Program freezing issues caused by the new version (1.9) of Victoria 3

[YexingLanyu]

Integrity​

I have verified my game files (on Steam)​

Yes

I have disabled all mods​

Yes

Required​

Summary​

Program freezing issues caused by the new version (1.9) of Victoria 3

Description​

The game almost always freezes at the nation selection screen.
Even if gameplay starts successfully, it inevitably freezes during play.
...No exceptions observed so far (tested on both DX11 and Vulkan).
(Frequently moving, zooming the map, or switching interfaces increases the likelihood of this issue.)
(However, freezing still occurs over time even when idle.)
(Perhaps not a complete freeze? At least background music continues playing.)

With all other factors consistent (OS version, GPU drivers, etc.), version 1.8 does not exhibit this problem.
Clearly, this is introduced by the 1.9 update and is theoretically unrelated to the OS or GPU drivers.

I initially assumed this was a universal issue, but my other PC does not experience it
(RX580 + i3-4370, WIN10 22H2).

Since my current PC uses a less common GPU (primary suspect), I speculate:
The issue may stem from a subtle compatibility conflict between the GPU driver and version 1.9 of the game.
Thus, both conditions are likely required to trigger the problem:
(1.9 game version + Intel Arc B580 GPU).

This also explains why the other PC remains unaffected—though other possibilities cannot be ruled out.
Nevertheless, this remains the highest-priority hypothesis.

Additionally, I attempted OS reinstall (WIN10 22H2), but the issue persisted.
What about older GPU drivers?
Multiple driver versions were tested—all failed.
(Note: Both WIN11 and WIN10 were tested.)
I am now out of solutions.

Based on the above speculation, attached relevant information:
CPU: E5-2696V3 (18 cores total; 8 cores manually disabled)
RAM: DDR3 1866MHz 32GB×4 (Samsung)
GPU: Intel Arc B580 12G (MAXSUN)
OS: WIN11 24H2 (26120.4520)
GPU Driver Version: 32.0.101.6913

And, a test video (clipped):

Steps to reproduce​

Frequent map movement, zooming, or interface switching accelerates the issue.
Freezing still occurs over time even during complete inactivity.

Game Version​

1.9.6

OS​

Windows

Additional​

Bug Type​

Other

Save Game​

Attachments​

Player Pain​

10

 

[PDX_Sosanna]

Moving to Tech Support.

 

[AndrewT]

Your issue sounds exactly like the known Windows 11 24H2 symptoms; but you say you get it on the same hardware under Windows 10, is that right? Is that what you have right now, or you've gone back to 11 24H2?

 

[YexingLanyu]

Your issue sounds exactly like the known Windows 11 24H2 symptoms; but you say you get it on the same hardware under Windows 10, is that right? Is that what you have right now, or you've gone back to 11 24H2?

I have kept both systems (Windows 10 22H2 and Windows 11 24H2), meaning it's a dual-boot system.
At first I also thought it was a Windows 11 issue, but it turns out that's not the case.
I'm quite certain that this issue occurs on Windows 10 22H2 as well.
Here's the link for the video under Windows 10:

 

[AndrewT]

Right click on victoria3.exe , properties, compatibility. Tick "disable fullScreen optimisations" untick every other box in that dialog, Apply and exit.
Then in the launcher Game Settings menu, select fullScreen display mode, Vsync off, cap refresh rate at 60.


If those don't help:
DXDIAG is a program you run from the Windows search box on the task bar. After running it will open a window and start collecting info with a progress bar in the lower-left corner. When it completes click the 'save all information' button and save it to a file then attach that file here.
IF dxdiag.txt fails to attach here, rename it to dxdiag.log , or zip it up.

Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Victoria3/pdx_settings.json .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Victoria3/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Victoria3/crashes/ folder, attach here the latest (only!) exceptions.txt

 

[YexingLanyu]

Right click on victoria3.exe , properties, compatibility. Tick "disable fullScreen optimisations" untick every other box in that dialog, Apply and exit.
Then in the launcher Game Settings menu, select fullScreen display mode, Vsync off, cap refresh rate at 60.


If those don't help:
DXDIAG is a program you run from the Windows search box on the task bar. After running it will open a window and start collecting info with a progress bar in the lower-left corner. When it completes click the 'save all information' button and save it to a file then attach that file here.
IF dxdiag.txt fails to attach here, rename it to dxdiag.log , or zip it up.

Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Victoria3/pdx_settings.json .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Victoria3/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Victoria3/crashes/ folder, attach here the latest (only!) exceptions.txt

The issue persists, but this method does provide some degree of relief.
At least now it doesn’t freeze on the loading screen.
Generally, I can enter the game and play for a short while,
but it still inevitably freezes eventually.
(Additionally, I’ve noticed that compared to DX11, Vulkan tends to freeze more frequently.)
Attached are the requested files:
(The latest exceptions file is indeed dated July 11th—since unlike crashing to desktop, this issue prefers freezing the program instead.)

 

[AndrewT]

Well your hardware is certainly powerful enough, but I'm not sure if those unusual CPU and GPU are tested or officially supported! With the settings I gave you, fps in the game should not exceed 60 - is that right?

Please report the temperatures of your CPU and video (GPU)
1/ before starting the game up and
2/ after say 10 minutes' play (or as long as you get at least)
If your PC's vendor has given you no way of reading temperatures, install
SPEEDFAN http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php


@PDX_Sosanna do you know if the Intel(R) Arc(TM) B580 Graphics and Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2696 v3 are in the test suite? Note that the first line in the exceptions log is not the game!

Stack Trace:
1 ntdll.dll RtlIsCriticalSectionLockedByThread (+ 2566)

 

[YexingLanyu]

Well your hardware is certainly powerful enough, but I'm not sure if those unusual CPU and GPU are tested or officially supported! With the settings I gave you, fps in the game should not exceed 60 - is that right?

Please report the temperatures of your CPU and video (GPU)
1/ before starting the game up and
2/ after say 10 minutes' play (or as long as you get at least)

Game frame rate is indeed capped at 60 FPS.
During idle states, the CPU temperature is approximately 40°C, and the GPU temperature is around 35°C.
After sustained gameplay, the CPU temperature reaches about 55°C, while the GPU temperature remains around 40°C.
(The GPU maintains a lower temperature because I manually adjusted the fan curve to operate at higher speeds.)

 

[AndrewT]

Those are fine of course.

Not sure if QA are on leave right now, as most of Paradox are, but we'll need to see if the game has been tested on your hardware, I think. Sorry!