Stuck on "LOADING" screen when joining server

[just_Bri]

I can hop in and out of the sandbox without issue, but as soon as I try to join an external server of any kind I sit here staring at the loading screen forever

Left it alone for 10 minutes and still haven't joined the game.
Even when doing a private bot match it hangs on loading FOREVER.

After restarting the game a few times I was able to play 1 actual game earlier, now I'm back to staring at the loading screen.

[thecraftianman]

Fully close Steam and open it again. I saw somebody else suggest this and it worked for me too

[bl0ndyy]

Originally posted by thecraftianman:

Fully close Steam and open it again. I saw somebody else suggest this and it worked for me too

W mans

[just_Bri]

Tried multiple times

Reinstalled a couple times, restarted computer/steam, nothing seems to fix it

[MauMan]

Same. I've tried to play a couple of times this week, but could not connect to any servers. It keeps counting down people waiting in queue, and then back to +12.

[just_Bri]

Originally posted by MauMan:

Same. I've tried to play a couple of times this week, but could not connect to any servers. It keeps counting down people waiting in queue, and then back to +12.

So I found something that MIGHT be a work around.
Open up Deadlock and do a sandbox, if you see the error in the top left about re-building the map it's the same error I get.
Spend about 10 minutes in the sandbox, I think it has something to do with the GPU needing to cache/prerender/"build" some stuff but I'm not exactly sure

After that join a private bot match to make sure you can load the lobby/map.

If that works you are good to play a normal match against people.
--

Very tedious work around, but I do think this flow could help Valve determine the root cause.

EDIT: Well, it seems to only work about half the time lol

[Femdog]

Try using dx11 instead of vulkan

[just_Bri]

Originally posted by Femdog:

Try using dx11 instead of vulkan

I've also tried that
As well as all kinds of different graphics options

[Kozel: the Communist]

Maybe you need to update your drivers.

[just_Bri]

Originally posted by Kozel: the Communist:

Maybe you need to update your drivers.

Even tried DDU in safe mode and reinstalled drivers clean lol
I've tried everything I can think of

Moved the my gpu to another computer to try and it works fine, I have a new gpu coming tomorrow either way.
Reinstalled the game, drivers, revalidated multiple times, reinstalled steam

Hoping a new clean windows install and a new gpu avoid this problem altogether.
Seen others talking about this same issue on /r but haven't seen anyone find a real "solution" yet