Game not responding at start/when it is the active window

Technical Support
1

Hi,

Everytime I start the game (either from Steam, from desktop shortcut, from start menu, or from the game folder directly through C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Last Epoch), the game launches but fails to proceed further. It always gets stuck and becomes “Not responding” at the first screen which shows “Last Epoch” at the center and with “Quixel Megascans, Steam, FMOD” below it. (Couldn’t seem to attach a screenshot)

I’ve tried the following methods:

  • Verifying files integrity
  • Uninstalling and reinstalling LE
  • Uninstalling and reinstalling Steam.
  • Clean Factory Reset of my PC
  • Updated all CPU and Graphics Card drivers
  • Downloaded and installed DirectX and Microsoft Visual C++
  • Tried to run the game as Administrator
  • Tried to run the game in Compatibility for Windows 7, Windows 8.
  • Tried disabling Full-screen Optimization in Compatibility settings.
  • Used integrated Graphics card and discrete Graphics card.
  • Tried Display Refresh Rate 60Hz, 120Hz, 144Hz.
  • Cleared Steam cache.
  • Disabled all microservices (caused me to faced a system error and Factory resetted my PC again)
  • Tried all above methods again.
  • Allowed application through Firewall (Norton and Windows Defender) / Disabled firewalls completely.
  • Transferred all Steam files including LE and common redistributables from another working device (tried installing on a laptop of mine and LE was working - managed to get into character creation).
  • Tested all my network connection - seems fine. Able to play startup and play Path Of Exile.
  • Tried waiting for >30mins.
  • Tried both Online and Full Offline modes.
  • Tried 1920x1080 display resolution.

All methods couldn’t get me past the first screen.
However after >5hours of “play time” trying to play the game, this is where it gets interesting.

I have actually managed to get the game past the first screen a couple of times (and figured out how). It worked only if I had other browser windows open, and when I am actively on another window. (eg. on Microsoft Edge). In other words, LE was loading in a background window, and surprisingly managed to get past the first screen to the login screen with music playing. However, the moment I tried to switch to the LE window, the game became “Not responding” again. I have also tried to use the windows+Tab buttons to switch around, but to no avail. I do, however, noticed that if I do not switch to the LE window (and am still in the multiple windows view after pressing windows+Tab, I am able to move my mouse around and the buttons on the LE window would light up. This got me even more puzzled as it means that the game could startup properly, but there was something wrong if the current active window is the game itself. Further, it seems like if my other active window was not fully blocking the LE loading screen, LE would just get stuck on the first screen and unable to proceed to the login screen.

With each attempt, the game cannot be stopped via Steam, and I would have to Restart my PC in order to attempt again. I have made at least 100 Restarts so far.

My device has the following Specs:

  • Windows 11 Pro
  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 9, 7900
  • Motherboard: Gigabyte B650M Gaming X AX
  • Installed RAM: 32.0 GB (31.1 GB usable)
  • Graphics (Integrated) - AMD Radeon™ Graphics
  • Graphics (Discrete) - AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT

I have also checked Event Viewer, and noticed the following Errors from Last Epoch only after the game became unresponsive. There are no other errors if the game did not become unresponsive:

  • BucketType 0
    EventName AppHangB1
    Response Not available
    CabId 0
    P1 Last Epoch.exe
    P2 2019.4.40.50731
    P3 62a10ee1
    P4 ded3
    P5 134217728
    P6
    P7
    P8
    P9
    P10

Would someone be able to kindly advise what might be the issue and how to resolve this? As I am unable to run LE in an active window, I am thus still unable to play the game.

Adding DxDiag -
DxDiag.txt (110.5 KB)

2

After second day of debugging, I’ve found that the issue persists when I have AMD Adrenalin 24.1.1 installed. The issue disappears after uninstalling AMD drivers/software.

I have also tried with previous AMD driver and software versions, are realized that AMD Adrenalin v23.7.2 works, but only if the AMD External Events Utility and AMD External Events Client Module process trees were stopped via task manager before launching LE.

Despite these methods, and being able to login to the game, I’ve been faced with serious lag - there is almost a 1-2 seconds delay when I open the menu and just hovering over the buttons up and down (eg. the first button lights up only after reaching the last button, then the second lights up, etc.).

I’ve also noticed that the player.log file contains missing referenced scripts whenever the game becomes unresponsive.

Sharing player log file here:
Player.log (31.0 KB)

On a separate note, another friend of mine did not face any issues with lag or AMD Adrenalin v24.1.1 (identical PC Specs and driver updates) and he was able to get in just fine.

I’ve also tried purchasing NVIDIA Geforce Now to play Last Epoch. It worked absolutely fine. The downside though, is the queue and the loot filters not being able to be imported/shared.

Would appreciate if anyone has any idea on how to address the issue on being able to play the game with local machine (i.e. without the game turning unresponsive and without the lag possibly caused by old drivers/software)

3

Almost certainly those “The referenced script on this Behaviour” are not related to your issue, at least I am having them too so perhaps you could ask your friend to confirm that he sees them also?

Anyways, I had issue with my 6800XT where the game randomly every 5-10 minutes or so kind felt like the game window lost focus (I could hear the sounds in the background but screen wouldnt update etc.) / started stuttering etc. which was driving me insane and I actually once refunded this game already because it made playing this impossible.

I googled and found your post and after few hours of debugging (I installed latest AMD drivers with only the GPU driver component, updated the BIOS etc.) I found out that my issue was broken Radeon Enhanced Sync support in Last Epoch.

I am able to replicate the issue simply turning Radeon Enhanced Sync on / off and based on that game starts locking up etc.

So at least with my AMD 5600X + 6800XT turning off Enhanced Sync solved my issues, this probably wont help you but hopefully someone else perhaps googles their issues with AMD Radeon 6000 series GPUs and finds this post.

4

Any chance someone has found a solution? I have almost the same problem, the game freezes before launch, I have AMD 7800 XT and tried almost everything. I was able to run the game once, but honestly I don’t know why. I was able to create a username and then it crashed when I opened in game settings. Was not able to run it ever since.

It’s such a pain, I just bought a new PC just to play this game…

5

I’ve actually figured out my issue and it’s resolved for me.

The issue was that my Monitor was connected to the Motherboard. I simply changed the port that it is connected to to be my GPU directly. Not sure if that might help.