Are you frustrated about the long loading time or literally getting stuck on the loading screen when playing games like World of Warcraft, Fortnite, or PUBG? In this guide, we’ll show you some workarounds and tips you can try to help fix the issue.
Firstly, we assume that the long loading screen problem is not caused by bad network connection or corrupted game files. If you have a poor internet connection, you should try to fix that first or contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP) instead. Otherwise, try the following tips.
Also see: Game Lag and Slow Performance After Windows Update
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How to fix long loading screen in PUBG or WoW
The following are some potential solutions that have been suggested by other players who have faced similar long loading screen issues while playing WoW or PUBG. Although these workarounds do not guarantee to work for everyone, they have been effective for some players and so they are worth considering.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds long loading screen fix
A pro player suggests turning off the replay feature in the game. Turning off this feature has significantly improved loading times for some players.
Another suggestion is to exclude or add PUBG to the exception list of your protection software, particularly Windows Defender. Many players have reported that after turning off or adding PUBG to the Windows Defender exception list, loading times were dramatically reduced.
World of Warcraft long loading screen problem
The most common fix for the long loading screen problem in WoW is to enter a command line in the chat while you’re logged into WoW and on any instance. The command line is:
/console worldPreloadNonCritical 0
Another workaround is to turn off the streaming feature in the Blizzard client. To do this, go to your Blizzard launcher/client, click on the Blizzard logo (usually at the upper left corner of the window), select Settings, go to the Streaming settings, and uncheck the Enable streaming option.
Reducing your view distance in-game is another practical way to reduce loading times, although this will sacrifice your view distance in exchange for faster loading times.
Long loading screen in games due to slow HDD
The most common reason for long loading screens in games is a slow, congested, fragmented, or faulty hard disk drive (HDD), regardless of the operating system (Windows 11/10, Mac, or Linux) you’re using.
Games need to load graphics and content from your HDD during the loading screen before you can play them. If your HDD is slow or in use by other software you’re running simultaneously with your games, it could cause the loading screens to be exceptionally long.
Useful tip: How to Know Which App is Using The Internet in Windows 11
To check if this is the case, simply check your disk activity when your game is stuck on the loading screen. Right-click on your taskbar and select to open Task Manager. Go to the Performance tab and look at the activity of the disk where your game is stored.
If it’s constantly running at 100% active time, it means that your HDD has a problem and you may need to do some maintenance works (read below).
Use an SSD instead of an HDD to store your games
If your computer is slow when starting a game, it’s often because the game is probably installed on an old hard disk drive (HDD). It doesn’t matter if you are using a Windows 11, Windows 10, macOS, or Linux computer. Games need to pull graphics and other data from the HDD during the loading screen before you can start playing.
A solid-state drive (SSD) is a much quicker alternative to an HDD and can speed up your game’s content read time. If you install the game on an SSD instead, you’ll see a big drop in how long you wait for games to load, and your computer will work faster in general (if your OS is installed on it as well).
Though SSDs cost more than HDDs, their prices have fallen over the years. If you play a lot of games or do heavy tasks like video editing, it’s worth considering upgrading your current HDD to an SSD.
When picking an SSD, choose one that has enough space for your games and other key files. It’s also good to look for an SSD that offers fast read/write speeds and is reliable over a long time.
Running CHKDSK and defragmenting your HDD
If you’ve been using your HDD for a long time, storing tens to hundreds of GB of content without properly maintaining it, it could be the reason why it’s becoming slower and causing long loading screens in games.
To help fix the congestion and fragmentation problem in your hard disk drives and to improve their reading and writing speed, you can use maintenance tools like CHKDSK and defragmentation.
CHKDSK helps to fix disk errors and get rid of bad sectors in your HDD. Here’s a guide on how to perform CHKDSK on your Windows PC correctly: How to Run CHKDSK in Windows 11/10.
Defragment is especially useful to fix slow HDD and HDD that always run at 100% usage issues. It is a common practice to run defragment at least once per month for an always in used HDD. You can use the Windows default defragmentation system, or a third-party software like the popular Auslogics Disk Defragmenter (which has a free version).
To defragment your E: drive, for example, follow these steps:
- Go to This PC on your Windows 10 PC.
- Right-click on the drive where your game (that has the long loading screen problem) is stored.
- Select Properties.
- Go to the Tools tab and click on the Optimize button under Optimize and defragment drive section.
- Select your drive and click on the Optimize button to start the defragmentation for the selected drive.
- Go to the Tools tab and click on the Optimize button under Optimize and defragment drive section.
- Select your drive and click on the Optimize button to start the defragmentation for the selected drive.
The defragmentation process can take a huge amount of time to complete, sometimes running for several hours depending on the size of your HDD and how full it is. While it’s working, it’s a good idea not to use your hard drive or open any files on it. Doing so can make the defragmentation slower and might even mess things up.
After all the maintenance tools, including CHKDSK and defragmentation, have been successfully executed and completed, you should notice a significant difference in the loading time of your games.
