS overflowing with irreverent humor, guns with attitude, and a bounty of bizarre aliens to take down.
You play as a recent high school grad with no direction in life until an alien cartel called Garmantuous invades Earth seeking to enslave humanity. You partner up with a team of talking alien guns to become a big-time intergalactic bounty hunter tasked with taking down Garmantuous and his goons.
The game takes you across the cosmos through a variety of vivid and varied biomes filled with secrets to uncover. The gameplay mixes shooter action with platforming and puzzles. And the writing comes packed with raunchy jokes and ridiculous gags in signature Roiland style.
Since its launch in December 2022, High On Life has received positive reviews, with Steam players praising its humor, weapons, and enemy varieties. But the game‘s frequent chaos does push some PCs to their limits resulting in crashed for a notable portion of players.
According to Steam reviews, around 25-30% of players have reported issues with High On Life randomly crashing or failing to launch. So if you‘ve been pulling your hair out trying to get the game running properly, you‘re not alone!
The good news is there are several proven solutions that should have you laughing at fart jokes and popping alien heads again in no time. In this guide, we‘ll go step-by-step through all the top fixes that have worked for players based on advice from the devs and extensive troubleshooting by the High On Life community.
Minimum and Recommended PC Requirements
Before jumping into specific fixes, let‘s quickly go over the game‘s minimum and recommended PC requirements so you can determine if your specs may be the culprit:
Minimum Requirements:
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- CPU: Intel Core i5-7500 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600
- RAM: 12 GB
- GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060 (6GB) / AMD RX 5500 XT (8GB)
- Storage: 50 GB
Recommended Specifications:
- OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
- CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K / AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
- RAM: 16 GB
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 2060 (6GB) / AMD Radeon RX 5700 (8GB)
- Storage: 50 GB SSD
If your PC is close to the minimum specs or below, you‘ll want to try lowering your settings to boost performance. Updating drivers and closing background apps becomes even more important too.
Now let‘s get into the nitty gritty of how to troubleshoot High On Life crashes, freezes, and launch problems so you can enjoy all the chaos this raunchy FPS has to offer!
6 Fixes for High On Life Crashing or Not Launching
Below we‘ll go step-by-step through all the most effective solutions that have resolved frequent crashing or launch failures based on official advice from Squanch Games, extensive player testing, and combing through community tips.
1. Update Your GPU Drivers
One of the first things you should try is updating your Nvidia or AMD graphics drivers. Outdated drivers are a leading cause of game crashes as they lack optimizations and fixes the game relies on to run properly.
Squanch Games has advised players to install the latest Game Ready GPU drivers for the smoothest High On Life experience.
To update your drivers:
For Nvidia cards:
- Open the GeForce Experience app
- Go to the Drivers tab
- Click on "Check for Updates"
- Download and install any available new Game Ready driver
- Restart your PC to complete the installation
For AMD cards:
- Open the Radeon Software app
- Go to the Updates tab
- Click "Check Now" to detect new drivers
- Download and install the latest recommended update
- Restart your PC after installing new drivers
Be sure to download drivers directly from Nvidia or AMD‘s site rather than through Windows Update for the most up-to-date game-ready versions.
[Insert screenshot demonstrating updating GPU drivers via GeForce Experience]Updating your graphics drivers is crucial for avoiding crashes and instability in new games, especially within the first few months after launch before major patches arrive. So be sure to keep your drivers updated if High On Life begins crashing again after a major game update or new content release.
2. Run High On Life as Administrator
Another common culprit behind games crashing on PC is a lack of admin permissions. Running High On Life as an administrator can grant the game access to protected files or system resources it needs to run properly.
Here‘s how to launch High On Life with admin rights:
- Go to your Steam library and right click on High On Life
- Select Properties then browse to Local Files > Browse
- Now right click on the HighOnLife.exe application itself
- Choose Properties then click the Compatibility tab
- Check the box for "Run this program as an administrator"
- Click Apply and OK to save the changes
Now when you launch High On Life normally through Steam, it should open with admin privileges, which may prevent crashing.
[Insert screenshot demonstrating running game as admin]If you have multiple user accounts on your system, you‘ll want to repeat these steps while logged into the account you use for gaming.
Running as admin helps ensure the game isn‘t being blocked from accessing crucial system files, which is a common source of crashes.
3. Add High On Life to Antivirus Exceptions
Overzealous antivirus and security software can sometimes detect games as a potential threat and block them from running properly. This leads to launch failures, mystery crashes, and the game freezing unexpectedly.
To avoid conflicts with antivirus, add High On Life as an allowed exception:
Add exception in Windows Security:
- Open Windows Security in Settings (search Defender Settings)
- Click Virus & Threat Protection
- Select Manage Ransomware Protection
- Go to Controlled Folder Access and select Allow an App
- Click Browse All Apps and locate the HighOnLife.exe file
- Select it and click Open to add an exception
Allow in Windows Firewall:
- Open Windows Defender Firewall in the Control Panel
- Select Allow an App or Feature through Windows Defender Firewall
- Click Change Settings and then Allow Another App
- Browse for HighOnLife.exe and add it
You may also need to temporarily disable real-time protection in Windows Security to rule out conflicts.
