Game Intermittently Freezes

Hello, All - I'm finally making a post about this because I'm at my wit's end.

Every once in a while, seemingly at random, FFXIV will freeze and become unresponsive for 20-40 seconds at a time. It's been so long that I forget exactly when, but I'm fairly sure it started in patch 6.05 or 6.08.

I have been unable to find any specific interactions that cause the freeze - idling in various places, in dungeons, raids of all types, Deep Dungeons (where it's particularly crippling - I gave up trying to get the solo title due to this issue) - though it seems to be more common in places that are highly populated, like dungeons with lots of mobs or in crowded ares such as Limsa Lominsa, it has also occurred in sparse areas or when alone in places like the Goblet or in a player house.

The only technical thing I have found is, if I look in my Task manager whilst a freeze is ongoing, I can see that my CPU usage is maxed. I can, at other times, see the game creeping up in CPU usage and a freeze occurs when it maxes it out at 100%. This still happens when nothing else is open or has significant CPU usage.

This issue has persisted across data wipes, re-installs, every manner of setting I have tried, which is admittedly not exhaustive, across months of researching similar issues and trying those fixes. There apparently was a similar CPU usage issue in regards to how sound was processed, which I thought may be similar, but I wasn't able to find out how to fix that and that issue seems to have already been addressed.

These freezes have persisted through everything bar buying a new computer. I have lost nearly all hope. Thank you for your time.

Here is my system information.
-=-=-=-=-=-=- System Information -=-=-=-=-=-=-

SYSTEM_OS Windows 11 Home 64-bit (6.2, Build 9200) (22621.ni_release.220506-1250)
SYSTEM_CPU 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11800H @ 2.30GHz (16 CPUs), ~2.3GHz
SYSTEM_CORE_NUM SYSTEM_CORE_LOGIC 16 SYSTEM_CORE_PHYSICS 8
SYSTEM_BIOS 1.21.0
SYSTEM_LANGUAGE English (Regional Setting: English)
SYSTEM_MEMORY 16045.199MB
SYSTEM_VIRTUAL_MEMORY 134217727.875MB
SYSTEM_PAGE_FILE 35501.199MB
SYSTEM_STORAGE C:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 933.506GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 70.025GB
SYSTEM_STORAGE D:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 465.743GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 92.818GB
SYSTEM_DIRECTX_VERSION DirectX 12
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DEVICE \\.\DISPLAY5
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_CHIP NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_MAKER NVIDIA
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VRAM 8020.000 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_SHARED_VRAM 8022.600 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DAC Integrated RAMDAC
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DISPLAY_MODE 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (360Hz)
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdmi.inf_amd64_3fdff41f99f01256\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdmi.inf_amd64_3fdff41f99f01256\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdmi.inf_amd64_3fdff41f99f01256\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdmi.inf_amd64_3fdff41f99f01256\nvldumdx.dll
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_VERSION 31.00.0015.5161
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_DATE 2/14/2024 17:00:00
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_PIXEL_SHADER 3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VERTEX_TEXTURE SYSTEM_SUPPORT
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS Intel(R) UHD Graphics
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DEVICE Unknown
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_CHIP Intel(R) UHD Graphics Family
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_MAKER Intel Corporation
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VRAM 8150 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_SHARED_VRAM SYSTEM_UNKNOWN
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DAC Internal
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DISPLAY_MODE Unknown
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iigd_dch.inf_amd64_ebe52ffaa15a4b5e\igdumdim64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iigd_dch.inf_amd64_ebe52ffaa15a4b5e\igd10iumd64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iigd_dch.inf_amd64_ebe52ffaa15a4b5e\igd10iumd64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iigd_dch.inf_amd64_ebe52ffaa15a4b5e\igd12umd64.dll
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_VERSION 31.00.0101.4502
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_DATE 6/14/2023 17:00:00
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English

SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_PIXEL_SHADER
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VERTEX_TEXTURE
SYSTEM_SOUND Headphones (Realtek(R) Audio)
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_ID {68A1C643-481F-416A-85AD-402B227FD193}
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_NAME RTKVHD64.sys
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_VERSION 6.0.9489.1
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_DATE 3/6/2023 17:00:00
SYSTEM_SOUND Speakers (Realtek(R) Audio)
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_ID {63E2EF63-00C4-48F8-B79E-5A392F48E81D}
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_NAME RTKVHD64.sys
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_VERSION 6.0.9489.1
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_DATE 3/6/2023 17:00:00
SYSTEM_SOUND Speakers (Samson C01U Pro Mic)
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_ID {2DE33E1D-3C30-4CDF-A7CC-569CD2B60636}
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_NAME USBAUDIO.sys
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_VERSION 10.0.22621.3374
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_DATE 3/21/2024 17:00:00

Good morning! Thank you for posting in the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

After reviewing your system report, it appears that you may have multiple display devices. Please note, FINAL FANTASY XIV by itself can be an intensive program with regards to graphics as well as general processing power for some systems. If your CPU is being maxed out while running the game, we would highly recommend closely monitoring the task manager and limiting what programs are running until you are able to locate the cause.

