[Main Thread] Windows 19041 - Freezing for 5-10 seconds

Same symptoms, Windows 10 19041. I’m using an AMD RX Vega 56.

EDIT: The freezing occurs more often on certain maps. Right now, I’m in Ruins of Corvus and it just froze. No mobs were near me when it froze. When it unfroze, I was dead and surrounded.

It was unplayably terrible on Stonefort.

I can’t link to DxDiag and I don’t want to paste a wall of text.

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Yea I don’t know what it is about Ruins of Corvus or Ruins of Sescheron that causes endless loading screen and a disconnect. I have a feeling it’s the servers that are lagging. There hasn’t been any updates and the fmodex replacement has been working this whole time.

Urgh…now we have certain maps freezing? That’s not good news.

On a side note, do you guys have audio enabled in-game? I always get the FMOD error whenever I play with audio disabled.

I’m not entirely certain everyone in this thread is having the same issue. My issue is the game freezes especially when I’m moving quickly through rifts. I think it possibly has something to do with maps with a lot of background noise (e.g. the demon attacks on Bastion’s Keep in Act III). The game goes non-responsive for 3-5 seconds before returning.

I did find that as soon as the frame freezes, I can hit escape and the game will have been paused when it unfreezes.

On a side note, do you guys have audio enabled in-game?

I’ve tried the sound on and off and disabling the sound card in Device Manager.

windows 7, 32bit, old geforce 230GT
D3Debug.txt constantly now sending this:

2020.10.03 10:11:25.014436800 Error purging stream from bank ‘X1_WorldAmbience_BogCaves’, (sample index = 155)
2020.10.03 10:11:25.020565800 Error purging stream from bank ‘Weather’, (sample index = 0)
2020.10.03 10:11:25.350050500 Error purging stream from bank ‘Weather’, (sample index = 0)
2020.10.03 10:11:25.959407500 Error purging stream from bank ‘X1_WorldAmbience_BogCaves’, (sample index = 155)
2020.10.03 10:11:26.148051500 Error purging stream from bank ‘X1_WorldAmbience_BogCaves’, (sample index = 155)
2020.10.03 10:11:26.154161800 Error purging stream from bank ‘Weather’, (sample index = 0)
2020.10.03 10:11:26.533985500 Error purging stream from bank ‘X1_WorldAmbience_BogCaves’, (sample index = 155)
2020.10.03 10:11:26.550477800 Error purging stream from bank ‘Weather’, (sample index = 0)
2020.10.03 10:11:29.254965800 Error purging stream from bank ‘X1_WorldAmbience_BogCaves’, (sample index = 155)
2020.10.03 10:11:29.261620500 Error purging stream from bank ‘Weather’, (sample index = 0)
2020.10.03 10:11:29.302212800 Disabling loading screen for 2, 4
2020.10.03 10:11:29.302372500 Disabling loading screen for 4, 0
2020.10.03 10:12:02.684896500 ERROR: Trying to lock an invalid SNO 397640 which doesn’t exists or is not part of the SOUND_SNO group
2020.10.03 10:12:20.630056800 I 07:13:22.277693 [BGS]
2020.10.03 10:12:35.759237500 I 07:13:38.121705 [BGS]
2020.10.03 10:12:46.267155500 [Telemetry] (TELE): Requested sending batch messages by multi-part http POST messages count 1
2020.10.03 10:13:28.588990500 ERROR: Trying to lock an invalid SNO 397640 which doesn’t exists or is not part of the SOUND_SNO group
2020.10.03 10:14:45.976120100 Initializing client world X1_LR_Level_03…
2020.10.03 10:14:46.296425800 [Telemetry] (TELE): Requested sending batch messages by multi-part http POST messages count 1
2020.10.03 10:14:54.535645100 ERROR: Trying to lock an invalid SNO 397640 which doesn’t exists or is not part of the SOUND_SNO group
2020.10.03 10:15:03.609649800 I 07:16:12.955866 [BGS]
2020.10.03 10:15:31.423405500 Enabling loading screen for 4, 4
2020.10.03 10:15:31.557821800 Disposing UI for World
2020.10.03 10:15:32.154967100 Error purging stream from bank ‘WorldAmbience_Act1’, (sample index = 15)
2020.10.03 10:15:32.161095500 Error purging stream from bank ‘Weather’, (sample index = 0)
2020.10.03 10:15:34.267865500 Error purging stream from bank ‘WorldAmbience_Act1’, (sample index = 15)
2020.10.03 10:15:34.275478100 Error purging stream from bank ‘Weather’, (sample index = 0)
2020.10.03 10:15:36.157851800 Error purging stream from bank ‘WorldAmbience_Act1’, (sample index = 15)
2020.10.03 10:15:36.163804800 Error purging stream from bank ‘Weather’, (sample index = 0)
2020.10.03 10:15:38.004738500 Error purging stream from bank ‘WorldAmbience_Act1’, (sample index = 15)
2020.10.03 10:15:38.010630100 Error purging stream from bank ‘Weather’, (sample index = 0)
2020.10.03 10:15:42.458536800 Error purging stream from bank ‘WorldAmbience_Act1’, (sample index = 15)
2020.10.03 10:15:42.473262800 Error purging stream from bank ‘Weather’, (sample index = 0)
2020.10.03 10:15:42.537790100 Error purging stream from bank ‘WorldAmbience_Act1’, (sample index = 15)

