STUPID now loading bug at start up i may have possibly found a fix
ok so i went INSANE over this exact bug for like 2 days straight so heres what i found. its the audio devices thing the devs mentioned but way more specific
the game isnt actually crashing. fmod (the sound engine) boots up fine, opens your speakers and everything, then it asks windows "hey tell me if a new audio device gets plugged in" and THAT call is the thing that never comes back. so the game sits on now loading forever waiting for an answer while the sound engine is literally already running in the background. thats why it doesnt look crashed and the lil walking animation keeps going
if youre on windows and it "suddenly started a couple days ago" then something probably added a new audio device to your system recently. like a windows update or discord/obs/nvidia broadcast installing a virtual mic or one of those steam streaming speakers things. go into sound settings and look for devices you dont recognize, disable the weird virtual ones, restart and try again. and btw earphones vs speakers wont change anything, its not about which output youre using, its about whats installed
also if any of my mac people find this thread thru google out there... hi. if youre running it thru crossover its way worse for us. that "tell me about new devices" call straight up deadlocks inside wine itself. fresh bottle boots exactly once then never again, i traced the whole thing. reducing devices doesnt reliably fix it either, i tested down to literally one speaker. play on steam deck or any linux os stuff thingy for now or wait for a crossover update, im gonna file it with the wine people (probably, or not, since im it took me alot of encouragement and hyping myself up to even post this here 💔)
anyway hope this helps. this game is way too peak to keep losing to its own loading screen... i guess this bug truly is... UNBEATABLE. haha get it? ok im sorry bye