Severe freezing/stutter when moving the character – GPU usage hits 100%, and game freezes for 2-3 seconds

myers007

myers007

Refugee
Version
2.1
Platform
Windows
I'm experiencing severe stuttering/freezing whenever I start moving the character in-game. The issue occurs both on existing saves and brand new games. The GPU usage spikes to 100% and the game freezes for 2–3 seconds. This happens consistently and makes the game nearly unplayable.

What I’ve Tried (None of these fixed the issue):
  • Switching between DirectX 10, 11 and Vulkan
  • Clean reinstall of the game
  • Deleting AppData game folder (clean config)
  • Disabling overlays (Steam, Discord, GeForce)
  • Running with and without EAC
  • Setting FPS cap to 60 / enabling V-Sync
  • Lowering all graphics settings
  • DDU and clean NVIDIA driver reinstall (tried Game Ready and Studio)
  • Moving install to a different SSD
  • Disabling Windows Game Mode
 
Reproduction Steps
  • Launch the game normally.
  • Load any save file (old or new).
  • Start moving the character (WASD or mouse movement).
  • Freeze occurs with a GPU spike.
Link to Logs
https://pastebin.com/F9EMZAJg
Link to Screenshot/Video
https://youtu.be/bmNnHXYFoyo
I'm also having the same issue. Just about word, for word. Started doing it to me on the 31st of last month. For some unknown reason, I can't seem to trouble shoot. I've also lowered all my graphics settings. Went through all the usual launcher and steam trouble shooting steps. PC reset. You name it. Looking forward to a fix, so I can continue to game.
 
Same issue here, but my rig is not the best, except the GPU: RTX 3060 12 GB.

Freezes from 1 to 3 seconds more often the longer the session runs. Sometimes starting when many Z's used to appear.
Post automatically merged:

Even had it in v1.x, maybe Alpha 21, when I remember right.
 
Just tested the game again after the latest patch (2.2) (with the fix for frame rate spike + camera movement).

Unfortunately, **the freezing issue still persists**

This confirms it’s **not fixed yet**, and the root cause seems to be deeper — maybe related to the Unity engine or something in the streaming/loading system.

My system is clean, other heavy games like Cyberpunk run perfectly. This issue is 100% isolated to 7 Days to Die.

Still hoping for a fix soon. Let me know if I can help with logs or testing anything else.
 
myers007 said:
Just tested the game again after the latest patch (2.2) (with the fix for frame rate spike + camera movement).

Unfortunately, **the freezing issue still persists**

This confirms it’s **not fixed yet**, and the root cause seems to be deeper — maybe related to the Unity engine or something in the streaming/loading system.

My system is clean, other heavy games like Cyberpunk run perfectly. This issue is 100% isolated to 7 Days to Die.

Still hoping for a fix soon. Let me know if I can help with logs or testing anything else.
Click to expand...
What kind of harddisk do you use? Maybe the freeze occurs, when the game saves. I just have one (!) old SATAII SSD running the OS from one partition, the game and my savegame from another partition. Perhaps its write cache is running full the longer the game sesseion runs.
 
Qnut said:
What kind of harddisk do you use? Maybe the freeze occurs, when the game saves. I just have one (!) old SATAII SSD running the OS from one partition, the game and my savegame from another partition. Perhaps its write cache is running full the longer the game sesseion runs.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the suggestion!

In my case, I'm using an NVMe SSD with fast read/write speeds. The operating system, game files, and save files are all on the same drive — no partitions or separate disks involved.

Since I've already monitored system performance and didn't notice any spikes in disk usage, I don't think it's related to storage in my setup.

Still, your point about write cache filling up over time is interesting — might be worth checking if others with older drives experience something similar.

Appreciate the input!
 
