Pathfinder: Kingmaker Won’t Load After Install Fix

The first CRPG set in the celebrated Pathfinder universe is finally out. But before you can settle down and start adventuring, you’re going to have to load Pathfinder:Kingmaker, a seemingly easy task that’s proving difficult for some early players. 

If you’re one of the unlucky few who’s been stuck on the game’s loading screen since you installed it, know that the developers have said they are working on an official fix. 

However, as of this writing, they haven’t managed to push one out. So in lieu of that official patch, I’ve done a little bit of digging for some answers. While there’s no guarantee these tips will work (as it seems these “solutions” are currently hit or miss), it can’t hurt to give them a try. 

Pathfinder Takes a Long Time to Load

The very first thing you should know is that Pathfinder: Kingmaker takes an absurdly long time to load for some users. In fact, you may not even be experiencing a bug or glitch, but instead and ungodly long load time of four minutes or more. 

Taking a look at the game’s Steam forum, it appears that even if you have the game installed on an SSD, the load times can be excruciatingly long. However, if you’ve been loading for 10 minutes or more — especially with your load bar at 100% — you’re probably stuck. 

Before trying the fixes below

Before scrolling down and trying the solutions below, close the program and re-load.

Don’t click anything or touch your keyboard as the game loads. Some users who have experienced the bug and tried this have gotten the game to load fine.  

Run Win 7 Compatibility & Change Time Zone

Steam user Wawi has worked out a potential fix that requires a bit of finesse to pull off. Although it, as of now, hasn’t been confirmed to work for any other players, Wawi says they got the game to start after loading by following these steps: 

• Run the .exe in compatibility with Win7 
• Change your computer’s timezone, date, and time to that of your computer’s locale 

The second option is only applicable if your computer is set to a different locale from your local region.

How to Run in Win 7 Compatibility Mode

Here’s how you can run Pathfinder: Kingmaker in Windows 7 compatibility mode if you are using Windows 8 or 10:

1. Right-click Pathfinder: Kingmaker in your Steam library
2. Click Properties
3. Click the Local Files tab
4. Click the Browse Local Files button
5. Right-click the game’s .exe file
6. Click Properties
7. Click the Compatibility tab
8. Check the ‘Run this program in compatibility mode for:’ box
9. Choose Windows 7 from the drop-down menu
10. Click Apply or OK to apply the compatibility changes

Try once more to launch the game once you have completed these steps.

How to Change Your Time Zone

Changing your timezone is easy on Windows 10.

Right-click on the clock on your task bar and click Adjust date/time.

From here you can change your computer’s timezone to your locale’s timezone — so if you’ve been playing some Japanese-locale games and have changed yours up, set your time to UTC+09 or whatever locale you have your PC set to.

For reference, here are the timezones for the United States:

• Eastern Daylight Time (GMT -4)
• Central Daylight Time (GMT -5)
• Mountain Daylight Time (GMT -6)
• Pacific Daylight Time (GMT -7)
• Alaska Daylight Time (GMT -8)
• Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (GMT -10)

If These Solutions Don’t Work

If none of these potential fixes get Pathfinder: Kingmaker up and running for you, the developers would like you to send them your logs. You should include: 

• All of your .txt files
• All of your .log files

Per the developer, you should be able to find these files in C:/Users/[username]/Appdata/LocalLow/Owlcat Games/Pathfinder Kingmaker. If you cannot find them there, you may need to enable logging. You can do so by: 

• Right clicking on Pathfinder: Kingmaker in your Steam library
• Choosing “Properties” at the bottom of the drop down menu
• Clicking “Set Launch Options” under the “General” tab
• Typing “logging” in the text field and hitting OK. 

Once you have the .txt and .log files, send them to  [email protected] or [email protected]

Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more Pathfinder: Kingmaker guides, as well as our review of the highly-anticipated CRPG.