Can't play game! Constant freezing (NOT crashing) at inconsistent points during launch. Any help?

[Vampuppy]

I haven't played the game in a while, but I reinstalled it to play Cyberpunk 2.0 / Phantom Liberty. Since then, I've been having constant freezes before i can start a new game. Sometimes it is on the disclaimers, sometimes on the main menu and sometimes during character creation. I was able to load into an old save briefly but the inconsistency of these crashes means I have not been able to play the game. I am playing on the Steam release.

I've tried a lot of different things, including uninstalling and reinstalling, removing all old save files, removing all the overlays from other apps, verifying the game integrity, deleting specific settings / files as per other people's solutions, adjusting many of the settings to low quality or non-current gen settings. In one instance where I was able to open the Settings, I ran the benchmark and it ran fine.

I don't know the most about computer specs but this seems relevant:

To reiterate, my game has been freezing at specific points for several minutes before closing itself - or I close it with Task Manager.
Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[LeKill3rFou]

When you played the game a "while ago", did you use mods?
When you say that you try to uninstall and reinstall the game, it's only from the launcher? Or a proper clean-install like explained in the support page?
If you used mods or if you just uninstall/reinstall the game from the launcher, maybe you should perform a clean-install first, just to be sure everything is fine.

How do I perform a clean install of the game? — Cyberpunk 2077 | Technical Support — CD PROJEKT RED

Welcome to CD PROJEKT RED Technical Support! Here you will find help regarding our games and services, as well as answers to frequently asked questions.

support.cdprojektred.com

Also if you didn't, maybe try to clean-install your drivers in case.

NVIDIA
I. Download the latest drivers using the following link: https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
II. Download Display Driver Uninstaller and run it to remove previous versions of drivers.
III. Clean install drivers that you've downloaded in step 1.
AMD
I. Uninstall your graphics drivers using the AMD Cleanup Utility software.
II. Download and clean install the latest drivers from here: https://www.amd.com/en/support

 

[Vampuppy]

When you played the game a "while ago", did you use mods?
When you say that you try to uninstall and reinstall the game, it's only from the launcher? Or a proper clean-install like explained in the support page?
If you used mods or if you just uninstall/reinstall the game from the launcher, maybe you should perform a clean-install first, just to be sure everything is fine.

How do I perform a clean install of the game? — Cyberpunk 2077 | Technical Support — CD PROJEKT RED

Welcome to CD PROJEKT RED Technical Support! Here you will find help regarding our games and services, as well as answers to frequently asked questions.

support.cdprojektred.com

Also if you didn't, maybe try to clean-install your drivers in case.

I hadn't followed that guide.

I'm about to do a clean install following this guide. I have two external drives but they are both HDD and not SSD which the guide calls for in the installation. Can I run the game on a HDD with a lot of space, or will it just crash over and over? I don't really have room on my main drive (the only SSD) to put Cyberpunk 2077

Also, I have never used mods.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

I hadn't followed that guide.

I'm about to do a clean install following this guide. I have two external drives but they are both HDD and not SSD which the guide calls for in the installation. Can I run the game on a HDD with a lot of space, or will it just crash over and over? I don't really have room on my main drive (the only SSD) to put Cyberpunk 2077

Also, I have never used mods.

Oh, SSD is now a "requirement" in 2.0
If you install the game on a HDD, you will likely encounter issues (maybe not as serious as freezes/crashes, but still...)

 

[Vampuppy]

Oh, SSD is now a "requirement" in 2.0
If you install the game on a HDD, you will likely encounter issues (maybe not as serious as freezes/crashes, but still...)

I think it may be a RAM issue, as you can see in the first post I have 8 GB of RAM installed, but even the lowest settings call for 12.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

I think it may be a RAM issue, as you can see in the first post I have 8 GB of RAM installed, but even the lowest settings call for 12.

Might be.
Did you survey your RAM usage? If it goes right to 100%, well... not good.

But honestly, I would try to move the game on a SSD first (if possible). Because even if the game can run on a HDD, you will likely encounter performance issues and all kind of oddities while playing (like multiple clone NPCs at the same place, textures which do not load properly and so on...)

 

[Vampuppy]

Might be.
Did you survey your RAM usage? If it goes right to 100%, well... not good.

But honestly, I would try to move the game on a SSD first (if possible). Because even if the game can run on a HDD, you will likely encounter performance issues and all kind of oddities while playing (like multiple clone NPCs at the same place, textures which do not load properly and so on...)

It was not hitting 100% on Memory when I checked Task Manager when I had the game open. It was about 40%. I don't mind the game being a bit buggy, and a few oddities, I'd just like to be able to play it at all.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Ok
So try after a clean-install if you are able play without freezes/crashes.

 

[Vampuppy]

Ok
So try after a clean-install if you are able play without freezes/crashes.

Followed that guide exactly, except installed on HDD instead of SSD. Still crashing the same way.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Ok
You should really try to move the game on your SSD, because I could say to directly send a ticket to the support for help, but I'm pretty sure this is the first thing they will ask you to do.