Both Characters Stuck on Infinite Loading Screen

[mara-v]

When submitting a bug report, please use the below template and thoroughly fill out the necessary information.

Date & Time: Friday, April 2 (~7pm PT) and Tuesday, April 6 (~10pm PT)

Frequency: Always

World name: Mateus (first instance), Cactuar (second instance)

Character name: Plinini Elder (first instance), Cas Hew (second instance)

Retainer name: N/A

NPC name: None

Monster name: None

Class/Level: Gladiator 29 (first instance), Rogue 28 (second instance)

Party or solo: Solo

In-game time: Don't remember

Area and coordinates: Eastern Shroud (first instance), Lower La Noscea (second instance)

Housing: None

Steps:
-First Instance-
1. I attempted to enter the Eastern Shroud from the ferry in Gridania on my lv 29 gladiator as part of the MSQ.
2. The black loading screen with the title takes a long time. The exploration exp show up in the chat, and so do regular zone chat messages, but after 30 minutes of loading it becomes clear that the zone will not finish loading.
3. I close the game.
4. I reopen the client, connect to the data center, and click on the character to try and load in to the new zone.
5. The "now loading" screen lasts indefinitely, never loading.
6. This has been the state of that character since Friday the 2nd.

-Second Instance-
5 days after the first instance.
1. Because I can no longer play my main, I stick to an alt. To fill out my hunting log, I try to use the teleport spell to go to Lower La Noscea.
2. The Lower La Noscea chat loads, but the black loading screen keeps loading with the rotating circle. I encounter the same issue.
3. I log out.
4. I reopen the client and click on the newly stuck character.
5. The "now loading" screen lasts indefinitely, never loading.
6. The character has been stuck like this since last night, in the same fashion as my other character.

Spoke via live chat to support about the issue and have tried the following:
- Deleting contents of FFXIV folder & reinstalling
- Switching to directx 11 (this just caused a crash)
- Restarting computer & running game client in admin mode
- Doing a clean reboot of my laptop (this removed my ability to connect to the internet and I wasn't able to figure out how to only enable the internet without enabling all other background tasks).

Support has suggested that it's a ping/connection issue but I've never had an issue with other mmos, and can log onto a low-level alt just fine. Support suggested via email that it was caused by improper disconnection, but it occurred in-game and the suggestion in that email to wait for the game to register the characters as logged out hasn't worked, as the first character has been trapped in the infinite load screen for about 6 days now. I'd appreciate any help on the matter- I want to play the game with my friends!


Connection Specs
- Type of internet connection/provider: AT&T Broadband
- Modem maker/model number: Unsure

■ PC Specs

To obtain the system information, open the FFXIV launcher and select Config → System Information → Display.

-=-=-=-=-=-=- System Information -=-=-=-=-=-=-

SYSTEM_OS Windows 10 Home 64-bit (6.2, Build 9200) (19041.vb_release.191206-1406)
SYSTEM_CPU Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300HQ CPU @ 2.30GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.3GHz
SYSTEM_CORE_NUM SYSTEM_CORE_LOGIC 4 SYSTEM_CORE_PHYSICS 4
SYSTEM_BIOS 1.2.7
SYSTEM_LANGUAGE English (Regional Setting: English)
SYSTEM_MEMORY 8060.391MB
SYSTEM_VIRTUAL_MEMORY 134217727.875MB
SYSTEM_PAGE_FILE 9340.391MB
SYSTEM_STORAGE C:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 225.832GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 22.013GB
SYSTEM_DIRECTX_VERSION DirectX 12
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS Intel(R) HD Graphics 530
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DEVICE \\.\DISPLAY1
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_CHIP Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_MAKER Intel Corporation
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VRAM 4055.750 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_SHARED_VRAM 4030.195 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DAC Internal
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DISPLAY_MODE 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ki127176.inf_amd64_86c658cabfb17c9c\igdumdim64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ki127176.inf_amd64_86c658cabfb17c9c\igd10iumd64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ki127176.inf_amd64_86c658cabfb17c9c\igd10iumd64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ki127176.inf_amd64_86c658cabfb17c9c\igd12umd64.dll
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_VERSION 23.20.0016.4973
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_DATE 2/27/2018 17:00:00
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_PIXEL_SHADER 3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VERTEX_TEXTURE SYSTEM_SUPPORT
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DEVICE Unknown
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_CHIP GeForce GTX 960M
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_MAKER NVIDIA
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VRAM Unknown
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_SHARED_VRAM SYSTEM_UNKNOWN
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DAC Integrated RAMDAC
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DISPLAY_MODE Unknown
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdm.inf_amd64_2c7c773e20d8bcfa\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdm.inf_amd64_2c7c773e20d8bcfa\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdm.inf_amd64_2c7c773e20d8bcfa\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdm.inf_amd64_2c7c773e20d8bcfa\nvldumdx.dll
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_VERSION 23.21.0013.9125
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_DATE 3/15/2018 17:00:00
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English

SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_PIXEL_SHADER
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VERTEX_TEXTURE
SYSTEM_SOUND Speakers / Headphones (Realtek Audio)
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_ID {CF2DBAE2-A518-41B0-809C-BC9AEA3B217A}
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_NAME RTKVHD64.sys
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_VERSION 6.0.1.8578
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_DATE 11/19/2018 17:00:00
SYSTEM_INPUT {6F1D2B60-D5A0-11CF-BFC7444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Mouse
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 3 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 5 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {6F1D2B61-D5A0-11CF-BFC7444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Keyboard
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 128 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {F27BB110-1523-11E6-8004444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME HIDI2C Device
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {F27BFF30-1523-11E6-8006444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Airplane Mode Switch
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 1 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0


Browser Information
- Name and version of the browser currently in-use: Google Chrome
- Internet Explorer Version: N/A

[Jeeqbit]

Have you checked firewalls? Sometimes they cause annoying internet issues.

Since it's also a laptop, have you tried turning down the graphics settings? You can adjust them out of the game in Documents\My Games\Final Fantasy XIV - A Realm Reborn\FFXIV.cfg (open with Notepad).

Speaking of which, you can also delete everything in that folder (preferably backing it up first by copy and pasting it somewhere). That resets all of your settings (macros, hotbars, HUD Layout), which may help if one of those files is corrupted.

[mara-v]

Hi, thanks for the response and suggestions!

I tried what you suggested by checking my firewalls, but even with them turned off I got the issue. I gave adjusting the graphics settings all down to their lowest settings a go, but the loading screen is still stuck.

Before contacting support, I did delete the game data files as well as the FFXIV folder files a few times- first just on its own, then with a restart of my laptop, and then alongside a full reinstall of the game. I see that come up often in technical support threads for the game so that was the first thing I tried. It seems those two characters that have gotten stuck just don't want to load!

[Jeeqbit]

One other idea I can think of is the router/modem settings. Sometimes these have a firewall built in that filters data to all computers on the network. You can adjust their settings by connecting to its local webserver and logging in using the instructions in the manual.

One way you could test this is using a VPN intended for games (safer to use the free trial of a paid one though). If it works then your traffic is probably being filtered and a VPN makes filtering more difficult by encrypting it.

[mara-v]

I'm a little resistant to messing with VPNs and the router because I'm not very tech-savvy and I'd hoped meeting the system requirements for the game would be enough to play it. I did log into my router but was a bit overwhelmed by the options and I'm afraid of messing something up or making my network less safe. I appreciate your knowledge and will keep in mind that it's a possible issue, but I'm going to just wait a bit to see if there are any other solutions before going further in that direction.

EDIT: Curiosity immediately got the better of me and I downloaded a trial of a gaming VPN. I'm a few minutes into the loading screen loop. I'll try to mess with some of the settings on this program but I'm starting to think it's on the game end or my laptop is just messed up somehow. Could low storage be an issue with ffxiv? I can fit the game in but there's not a whole lot of room on my computer afterwards (about 10gb).

[Jeeqbit]

The VPN not working makes it less likely to be a network filtering issue.

Storage could be an issue later on because the patches will slowly take up more and more GB of space, but if you are in the game then you got all of the patches.

You need some storage afterwards for the page file, which is what your computer uses as if it were RAM when the RAM is full. 10 GB is enough for that, and is enough for now generally, but in the long term it would be a good idea to see what isn't needed anymore (for example install files in the Downloads folder that are already installed or extracted).

You could play with changing the launcher setting from DX11 to DX9. You could also update your graphics driver (if any are available), or run in compatibility mode with Windows 8.

It's possible for other applications to drag down the operation of the game, so what you can do to manage that is click the taskbar and open Task Manager, then observe which Processes or Details are taking all the CPU, RAM or Disk Space. You can google applications you don't know the purpose of. You can also click on the ffxiv executable in Details and adjust the Priority to "Above normal" so that your CPU considers it more of a priority.

I'm obviously stumped and none of these things should have to be the solution, but sometimes they do solve problems for me with other games.

You could also try to confirm that your laptop is actually using your graphics card. If it's using the on-board intel graphics it would explain a lot.

