The Blood of Dawnwalker Infinite Loading Screen: How to Fix Stuck on Boot

Let’s not sugarcoat it — booting up a game you’ve been hyped for and getting greeted by an endless spinning loading icon is one of the most gut-punch experiences in gaming. I’ve sunk way too many hours into RPGs over the years, and The Blood of Dawnwalker had been sitting at the top of my ‘can’t wait’ list for months. Rebel Wolves — a studio stacked with veterans from The Witcher 3 — promised a grim, blood-soaked 14th century Europe crawling with vampires, plague, and political rot. And honestly? What they’ve built so far delivers on that promise. The dual day/night cycle, the moral weight behind every choice as Coen (your half-human, half-vampire protagonist), the sheer atmosphere of Vale Sangora — it’s the kind of world that sucks you in.

Except right now, a chunk of the player base can’t even get into that world because of an infinite loading screen bug. Cool cool cool.

If you’re staring at a frozen splash screen or a loading icon that just… never stops, you’re not imagining things and you’re definitely not alone. Steam Discussions, Reddit threads, and support forums are lighting up with people hitting the exact same wall. So I dug through the community fixes, tested the logic behind them, and put together the full breakdown below — no fluff, just what to actually try.

How to Fix Controller Drift Input in The Blood of Dawnwalker

Why This Is Happening in the First Place

Before jumping into fixes, it helps to know what’s actually going on under the hood. The Blood of Dawnwalker runs on Unreal Engine 5, and UE5 titles are notorious for hiccups during shader compilation and initial boot — it’s basically the price of admission for that gorgeous visual fidelity. Here’s the usual suspects:

Basically, this is a fresh AAA release pushing hardware and software configs in a hundred different directions, and any small conflict is enough to jam the whole boot sequence.

PC Fixes: What To Try (In This Order)

1. Force Windowed Mode Mid-Boot

This one sounds too simple to work, but it saves a ton of people. The moment the loading icon or black screen pops up, smash Alt + Enter. This forces the game into windowed mode and kicks the display driver into resetting itself, which is often enough to unstick a boot that’s failing to negotiate your monitor’s resolution/refresh rate. Once you’re in, manually set your native resolution before switching back to fullscreen.

2. Manually Edit GameUserSettings.ini

If the shortcut doesn’t cut it, go straight to the config file:

• Hit Windows Key + R, type %LOCALAPPDATA%, hit Enter.
• Find the RebelWolves or Dawnwalker folder.
• Go to Saved > Config > WindowsNoEditor.
• Open GameUserSettings.ini in Notepad.
• Find ResolutionSizeX and ResolutionSizeY, and manually set them to your monitor’s real specs (1920/1080, 2560/1440, whatever applies).
• Save, close, and relaunch the game.

3. Nuke the Cached Save/Shader Files

A fix that keeps popping up on Steam Guides — and honestly, it’s usually my first move with any UE5 hang:

• Go back into %LOCALAPPDATA%.
• Navigate to Saved > SaveGames.
• Find the OfflineSaves folder or general cache directory.
• Back up any .vdf or temporary config files to your desktop, then delete the originals.
• Restart your PC and launch the game.

The engine rebuilds these from scratch on the next boot, which clears out whatever was jamming things up.

4. Run Everything as Administrator

Windows security loves getting in the way of game launchers trying to write temporary files. Fix it by:

• Fully closing Steam/GOG and checking your system tray, not just the main window.
• Right-clicking your launcher and the game’s .exe, then selecting Properties > Compatibility.
• Checking Run this program as an administrator.
• While you’re there, also check Disable full-screen optimizations — this one can cause strange DirectX 12 conflicts on its own.
• Click Apply, then relaunch the game.

5. Force a Shader Reload via Launch Options

If your GPU is choking on the shader pipeline specifically:

1. Open your Steam Library and right-click the game.
2. Select Properties.
3. Under Launch Options, type -legacypso.
4. Close the window and relaunch the game.

This forces a clean shader recompile, skipping whatever cached data was corrupted.

6. Update Your Drivers and Windows

Sounds obvious, but it’s skipped constantly. Grab the latest Game Ready Driver from Nvidia App / GeForce Experience or AMD Adrenalin, and run a full Windows Update pass while you’re at it. UE5 titles genuinely rely on recent driver architecture to stream assets properly.

Console Players, You’re Not Off the Hook

PlayStation 5

1. Fully power off the console, rather than using Rest Mode.
2. Hold the power button until you hear the second beep to boot into Safe Mode.
3. Plug your DualSense controller in via USB.
4. Select Option 5: Clear Cache and Rebuild Database.
5. Choose Clear System Software Cache and confirm. Your saves stay untouched.
6. Reboot and launch the game.

Xbox Series X/S

1. Open the guide, highlight the game, and press the Menu button.
2. Go to Manage game and add-ons > Saved data.
3. Clear the local save cache. Back up to Xbox Network cloud first — non-negotiable.
4. Perform a full power cycle by holding the power button for 10 seconds, unplugging the console for two minutes, then restarting.

Bottom Line

Getting locked out of a game this atmospheric and ambitious is genuinely frustrating, but the good news is most of these infinite loading loops come down to the same handful of culprits — busted shader cache, driver mismatches, or Windows permission nonsense. Work through the PC methods in order, back up your saves before touching anything on console, and keep your drivers current. If none of it clears the loop, verify your game files through your launcher to catch any corrupted assets, and keep an eye out for Rebel Wolves’ inevitable hotfix patch. Once you’re past the boot screen, Vale Sangora is absolutely worth the hassle.