I will attempt to provide you with most of the known fixes which can be found all over the internet to make it easier for you as well as for people trying to help you. If some of these fixes worked for you please comment and let me know what did the trick for you.

If none of the fixes posted here solved your problems, scroll down to the last paragraph and create a forum post in the Steam discussions according to the template. If I am online, I will attempt to help you and so will other people who are perhaps even more knowledgeable on the subject.

Use this guide from the top to bottom as the most common and simple fixes will be listed first. The further you advance through this guide the more complicated it will become and some might be very specific to certain systems.

I divided the guide in different sections to make it easier to find them. It might be the case that you already tried some things which didn't work and just want to scroll through this guide in a minute to see if there are any other options left. Although if you are not that experienced I recommend you just start at the top.

If you are here for game crashes, use the Fixing various game crashes guide instead of this one. It includes only those fixes related to game crashes which are spread out through this guide!

This guide is part of a series in which I try to combat all of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive most common issues and provide you with the most common solutions.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2212356972
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1911087875
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2203518412
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2203437337

First things first, you want to actually be able to monitor what your FPS currently is and maybe you capped it somehow by using console commands.

1. Enable developers console in game settings
   
2. Use the command net_graph 1 to view your FPS and other related information
   
3. Use the fps_max command to view what your current fps limit it, use 0 for unlimited

Before you do anything reboot your system, a single reboot can solve a lot of weird issues. If that does not work try to validate your game files:

1. Go to your Steam Game Library
   
2. Right click on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
   
3. Click properties
   
4. Navigate to the local game files tab
   
5. Click verify integrity of game files

Any missing files will be re-acquired, depending on how much is missing this can take a while. Once this is done reboot your system again and check if this solved the issue.

Before you continue it is important to make some backups, we do not want you to lose any custom settings and at the same time we want to run the game on most default settings, perhaps something in your config is causing problems.

It could be that your config files are either placed in your CS:GO cfg folder, or attached to your user account. To make sure I recommend you check both places described below!

First, at your game installation.

1. Go to your Steam Game Library
   
2. Right click on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
   
3. Click properties
   
4. Navigate to the local game files tab
   
5. Click browse local files
   
6. Open the csgo folder
   
7. Rename or backup and delete the cfg folder

Now to check your userdata:

1. Go to your steam installation folder (default location is C:\Program Files(x86)\Steam)
   
2. Open the userdata folder
   
3. Open the folder with your account ID (ID can be find in your profile URL)
   
4. Open the folder called 730
   
5. Open the local folder
   
6. Rename or backup and delete the cfg folder

If you rename or delete the folder, the next time you launch your game it will create the folder again with all the default settings. If it turns out this did not improve anything you can move/rename back your own CFG folder.

Launch options are extra parameters added when csgo.exe is executed in order to make changes to the game, while some are useful, some are not and there is a lot of outdated and incorrect information out there. For the sake of testing I suggest you remove them all.

1. Go to your Steam Game Library
   
2. Right click on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
   
3. Click properties
   
4. Click set launch options
   
5. Remove all launch options

If this also did not work, consider reinstalling your game completely, if you have an SSD in your system, install the game on your SSD, not HDD - preferably on the same disk as windows is installed (C:\). I know, it takes time, it might be a hassle but it can still fix it and help isolate the problem, you want to be sure you tried everything at every step!

Some settings in game work well for specific systems, I will try to spare you any details and force you to figure out exactly what you need, but try some of the following:

• Disable Wait for vertical Sync
  
• Enable or Disable multi-core rendering, try both
  
• Disable laptop power savings
  
• Try switching between fullscreen, fullscreen windowed, and windowed

Always try to lower all settings, disable any anti-aliasing to check if you aren't simply using to high video settings (perhaps they got reset, or overwritten).

Some CPU's can't handle the advanced audio processing. Go to your audio settings and select no in Advanced 3D Audio Processing. Use the Stereo headset setting as well.

Navigate to your installation folder again (as previously described), right click on the csgo.exe file and click properties. Open the compatibility tab and select disable full screen optimization.

Navigate to your installation folder again (as previously described), right click on the csgo.exe file and click properties. Open the compatibility tab and select run this program as an administrator. If you want to run the game as administrator (since Trusted mode update) you also need to run Steam as admin, you can try this but it is not recommended.

Navigate to your installation folder again (as previously described) and delete the csgo.exe file. Validate your game files (also explained earlier) and reboot your PC.

Open your Counter Strike properties in your steam library again as explained before and deselect enable steam overlay while in-game.

Open your Counter Strike properties in your steam library as before and click set launch options and add this: +cl_forcepreload 1. If this does not work, remember to remove it again as it is not recommended to use for most users.

