You joined in to slay monsters and explore rich dungeons in Path of Exile 2 but now all you are doing is trying to fix the game freezing issues! Well, you are not alone and a lot of players are facing the same. With the game being fresh off the shelves, issues like these are not a surprise and now it is a fix you might be after! So, are there fixes available? Let’s find out.
The Path of Exile 2 freezing issue has been a major headache, particularly during loading screens where the game locks up, spikes CPU usage to 100%, and forces a complete system shutdown. For some, their PCs freeze or crash, requiring a hard restart every time they try to load into a new area. Interestingly, this problem seems unique to PoE 2, suggesting a game-specific optimization or compatibility issue. So, are the devs aware of this?
Path of Exile 2 Game Freezing Issue: Is there any fix yet
Currently, there’s no specific fix or solution from Grinding Gear Games for the freezing and crashing issue in Path of Exile 2, although there are some players who have reported that updating the game to install the latest patch fixed the issue for them. So, it is possible that a simple update might fix the issue. If you are still encountering issues after the update, try these workarounds:
Low-end hardware?
For players with lower-end systems, improving system cooling is one long-term fix. In the meantime, however, try disabling overclocking. Overclocking or auto-overclocking through power settings can cause instability, so turning these off can help stabilize performance. Additionally, ensuring your system has adequate cooling will prevent overheating, which can also lead to crashes and freezes during intense gameplay.
Github fix
The PoE Loading Screen Crash Fixer is a tool designed to prevent Path of Exile 2 from freezing your Windows system during loading screens, particularly affecting AMD X3D CPUs. You can download and read more about it by clicking here. Also, to use it, simply download, unzip, and run the executable, either before or after launching PoE2. Running as an administrator can help resolve freezes in some cases.
In-game settings
A potential workaround for the Path of Exile 2 freezing issue involves adjusting a few settings to reduce the strain on your system. Try lowering the shadows and lighting quality, then switch to a different renderer in the graphics options. Switching to the Vulkan renderer has significantly reduced crashes for many Path of Exile 2 players. Additionally, if you’re using a high-end processor like an Intel i9-12000 series or Ryzen 8+, disabling engine multithreading can help stabilize performance during loading screens.
Nvidia Control Panel
Switching to Vulkan in Path of Exile 2 is a very effective fix for this problem. To use the same, open the Nvidia Control Panel, go to “Manage 3D Settings,” select POE2 in the program settings, and set the “Presentation Method” to DXGI. After validating the settings, switch the game to Vulkan. After this, check whether the crashes persist.
Set Affinity
Start by launching the game and opening Task Manager. Navigate to the “Details” tab, find the game’s process, right-click it, and select “Set Affinity”. Uncheck CPU 0 and CPU 1 to avoid using these cores, which can prevent system lockups (though the game itself may still freeze). Restart the PC and then launch the game to see if this fixes the issue.
Powershell
One player resolved Path of Exile 2 freezing issues by addressing a potential conflict with Intel’s Hyper-V. To do this, they followed these steps:
- Open PowerShell as an administrator.
- Type the command “bcedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off”.
- Restart your PC.
Now, launch the game with admin privileges and see if you can get past the freeze screens.
Rollback Windows
Rolling back Windows to version 23H2 has worked wonders for some players. Not only did it eliminate crashes for them, but it also made their PCs feel noticeably faster overall. If you suspect recent Windows updates might be causing issues, press Windows + I to open the Settings menu. Then navigate to System > Recovery. If you recently updated your Windows and the previous version is still stored, you’ll see an option to “Go back to the previous version.” Click this and follow the on-screen instructions. Once the rollback is complete, your system will restart. You can also try switching from Windows 11 to Windows 10.
Overlay
Disabling the Steam Overlay has resolved crashes for some Path of Exile 2 players. To do this, right-click the game in your Steam library, select Properties, go to the General tab, and uncheck Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game. After making this change, many players have reported crash-free gameplay, so it’s worth trying if you’re facing similar issues.
MSI Afterburner
A player found that closing MSI Afterburner resolved the crashing issues they were experiencing in Path of Exile 2. It seems that MSI Afterburner, a popular tool for overclocking and monitoring system performance, was causing conflicts with the game. Disabling or not using MSI Afterburner while playing could help resolve the issue so do give it a shot.
Windows Defender/Antivirus
For some players, creating an exception in Windows Defender for the folder “C://User/User/AppData/Roaming/Path of Exile 2” has completely resolved the freezing issues in Path of Exile 2. If you have any other third-party antivirus software installed, don’t forget to whitelist the game there as well. After adding the exception and restarting your PC, the game runs much smoother with faster loading times and no more freezes, even without other solutions like CPU/FPS locks.
BIOS fix
This is a slightly advanced fix, as it requires you to disable Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) in the BIOS. To do this, you’ll need to do a bit of research on your specific motherboard model to find out how to disable SMT. Each motherboard has a different BIOS interface, so the process may vary. Once you locate the right setting, turning off SMT can help resolve certain core-related issues and improve stability in Path of Exile 2.
Updates
After the release of update 0.1.0e and hotfixes 1-4, many players have confirmed that the freezing and crashing issues in Path of Exile 2 have been resolved. A full day of gameplay without a single freeze or crash suggests that the updates have effectively addressed the problem. The point is, for the best experience, make sure to keep your game updated with the latest patches to avoid any issues.
Files and Folders and Fresh Install
After struggling with frequent crashes and freezes in Path of Exile 2, a player resolved the issue by uninstalling both POE2 and POE1, then deleting their folders from the Documents/My Games directory and clearing any remnants by searching for “Path of Exile” and “Grinding Gears” on your system drives. Next, clean the shader cache, scan through the Nvidia App to make sure Path of Exile is removed, and restart your PC. After doing a fresh install of PoE 2 (without POE1), adjusting settings, and restarting the game, the player successfully played for hours without crashing.
Well, that brings us to the end of this guide. We hope that you were able to fix the issue and get past the frozen screen issue in Path of Exile 2. Anyway, stay tuned to DigiStatement for more gaming reads like this. Also, click here for fixes to similar crashing issues in Marvel Rivals.
