Zone Attach Delay & Missing Visual Assets

Path of Exile 2
Patch: 0.4.0c
Platform: PC (Steam)

Summary

Consistent ~40 second delay or more (up to infinite loop) when entering the world or changing zones, combined with intermittent rendering issues where character models, spell effects, and world objects fail to display. Issue started after Patch 0.3.x and persists in Patch 0.4.0c.

Steps to Reproduce

Launch Path of Exile 2

Select any character

Enter the game world or change zones (portal, waypoint, zone transition)

Continue playing, especially with frequent zone transitions or form changes

Expected Result

Zone entry completes within a few seconds

All character models, spell effects, and world objects render correctly

Actual Result

Zone/world entry consistently takes ~40 or more seconds

During or after zone entry, visual assets sometimes fail to render, including:

Character models

Skill effects

World objects (e.g. chests)

Observed Rendering Bugs

Druid – Cloud Form:
Character becomes invisible while in cloud form

Skills:
Spells are cast mechanically (damage/effects occur) but visual effects are missing

World Objects:
Chests sometimes do not appear visually, but can still be interacted with

These issues occur without crashes and sometimes resolve only after changing zones again.

Frequency

Zone/world attach delay: 100% reproducible

Rendering issues: Intermittent but recurring, often after zone transitions

Regression

✅ Yes

Patch 0.3.0 and earlier:

Fast zone transitions

No missing visuals

Patch 0.3.x → 0.4.0c:

Long attach delays

Missing character, spell, and object visuals

No hardware or OS changes between versions.

System Information

OS: Windows 11

GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT

Renderer: Vulkan

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X

Storage: SSD

Client: Steam

Technical Observations

Appears unrelated to raw performance or shader compilation:

No persistent shader cache directories outside
Documents\My Games\Path of Exile 2

No CPU, GPU, or disk bottlenecks during delays

DX11 renderer crashes on this system; Vulkan required

Visual issues suggest asset streaming or render state desynchronization

Delays feel like a synchronous world/zone attach wait, not loading throughput

Workarounds Attempted (No Improvement)

Shader cache deletion

Renderer switching (DX12 ↔ Vulkan)

Steam file verification

Engine multithreading on/off

AMD driver updates / rollbacks

Moving config/data off OneDrive

Impact

Every zone transition introduces a long pause

Missing visuals reduce gameplay clarity and immersion

Particularly disruptive for fast-paced gameplay and form-based skills (e.g. Druid)

Request

Please investigate a potential regression in zone/world attach and asset streaming synchronization introduced after Patch 0.3.0, particularly affecting AMD + Vulkan configurations, which may also lead to missing or delayed render assets.


Additional critical observation:

When using the Vulkan renderer, disabling "Engine Multithreading" from the in-game
Graphics Options causes an immediate hard freeze of the client.

The freeze occurs instantly at the moment the checkbox is unticked, while still
inside the options menu — not during world entry or zone transitions.
There is no crash, no error message, and no log output generated.

This strongly suggests that runtime reinitialization of threading/render state
on Vulkan is currently unsafe or broken, and that Engine Multithreading cannot be
toggled live without restarting the client.

As a result:
- Engine Multithreading must remain enabled to avoid freezing
- But with it enabled, long (~40s) zone/world attach delays occur due to blocking
client-side Precalc phases

This indicates a regression in the Vulkan threading/reinitialization path introduced
after Patch 0.3.0.