Broken Arrow Not Launching On PC Fixes That'll Help

Broken Arrow has been released on PC, and it has quickly won the hearts of many PC players with its real-time modern warfare tactics, incredible graphics, and immersive gameplay. While the game itself is excellent, many players report that Broken Arrow is not launching on their PCs. Let’s find out how to fix the game not launching or crashing at startup issue on your Windows PC.

6 Broken Arrow Crash on Startup Fixes that Actually Work

Crash on startup issues are quite common among PC games, and Broken Arrow is no exception. Some PC users are even experiencing the Application Load Error at launch. These crashes occur due to specific game folders preventing the game from starting, a lack of administrative rights, compatibility mode issues, missing Visual C++ Components, and others. In this guide, I will list and explain six working fixes to prevent Broken Arrow from crashing at startup on PC.

1. Delete Specific Game Folders

Broken Arrows keeps crashing on PC due to some folders that must be deleted. Many PC users have mentioned that deleting a couple of folders fixes this problem most of the time. These are the two folders you need to delete in order to fix the game not launching on PC error.

C:\Users\”YOUR USERNAME”\AppData\LocalLow\SteelBalalaikaStudio\BrokenArrow. Delete this folder.
After that, right-click Broken Arrow in your Steam library > Manage > click the “Browse local files” option.
A new Explorer Window will open, containing game files.
Open the “broken_arrow” folder, and here you will see a folder by the name of “GameLogs.” Delete it as well.
Launch Broken Arrow, and it will not crash at startup.

2. Run Broken Arrow as an Administrator

Broken Arrow isn’t launching properly or keeps crashing at startup due to the lack of administrative rights. Run it as an administrator, and it will fix the startup crashes. Here is how you can give administrative rights to Broken Arrow:

Open Steam Library, right-click Broken Arrow, navigate to Manage, and click Browse local files.
Right-click the game’s exe file in the new window that opens on your screen and click “properties”.
Select the “Compatibility” tab and check the “Run this program as an administrator” option, and click Apply.
Play Broken Arrow now, and it will launch without crashing.

Right-click the game in your Steam library > Manage > Browse local files.

Right-click the game executable and select “properties.”

Go to the “Compatibility” tab > check “Run this program as an administrator” and apply the changes.

3. Launch Broken Arrow in Windows Compatibility Mode

Windows updates streamline PC performance, but they also sometimes create problems for gamers. Broken Arrow is crashing at launch because it is facing a compatibility problem with the current Windows 11 version. You can fix it by launching the game using Windows 7 or 8 compatibility mode, and here is how you can do this:

Open your Steam Library, right-click Broken Arrow, go to Manage, and select “Browse local files”.
In the new window, right-click the game’s executable file and click “properties”.
Go to the Compatibility tab and check the box against “Run this program in compatibility mode for.” From the dropdown, select Windows 7 or 8. You can try them both one by one in case one doesn’t work.
Run the game, and it will not crash at startup.

Right-click the executable > Properties > Compatibility tab > check “Run this program in compatibility mode” > Select “Windows 7”.

4. Use the Dedicated Graphics Hardware for Broken Arrow

If you are using a gaming laptop to play Broken Arrow, the game is not launching or keeps crashing because of the integrated GPU (iGPU). Gaming laptops use the iGPU and dedicated graphics cards, and Windows picks the one it thinks is best based on the load. While this enhances battery life, it can also lead to the game crashing at startup because sometimes Windows fails to switch to the dedicated NVIDIA or AMD graphics card. You can fix these startup crashes by forcing Broken Arrow to launch via the dedicated GPU. Here is how to apply this fix:

Go to your Windows settings, click System, go to Display, and select Graphics.
Find Broken Arrow from the list of installed programs and select it.
Click on Options, check the “High Performance” option, and save these changes.
Run Broken Arrow, and it will not crash at startup.

Open Windows Settings and go to System > Display > Graphics. Select the game from the list and click on Options.

Check the “High Performance” options and click the Save button.

5. Update Windows

Microsoft rolls out updates for Windows quite frequently. Many PC users don’t download and install these updates for various reasons. If this is the case with you, Broken Arrow is not launching because of missing Windows updates. Download and install all the pending Windows updates to fix the issue. Here is how you can update your Windows:

Go to Windows Settings and click the Windows Update tab.
Hit Check for updates and let Windows look for any available updates.
Install all the available updates and restart your PC.
Launch Broken Arrow, and the startup crash error is now fixed.

Go to Windows Settings > Windows Update > click the “Check for updates” button.

6. Install Missing Visual C++ Components and Repair System Files

Windows requires Visual C++ components to run games and other apps. If there are missing or damaged Visual C++ components on your PC, this is the reason Broken Arrow is crashing at startup. To prevent the game from crashing while launching, install and repair Visual C++ components, and then run SFC and DISM scans. Follow the steps below for this fix.

Run Visual C++ Redistributables Installers

Open Steam Library and type “Steamworks” in the search bar on the left side of your screen.
Right-click Steamworks Common Redistributables, go to Manage, and click Browse local files.
In the window that opens on your screen, go to _CommonRedist\vcredist.
You will get a list of folders with names in years starting from 2010. Open each folder one by one, and run the VC_redis for both x64 and x86 versions.
Repair or install Visual C++ Redistributables and restart your PC afterwards.
Launch Broken Arrow, and the startup crashes are now fixed.

Type “Steamworks” in the Steam search bar. Right-click “Steamworks Common Redistributables” > Manage > Browse Local Files.

Install or repair the Visual C++ Redistributable.

Helpful Tip: Steam deletes installers after a certain time, and you might find some folders empty. In that case, you can manually download installers for Visual C++ Redistributables and install them. Ensure that you download and install both x86 and x64 versions.

Run SFC and DISM Scans to Repair System Files

After you have installed or repaired the Visual C++ components, run the SFC and DSIM scans to recover missing or damaged system files. These files are forcing Broken Arrow to crash at startup. Here is how you can run these scans to fix the crashes:

Press the Windows button on your keyboard and type “CMD,” and run Command Prompt as an administrator.
Type sfc /scannow and hit Enter. Let the scan complete.
After the SFC scan is complete, type DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth and press Enter.
Let this scan complete as well.
Launch Broken Arrow, and it will not crash at startup anymore.

Type DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth and press Enter.

There you have it, our fixes for Broken Arrow not launching on PC or crashing at startup error. To explore more fixes for errors and crashes on PC and handhelds, visit our hub for commonly occurring errors.