PC Freezing/hanging during level load.

[Is It?]

Edit: What we DO know:

* The Windows version has no relevance to the issue. This SEEMS to be relating to a crash that happens, possibly separate from the freezing problem. It might be related but there's little evidence to support this at the moment.
* Disabling Multithreading In-Game solves the problem, but causes significant performance drops.
* Changing to Vulkan does not make a difference in relation to hardlocking. Unknown if this related to the DX error - of if the DX error is causing by something that would ALSO cause Vulkan to crash - not enough information here.
* Disabling specific CPU cores does NOT solve the problem - however it DOES seem to stop hardlocking - allowing the game process to be closed. This is gleaned from various posts across forums, and is in no way a guaranteed fix.

We know the PoE2 devs are looking at this issue as a priority, so I guess we'll just have wait and see. Official POE2 beta test thread regarding this issue: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3594126

**EDIT Kapps has released a tool that could potentially help with the loading screen freezing - I have not tested this so AYOR. https://github.com/Kapps/PoEUncrasher/releases/tag/v1.2.0

Let us know in the thread if this has worked for you.

This it NOT for the DX crashes - this appears to be a separate issue.

** EDIT: I have had some good success with an app called Process Lasso. You can use this to specifically set a rule for the PoE2 process to drop to IDLE priority and un-assign 2 cores iflk the CPU usage rises above 95% for a second, and then remain at IDLE for say, 10 seconds. And then resume normal processes.

Find the tool here: https://bitsum.com/

Turn ProBalance on.

Advanced Settings:
Ignore all options except:
Lower to idle priority instead of below normal - Tick this.
Ignore all foregroud processes - UNTICK this - very important.
Change affinity during restraint: CPUs 2-(your core count - eg 15 for a 5800X3D)

Options/CPU Limiter:
Process match: pathofexilesteam.exe (change this to whatever the GGG launcher version is, if using that)
When CPU use is: 85% (experiment with this - the more powerful the CPU, the lower this can be)
For a period of: 1 seconds
Reduce by this many CPU cores: 8 (Essentially half the logical cores your CPU has - you could just put 2, but I don't see an issue with half)
For a period of: 10 seconds.

This has immediately solved the issue for me - and it even decreases load time dramatically as well. Any tool that can reduce the CPU priority and remove cores will probably work, but this can be done on a rule basis per running process.

Anyone else having this? When transitioning to new levels/towns, the PC locks up completely and I have to reboot. Done this twice now?

Maybe post specs? In case there is a commonality?

4080 Super, Ryzen 5800X3D, 48Gb DDR4. Ultrawide 21:9 @ 3440x1440

EDIT: Thanks to all for responding - as I expected, there's no real correlation in hardware specs to the cause of the issue. The PoE Forum thread is also showing exactly the same information.

[SumguyHannibal]

I have a Rog Strix 18" Laptop 13 13980HX CPU, 4090 Laptop GPU 32GB RAM. I got this bug as well as the game sometimes drives the heat up big time. I stopped using DLSS and stuck with NIS at 1080p scaled up to 4K. Performance improved but I still get the hard crashes while loading or just playing that require hard reboots. In the graveyard I got a error once that said something like "Direct3D failed to load texture" at that time it crashed to desktop.

[Leihjir]

Randomly crash while playing: D3D12 - failed load texture error

Win 11 24H2
7800x3D / 4080
Everything is up to date

gonna try tweak my settings .../

[MR.VIDEPIDE]

same here 5800x3d 32 gig ram and 2080

[Teaf]

If you're freezing on loading screens and you're using Windows version 24H2, and especially if you have an AMD CPU, then it's could likely be due to an issue with Windows 24H2[learn.microsoft.com] and it affects numerous games including Path of Exile 1 and 2.

Turning off "Engine Multithreading" in-game may "fix" the problem because it stops pathofexile.exe from using all your CPU, which is what causes the system to freeze. It's a huge overkill though because you are massively reducing your frame rate by only running on 1 core.

