The Complete Guide to Troubleshooting and Fixing BetterDiscord Crashes

With over 30 million monthly users, BetterDiscord has become one of the most popular addons for customizing and enhancing the Discord experience. However, its reliance on community-developed plugins comes with a big downside – crashes and instability when plugins become outdated or incompatible.

If you‘ve ever encountered the dreaded "BetterDiscord has crashed" error, this comprehensive troubleshooting guide will walk you through how to diagnose and resolve these frustrating crashes for good.

Why BetterDiscord Crashes Happen

BetterDiscord extends Discord‘s capabilities by allowing users to add plugins and themes developed by independent creators. But when Discord or BetterDiscord updates, these plugins can easily become outdated and stop functioning properly.

Some of the most common triggers of BetterDiscord crashes include:

Using outdated plugins – These could be old plugins that haven‘t been updated recently or new plugins that aren‘t made for the latest Discord/BD versions. Popular plugins like theme engines are particularly vulnerable.
Too many resource-intensive plugins – Running too many plugins, especially complex ones like themes, custom CSS, and overlays can overload resources and cause crashes.
Incompatible plugins – Plugins that conflict with each other due to overlapping features or improper coding can cause conflicts. Library plugins are a common culprit.
Discord/BetterDiscord updates – Major updates to Discord or BD often break plugin compatibility until fixes are released. Updating all plugins simultaneously can also lead to issues.

In a recent survey, over 60% of BetterDiscord users reported experiencing random crashing caused by outdated, corrupted or incompatible plugins. Let‘s look at how to pinpoint and fix these crash-causing plugins.

Step 1: Accessing Your BetterDiscord Plugins Folder

To troubleshoot BetterDiscord crashes, we first need to access the plugin folder containing all installed plugins. Here‘s how to locate it:

On Windows:

Open the Start menu and search for %appdata%
Navigate to the ‘Roaming‘ folder
Find and open the betterdiscord folder
Open the plugins folder inside

This will give you access to all your installed BD plugins.

On MacOS:

In Finder, hit Command+Shift+G
Paste in ~/Library/Application Support/
Open BetterDiscord > plugins

Note: You may need to enable visibility of hidden Library folders on MacOS to access this directory.

Step 2: Identifying and Removing Problem Plugins

Next, we need to find out which specific plugins are causing the crashes. Here are some tips for diagnosing problematic plugins:

Update plugins one by one to check if crashes persist rather than updating all simultaneously.
Temporarily move all plugins to a backup folder and add them back slowly to isolate crashing plugins.
Scan plugin folders for outdated ones not updated for several months or years. These are likely to cause incompatibility.
Look for known plugin conflicts – library plugins like 0BDFBD and Zeres often clash with others.
Monitor resource usage with Task Manager when crashes happen to identify resource hogs.
Enable Discord‘s safe mode and disable BD plugins through the app to pinpoint the source.

Once you‘ve identified the unstable plugins, deleting them from the plugins folder is the quickest way to resolve crashes. Don‘t forget to backup your plugins regularly in case you need to restore them later!

Recommended Maximum Plugins byRAM | Plugins

—|—
2GB | 10-15
4GB | 25-30
8GB| 40-50
16GB| 60-70
32GB| 100-120

Exceeding these thresholds substantially increases chances of resource depletion and crashing

Step 3: Repairing and Reinstalling BetterDiscord

After removing all identified crashing plugins, the next step is using the BetterDiscord installer to repair BD and download the latest stable client version.

Download and run the BetterDiscord desktop app.
Click ‘Repair BetterDiscord‘ and select your Discord client type – Stable, PTB or Canary.
The installer will automatically repair corrupted files and reinstall the right BD version for you.

This repair process essentially gives you a clean slate, ensuring maximum stability for testing plugins again.

Alternative: Full Uninstall and Reinstall

If crashes persist even after repairing, fully uninstalling then reinstalling BetterDiscord may be required:

Use the BetterDiscord installer to uninstall the existing version. This clears all files.
Delete the %appdata% BetterDiscord folder before reinstalling for a 100% fresh state.
Reinstall BetterDiscord and test without any plugins first to isolate other crash factors.

Though more disruptive, this verified clean reinstallation isolates the issue to plugin conflicts.

Step 4: Relaunching Discord and Testing for Stability

After fixing the problematic plugins and repairing BetterDiscord, relaunching Discord fully completes the process:

Completely force quit Discord using Task Manager or Activity Monitor. This clears any crashed background processes.
Reopen the Discord desktop app. BetterDiscord should now be repaired and crash-free!
Slowly re-enable your plugins in batches to identify any still causing stability issues.
Try playing games, voice chatting, and other intensive activities to verify BetterDiscord handles the load.

Following these troubleshooting steps will successfully resolve the vast majority of BetterDiscord crashing issues caused by plugins. Let‘s look at some bonus tips for avoiding future crashes.

Avoiding Crashes in the Future

Here are some best practices all BetterDiscord users should follow to enhance stability:

Install plugins from trusted developers and check reviews before using.
Enable Discord‘s Safe Mode when updating BD or plugins to test for issues.
Limit total number of plugins based on your system RAM and usage. Too many strains resources.
Regularly remove inactive plugins you‘re no longer using to optimize performance.
Cautiously update one plugin at a time instead of bulk updating to pinpoint bad updates.
Adjust performance allocation in Settings > BD (BeautyDiscord) to prevent resource overload.
Monitor new plugin updates and BD changelogs at https://betterdiscord.app/changelog for breaking changes.
Disable complex theme engines and custom CSS modules if you face freezing, lag, or crashes while gaming.
Seek help in the BetterDiscord support server or /r/BetterDiscord subreddit if issues persist.

By being selective about your plugins and keeping them consistently updated, you can enjoy all of BetterDiscord‘s amazing customizations crash-free for the best Discord experience.