New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on February 09, 2022) follows:

Lost Ark is an MMO ARPG game set in a fantasy world that is currently available for Windows OS devices.

Lost Ark uses an isometric camera format similar to other leading games in the RPG genre (such as the Diablo saga). Its free-to-play format also helps boost its popularity.

The game developers implement an anti-cheat system to try to keep the game fair for everyone. But this system (EAC) is causing serious issues to some players (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

Lost Ark stuck in loop after anti-cheat screen

Lost Ark is getting stuck in a loop after the anti cheat screen appears for some players. This causes a crash that prevents access to the game according to multiple reports.

I pre-downloaded yesterday and I was able to unpack the game today. But when I try to start it I get the anti-cheat window which then disappears to be replaced by a graphic with the Lost Ark logo… and then it stops and the blue STOP button in Steam resets to the green Play button.
Source

Lost Ark will immediately crash and restart my computer. Happens around after the anti cheat finishes to within 2 minutes of character creation.

Disabling firewall, closing every other programs except steam and it still crashes.
I restart my computer several times, I did a clean system restore, I check the integrity of the files. Still crashes.
Source

After the anti-cheat screen appears, Lost Ark players get a couple of error messages:

Can’t load game past anti-cheat screen. 2 error windows pop-up in succession:

1 – Cannot Find WININET.dll . Please re-install this application
2 – Easy Anti-Cheat window. Untrusted system file (uxtheme.dll)
Source

A couple of potential workarounds

There are a couple of potential workarounds that could help resolve or mitigate the anti-cheat system glitch.

The first workaround is a recommendation from the support team. It consists of repairing/reinstalling the anti-cheat system through the following process:

Hello @Engrise!

Apologies for the issue with the EAC. Please check for any updates or repairs for the EAC.

Repair/Reinstall EasyAntiCheat (for this go to Lost Ark on your Steam library > click the gear icon > Manage > Browse local files > Open the folder EasyAntiCheat > run EasyAntiCheat_Setup.exe > Try repairing the service, or uninstalling and reinstalling it).
Source

And the second potential workaround consists of deactivating or disabling active processes that serve to connect to proxies or VPNs:

lostark-not-loading-stuck-loop-eac-anti-cheat-screen
Source

There is still no information about the arrival of a definitive fix for the issue. We will keep our eyes open for new developments on the matter to update this story.

Update 1 (February 11)

06:23 pm (IST): There’s a hotfix update for Lost Ark players which is expected to roll out today. It includes some bug fixes, new features, and improvements.

But unfortunately, it does not mention anything regarding the issue where the game is stuck on the loading screen.

Update 2 (February 12)

11:02 am (IST): The hotfix for Lost Ark players that was supposed to be deployed today was met by a deployment issue. And as a result, players began reporting that they are missing characters in the game.

After a few hours, the team confirmed that the issue has been resolved and the characters are back. And yet there was no mention of any fix for the loading issue after the EAC screen.

Featured Image: lost Ark

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.

Jean Leon
1613 Posts

A tech enthusiast since ever. I like to always be up to date on the latest news in the industry and write about it. Twitter: @jean_ERdC

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