I use BES CPU Limiter to reduce what PoE can use by a few percent so it can't hit 100% CPU, and I've not had any further issues. For BES steps if you want to try it out:

1. Download BES CPU Limiter[mion.yosei.fi].
2. Unzip it, and run the .exe.
3. Launch Path of Exile 2 and stay on the log-in screen.
4. Go back to BES, and press the "Target" button.
5. Find PathOfExileSteam.exe in the list, select it, and press the "Limit this" button.
6. Set the slider at the bottom of BES between -2% and -5% (I would recommend -5%).

The task bar icon for BES should turn into a red square, Path of Exile 2 should be coloured in orange in the list inside BES, and it should say "Foe". See here for an example[i.imgur.com]. Try anything between -2% and -5% (as mentioned I'd recommend -5% as -2% may not be enough to stop the system freeze).

There are other methods you can use if you don't want to use BES, such as setting the pathofexile.exe affinity in Windows Task Manager (through the Details tab) to use less CPU cores. You can also use something like Process Lasso to do the same thing, or reduce the maximum CPU usage of your system through Windows power options.

[MichMuch]

Before you switch to a new area, disable the option called “CPU Multithreading” (I think that’s what it’s called). In the new area, you can enable it again. That worked pretty well for me.

[Connie93]

Same problem here, 4080S +7800X3D. People said to switch to Vulcan, but it crashed the same way in the menu when I tried switching.

[Connie93]

Originally posted by Teaf:

See here if you're freezing on loading screens and you're using Windows version 24H2 (and especially if you have an AMD CPU).

Basically, you need to limit the amount of CPU that Path of Exile can take. It's an issue with Windows 24H2[learn.microsoft.com] and affects numerous games and not just the one's listed in that link. I use BES CPU Limiter as described in that post, and I've not had any further issues.

Just downloaded BES, so I’ll try this now and get back to you.

Edit: What percentage do you put it on? The default is -33%, should I just leave it on that?

Edit 2: This caused my game to stutter extremely badly, to the point of causing nausea lol. I’m hoping there’s a better way or different percentage I can use?

Edit 3: Limiting to -2% removed the stutter, time to see if it stops crashes.

[Teaf]

Originally posted by Connie93:

Just downloaded BES, so I’ll try this now and get back to you.

Edit: What percentage do you put it on? The default is -33%, should I just leave it on that?

-5% should be enough. You just don't want pathofexile.exe to hit 100% CPU usage. Try -5% and see how it goes, but if that doesn't work, try a bit lower. I've added steps to my post with a screenshot if that helps.

Originally posted by Connie93:

Edit 2: This caused my game to stutter extremely badly, to the point of causing nausea lol. I’m hoping there’s a better way or different percentage I can use?

Likely you're using -33% before you saw my reply. Try -5%.

Originally posted by Connie93:

Edit 3: Limiting to -2% removed the stutter, time to see if it stops crashes.

If it doesn't stop the crash, as mentioned try -5%, as -2% might not be enough.

[McMUFF1nn]

The solution for me was putting everything on default in graphics, then i run dlss on dlaa, vsync locked, frame cap at 90 haven't had a single pc freeze in 3-4 hours

[Ege]

4090
Driver: 566.36
i9 14900-KF
Win11 24H1
96 GB RAM
Same issue.

[darjidokkan]

Same here. The moment I want to portal to a town......

I also have a pretty old card with a 1080TI^^
But the game works smooth.

[justAlesh]

In my case, the game freezes my computer each and everytime there's a loading screen. So frustrating. It started doing this after the latest POE2 Patch!

[Dead2Cry]

My System to Freeze can do nothing any more only way to hold the power button to get a New Boot my Systen

[Eclairshadow]

same

[Pherik Fox]

AMD Ryzen 9800X3D
64GB Ram
Nvidia RTX 3080 TI