No Man’s Sky Stuck on loading Screen: No Man’s Sky, a survival game centered around exploration, was developed and released by Hello Games in August 2016. It is accessible on platforms including PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows.
This action-adventure title features four distinct gameplay modes: exploration, survival, combat, and trading. However, many players are encountering issues with the game, particularly on PC, as numerous reports indicate that it often freezes on the loading screen, causing significant frustration.
If you’re experiencing difficulties with No Man’s Sky, there may be underlying issues with your computer. Fortunately, we have compiled a list of potential solutions that could assist you in resolving the loading screen problem in No Man’s Sky.
Fix: No Man’s Sky Stuck on the loading screen
Check out the following troubleshooting methods below to easily resolve such an issue on your Windows computer. So, without further ado, let’s jump into the guide below.
1. Check-out System Requirements
Before making any assumptions, it’s essential to review the system requirements. If your computer’s specifications do not meet the necessary criteria, you may encounter difficulties with launching the game or experiencing smooth gameplay.
Minimum System Requirements:
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions)
- Processor: Intel Core i3
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: nVidia GTX 480, AMD Radeon 7870
- Storage: 10 GB available space
2. Increase Virtual RAM
Virtual memory is a feature that integrates your computer’s RAM with a temporary area on your hard drive. When your RAM is insufficient for your tasks and the preconfigured virtual memory size isn’t adequate, you may need to adjust it manually.
To do this, start by pressing the Windows logo key on your keyboard and entering “advanced system settings” in the search bar. From there, select “View advanced system settings.”
Next, navigate to the “Settings” button, click on the “Advanced” tab, and then choose “Change.” You will need to disable the option labeled “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.”
Now, focus on your C: drive, where Windows is installed. Click the “Options” button next to “Custom size” and enter “4096” for both the Initial size (MB) and Maximum size (MB). Keep in mind that it’s advisable to set your virtual memory to approximately three times the size of your current RAM (remember that 1GB equals 1024MB).
After making these adjustments, click “Set” and then “OK” to apply the changes. Finally, restart your computer to ensure these new settings take effect, and you should see an improvement while gaming.
3. Properly Place the Storage and RAM in the slot
For optimal troubleshooting, consider taking off the side panel of your computer’s case. Disconnect the hard drive or solid-state drive, as well as the RAM modules from their respective slots.
Carefully clean both the slots and the components, then reinsert them securely. Afterward, check to see if the issue of No Man’s Sky freezing on the loading screen has been resolved.
4. Update GPU Drivers
If you haven’t yet updated the graphics driver on your Windows computer, it’s important to install the latest version for optimal performance. To do this, follow these steps to check for available updates:
- 1. Press the Windows key and the X key simultaneously to open the Quick Link Menu.
- 2. From the menu, select Device Manager.
- 3. In Device Manager, locate and double-click on Display adapters.
- 4. Right-click on the graphics card you are currently using.
- 5. Choose the option to Update driver, then select Search automatically for drivers.
- 6. If an update is found, your system will download and install it automatically.
After the installation is complete, be sure to restart your computer to ensure the changes take effect.
5. Close Unnecessary Background Tasks
To optimize your computer’s performance, consider shutting down any non-essential background processes that may be consuming system resources. Here’s how to manage these tasks:
- 1. Open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
- 2. Navigate to the Processes tab, where you will see a list of running tasks.
- 3. Identify the process you wish to terminate, click on it, and select “End Task.” Repeat this step for each process you want to close.
- 4. After finishing, restart your computer to apply the changes immediately.
By following these steps, you can help ensure that your system runs more efficiently.
6. Update No Man’s Sky
If you haven’t refreshed your No Man’s Sky game in a while, you can easily check for and install the latest updates by following these steps:
- 1. Launch the Steam client on your computer.
- 2. Navigate to your Library and select No Man’s Sky from the list on the left.
- 3. The client will automatically look for any available updates. If it finds one, be sure to click on the Update option.
