POE2 keeps freezing my computer

"

MinD128#6494 wrote:

Here are the steps to set the affinity of the CPU when launching POE2 to prevent any freeze!

For stand alone users:
- create a bat file (you can right click on the desktop create a text file then rename it to a bat file like: POE2AffinityLauncher.bat for exemple, make sure file extentions are shown)
- Right click on it then click edit
- Add the following command line in the bat file:

cmd.exe /c start "" /affinity (CPU affinity mask) (path to the game executable)

CPU affinity mask can be replaced with FFFFFFFC, more details on that later.
Path to the game is self explanatory
for exemple for me, this command line will be as follow:

cmd.exe /c start "" /affinity FFC "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Path of Exile 2\PathOfExileSteam.exe"

- From now on, you just need to launch the game from this bat file and you should be ok !

For Steam users:
- Same thing here, create a bat file but this time in the game directory (for simplicity sake)
- Add the following command line in the bat file:

%comspec% /C start /normal /affinity (CPU affinity mask) (Exec name)

For me for exemple it is as follow:

%comspec% /C start /normal /affinity FFC PathOfExileSteam.exe

- now go on Steam, go to your library and right click on Path of Exile 2 then click on Properties.
- In the launch options add this line:

(path to the new bat file) %command%

For me for exemple it is as follow:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Path of Exile 2\POE2AffinityLauncher.bat" %command%

- That's it! from now on, when you launch POE2 the affinity will be set automatically and you won't get any PC freeze!

Of course, once Windows 11 is fixed, all this affinity configuration can be removed !

the Affinity mask explained

Spoiler

The affinity mask is a hexadecimal number, Each thread take one bit starting from bit 0, personally I have a Ryzen 9600x (6 cores/12 threads) so my mask is FFF. But we want to remove some threads. let remove thread 0 & 1. The mask will become FFC
With a 16 threads CPU the mask will be FFFC
With a 32 threads CPU the mask will be FFFFFFFC, if you don't know how many threads you have you may just write this mask, enabling/disabling unexisting threads won't do anything.

And don't worry for the performance, in my case even with the removed threads the cpu time for each frame is 3ms-5ms!

Let's discuss the problem!

Spoiler

It seems Windows in it current state doesn't like to be left with no core to play with, POE2 in the other hand like to be fast and optimal so it takes all the resources offered to him, especially in intense phases like loading/initializing a new zone ... to an extent !
That's why:
1- this problem doesn't seem to appear on high end CPUs (with a lot of threads) because POE2 will unlikely to take them all!
2- this problems doesn't seems to appear in other games, because here again most games arn't CPU heavy (most are GPU Heavy) so they won't take all threads!
This beeing said, the problem can be something else!

I hope this helped! with this method I m no longer having any freeze! even the scary cog wheel at game launch no longer freeze the game (happened to me twice before)

Have fun everyone !

"

MinD128#6494 wrote:

Here are the steps to set the affinity of the CPU when launching POE2 to prevent any freeze!

Spoiler

For stand alone users:
- create a bat file (you can right click on the desktop create a text file then rename it to a bat file like: POE2AffinityLauncher.bat for exemple, make sure file extentions are shown)
- Right click on it then click edit
- Add the following command line in the bat file:

cmd.exe /c start "" /affinity (CPU affinity mask) (path to the game executable)

CPU affinity mask can be replaced with FFFFFFFC, more details on that later.
Path to the game is self explanatory
for exemple for me, this command line will be as follow:

cmd.exe /c start "" /affinity FFC "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Path of Exile 2\PathOfExileSteam.exe"

- From now on, you just need to launch the game from this bat file and you should be ok !

For Steam users:
- Same thing here, create a bat file but this time in the game directory (for simplicity sake)
- Add the following command line in the bat file:

%comspec% /C start /normal /affinity (CPU affinity mask) (Exec name)

For me for exemple it is as follow:

%comspec% /C start /normal /affinity FFC PathOfExileSteam.exe

- now go on Steam, go to your library and right click on Path of Exile 2 then click on Properties.
- In the launch options add this line:

(path to the new bat file) %command%

For me for exemple it is as follow:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Path of Exile 2\POE2AffinityLauncher.bat" %command%

- That's it! from now on, when you launch POE2 the affinity will be set automatically and you won't get any PC freeze!

Of course, once Windows 11 is fixed, all this affinity configuration can be removed !

the Affinity mask explained

Spoiler

The affinity mask is a hexadecimal number, Each thread take one bit starting from bit 0, personally I have a Ryzen 9600x (6 cores/12 threads) so my mask is FFF. But we want to remove some threads. let remove thread 0 & 1. The mask will become FFC
With a 16 threads CPU the mask will be FFFC
With a 32 threads CPU the mask will be FFFFFFFC, if you don't know how many threads you have you may just write this mask, enabling/disabling unexisting threads won't do anything.

And don't worry for the performance, in my case even with the removed threads the cpu time for each frame is 3ms-5ms!

Let's discuss the problem!

Spoiler

It seems Windows in it current state doesn't like to be left with no core to play with, POE2 in the other hand like to be fast and optimal so it takes all the resources offered to him, especially in intense phases like loading/initializing a new zone ... to an extent !
That's why:
1- this problem doesn't seem to appear on high end CPUs (with a lot of threads) because POE2 will unlikely to take them all!
2- this problems doesn't seems to appear in other games, because here again most games arn't CPU heavy (most are GPU Heavy) so they won't take all threads!
This beeing said, the problem can be something else!

I hope this helped! with this method I m no longer having any freeze! even the scary cog wheel at game launch no longer freeze the game (happened to me twice before)

Have fun everyone !

"

cipher_nemo#6436 wrote:

I played without any freezes or crashes last weekend. But just yesterday the client was freeze-hiccuping all the time in evening EDT (Washington DC server). I did a WinMTR trace and my connection was good everywhere, including DC servers.

It's either the graphics changes I made yesterday or an issue with GGG's game servers.

The mini freeze-hiccups were where the client completely froze (graphics and audio) for a mere fraction of a second. It was more noticeable with the audio than the gameplay when you have these split-second moments of silence.

The biggest graphics change I made was switching from Adaptive VSync to regular VSync. I run an NVIDIA GPU, so it does have its own Adaptive VSync. However, the client's Adaptive VSync didn't seem to be working as I'd have very faint screen tearing only noticeable in the terrain which made it looks a bit fluid sometimes when moving. With regular VSync it was resolved.

I will experiment more tonight.