How To Fix the Dragon Age The Veilguard Load Error, Crashing, and Freezing Issues

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is one of the best ports of 2024, and it’s exactly the quality we’d love other big-budget titles to strive for when it comes to PC releases. It has all the features you’d expect, tons of customization, and accessibility options on top of great performance across the board. However, with every new launch, stability issues are common, even if those aren’t necessarily caused by the game. If you’re running into crashing, freezing, or similar issues in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, here are our recommendations to address those.

Fixing the Dragon Age The Veilguard Load Error

If you’re getting a “Load Error” while trying to load your last autosave in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, you need to make sure that the game is installed on an SSD.

Like a lot of modern PC releases, an SSD is required for the game to properly fetch data, and stream assets, so it’s something that contributes to the loading aspect as well. Moving the game to an SSD will allow you to reload your save.

There are a few workarounds until you move the game to an SSD, and you can try the following, but keep in mind the error could potentially appear again:

• Load into an older manual save file that works, and reload your latest save file
• Create a new character, and start over

Stuck on “Press Any Button” in Dragon Age The Veilguard Fix

If you’re stuck on the “Press Any Button” screen while trying to play the game, this is because your antivirus is flagging Dragon Age: The Veilguard as a threat.

To test if this is the reason for it, temporarily disable your antivirus server and launch the game to check if it works that way.

If it works, simply add the game’s main folder to its list of exclusions or exceptions, and you should be able to move past the screen. If you’re on Windows, simply open Windows Security, followed by “Virus & Threat Protection“, and scroll to the bottom to find the exclusions options.

Additionally, you need to check if you have controlled folder access enabled in Windows and add the game’s executable to allow it through.

• Make sure the game isn’t running
• In Windows Search, type Controlled folder access and select the result
• Here, click “Allow an app through Controller folder access” under Controlled folder access

• Now, select the App an allowed app button
• Locate the executable for Dragon Age The Veilguard and select it

Both of these steps should ensure that Windows Defender does not conflict with Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Fixing the Dragon Age The Veilguard Crashing Issues

Several reasons can cause crashing, and we recommend going through our troubleshooting checklist to ensure everything is in order.

Don’t Interrupt the Shader Compilation Screen

Upon launch, Dragon Age: The Veilguard will go through a lengthy shader compilation process. This is very important and will ensure that you don’t run into any stuttering during gameplay. This can take a bit and will be fully using your PC’s resources, so let it fully complete.

If you interrupt it, you might need to delete the local shader cache created, which is incomplete and broken. Simply delete the “shader_cache” folder where Dragon Age: The Veilguard is installed, and relaunch the game.

Verify Game Files

First, ensure that your game files are in order, and nothing is broken or missing. Both Steam and EA App allow you to verify game files.

Steam

• Open Steam and navigate to your library
• Here, right-click on Dragon Age: The Veilguard and select Properties
• In the Installed Files tab, click on Verify integrity of game file

EA App

• Launch the EA App, and select Dragon Age: The Veilguard under Installed Games
• Click on the “Manage” button
• Select the Repair option, and a scan will be initiated by the EA App, similar to the Steam client

If anything is missing or broken, the files will be downloaded and installed.

Update GPU Drivers

Make sure you’re using the latest GPU drivers, especially if you haven’t updated them in a while. AMD (24.20.19.05) and NVIDIA (566.03) have released specific drivers for Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

These can be downloaded from the links below:

• NVIDIA
• AMD
• Intel

Generic Troubleshooting

Apart from that, you can try the following generic troubleshooting suggestions.

• Update DirectX and Visual C++ Redistributables (Recommended)
• Update Windows to the latest version
• Update your BIOS, especially if you’re using an Intel 13th or 14th-generation processor
• Switch to your dedicated GPU if you’re playing on a laptop
• Make sure that the date and time in your Windows is correct
• Clear EA App’s Cache (Top Left Menu > Help > App Recovery)

After following these steps, make sure you restart your PC before testing out Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Apart from this, if you’re wondering where your local progress is stored, head over to the Dragon Age: The Veilguard save file location.