Why Does Civilization 7 Keep Crashing?

These days, it seems like more and more games are released with bugs. Whether this is due to corporate greed and rushed development or simply the increasing complexity of modern games and hardware is up for debate.

Civilization 7 is no exception. From day one, the game has been plagued with a variety of bugs, some minor and others game-breaking. While many of these issues have been addressed through patches, some persistent problems remain. One of the most frustrating bugs causes the game to crash immediately upon launch, preventing players from even accessing the main menu.

The Cause of Civilization 7’s Startup Crashes

The exact reason for these crashes remains unclear, as the developers have yet to release an official statement on the issue. Many players have attempted common troubleshooting steps—such as verifying game files, reinstalling the game, resetting settings, and even reinstalling Steam—only to find that nothing works.

However, the culprit behind the crash is surprisingly simple: two specific files located in Civilization 7’s AppData folder.

How to Fix the Civilization 7 Crash on Startup

If your game crashes immediately after launching, follow these steps to fix the issue:

• Navigate to the Firaxis Games folder in your AppData directory. The exact location is:

C:\Users\<YOURUSERNAME>\AppData\Local\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization VII

• Inside the Civ 7 folder, locate the following two files:

1. LegalChoice.cache
2. LegalDocument.cache

• Delete both of these files.
• Restart the game.

Upon relaunching, you will be prompted to agree to Take-Two Interactive’s terms of service and privacy policy again. This will regenerate the deleted files, and in most cases, the game will now run without crashing.

If the issue persists, try deleting the entire Civ 7 folder in AppData and restarting the game. Keep in mind that this will reset all in-game settings, requiring you to reconfigure them. However, your saved games will remain intact—only autosaves will be lost. Additionally, you may need to relink your 2K Account after doing this.

By following these steps, most players should be able to resolve the startup crash and finally enjoy Civilization 7 without frustration.