MatthewW said:
I'm also having the same issue. Just about word, for word. Started doing it to me on the 31st of last month. For some unknown reason, I can't seem to trouble shoot. I've also lowered all my graphics settings. Went through all the usual launcher and steam trouble shooting steps. PC reset. You name it. Looking forward to a fix, so I can continue to game.
Click to expand...
Qnut said:
Same issue here, but my rig is not the best, except the GPU: RTX 3060 12 GB.

Freezes from 1 to 3 seconds more often the longer the session runs. Sometimes starting when many Z's used to appear.
Post automatically merged:

Even had it in v1.x, maybe Alpha 21, when I remember right.
Click to expand...

Need logs guys. Not just "me too!"
 
Here is my log from yesterdays game session.

https://justpaste.it/jksrf

My freezes are not as often as OPs. There could be over 10 minutes between them and mostly they'll apear later in the session.

GPU drivers v580.88 are the latest from last Thursday.
 
Qnut said:
Here is my log from yesterdays game session.

https://justpaste.it/jksrf

My freezes are not as often as OPs. There could be over 10 minutes between them and mostly they'll apear later in the session.

GPU drivers v580.88 are the latest from last Thursday.
Click to expand...
Your issue is likely due to one or more of your mods, Prefixed BlockLight.GetActivationText() is spamming quite a lot. Not sure what it's doing but if it's spamming whatever it is doing, that would definitely hang the game up

myers007 said:
Just tested the game again after the latest patch (2.2) (with the fix for frame rate spike + camera movement).

Unfortunately, **the freezing issue still persists**

This confirms it’s **not fixed yet**, and the root cause seems to be deeper — maybe related to the Unity engine or something in the streaming/loading system.

My system is clean, other heavy games like Cyberpunk run perfectly. This issue is 100% isolated to 7 Days to Die.

Still hoping for a fix soon. Let me know if I can help with logs or testing anything else.
Click to expand...
Do you have ReBAR enabled in your BIOS/UEFI? If not try enabling it, we may not be as fancy graphically as Cyberpunk, but we use data more frequently due to the nature of how the world is. Don't forget windows security realtime scan exemptions for the install/save folders too.
 
Jugginator said:
Your issue is likely due to one or more of your mods, Prefixed BlockLight.GetActivationText() is spamming quite a lot. Not sure what it's doing but if it's spamming whatever it is doing, that would definitely hang the game up


Do you have ReBAR enabled in your BIOS/UEFI? If not try enabling it, we may not be as fancy graphically as Cyberpunk, but we use data more frequently due to the nature of how the world is. Don't forget windows security realtime scan exemptions for the install/save folders too.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the suggestion!

I already had ReBAR enabled, but I also tested with it disabled to be sure — unfortunately, the issue persists in both cases.

Regarding Windows Security, I had already tested with real-time protection disabled entirely, and it didn’t make any difference. I’ve now also added exclusions for the install and save folders just in case, but the freezing still happens.

One important detail: if I keep the character completely still, there is no freezing at all. The moment I move using the keyboard, the freeze happens within a couple of seconds and often won’t stop until I release the movement key.

I also tested, ironically, disabling all G Hub drivers/software to rule out any input-related conflicts, but that didn’t work either.

It seems this is not related to ReBAR, antivirus scanning, or G Hub in my case.
 
myers007 said:
Thanks for the suggestion!

I already had ReBAR enabled, but I also tested with it disabled to be sure — unfortunately, the issue persists in both cases.

Regarding Windows Security, I had already tested with real-time protection disabled entirely, and it didn’t make any difference. I’ve now also added exclusions for the install and save folders just in case, but the freezing still happens.

One important detail: if I keep the character completely still, there is no freezing at all. The moment I move using the keyboard, the freeze happens within a couple of seconds and often won’t stop until I release the movement key.

I also tested, ironically, disabling all G Hub drivers/software to rule out any input-related conflicts, but that didn’t work either.

It seems this is not related to ReBAR, antivirus scanning, or G Hub in my case.
Click to expand...

