Path of Exile 2 crashing on PC: Possible fixes and reasons
Since the week-one hotfixes were rolled out for Path of Exile 2 Early Access, many PC players have been encountering a bug where the game crashes after they load into specific maps. For me, these have been happening on the Bone Pits, Path of Mourning, and Sandswept Marshes maps. However, the issue may appear on different maps for other players, judging from the Early Access bug reports.
In this guide, I'll try to share some fixes that have lowered the number of crashes I get when playing Path of Exile 2 on PC.
Note: These fixes may not work for everyone. Players will have to wait for an official fix to address these for good.
What might cause PC crashes in Path of Exile 2? (Post-freeze crashes and CTD on load screen)
From my personal experience, the PC crashes in Path of Exile 2 seem to happen in specific chunks of certain maps. In the beginning, the game will freeze for a few seconds before it crashes to the desktop. Afterward, due to the auto-save function, it will crash on the load screen or right after the game assets have been loaded. This can potentially lock you of that playthrough completely till you find a fix.
The same scenario can lead to a freeze and complete PC lockdown, after which you'll have to shut down your computer as an emergency exit from the situation.
On my end, these freezes and crashes have happened only on three specific maps (The Bone Pits, Path of Mourning, and Sandswept Marshes). On other maps, it has been smooth sailing. However, other variants of this crash suggest they may stem from the same root cause.
Some players have reported crashing after loading into an area, which was similar to The Bone Pits crashes I faced in Path of Exile 2. In general, the issue does not seem to be an instance-related crash on the server end. Loading into the same areas with the same account on my other PC did not result in a crash — so the cause is almost certainly hardware-related.
With these in mind, the reason for the crashing issues in Path of Exile 2 could be the following, varying on a person-to-person basis:
- Incorrectly patched files leading to area-loading issues
- Outdated graphic driver
- CPU overloading or memory overloading during gameplay (CPU overloading may also happen due to incorrect distribution among cores, so this is not necessarily indicative of lack of CPU capability)
- Unsupported hardware (generally, this is a CPU/Motherboard issue - but this is the least likely reason for most players who can run the game comfortably)
Also Read: Path of Exile 2 Unexpected Disconnection Occurred: Causes and potential fixes
How to potentially fix Path of Exile 2 crashing on PC errors
Before we proceed to discuss PC-crashing solutions for Path of Exile 2, please note that none of these are official. These are temporary workarounds that you can try until GGG deploys an official fix.
With that in mind, some of the following fixes may work for you if you're facing crashes in Path of Exile 2.
Waiting for automatic instance reset
While you can manually reset instances in Path of Exile 2, they also automatically reset after an hour of inactivity. When this happens, you're sent back to the closest checkpoint and the instance rerolls.
For example, I crashed in the Bone Pits right after beating Iktab and Ekbab, which led to a persistent CTD on load afterward. After waiting for an hour, the instance reset and sent me to the checkpoint next to the boss arena. Getting to the same area didn't cause a crash this time, so I could pick up the quest item and use the portal to get out.
Verifying file integrity
If you're facing persistent crashes on the PC Steam version of Path of Exile 2 while loading into new areas, the very first thing you should do is check your file integrity.
To do this, right-click on Path of Exile 2 on your Steam Library to select Properties, go to Installed Files, and click Verify integrity of game files.
This may seem like a very routine step of tech support, but it's possible for Path of Exile 2 to have incomplete or wrongly patched files and still run when you start the game, only to crash after loading into areas in Act 2 and Act 3. As a rule, you should verify file integrity after each major patch during the Early Access phase.
Using Vulkan instead of DX12
For those on Windows 11, interaction with the Windows 11 24H2 update seems to be causing random crashes in Path of Exile 2. Using Vulkan as your renderer instead of DX12 reportedly solves these Windows-related crashes for most users. You can change the option from Settings > Graphics. Note that this is not an issue on the Windows update's end, so rolling back this update is inadvisable.
Turning off Multithreading
Some players have reported that turning off Multithreading in Graphics settings before loading solves the CTD on load. This causes an extremely laggy experience afterward, so it is not a viable solution for gameplay. That said, turning the setting back on for the same map may or may not result in another crash.
Using third-party tools to limit CPU usage
For many players, Path of Exile 2 will cause 100% CPU usage while on the loadscreen, leading to a CTD every time. In these cases, using a CPU-limiting third-party tool may help.
We used BES (Battle Encoder Shirase), a free open-source tool for the job as recommended on the Steam Community thread for the bug. Do this by following these steps:
- Download BES and extract it.
- Launch BES.exe from the folder.
- Boot up Path of Exile 2 but don't load in with the character yet.
- Go to the BES window, and click the Target... button.
- From the list of running tasks that pops up, select PathOfExileSteam.exe.
- Click on Limit this, and set the slider to -5%.
This partially solved the problem for us, reducing the number of crashes on problematic instances dramatically. However, it does not fully fix the issue, and playing this way is not recommended long term.
Other user-proposed solutions include a BIOS update. However, due to the risk factor of updating your firmware manually, we would recommend enlisting the help of a professional technician if you choose to go down that path. Otherwise, the only safe option is to wait for the developers to deploy an official fix for the PC crashing crisis with Path of Exile 2.
We also encourage you to look into official Bug Report forum threads to see what solutions others may have come up with, but practice caution and assess the risks before you try these out.
Check out our other guides on the game:
- How to potentially solve stuttering issues in Path of Exile 2
- Path of Exile 2 "Failed to Join any Instances": Potential causes and fixes
- Path of Exile 2 Tinker's Tools bug: Is there a fix yet?
- 5 Path of Exile 2 skills have already been nerfed since release