Endless loading screen issue

Some players may experience a situation where the game appears to hang indefinitely on a loading screen or takes an unusually long time to enter the game world. This guide explains the technical reasons behind these hangs and provides steps to resolve them.

Why does this happen?

Based on our technical analysis, "Endless Loading" or long freezes are often caused by the following factors:

• Shader Compilation (PSO Misses): Every time the game encounters a new visual asset (like another player's unique armor or a new biome's tree type), it must compile a "shader" on the fly. If your hardware is under heavy load, this compilation can cause the engine to "hitch" or stop responding entirely while trying to stream these assets into memory.

• GPU Driver Timeouts (TDR): If the game engine sends a large task to your graphics card and doesn't receive a response within a set timeframe, Windows may assume the GPU has crashed. This results in errors like DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG, which causes the loading process to freeze permanently.

• Asset Streaming Bottlenecks: In high-density areas (like popular Home Valleys or PvP zones), the engine may struggle to process the massive number of player-built structures simultaneously, leading to a bottleneck that stalls the loading screen.

Basic Troubleshooting Steps

1. Wait at least 5-10 minutes: During your first login after an update, the game may be rebuilding its shader cache. This is a one-time process that can look like a freeze.

2. Verify Game Files: Right-click Pax Dei in your Steam library, select Properties > Installed Files > Verify integrity of game files.

3. Update GPU Drivers: Ensure you are running the latest drivers for your graphics card (AMD Adrenalin or NVIDIA GeForce Experience).

4. Disable Overlays: Turn off Steam, Discord, or NVIDIA/AMD overlays, as these can interfere with the DirectX 12 rendering process.

Boost your performance settings

Lower your graphic settings in the menu to boost performance:

Overall quality: LOW

Character detail: LOW

DLSS Mode: Ultra Performance

Streaming distance quality: LOW