game levels loading screens just loops and return disconect…

[Post edited by forum moderator. Please keep our Code of Conduct in mind when posting.]

Hey guys,

i am able to play without any freezes and crashes since i turned on VPN regarding this Post:

I am from Germany and i used a VPN in Spain and it worked.

This is everything i did to fix it:

  • DisableChromaEffects “1” in D3Prefs.txt (I have Razer hard- and software)
  • Original fmodex64.dll (tried with the one from HotS, did’nt change anything)
  • Installing the Old Graphics Driver as mentioned here:
  • Connecting via VPN through Spain

before i did this i had several Problems:

  • game did not start (either Logo then freeze or greyscreen then freeze)
  • endless loadscreen then freeze
  • random freeze while playing

tbh i have absolutly no idea why using a VPN fixes it, it makes no sense to me but it did fix it.

It sure does not make any sense.
I have the same issues as you on my desktop PC with windows 10. But the game runs perfectly on my old laptop with windows 8.1 and graphics drivers from 2019 - no VPN needed.

The first time I tried the Heroes DLL, the game eventually started crashing perpetually and was a hot mess. I noticed the bnet kept overwriting the Heroes DLL with the D3 version. …which is why I tried the Heroes DLL in a file-copied folder of the Diablo 3 install w/ the “-launch” command to skip bnet. I already had this duplicate install for multi-boxing… so, you can google multi-box setup on same machine for detailed instructions on creating the second install that isn’t messed with by bnet.

Day 4 of the dup-install and running OK. Did have one glitch, but my original D3 install (clean and recent) is unplayable as others have reported above.

This is a classic case of having the software installed but the driver not, probably a result of windows service update (19 > 20 for instance) replacing the IRST driver with the standard ahci driver.

unfortunately, irrelevant to the topic as the issue is present on Ryzen machines that don’t even get a storage driver update.

This is purely a compatibility issue between D3 and 1904x that blizzard need to pull their fingers out of their rear ends and update the ancient fmod dlls for.

I haven’t been playing much so I decided to just let Battle launcher update the game a (replaced the old fmodex64 file) and see how it ran. It only froze 1 time in 3 hours but there were new error messages in d3bug file.

ERROR: Trying to lock an invalid SNO 397640 which doesn’t exists or is not part of the SOUND_SNO group (this one happened a lot but didn’t freeze the game)
FMOD Error during ‘FMOD_Channel_SetPosition’: An invalid seek position was passed to this function (this only happened once and I assume it was when the game froze)

I found another problem related to the Windows Update - KB4577063 (2020-09 Cumulative Update Preview for Windows 10 Version 2004 for x64-based Systems.
This update upgraded the version of Windows 10 to 19041.546.

I found there are some new errors in D3Debug.txt

|2020.10.04 20:42:51.479862000|ERROR: Trying to lock an invalid SNO 397640 which doesn't exists or is not part of the SOUND_SNO group||---|---|
|2020.10.04 20:43:10.880109400|Initializing client world X1_LR_Level_03...|
|2020.10.04 20:43:26.016552400|[Telemetry] (TELE): Requested sending batch messages by multi-part http POST messages count 1|

@foureight84: Hi.

A player on the French language forums is also reporting that type of issue with Windows 10 19041… but his is occurring with the “Archives of Zoltun Kulle” waypoint in Act II.

Are you seeing that as well ?

ep. same as me. but i have non related PC setup (old)
there several bugs atm in blizzard -
bad patcher data (check starcraft2 forum)
DDos (bad latency)

Yep! I get stuck at the loading screen for a long time. I don’t know if this is a fluke but I’ve been hitting escape rapidly at the loading screen and it seems to help. Probably a placebo. I’ve stopped playing for almost two weeks now.

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I was asked by tech support to post the following. I have had freezing issue with Diablo3 off and on lasting about 5 seconds each time. Errors in D3Debug file “FMOD Error sound not ready in 200ms." Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 shows different attempts in hopes of resolving the freezing issue. Background computer information: 6 year old computer, i7-4790k (not overclocked), MSI z97 Gaming 5, Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 2400 16gb, MSI RX 580, Samsung 850 EVO M.2 250gb. The MSI z97 Gaming 5 board which I use has Realtek® ALC1150 Codec. Updated WIn10Pro to Insiders version 20H2, build 19042.546. D3 in 64bit mode.

