Recurring disconnect issue on first session after start-up + Crash on alt-tab

Hi There,

First off, I have to tell you that English is not my first language. If my writing contains any mistakes which make things unclear, please let me know.

After having searched through google, I found the issue I'm experiencing is neither unique nor new. It has been present for quite a long time. However, I was unable to find a definitive answer, which is why I'm asking here anyway.

What happens is that I simply start up PoE. I play through Steam, so it first logs into my Steam account and then opens PoE. No problems thus far. Afterwards, when I try to log in for the first time since start-up, the problems start to occur. It tells me on the main screen that the game is trying to connect me to the server. On the bottom left, it shows that after trying to connect me I have been connected, and after trying to authenticate me I have been authenticated. I get to the character screen and select the character I wish to play with. Then the screen freezes on the background of the character selection screen, showing the process of “connecting to server”, though the sound keeps playing.



I tried print-screening the image, but all I get as an image is the loading screen of the place I ended my previous session. After roughly 10-20 seconds I get an error message stating that I have been disconnected because “your authentication for instance transfer was not valid”.



As shown in the picture, it sends me back to the main screen. When I try to log in afterwards the process goes smoothly and I instantly connect and can just play the game. Note that this only happens the first time I start the game after booting-up my PC. Closing the game, logging off of steam, logging off in a session and immediately logging on all have no issues. It’s just that first time after the first start-up of my PC. I don’t know when this first occurred, since I thought this was simply a bug which would disappear with a future patch. However, it has been at least 2 months and the issue still persists. I have not made any major changes to my computer, did not change any major settings, neither in-game nor in the game files, and re-installing the game did not help. This dxdiag file was made right after the second issue, which occured roughly 2 minutes after the first. https://pastebin.com/1sAA1G5P

The second issue is similar to the first in that it only occurs the first time I try to play the game after start-up. Once it has occurred it will not occur again until I restart my computer and play the game for the first time again. What happens is that when I try to alt-tab out of the game, whether that be immediately after logging in or after 30 minutes or an hour of playing, the game crashes. My screen switches like it should. I can do anything and everything I want. After I’m done and I try to open the game again, nothing happens. It shows I’m hovering over the game during the alt-tab animation of windows, but I simply stay on the same screen. Hovering over the game in the task-bar at the bottom displays a black screen. Clicking on the cross when hovering over the game in the task-bar does nothing. The only way to close the game is to go to the task-manager in which it shows the game is “not responding” and forcibly end the game. After that I have to open the game again, after which no issues occur. Noteworthy is that during this crashing issue the game-sound continues to play, even when I’m alt-tabbed out of the game and the game has crashed. When I otherwise alt-tab out of the game and no issues occur (read: once this issue has occurred once since start-up) the sound does not continue to play. For this issue the same goes as the previous one: I have changed next to nothing (at least nothing major, only a few keybinds) and do not know when it first occurred.

If anyone has got any tips, fixes, etc. on either one of the issues, I would be extremely grateful. If there’s anything I could provide which could give insight into the causes of these issues, I’d be happy to cooperate.

Thanks in advance!

Penita13

The issue you are facing with is an issue most of the users are now facing with.
What happens from my point of view is that you login to the world server and because of the overloading bandwidth because so many are using the internet these days and because so many are already in the world server trying to play and because the servers get really high pings makes you disconnect.
It is really simple to understand.
With the overload on the ggg servers and with the fact that network bandwidth is at a really really high place right now not many players can really play let alone stay logged into the game for along time.
My advice is to try and play the game when less are playing mostly for me that has been really really late at night.
However there is no way anyone can give you trips to fix this.
Its just how it is due to this virus.
Sorry.

hmmmm, allright. Quite honestly I thought this problem started occurring before corona, but then again my sense of time is all over the place due to corona. I'll just try to sit this one out and see whether the problem fixes itself once life goes back to normal.

Anyways, thanks for your response!