- 4. Allow some time for the update to complete its installation. Once the process is finished, you can exit the Steam client.
- 5. To ensure the changes take effect, restart your PC and then relaunch the game.
This will ensure that you have the most recent version of No Man’s Sky ready for your next adventure!
7. Check for Windows Updates
It’s quite common for your Windows operating system to become outdated or even corrupted over time. If you suspect this might be the case, you can follow these steps to check for and install any available updates. Keeping your software up to date is essential, as updates typically include important bug fixes and enhancements. Here’s how to do it:
- 1. Press the Windows key + I simultaneously to access the Settings menu.
- 2. Navigate to the Update & Security section, then click on “Check for updates” in the Windows Update area.
- 3. If a feature update is available, select the option to “Download and install.”
- 4. Allow some time for the update process to complete.
- 5. Finally, restart your computer to ensure that all changes take effect.
By following these steps, you can help maintain the efficiency and security of your system.
8. Try Disabling Overlay Apps
Certain widely-used applications come with overlay features that may operate in the background, potentially leading to performance issues while gaming or difficulties during game launches. To mitigate these problems, it’s advisable to disable these overlays by following the steps outlined below:
**Turning Off Discord Overlay
- 1. Open the Discord application and click on the gear icon located at the bottom.
- 2. Navigate to the Overlay section under App Settings and toggle off the “Enable in-game overlay” option.
- 3. Go to the Games tab and select “No Man’s Sky.”
- 4. Ensure the “Enable in-game overlay” toggle is turned off.
- 5. Restart your computer to implement these changes.
**Disabling the Xbox Game Bar
- 1. Press the Windows + I keys simultaneously to access Windows Settings.
- 2. Select the Gaming category and then click on Game Bar.
- 3. Disable the option for “Record game clips, screenshots, and broadcast using Game bar.”
- 4. If you have trouble locating the Game Bar settings, use the search function in Windows Settings.
**Turning Off Nvidia GeForce Experience Overlay
- 1. Launch the Nvidia GeForce Experience application and go to the Settings menu.
- 2. Click on the General tab and turn off the “In-Game Overlay” option.
- 3. Restart your computer to save the changes and relaunch the No Man’s Sky game.
Additionally, remember to disable any other overlay applications, such as MSI Afterburner, Rivatuner, RGB software, or any third-party overlays that may be running in the background, as these can also impact gaming performance.
9. Perform a Clean Boot
Certain applications and services may initiate automatically during system startup, potentially consuming significant bandwidth and system resources. If you suspect this might be affecting your computer’s performance, consider performing a clean boot to identify the problem. Here’s how to do it:
- 1. Press the Windows key and the R key simultaneously to launch the Run dialog.
- 2. Enter “msconfig” in the box and press Enter to access the System Configuration utility.
- 3. Navigate to the Services tab and check the box labeled “Hide all Microsoft services.”
- 4. Click on “Disable all,” then hit Apply followed by OK to confirm your changes.
- 5. Next, switch to the Startup tab and select “Open Task Manager.”
- 6. In the Task Manager window, go to the Startup tab.
- 7. Identify any tasks with a high startup impact, select them, and click “Disable” to prevent them from launching at startup.
- 8. Repeat this process for any other high-impact programs you find.
Once you have completed these steps, restart your computer to ensure the changes take effect.
10. Verify Game Files
In the event that you encounter problems with your game files, such as corruption or missing data, you can easily address the issue by following these steps.
**How to Verify Game Files on Steam:
- 1. Open the Steam application and navigate to your Library.
- 2. Locate No Man’s Sky among your list of installed games and right-click on it.
- 3. Select **Properties** from the context menu and then go to the **Local Files** tab.
- 4. Click on **Verify Integrity of Game Files**.
- 5. Allow the verification process to complete, which may take some time.
- 6. After the process is finished, restart your computer.
That’s all you need to do! We hope you found this guide useful. If you have any additional questions, feel free to leave a comment below.
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