PoE2 locked at 25 FPS, Shader bar always full – DX12/Vulkan completely broken

Summary:
Path of Exile 2 is locked at 25–26 FPS regardless of renderer (DX12 or Vulkan). The GPU is utilized (100%), but shader bar is always full even in hideout. All signs point to broken shader pipeline or fallback rendering path.

System Information:
- CPU: Intel i7-9700KF
- GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti (Driver: 572.83 WHQL, clean installed with DDU)
- RAM: 16GB DDR4
- Display: 3440x1440 (21:9)
- OS: Windows 10 Pro 22H2 (clean reinstall)
- Game Version: Standalone (Not Steam)

What happens:
- Game runs exactly at 25–26 FPS, never above, even in hideout or login screen.
- Shader bar in F1 debug overlay is always full.
- GPU runs at 100%, clock ~1950MHz, but FPS is stuck.
- Switching to DX12: same issue (FPS locked, shader bar full).
- Using DX11 resolves FPS issue (60–100 FPS) but introduces occasional stutters/crashes.

Steps to Reproduce:
- Launch PoE2 using Vulkan or DX12 (standalone version)
- Observe FPS lock at 25 and shader bar pinned full
- GPU-Z shows normal GPU performance (not throttled)
- Other games like PUBG, Last Epoch run at full performance

Already Tried (No improvement):
- DDU + reinstall driver (tried 537.42, 546.17, 572.83)
- Full OS reinstall (Windows reset with clean driver install)
- Deleting shader caches (NVIDIA + PoE2)
- DISM + SFC to repair system files
- Ensuring no overlays or background software
- Disabling G-Sync, V-Sync, HDR, DLSS, Dynamic Resolution
- Forcing shader preloading with --waitforpreload
- Checked GPU P-State, VBIOS, temps, and power — all normal
- Game is not running in compatibility mode

This appears to be a renderer-level bug in PoE2 causing the game to fallback into a broken or debug shader mode. The GPU is running properly, and all other games benchmark fine. Something in the current Vulkan/DX12 shader pipeline of PoE2 is broken or corrupted on affected systems.

Please review the shader pipeline or fallback handling in DX12/Vulkan renderers. This issue has made the game unplayable since 13th April 2025. A fix or workaround would be greatly appreciated.

Been having similar issue that has deterred me from playing further, issue that I've noticed started around Dawn of the Hunt update (it may have been present beforehand but I hadn't played for a few months). Most game elements from ground textures to enemies and effects don't render until the game finishes building shaders for them, making them invisible and forcing me to wait with game paused for ~5minutes until everything finishes loading on every map.

RTX 2060

In my case FPS isn't locked, but every time I start the game the shader bar is always full until I assume shaders are rebuilt. It also happens when loading a new area, new enemies, new visual effects. Shader cache is not being deleted in NVIDIA app data, but it looks like new cache files are created every time for the same content.

I've tried a variety of attempted fixes by changing game or NVIDIA settings with no success and I believe I tried most things I can short of redownloading the game, but I suspect it's not something that can be fixed on my end.

"

nevrozac#5980 wrote:

Been having similar issue that has deterred me from playing further, issue that I've noticed started around Dawn of the Hunt update (it may have been present beforehand but I hadn't played for a few months). Most game elements from ground textures to enemies and effects don't render until the game finishes building shaders for them, making them invisible and forcing me to wait with game paused for ~5minutes until everything finishes loading on every map.

RTX 2060

In my case FPS isn't locked, but every time I start the game the shader bar is always full until I assume shaders are rebuilt. It also happens when loading a new area, new enemies, new visual effects. Shader cache is not being deleted in NVIDIA app data, but it looks like new cache files are created every time for the same content.

I've tried a variety of attempted fixes by changing game or NVIDIA settings with no success and I believe I tried most things I can short of redownloading the game, but I suspect it's not something that can be fixed on my end.

Same here. Recently I swapped my 2060s with 5060ti and now the shader bar is always full. Sometimes enemies won't even load for a few seconds and the game is constantly stuttering while fps seems to be at 70+. Everything else runs fine though.
I'll try redownloading the game, since that fixed it for my friend.