There are scenarios where the intervention of third-party program files with the game can also lead to the infinite loading screen issue. In such a scenario, you can identify the problematic program by performing a clean boot. We will take you through a number of methods in this article that can help you in resolving the issue mentioned.
1. Run Counter-Strike 2 as Admin
The first thing you should do when starting to troubleshoot the infinite loading screen problem is to ensure the game process has sufficient permissions to run in your Windows environment. More often than not, the game process can stop responding which results in the game being stuck due to the lack of permissions to run in your current environment. If this is applicable, you can overcome the problem by simply running the game with administrative privileges. To do this, you will have to run Steam with admin permissions as well as change the game properties to force it to run as an admin. Follow the instructions below to do this:
2. Disable in-game Overlays
Another potential cause of the infinite loading screen in Counter-Strike 2 can be the third-party in-game overlays. These overlays provide an instant method of accessing specific third-party programs that you might be using. Discord and GeForce Experience are prime examples of in-game overlays. While this may seem harmless, the third-party programs have to interact with the game at some level to display the in-game overlay. This can lead to the game crashing or even not responding, in some scenarios. Therefore, to resolve the issue, you will have to disable any in-game overlays that you are using. We will show you how to do this for Discord and GeForce Experience since they are the most common overlays found. However, if you have any overlays enabled, make sure to disable them too.
Discord
GeForce Experience
3. Use Windowed Mode
In some scenarios, you can mitigate the infinite loading screen issue by changing your display mode in Counter-Strike 2. The game offers several display mode options that you can choose from. We would recommend switching to windowed mode to see if that resolves the issue. To do this, you can navigate to the settings menu and change the Display Mode on the Video tab. If changing the Display Mode does not fix the problem for you, move on to the next method below.
4. Verify Game Files
You can also come across the infinite loading screen problem when the game files on your computer are not complete. In some scenarios, the game files may even be damaged or corrupted which prevents them from being loaded causing the game to get stuck in an infinite loading screen. In such a scenario, you can try to resolve the problem by verifying the integrity of game files on Steam. This allows the game files to be scanned for any discrepancies or damage. Any missing or damaged are downloaded again from the Steam servers. To verify the integrity of Counter-Strike 2 game files, follow the instructions below:
5. Update Graphics Drivers
Graphics drivers are essential to every computer and they especially play a vital role when it comes to gaming. This is because the graphics drivers are used to communicate with the graphics card on your motherboard. In some instances, the issue can occur when the map is not being rendered properly by your graphics card. This can happen when the graphic drivers are either obsolete or damaged due to a recent update. If this case is applicable, you will have to update the graphics drivers on your computer. To do this, you can use the Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) utility which completely removes every trace of your graphics drivers. Follow the instructions below to update your graphics drivers:
6. Perform Clean Boot
Finally, if none of the above methods has isolated the issue for you, the problem is likely to be caused by a third-party program. This can happen due to the interference of third-party apps running in the background on your computer with the game files or process. A typical example of this would be a third-party security program running in the background. However, there can be other background services causing the issue too. As such, you will have to perform a clean boot. This allows you to start your computer with only the required Windows services running in the background. If the problem goes away in clean boot, it will be evident that a third-party application causes the issue. In such a scenario, you can enable the services one by one to find out the culprit. Follow the instructions below to perform a clean boot:
