Borderlands 4 is out, and we loved it. Many are experiencing issues on PC, particularly with performance. The Gearbox team has released a troubleshooting guide, which we’ve included here for your reference.
I played the game on PC for review, and my all-AMD system tanked it like a champ. I felt it was the best combat, writing, world design, and more for the series to date. Not everyone has had as rosy a time as I did on the platform, though, with mixed reviews to start on Steam due in large part to optimization issues.
The team at Gearbox has suggested the following troubleshooting methods:
Step one is to always check the system requirements for the game, which you can find at Borderlands 4: PC System Requirements. That has the minimum needed to run the game at 30 FPS, and what we recommend if you want to turn it up and see a sharper Kairos.
Other graphics issues:
We estimate shaders to take ~10 minutes to compile on most PCs. If you find shaders are taking an exceedingly long time to compile, try giving the game and your system a quick reboot.
If that doesn’t help, consider clearing the shader cache.
For NVIDIA:
- Open up the RunCommand (press WinKey+R),
- Paste or type the following: %LOCALAPPDATA%\NVIDIA\DXCache and select “OK.”
- This will open a File Explorer window to that file path.
- Highlight all the files in the folder and select “Delete.”
- Some files cannot be deleted, so another window will appear to warn you.
- Enable the “Do this for all current items” check box and then select “Skip.” the files that cannot be deleted.
For AMD:
- Open AMD Adrenalin app
- Select Gaming > Graphics
- Scroll down to bottom and select the Reset Shader Cache option
- Note: This will wipe shaders for all programs
Save File locations:
Sometimes they ask you for a save file to help troubleshoot something. If you’re looking for the default location for your Steam save files, here’s where you want to go:
C:\Users[Window’s username]\Documents\My Games\Borderlands 4
As well as the Window’s save file location:
Documents > My Games > Borderlands 4
Crashing with a 13th or 14th Gen Processor from Intel:
Intel has recently shared information to customers that its 13th/14th Generation CPUs may experience instability under load due to technical errors. This instability might show up on your PC as slowdowns, crashes, overheating, or large spikes of CPU usage while gaming or installing a game.
You can read more on the official post regarding Intel’s 13th and 14th Gen Processors here.
Common PC Troubleshooting Steps:
Verify Game Files – Corrupted or missing files can stop the game from launching.
Steam
- Right-click Borderlands 4 in your Library
- Go to ‘Properties’ > ‘Installed Files’
- Click ‘Verify integrity of game files’
Epic
- Find Borderlands 4 in your Library
- Click the three dots next to the game title
- Choose ‘Manage’ and select ‘Verify’
Disable Overlays – Game overlays can cause performance issues or crashes.
Disable Steam Overlay: Steam > Settings > In-Game > Uncheck “Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game”
Turn off other overlays (e.g., Discord, GeForce Experience, MSI Afterburner)
Run as Administrator
- Right-click the game’s shortcut or .exe file
- Click ‘Run as administrator’
- Also, try running the game in ‘compatibility mode’ for Windows 10 if you’re using Windows
Check Antivirus/Firewall – Some security software can block game files.
- Add the game folder as an exception to your antivirus.
- Temporarily disable antivirus/firewall to test if it’s the issue (be careful doing this).
Other issues:
One of the early troubleshooting steps is to restart the game, as well as uninstalling and reinstalling the game if a simple restart doesn’t work.
Please let us know in the comments section below if any of Gearbox’s methods were able to help. As far as the game itself goes I had the following to say:
“Open World Loot-focused cooperative shooters are my favorite genre. Borderlands 4 is the best one in it that I’ve played. I have no major faults, only a few minor gripes about one character and how long bodies take to disappear when you want to grab the loot underneath ‘em. Outside of that, Borderlands 4 is a masterpiece. For all the hours I have already played, I could easily see myself putting in another thousand over the years, loving every second of it.“