You're welcome, hm. I also use G hub, so not that (though I just use their mice and a Yeti mic). Maybe try disabling graphics jobs in the launcher? I doubt that would help, but in the meantime while I think on this can't hurt to try
 
Jugginator said:
Your issue is likely due to one or more of your mods, Prefixed BlockLight.GetActivationText() is spamming quite a lot. Not sure what it's doing but if it's spamming whatever it is doing, that would definitely hang the game up
Click to expand...
Hi, for testing I deleted the mod that gets the log spammed. No more Prefixed BlockLight.GetActivationText(). Freezes still persist.

I encountered that it could be the "Saving <number> of chunks took <amount>ms" that I can see in the console after there was a freeze.
 
myers007 said:
I'm experiencing severe stuttering/freezing whenever I start moving the character in-game. The issue occurs both on existing saves and brand new games. The GPU usage spikes to 100% and the game freezes for 2–3 seconds. This happens consistently and makes the game nearly unplayable.

What I’ve Tried (None of these fixed the issue):
  • Switching between DirectX 10, 11 and Vulkan
  • Clean reinstall of the game
  • Deleting AppData game folder (clean config)
  • Disabling overlays (Steam, Discord, GeForce)
  • Running with and without EAC
  • Setting FPS cap to 60 / enabling V-Sync
  • Lowering all graphics settings
  • DDU and clean NVIDIA driver reinstall (tried Game Ready and Studio)
  • Moving install to a different SSD
  • Disabling Windows Game Mode
Click to expand...
I had this same issue took me 15 min to figure out that Vsync got turned on and im running a 4k monitor on max graphics as soon as i turned it off i was good.
 
Update: After applying the latest Windows 11 update (KB5063878, build 26100.4946, August 12th), the freezing issue seems to be resolved for me.

Before this update, the game would freeze every 1–2 seconds whenever I held down a movement key (W, A, S, D). If I stayed completely still, there was no problem, but moving would trigger the freeze instantly. I had already tested different drivers, ReBAR on/off, antivirus exclusions, and even disabling G Hub drivers — none of that worked.

Right after installing KB5063878, both 7 Days to Die and Fortnite (which had started showing the same behavior) went back to running normally. No more freezing when moving the character.

So, if anyone else is facing the same issue, it might be related to Windows and not the game itself. Updating to this build fixed it on my end.

Big thanks to Jugginator and the rest of the community for the support and suggestions during the troubleshooting process!

Details of the update: https://support.microsoft.com/pt-br...100-4946-e4b87262-75c8-4fef-9df7-4a18099ee294
 
Qnut said:
@Jugginator, I have had a test without any mods on my save except prefabs and Better Biomes. The freezes are also there without Better Biomes.

Here is the log of the test run: https://justpaste.it/261f8

As I'm on Windows 10 there is no fix in the actual update.
Click to expand...

Again, your issue is likely the mods.

You are on hardware that barely supports the game, as it has been obsolete for over a decade, and then you are adding a number of mods that are guaranteed to have a large impact on performance.

I honestly don't know what you expected to happen here aside from the result you are getting.
 
Qnut said:
The freezes are also there without Better Biomes.
Click to expand...
And Prefab/POI mods shouldn't have any impact in this case. Used to play back in Alpha 21 where in some version (not the first ones) the freezes began, v1.x the same and so in 2.x. I can live with that and I don't feel that I have to explain myself, whether I post in a thread where actual hardware is used and the error is explained. Though I already could have posted years ago, but I didn't. I tried to help finding something for what I encountered and others too. Why it is a Windows update that helped fixing the issue I don't know. Maybe Win 11 on my side could help but you know that it's not officialy supported on my CPU but will run fine, as I know.

And @SylenThunder not every mod is evil as you claim every time here and on Steam. I already stated with or without Better Biomes I have freezes and I wonder how smooth the game runs with this massive mod. Stuttering freezes come from any other aspect. Could've been fine to find the reason. I know how software works and what should need extra performance and that 1-2 second freezes every few minutes are not caused by POIs or some more objects in the world, also without those extra objects.
 
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