Loading screens are black and take 2 minutes or more

[Bilbo Baggins]

Title says it all basically. I have this issue whenever I fast travel or enter an interior/exterior area. Instead of the traditional loading screen that Fallout 4 has it is a black screen with the little green vault-tec symbol in the bottom right. This loading screen takes more than 2 minutes sometimes too.

My PC should be way more than powerful enough to not have this issue, as I am using a 4080 and running the game on a NVMe M.2 SSD. I have just reinstalled it today and I am playing the vanilla version of the game (no mods, although I do have creation club items installed).

Any help would be appreciated. Of course Bethesda would release an "update" that doesn't fix issues like this or more likely, is the reason I am having this issue to begin with.

[Shellshock]

+1

[Cor.]

Originally posted by Bilbo Baggins:

Title says it all basically. I have this issue whenever I fast travel or enter an interior/exterior area. Instead of the traditional loading screen that Fallout 4 has it is a black screen with the little green vault-tec symbol in the bottom right. This loading screen takes more than 2 minutes sometimes too.

My PC should be way more than powerful enough to not have this issue, as I am using a 4080 and running the game on a NVMe M.2 SSD. I have just reinstalled it today and I am playing the vanilla version of the game (no mods, although I do have creation club items installed).

Any help would be appreciated. Of course Bethesda would release an "update" that doesn't fix issues like this or more likely, is the reason I am having this issue to begin with.

What are your settings?

Wife and I used to run I5 with 1050ti cards, so we had the settings lower.

We got new rigs for Christmas, so we upped it to Ultra and noticed the times were longer.

[Bilbo Baggins]

OK so I solved it, apparently. It had to do with my monitor refresh rate and FPS (of course, classic Bethesda).

I have a 240 Hz monitor and was running the game with a 60 fps cap via the NVIDIA control panel. With this FPS "fix," the loading screen issue continued.

Well, just now I decided to run my monitor in 120 Hz and change the iPresentinterval value from 1 to 2. Now the game is running at a 60 fps cap (without the NVIDIA control panel limiting it) and the loading screens are back to normal and only take a few seconds. I feel its worth mentioning that I am running the game in full screen as well.

Why do Bethesda games have to run worse on more modern hardware?

Also to answer you Cor., I am running the game on ultra settings (but with weapon debris disabled because of that stupid instant-crash bug). The game is otherwise maxed out.

[Shaauppp]

The long zoning load times are an age-old issue. You'll need one of the load speed mods to fix it. There are 2 available.
The "Load Accelerator" by hippo. It's a manually input stand alone .ini file change and can be a little confusing getting it right, but all it changes is load times.
The other is the "High Physics Fix" by antonix. It affects several game functions and is very popular, but it requires the F4SE mod. Until the F4SE is updated this one will not work.

They are both available on nexus mods

[Rockoloco]

both of those mods are a disaster

[Shaauppp]

i've been using the Load Accelerator forever and no issues with it for me. The update also didn't affect it. Lucky on my side I guess. No need for the other one since I only run at 60fps.

[Necron Monolith ₿]

Originally posted by Rockoloco:

both of those mods are a disaster

2 minute wait times at a cell load screen in a stock game vs potential 2 second load screen. post update no less, who's the real disaster here.

[Bilbo Baggins]

Originally posted by Cadaver Synod:

Originally posted by Rockoloco:

both of those mods are a disaster

2 minute wait times at a cell load screen in a stock game vs potential 2 second load screen. post update no less, who's the real disaster here.

Ok mod or not, does anyone know why this is happening? As Bethesda likes to say, why can't it "just work?" Is there another fix for vanilla fallout 4 or MUST it be a mod to fix it?

[Lopt]

Originally posted by Bilbo Baggins:

Title says it all basically. I have this issue whenever I fast travel or enter an interior/exterior area. Instead of the traditional loading screen that Fallout 4 has it is a black screen with the little green vault-tec symbol in the bottom right. This loading screen takes more than 2 minutes sometimes too.

My PC should be way more than powerful enough to not have this issue, as I am using a 4080 and running the game on a NVMe M.2 SSD. I have just reinstalled it today and I am playing the vanilla version of the game (no mods, although I do have creation club items installed).

Any help would be appreciated. Of course Bethesda would release an "update" that doesn't fix issues like this or more likely, is the reason I am having this issue to begin with.

On Steam Deck at least I resolved it by setting REFRESH to 60 from 90, pictures are back and screens load as quickly as expected.

[Clay]

I have the same problem, I have a 3060 a SSD and a 60 hz monitor, I prefer not to install mods. what could I do?

[Bilbo Baggins]

Originally posted by Clay:

I have the same problem, I have a 3060 a SSD and a 60 hz monitor, I prefer not to install mods. what could I do?

The mod Load Accelerator isn't really a mod. It's two files that you put in the same directory as the Fallout.exe. Trust me it's worth it man, plus that way you can know it's not your PC but this poorly optimized game.

[Flippy]

Originally posted by Bilbo Baggins:

Originally posted by Clay:

I have the same problem, I have a 3060 a SSD and a 60 hz monitor, I prefer not to install mods. what could I do?

The mod Load Accelerator isn't really a mod. It's two files that you put in the same directory as the Fallout.exe. Trust me it's worth it man, plus that way you can know it's not your PC but this poorly optimized game.

This is correct for sure. Should be part of the game i am not sure why it isnt it just speeds up the loading by not tying it to the frame rates as simple as that. Makes a HUGE difference.

Why is loading tied to frame rates without the mod? I dont know.

Been like that since game came out.

[jonesy_durham]

I googled the Load Accelerator, followed the steps and my loading times just went from minutes to maybe 5-15 seconds. HUGE improvement. Thanks for that.

I downloaded the zip from here and followed the instructions on the instruction tab:

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/10283

[Vimes]

Originally posted by Bilbo Baggins:

OK so I solved it, apparently. It had to do with my monitor refresh rate and FPS (of course, classic Bethesda).

I have a 240 Hz monitor and was running the game with a 60 fps cap via the NVIDIA control panel. With this FPS "fix," the loading screen issue continued.

Well, just now I decided to run my monitor in 120 Hz and change the iPresentinterval value from 1 to 2. Now the game is running at a 60 fps cap (without the NVIDIA control panel limiting it) and the loading screens are back to normal and only take a few seconds. I feel its worth mentioning that I am running the game in full screen as well.

Why do Bethesda games have to run worse on more modern hardware?

Also to answer you Cor., I am running the game on ultra settings (but with weapon debris disabled because of that stupid instant-crash bug). The game is otherwise maxed out.

Wonderful solution for this rather bizarre situation. Initially using the Nvidia control panel to limit my 4080 to 60fs would give me a black screen fast travel bug.

Using you listed fix seems to have resolved it.

Thanks for posting back your working solution.

[Zed]

When you get a black loading screen try minimizing the game, wait 2-3 seconds then maximize it.