Open your Counter Strike properties in your steam library as before and click set launch options, add this: -high. If this does not work, feel free to remove it but leaving it does not hurt.

Open your Counter Strike properties in your steam library as before and click set launch options, add this: -noubershader to CSGO launch options.

From this update back in april 2020:

– Added a launch option -noubershader. Users on very old Intel hardware can set this launch option to improve their framerate. This option is not recommended otherwise as it is likely to cause stuttering on the overwhelming majority of GPUs.

Steam is always running in the background with multiple services, corrupt files are known to cause issues with VAC but might as well trigger FPS issues.

To repair steam:

Repair the Steam Service
The error may also indicate a Steam service failure. Please try repairing the Steam service:
1. Exit Steam.
2. Click Start > Run (Windows Key + R).
3. Type the following command: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\SteamService.exe" /repair
4. Launch Steam and test the issue again.
Note: This command requires administrator privileges and may take a few minutes. If you have installed Steam to another path, please replace C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam with the correct path.

Taken from this support article you can reinstall steam without losing all your games.

The Steam installer can be downloaded here: (http://steamproxy.com/steamstore/about/) and reinstalled to the same location where it is already installed.

This may fix potential issues with Steam client and service files. Installing into same location will preserve all installed games.

WARNING! Uninstalling Steam through any other method will delete all game and userdata content.

Now that we tried a lot of Counter Strike related settings it is time to point some fingers to windows and the software installed on it.

If you have a dedicated graphics card in your computer make sure you connect your monitor on the graphics card and not your motherboard. If you connect it through your motherboard your PC will use any integrated graphics to run the game instead of your graphics card.

Make sure your OS is using your PC to its max performance and does not try to save power with the cost of performance.

1. Press Windows Key + X
   
2. Select Power Options
   
3. Press Additional power setting under related settings
   
4. Click create power plan
   
5. Select high performance and save

Keeping your system up to date is always a good idea and when you are slacking behind on a lot of updates this might cause issues.

1. Press the windows start key
   
2. Type Update
   
3. Click on Windows updates
   
4. Check and install any updates
   
5. Reboot Computer

After rebooting keep repeating this until there are no updates left.

Especially when using windows 10 custom anti-virus software is not required, windows defender will do just fine. Virus scanners are known to do all sorts of things in the background and even monitor network activity to cause delays. Try disabling it and/or removing it completely.

Windows 10 automatically records in the background to save gameplay clips, this can cause unexpected lag.

1. Press Windows + X
   
2. Select Gaming
   
3. Disable Record in the background while I’m playing a game
   
4. Disable Show game bar while playing fullscreen

Cloud drives like OneDrive might be syncing data in the background and cause your PC to slow down, check on your system which cloud drives you use and disable them if you can. (I might add some more details later).

It is possible that you require to update your drivers or perhaps something went wrong while updating in the past, to make sure your drivers are up to date you are best to re-install them.

For your Graphics card use DDU - Display Driver Uninstaller[www.guru3d.com] to properly remove any drivers on your computer. Make sure you read the information on the website and perhaps make a system restore point just to be safe. After you reboot your system download the proper drivers below.

• Nvidia Drivers[www.nvidia.com]
  
• AMD Drivers[www.amd.com]
  
• Intel HD integrated graphics[www.intel.com]

It is possible you opted in to beta changes (Testing version) and this might have unexpected and undesirable effects. Disable any sort of beta testing.

In some cases it might be that your PC defaults to integrated graphics, or perhaps another graphics card you have selected. For now follow this guide[www.techadvisor.co.uk]. I might add the steps and explanation here later if it is still unclear.

Download CCleaner[www.ccleaner.com] and install it, be careful what you select during the installation because it might install other software if you do not deselect it. Once you installed it run the program and use both the cleaner and registry. Clean up all the files and faults it finds.

Alternatively you can use Malware Bytes[www.malwarebytes.com] to scan your PC for any malware or virus and remove them. Be careful you make sure both CCleaner and Malwarebytes do not keep running in the background once you are done, either remove them completely or find the proper settings.

It is great that you can run software on PC startup, but a lot of software does this by default and might keep running in the background sucking up performance.

1. Right click on your task bar
   
2. Click on open task manager
   
3. At the bottom click on More details (If required)
   
4. Go to the startup tab
   
5. Disable any software you installed and does not need to run when you boot your PC.

If you have a nvidia GeForce graphics card it usually installs the GeForce Experience, this software can be handy but also has known issues with overwriting settings and/or causing lag and capped FPS. Remove it by just using the windows tools on your system to remove software.

