I might have fixed Diablo 3 freezing when launching game

I realized the default install folder for battle net launcher and Diablo 3 are both “program files 86”.

I was doing a fresh install of windows, and when I got to blizzard games, I decided to install battle net and Diablo 3 to “program files” (NOT 86)!

Basically I believe the game will sometimes freeze when starting a game if you’re running the 64 bit client with the install in the 32 bit client folder which is “86”. I mean actually going into town after selecting a character.

I had the issue of needing restart my pc or log out and back in to windows and try to install again. This happened to me on 2 or 3 different computers. (Yes I bought a new computer every 2 years for some reason).

So far it’s been about 4 days since I installed the game to program files (not 86), and I’ve had no freezing when starting a game!

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Personally I wouldn’t install any game or their related software under either “program files” folder.

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Thank you for this fix. MAybe it works… I had no problem with windows 7 on the last old computer, but D3 was in another location than pgm86, like with the new computer.
I tried your tip, no freeze in game anymore at the moment (but I have tried your fix since only 5 hours). Crossing fingers.

Yeah it fixed for me.

Are you talking about periodic freezes of the game during gameplay, or only freezing when launching the game?

I setup a second SSD partition (G:) Games where I install the Battle.net app. After which, I use the app to install Diablo III in the Battle.net folder. Note: WIn10Pro installed in Local Disk (C:) partition on same SSD.

Freezing when you have already chosen a character and launch the actual game into town. It would freeze on the loading screen. A lot of people had that issue.

I don’t use default folder for games. I installed games (incl. battlenet app and D3) on D: partition. I still get the freeze randomly (not often).

Therefore, I don’t think your method solve the problem at all.

When I got the freeze, I always find some errors in D3Debug.txt:

|2020.08.11 15:05:42.961934900|WARNING: W 07:05:42.962127 [BGS] |event=rapidxml_parse_error|what=expected <|where=000001e703e45da0 (src\low\rapidxml\bgsxml.cpp:14)|
|2020.08.11 15:05:42.962100500|WARNING: W 07:05:42.962127 [BGS] |event=rapidxml_parse_error|what=expected <|where=000001e703e45da0 (src\low\rapidxml\bgsxml.cpp:14)|
|2020.08.11 15:05:42.962233700|WARNING: W 07:05:42.963106 [BGS] |event=rapidxml_parse_error|what=expected <|where=000001e703e45da0 (src\low\rapidxml\bgsxml.cpp:14)|
|2020.08.11 15:05:42.962447000|WARNING: W 07:05:42.963106 [BGS] |event=rapidxml_parse_error|what=expected <|where=000001e703e45da0 (src\low\rapidxml\bgsxml.cpp:14)|
...
(repeatedly)

I think some data (xml) received was corrupted during transmission and the game couldn’t parse the data and throwed an error. The game failed to handle the error situtation properly and falled into an infinite loop.

Therefore, it is nothing to do with the installation folder, but with quality of the internet communication. If you get a network glitch at the time of loading, the freeze may occur.

You just need to make Task Manager Always on Top (In Option). Then you can ALT+CTRL+DEL to bring up Task Manager and kill Diablo III.exe and just launch Diablo again, without having to restart the pc. Second time it NEVER freeze.

Sadly, when D3 freezes for me like described above, I can’t switch to Task Manager to kill it. I am having only one monitor.

However, I found out that you can open a second desktop (even if you have only one monitor) with “Windows + TAB” key. On the 2nd desktop you open Task Manager and there I easily can kill the D3 process, go back to 1st desktop and start the game again and it works fine after that.

In Task Managers Option, click Always on Top, and you can bring up Task Manager, when Diablo Freeze.

Sadly, I got a new freeze this morning in game (usually in gr).

It doesn’t solve it. I’ve seen this happen a couple times before, and I have Diablo III in its own entirely separate folder on one of my SDDs instead of the default C drive.