[mara-v]

Thanks for your suggestions, even if the problem isn't fixed for me yet it's good to know I'm covering some bases that I haven't seen in my searches of this problem.

I usually play on DX9 because DX11 caused once-and-a-while crashes for me. Looking at the task manager, RAM and CPU levels are pretty low while running the game client (<50% and <25% respectively). The most I'll have open simultaneously is a google chrome window with one or two wiki pages open. From what I can tell, graphics drivers are up to date as well- I updated them when I downloaded the game before I figured out that DX11 was causing the mini-crashes.

I attempted to make the game use my graphics card; it looked like it already was from the settings, but I set it to use the card for FFXIV specifically anyways. Still got the infinite loading screen, but it was worth a shot.

Upon booting up the client, there actually has been a new development; for the character in the first instance who got trapped 6 days ago, on the character select screen her model has been replaced with a triangle with an exclamation point in it and her name is replaced with "Character data not found." All of her descriptions (race, level, class, etc) have been replaced with "????." The second character's model and info still appears.

EDIT: Switched back and forth between data centers and the character and her info reappeared.

[Jeeqbit]

Upon booting up the client, there actually has been a new development; for the character in the first instance who got trapped 6 days ago, on the character select screen her model has been replaced with a triangle with an exclamation point in it and her name is replaced with "Character data not found." All of her descriptions (race, level, class, etc) have been replaced with "????." The second character's model and info still appears.

Sometimes this character data is not downloaded because the server is congested, and it waits until you login to download it.

Note that support for DX9 ended (it will still work, but over time features may be added that occasionally crash people on DX9): https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...c7646e5f5a3385

Perhaps we should instead try to understand what is causing the problems with DX11?

[Jeeqbit]

I want to highlight what I think may be odd:

SYSTEM_GRAPHICS Intel(R) HD Graphics 530
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DEVICE \\.\DISPLAY1
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_CHIP Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_MAKER Intel Corporation
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VRAM 4055.750 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_SHARED_VRAM 4030.195 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DAC Internal
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DISPLAY_MODE 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)

SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_PIXEL_SHADER 3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VERTEX_TEXTURE SYSTEM_SUPPORT
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DEVICE Unknown
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_CHIP GeForce GTX 960M
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_MAKER NVIDIA
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VRAM Unknown
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_SHARED_VRAM SYSTEM_UNKNOWN
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DAC Integrated RAMDAC
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DISPLAY_MODE Unknown

SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_PIXEL_SHADER
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VERTEX_TEXTURE

The onboard intel graphics looks like it is connected to "DISPLAY1" (which I assume means your monitor), while your GPU looks like it is not associated with a display device at all.

My own GPU appears first (and as the only thing listed), and has "DISPLAY1" assocated with it.

I don't know if it's just collecting the information incorrectly and means nothing, but this was why I thought it could be using your onboard graphics.

[MilkieTea]

Okay, I believe I may have pinpointed the issue - AT&T users have been reporting possible outage issues for the last several days - this may be the case for you. This was happening to me before, not to the same level, but stuff not loading constantly, things being slow and clunky, and it turned out my ISP was having outages all week that I'd been having the issues.

I gave it a few days and a lot of the ping and latency issues stopped.

However, you may also have to do some internal work yourself:

1. have you tried defragmenting your hard drive? if not, you should do that.
2. (kind of basic but doing this helped with my overall pc speed immensely) clean out your fans with a can of compressed air if they're looking a tiny bit dusty.

Alternatively

3. It may *actually* have something to do with space, normally when PCs start running out of space things get a bit wonky. See if you can't get an external SSD or HDD (2 terabytes HDD will set you back around $50-60 USD, a 1 tb SSD will set you back about $150 give or take ten or twenty bucks, pros of an SSD: you'd get more speed out of your storage, HDDs are a bit outdated in how they deliver information. Things will load faster, take less time, your PC will probably go from taking 30 secs-1 minute to boot up to taking like 5 secs)
4. Worse comes to worse, save all of your necessary files onto an external drive, like a flashdrive or external HDD/SSD and do a full reinstall of windows to your laptop. Normally you don't have to do anything outside of going into "Updates & Security" > "Recovery" > "Reset this PC" and choose a full reset, where it deletes all your files (which is why I recommend saving everything you need onto an external drive OR on something like google drive). Then when it's done, don't redownload anything other than your preferred internet browser and ffxiv, see if that fixes it. If it does, then slowly start downloading your other programs - after each program, run ffxiv and try to log in and if you get the infinite loading, then you've narrowed down the issue.