Hello! Well, it's been a while since I've done one of these.

I have done my fair share of Minecraft support and I have realized that a lot of players encounter the same type of problems or believe the same myths when they are trying to fix their game. I decided to list a few of them here to hopefully save some people getting support a few minutes when their game inevitably conks out on them. Let's get started, shall we?


1) "Why won't my computer from 2011 play Minecraft? It can play other games!"
Just because your PC plays other games doesn't mean that Minecraft will work as well. If your computer doesn't meet the minimum requirements for Minecraft, you could encounter issues at any time when trying to play the game.

2) "My computer can play Overwatch at Ultra settings, why won't Minecraft run at a smooth framerate?"
You cannot compare the performance that you get from games built on totally different engines. Minecraft (Java Edition) is built using Java, whereas triple-A games will probably use some type of C++ engine, which perform very differently.

3) "Minecraft has such low-resolution graphics, why is my PC struggling to play it?"
Again, Minecraft isn't built on an engine optimized for gaming. Also, where the game lacks in graphics, it makes up for it by constantly checking and updating thousands of blocks and entities. Minecraft is much more CPU-intensive than graphics-intensive.

4) "I allocated more RAM to Minecraft, why didn't my FPS improve?"
More ram does not equal better performance, that's a myth. Allocating more RAM to your game can resolve issues where Minecraft is running out of memory, usually due to having a lot of mods installed, but it will not improve your game's performance by very much at all.

5) "My PC is newer than my friend's but doesn't run Minecraft as well. That's impossible!"
This is especially common with laptops. Even if you have a new but lower-end laptop with Intel integrated graphics, don't expect it to run Minecraft better than a slightly older computer with a dedicated GPU. Newer doesn't always equal better when it comes to computer components.

6) "I have a good PC, but I only get 45 FPS while running shaders. Surely I should be getting more!"
Shaders, especially good ones like SEUS and Silder's Ultra shaders, are very resource-intensive. Unless you really do have a very good PC with, say, an i7 and GTX 1080, don't expect to get 200 FPS in fullscreen while using them.

7) "I downloaded all of my mods from 9minecraft, but Minecraft crashes at startup. Why don't mod developers fix their mods?!"
Mod reposting sites are not good sites to download mods from. They frequently mislabel mod versions, distribute outdated versions, or include malware along with the mod file. Never download mods from them. Visit the StopModReposts site for more information, as well as a list of sites to avoid.

8) "My game crashed. Help me!"
Players trying to help you cannot read your mind. Always provide a crash report (if possible) whenever you ask for help. If a crash report is not generated, a DxDiag or HijackThis log can also help. Anything to help narrow down the problem from the thousands of possible issues that could be occurring. Players have no idea what "my game crashed" means.

9) "My game looks weird, what could be causing this?"
Again, a screenshot or log from the launcher is needed. If we cannot see or read about what the problem is, then we have no idea what you're talking about when you say that your game looks "weird" or "messed up," for example. Oh, and please, do not take a video of Minecraft on your monitor with your cell phone. Those types of videos always come out incredibly blurry and shaky and make it difficult to see what the problem is.

10) "I have McAfee installed on my computer, therefore malware cannot be the cause of my problem."
Anti-viruses like McAfee and Norton aren't very good and can miss a lot of potential malware. You definitely want to scan your PC with something else before ruling out malware being the source of your problem. ADWCleaner is a relatively good malware remover that I frequently recommend to players encountering Minecraft launching issues, and it usually fixes them.

11) "Why doesn't Minecraft work now? It worked before!"
This is usually caused by using an outdated computer that no longer meets the minimum requirements of Minecraft. Because the game worked before doesn't mean that it will always work. If your PC is really outdated, it's probably time for an upgrade!



Well, that's all I can think of for now (plus, it's time for dinner). Let me know if you have any other suggestions!