  1. Freezing issue due to Fmodex64.dll. After reading July 2020 tech support forum thread. I replaced Blizzard installed file with one linked in thread. Now it doesn’t freeze but no sound. It was freezing 1-5 times during GR or rift previous. Thread that I posted to Diablo3 US General Forums. I clean installed Win10Pro. More information posted to the following thread.
    https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/d3/t/freezing-issue-with-blizzard-installed-fmodex64dll-file-fix-needed/22722/4

  2. I didn’t reinstall Win10Pro using a backup. I used Windows Media Tool to download latest Windows then proceeded to clean install after shutdown / startup computer. All new – Windows, Battlenet app, Diablo 3. I posted quite a bit in the General Discussion link provided. Friends online have been have freezing issues as well. One was clean installing Windows this morning like I did. I suggest this may be a bigger issue than what Blizzard recognizes. I am not referring to a latency issue. Yes I understand what I did is not supported. But upon replacing fmodex64.dll, I had zero freezes for over 6 hours. Is a question for developers to research and fix.

  3. Add to previous. First I restored Blizzard’s version of fmodex64.dll to /Diablo III/x84 folder. Was Win10Pro update to version 20H2, build 19042.546 (Win10 Insiders build). Restarted computer after using MSCONFIG to selective boot. Disabled non Microsoft services as follows AMD Crash Defender Service, AMD External Events Utility, Intel® Capability Licensing Service, Intel® TPM Provisioning Service, Norton Security, and Norton WSC Service. Note: Norton did launch upon reboot. I launched Battle.net app then used that to launch Diablo3. I joined ran a T16 rift and GR105 without any freezing. Will run some more to check.

  4. FYI:: The motherboard that I currently use is MSI z97 Gaming 5. Has Realtek® ALC1150 Codec. MSI support latest audio listed is 2017 Realtek 6.0.1.8010. I didn’t install Realtek though, Clean Win10Pro with HD audio (10.0.19041.264). I stuck with the generic driver installed by Microsoft. Of course, the computer hardware I have is dated. I came across this online concerning those with AMD video card. It suggested to disable AMD sound. “If you own an AMD video card just do this and your audio (and video) world will be excellent. Never the twain shall meet! For your video card software installation (even Nvidia may do this!) Make sure you never have this DISABLED or strange sound issues may happen when you most need them to work.”
    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-hardware/realtek-driver-issues-windows-10/6d8f3970-be2a-4b82-97b3-79bb073bb831

I disabled the AMD sound driver, have Microsoft generic audio driver installed, and not installed the 2017 Realtek audio driver as of yet. I will play around with Diablo3 later tonight or tomorrow. Posted this to be relayed to developers. Idea is figure out what is causing the freezing issue.

NOTE: Lots of motherboards old and new have Realtek audio embedded. It is up to individual players to web search and to troubleshoot. For me with a 6year old motherboard, I did clean Win10Pro install, used Microsoft generic audio driver, and , have AMD HD audio device disabled (in device manager). No freezes. Will keep you posted.

EDIT 1: For running Discord and have older CPU / older GPU. Go discord settings, then appearance, turn off hardware acceleration. I am still testing different approaches. Yes, replacing the fmodex64.dll with third party stopped freezing 100%. What I trying to do is figure out if something else with Windows or other apps causing issues. I updated Win10Pro to Insiders version 20H2, build 19042.572.

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Replacing the fmodex and fmodex64 files with the starcraft versions is still working for me to stop the freezing. I am replacing the files in both the Diablo3 and x64 folders.
I also hopped onto the PTR to see if the issue is happening there and did encounter a freeze with the fmod sound not ready in 200ms error recorded to the debug file

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After upgrading to Windows 10 20H2 and doing the 2020-10 culumative Update for 20H2 (Build 19042.572) there are still “event=rich_presence_failure” and “Trying to lock an invalid SNO” errors in the D3Debug file.
The problem with the old dll is definitely still present, however I did not experience any lag/freeze/stutter in the game so far (4h played).

Apparently if you hit escape right after a freeze when the game returns you will have a paused game. This obviously won’t work in multiplayer. I have tried this at least 30 times with 100% success rate. This makes pushing at least ok now with no deaths so far. Not a fix by any means but now I can at least solo push if I want.

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Do you have Game Bar Presence Writer.exe process in the background?
Try ending it. and reinstall the game.
This made my day. My god…The game is like a new fresh thing! Thanksss : )))

Thanks for the hint with the fmodex.dll and the fmodex64.dll file from StarCraft 2 simply swapped both files in Diablo 3 and lo and behold, no freez anymore. The game now runs without problems, although without sound, but I don’t mind