Adding exceptions ensures your antivirus won‘t falsely flag High On Life‘s executables as dangerous and block them from running smoothly.
[Insert screenshots demonstrating adding exceptions to Windows Security and Firewall]4. Disable Overlays and Background Apps
Another common source of game crashes are conflicts with other apps running overlays or grabbing resources in the background.
Steam, Discord, Nvidia GeForce Experience, MSI Afterburner, Razer Synapse, and other hardware apps include gaming overlays that can sometimes clash with games.
Disabling any active overlays is recommended by Squanch Games and has resolved crashes for many players.
Here are some of the biggest culprits to disable or close while playing High On Life:
- Steam Overlay – Untick the "Enable Steam Overlay" box in Steam‘s In-Game settings
- Nvidia GeForce Overlay – Open GeForce Experience and disable In-Game Overlay in the settings
- Discord – Disable the in-game overlay in Discord‘s settings
- MSI Afterburner – Close the MSI utility or disable all of its overlay functions
- Razer Synapse – Fully close this hardware app before launching the game
- Browsers and other apps – Close all unnecessary background programs to free up RAM
Freeing up system resources allows the game to run more smoothly and avoids potential conflicts. Be sure to shut down any utilities you don‘t need in the background.
[Insert table comparing popular overlay apps]5. Verify Integrity of Game Files
Sometimes game file corruption or missing data can lead to sudden crashes. Steam‘s Verify Integrity of Game Files feature checks for any corrupted data and restores any missing files.
Here‘s how to verify High On Life‘s files which may fix crashes:
- Launch Steam and go to your Library
- Right click on High On Life and select Properties
- Go to Local Files tab and click Verify Integrity of Game Files
- Steam will scan and automatically re-download any missing or corrupt files
Let the verification process fully complete, which may take several minutes. Then test launching High On Life again to see if this resolved any crashes, freezes, or launch issues.
Verifying your files helps rule out corruption as the culprit and ensures you have the complete accurate game files needed to play properly.
6. Update Windows and Drivers
An important general troubleshooting step is ensuring your Windows OS and hardware drivers are fully up-to-date.
New major Windows versions like the 22H2 update provide under-the-hood upgrades, optimizations, and improved stability for gaming. Nvidia and AMD also frequently update their graphics drivers to fix game crashes along with improving performance.
Here are two quick ways to update Windows and your system drivers:
Update Windows
- Open Settings > Windows Update
- Click Check for updates
- Install any available system updates
Update Drivers
- Open Device Manager (right-click Start or search "Device Manager")
- Expand categories and right-click devices > Update driver
- Search automatically online for updated drivers
Updating Windows, GPU drivers, and other hardware drivers ensures your system has the latest compatibility improvements and bug fixes needed for smooth High On Life performance.
Advanced Troubleshooting Tips
If you‘ve tried all the fixes above thoroughly and are still seeing crashes or launch issues, here are some additional in-depth troubleshooting steps to try:
- Adjust Graphics Settings – Lower quality presets if you meet minimum specs, enable Vsync, cap frames below max refresh rate
- Set Process Priority to High – Open Task Manager > Details tab > Right click HighOnLife.exe > Set priority to High
- Run in Windowed Mode – Can improve stability compared to fullscreen
- Reinstall Visual C++ Files – May be missing required Microsoft libs – Download the 2019-2022 Redistributables
- Check temps – Use HWMonitor to check for overheating GPU or CPU causing shutdowns
- Disable Steam Overlay – Can reduce overhead and clashes for some systems
- Fresh Reinstall – Backup saves, then uninstall and reinstall game via Steam
Taking the time to thoroughly troubleshoot and optimize your system can get High On Life running smooth and stable. Don‘t hesitate to lower some graphic settings if your hardware is borderline.
Can Your PC Run High On Life?
If you‘re still struggling to get High On Life running properly after trying all the above fixes, your system may simply fall below the minimum requirements needed to run the game properly.
Upgrading to a modern gaming PC with a strong quad core CPU, 16GB of RAM, and an Nvidia RTX or AMD Radeon GPU can provide the power needed for a smooth High On Life experience.
Laptops and older desktops may have difficulty keeping up with the frantic firefights and physics chaos without crashes, even on lower settings.
Consider checking out our guide to building a budget gaming PC under $800 capable of running High On Life smoothly if your system needs an upgrade. Investing in better gaming hardware can save you many hours of crash headaches.
Other Games Crashing on PC?
If you‘ve tried every fix imaginable and are still seeing High On Life crash frequently, you may need to wait for more bug-squashing patches from Squanch Games. Early access games in particular can be quite unstable at launch.
In the meantime, check out our similar troubleshooting guides if you‘re having issues with other new titles like:
- How to Fix Need for Speed Unbound Crashing
- How to Fix Crisis Core Final Fantasy 7 Reunion Randomly Crashing
- Warhammer 40k Darktide Keeps Crashing on PC – How to Fix
Hopefully this expansive troubleshooting guide has given you all the tools to get High On Life running properly. Let us know if the fixes worked to resolve your crashing, freezing, or launch issues! We‘ll be happy to help get this zany shooter running smoothly. Now get out there and start popping aliens in style.