Additionally we recommend trying the following:
- Update and reinstall the drivers for your graphics card and sound drivers (if applicable). After reviewing the system report, it appears that your GPU [NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop] was last updated on [2/14/2024]. At this time, there should be a newer version available.

- Please try lowering the resolution.
- Please try running the game as an administrator.
- Perform a clean boot by opening the task manager and select the 'Start up' Tab. Disable everything.
- Please be sure that Final Fantasy XIV is installed to the C: Drive. (If Steam version, make sure both the game and Steam are installed on same drive)
- Please be sure to disable or remove any overlays (Discord, Steam, NVIDIA etc.) as they may interfere with startup.
- Make sure that the Windows OS is fully updated.
- Verify installation files (Steam)
- Reinstall game (If steam version, try uninstalling and reinstalling both the game and Steam)

Disable Full Screen Optimizations. To disable this, please find the "ffxiv_dx11.exe" and right click it and select properties. Then under the compatibility tab there will be a check box labeled "Disable Full Screen Optimizations". Check it and click apply.

Open the Nvidia Control Panel and going to 'Manage 3D Settings'. From here, select 'Program Settings' and select Final Fantasy XIV. You should see an option to select the GPU. Make sure it's set to your dedicated graphics card (it may be set to 'Auto' by default)

Delete locally saved content ('Documents' > 'My Games' folder)
When the game is running, open the task manager, click the ‘Details Tab” Find the game and right click it. Select ‘Set Priority’ options to “High”

Thank you once again for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums!

Hi, Votraftur

Having done all of the above (again, in the case of reinstalling the game) except deleting my local files (as i'm not sure which ones are safe to delete/contain my settings) - I loaded in, walked around, and experienced another freeze.

I will note I made a very key mistake in my initial post - it's not the CPU that's maxing out, it's my memory. I'm unsure how much that changes, though. I'm not playing on steam, so that was not applicable. High priority, running as administrator, disabled optimizations, double checked it was using the right GPU, all of it, and it still happened.

Good morning! Thank you for posting in the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

Please try the following additional troubleshooting steps to see if they help resolve the issue:

- Update GPU driver, were you able to update the driver for your GPU?
- Perform a clean boot by disabling all other programs on start up and only running FINAL FANTASY XIV. Does doing a clean boot change the behavior of the issue at all, such as delaying the freeze?
- Disable 'Fast Start/Boot' some have reported that disabling this feature to help.

In general we recommend having at least 8 GB or higher of Memory/RAM for FINAL FANTASY XIV. We hope the provided information is helpful.

Thank you once again for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums!

Hi again

My drivers are updated, Fast boot is already disabled, I have 16 GB of memory, and a clean boot did not change it in a way that I could notice - I even used a physical stopwatch to time it, and while it *might* have delayed it, it didn't do so meaningfully.

Hello, if the game freezes again, do you know which application consumes so much memory? You should see it in the Taskmanager -> Details.


Cheers

It's just ff14 - closing everything doesn't help, as mentioned.

Good morning! Thank you for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

We apologize for any inconvenience that has occurred when playing Final Fantasy XIV. If the issue persists even while using a clean boot, there may be an issue with regards to the configuration of your system.

Please try the following:

- Please try switching to DirectX 9 by disabling DirectX 11 and/or vice versa in the settings of the FINAL FANTASY XIV launcher.
- Make sure that your system is selecting the dedicated GPU that you intend to use.
- If you noticed the issue after a recent update, such as the OS or GPU driver, please try reverting to a previous version instead.

Thank you once more for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums!

Hero, do you use a game controller? I have been having the same issues on every single one of my PCs with FFXIV, and I believe this issue is the evolution of the "since 2.0" game controller issue that SE has yet to fix. Basically, when the system detects a new device or a new virtual disk, XIV (and only XIV) gets disrupted when using a game controller. Unplug the controller and no issue. Have it plugged in and the issue occurs. In 2.0-4.0 you'd continually run. In 4.0-6.0 you'd stop. Now in 7.0 the entire game freezes for a second.

SE really needs to fix this. it's been all over these forums, the steam forums are lit up, and it just keeps being swapped back and forth between "bug report" and "tech support" with both departments saying it's the other department's issue. It's frustrating.

I had a similar issue some time ago where the game would freeze for a few seconds every couple of hours. Turned out to be an issue with old BIOS on my motherboard, and updating that fixed it comepletely for me. No guarantee it's the same issue, of course.