Besides software, it could actually be your hardware having issues, there is different software to monitor your hardware performance such as MSI Afterburner[www.msi.com] or Speccy[www.ccleaner.com].

While playing, look what is happening to your components, are they being used to its full potential? Are they overheating? Depending on what you see here different actions can be taken which I will add at another time.

Most people will know that Counter-Strike is a very demanding game. You can find a more advanced explanation and tool here[www.coderbag.com]. Use at your own risk and only change what you need to change, unless your really know what you are doing.

Perhaps some of your windows files are corrupt, you could completely re-install your system but I recommend you do that only as a last resort when nothing else seem to work, unless you are tired of all my fixes at this point (understandable) ;).

1. Open the windows start menu
   
2. Type cmd
   
3. Open the windows command prompt as administrator
   
4. Type sfc /scannow and press enter

It might tell you it cannot repair corrupted / damages files, if so you can try also running the following command:

1. Open the windows start menu
   
2. Type cmd
   
3. Open the windows command prompt as administrator
   
4. Type DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth and press enter

If this still does not work, or it says it cannot repair anything you might consider reinstalling your windows.

WARNING: Only execute this step when you are 100% sure you have a HDD. If you have a SSD it won't make much difference and only reduces the life-spawn of your SSD for no good reason.

Defragmenting a HDD is quite simple and I suggest you follow this support article from microsoft[support.microsoft.com]. To get the maximum result from the defragmentation process make sure you have at least 10% of free disk space on your HDD.

Dust can be an issue for the performance of your PC, especially if you encounter overheating problems. Open up your PC and check if this might be the case and clean if necessary, I personally do this every once in a while to make sure it can be done quickly and always runs smoothly.

Remember do NOT use a vacuum cleaner to clean your PC! The static build up created by it can discharge into your components and damage them and this will likely happen. Don't think that you are an exception and can just be careful. Do not do this!

If you encounter overheating issues in most games and got your PC for a while you might consider replacing the Thermal paste or find somebody who can. If you are not experienced with this I recommend you get help from people who know what they are doing instead of following a guide. If you are still confident you can do it feel free, but be careful.

Sometimes small things can cause big issues, I will list a number of small fixes which worked for some people:

• Disable Hardware Acceleration in Discord if you use the overlay in-game
  
• Disable custom audio software for your headset (if you have it)
  
• Disable all overlays such as Discord, Steam, GeForce experience or whatever else you have installed.
  
• Reinstall the software which uses overlays might also help instead of removing / disabling it all together.
  
• Click on the Action center icon next to the clock in Windows (taskbar) click on the "Expand" and turn off the "Location" feature.

First try the many other fixes included in the previous paragraphs in this guide. If still nothing fixes your game crashes, there are still a few options left to try:

Go to your Counter-Strike: Global Offensive launch options as previously described and add cl_disablehtmlmotd 1

If you didn't try already to remove your configs try adding -autoconfig to your launch options. If this did not work remember to remove the -autoconfig from your launch options afterwards.

Since not that long ago it is enabled by default, you can disable this by adding -disable_d3d9ex to your launch options.

It might be worth updating your BIOS, although this does not come risk free and depends on your manufacturer. If you are not sure how to do this considering finding someone on the discussions who can help you and/or find some guides on the internet for your system! It does not always work the same for everyone.

If nothing works and you have tried everything try creating a discussion post in the community. Perhaps there are some very specific fixes for your system not included in this guide or another user who has the same problem has knowledge of other possible solutions. Maybe your hardware is broken in some way, if you aren't sure better to get a second opinion before you contact your manufacturer or send your computer/laptop in for repair.

To make it easier for us to help you we ask you kindly to provide us with the following information:

• What exactly is the issue (Low FPS, FPS drops, stutter lag etc)
  
• Does it happen in other games?
  
• Since when did this start happening?
  
• What is the performance you were used to getting, compared to now?
  
• Did you make any changes to your computer, drivers or OS lately?
  
• Post all of your computer specifications! It is hard to help if we do not know what components you have.
  
• Perhaps you tried something not included in the guide, tell us.
  
• If you skipped some part of the guide for whatever reason tell us too, perhaps we can help you with explaining how to do it and what exactly it is used for.

Did I miss something? Did I get something wrong? Or perhaps something is not clear enough in your opinion? Feel free to comment suggestions, I am no expert on this topic but just see a lot of issues and fixes being posted. I would love to keep updating the guide with more and more possible solutions or remove those which aren't fixing anything anymore.

Thanks for reading, perhaps I will write another guide to improve your FPS overall but there are already plenty of those out there. On the other hand these kind of guides are harder to find and some very outdated.

See you in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Steam Discussions! :)

Thanks to Mr Fox for feedback and suggestions.